After a widely successful debut event, the Canadian Short Track Nationals at Jukasa Motor Speedway will return in 2019 and will take place from August 31-September 1.
The event is building to an overall purse of one million CDN dollars by the 2021 race and the 2019 version of the Pro Late Model classic will pay $300,000 throughout the field. The 2019 Nationals will also be increased from 200 laps to 250.
Bubba Pollard earned $50,000 CDN by virtue of winning the inaugural race, the equivalent of $38,000, easily topping the purse for the most prestigious Super Late Model races across North America. The 2019 race will pay $75,000 to the winner — the US equivalent to to $57,000.
“We said that we wanted to make this the biggest short track race in North America – and we absolutely meant it,” said Jukasa Motor Speedway GM Alex Nagy in a press release. “There’s an infectious energy being around the (Jukasa Motor Speedway) ownership group because they don’t take any half-measures. They go full-out every time they try to accomplish something – and growing this event is no exception to that.”
The debut event drew over 50 cars with several stars waiting to see how the inaugural event played out before committing to future iterations.
The track is owned by local tobacco czars Kenny Hill and Jerry Montour of Grand River Enterprises. They did not have a racing background when they first purchased the property but have quickly fallen in love with the discipline.
“We were humbled by the incredible turnout that we had for the first edition of the Nationals,” Nagy said. “The atmosphere was electric; the stands were jam-packed and the talent on-track was second to none. We want to do that again this Summer – but even bigger.
“When the doors first swung back open at the Speedway, we knew that we didn’t just want to be another place for fans to come and watch a race. We want to be one of the premier facilities in the country and we want to host some of the biggest races in all of North America.”
READ MORE: Canadian Short Track Nationals to eventually feature $1 million CDN purse
In addition to the Pro Late Model headliner, the Canadian Short Track Nationals weekend will also feature a 50-lap Super Stock showcase paying $5,000 to the winner plus a $10,000 to win 75 lap Outlaw Super Late Model shootout.
“The Super Stocks did everything they could to steal the show (in 2018) and we knew that we wanted to reward that performance by bringing them back for the second edition of this event and the Outlaw Super Late Model race last year attracted some of the best from Canada and the USA and the feeling is that with the increased purse the talent pool will increase even more which will be incredible,” Nagy said.
And again, this all build up to the one million dollar purse race in 2021.
“We want to make sure that we give the fans, the race teams and the sponsors something to talk about for a long, long time and we’re confident that we can make that happen,” Nagy said. “Believe me – we’re just getting warmed up. There are big things ahead on the horizon and we couldn’t be more excited to have everyone along for the ride with us.”
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