On Saturday, August 23, U.S. 24 Speedway held a memorial race. It is one of the track’s most enthusiastic races of the entire racing year. The race was the Hardy, Hoagland Memorial Race, and the speedway represented their respect for the founding family of the race track. The current family that runs the track is Jim and Deb Wood; each year,  the race is held to ensure people do not forget the origin story of the speedway. 100+  sprint car drivers from all over the country come to Logansport, Indiana, for this annual race. Drivers’ ages range from 5-60 years old. 

     The duration of all the races combined is about five hours, starting at seven and ending around twelve. During this time, there are multiple races that occur in order to determine who wins the memorial race. The winner of the Hardy-Hoagland race wins $1,000, so each race of the night was competitive. Drivers will spend the money on things they need; most of them will spend money improving their cars for future races, and some drivers might spend the money to get a bigger shop. This money means a lot to racers participating because it will benefit them in their future success. Saturday night’s races consisted of: heat races, qualifiers, last chances, junior sprints, and features. If you are unfamiliar with mini sprint racing, then this is how these races work: heats help the track managers place the cars in the correct qualifiers according to how long it takes the cars to get around the course four times. Qualifiers place the cars accordingly in the features, and last-chance races are for the drivers who had a good qualifying race but did not finish within the top three. The Jr. sprints are the only micro cars that do not get a chance at the big races since the drivers are still young.

     Each feature race of the night had a different winner; the first Last Chance Race winner was Maverick Page from Missouri, the second Last Chance Race winner was Jacob Rupe from South Bend, A-Class Non-wing winner was Stone Sharpe residing out of Frankfort, Senior Feature winner (40+) was Ron Dennis who lives in Kokomo, the A Class Wing winner who lives in Brownsburg was Tate Gurney, and the winner of the big Hardy, Hoagland $1,000 to win race was Jordan Sterling from Greentown. All of the drivers listed above were able to compete in the big race, so all of them had an equal chance at winning the $1,000 prize. This race was 25 laps around the quarter-mile dirt race track. Racers must remain focused because most times there are multiple cautions, these could be wrecks, spinouts, or cars being stalled. Anything can happen during big races like this, especially because there is a big prize, so drivers will be competitive.  

     The U.S. 24 Speedway usually gets a pretty good crowd on the weekends. People come from all over the country just to watch people go in circles in a fast car. Drivers and spectators come for different reasons: to watch family, or because they enjoy watching them. The spectators who go because someone close to them is very competitive and invested in micro sprint races. Visitors who attend because they have an interest in sprint cars do not really care who wins; they just want to enjoy the races. This is just because they do not have a family that races or they do not have a favorite driver, which is okay because you should not have to have any of those things to go watch a race on the weekend. 

     There are different tracks all throughout Indiana, but 24 is one of the best-rated tracks, considered to be the fastest micro sprint track in the state of Indiana. So if you ever want to get into racing, U.S. 24 Speedway is a great place to start. The cars, the atmosphere, and the entertainment do not disappoint on the weekends. The track holds big races annually, so it is not like there is just one big race per year; there are multiple. If I were to recommend a local racetrack to people, this would be my choice. There are only four more racing nights at the track in Logansport. The final night of racing at U.S. 24 Speedway is September 20; that weekend will be the conclusion of the 2025 racing season. So, if you want to start getting into micro sprint cars, then you have about three weeks of the year to do so.