’Tis the season for giving, and Crate Racin’ USA (CRUSA) will up its point fund for its Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series by 101%. This comes as the result of a new series sponsor Rogers Dabbs Chevrolet and Roger Dabbs Performance Parts.
“We had a good year,” Adam Stewart, of Crate Racin’ USA, said. “Car counts have seen growth, so we are positioned to give back to the racers in next season’s point funds. We’re very fortunate. As crazy as things are in the racing world today, we worked hard get us to a point where we could have substantial growth in our point funds, not just for the champion, but back into the final standings.”
The champion will collect $15,000 at the end of 2024, up from $10,000. The runner-up will receive $10,000, up from $5,000. Third place gets $7,500 instead of $3,500. Fourth place goes to $5,500 from $2,500. Fifth takes $5,200, boosted from $2,500.
CRUSA hopes more money entices racers to compete for the full touring series schedule.
“The increases in the fund will help a racer previously running 60% to 70% of our races, who was on the verge of running the rest of the races, to now wanting run them,” said Stewart. “We’re also changing the rookie of the year competition to pay the top three spots.”
The rookie of the year previously received $2,500. Now the top three in rookie standings will get $4,000, $2,000, and $1,500, respectively.
Title sponsorship for the series comes from Rogers Dabbs Chevrolet and Rogers Dabbs Performance Parts of Brandon, Mississippi.
“The sponsorship money will be used for operational costs as well as increasing the point funds,” Stewart said. “The investment, we hope, will help car counts grow at our tracks. That will hopefully lead to more tracks joining our sanction. With more tracks, there will be more members, and everything will snowball.”
The Rogers Dabbs Chevrolet Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series begins its schedule on March 29-30 at Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Georgia.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
