WOO Sprints Will Be Back at Red River Valley Speedway, Red River Modified Tour Coming to Area

Donny Schatz and the WOO Sprints return to RRVS on Aug. 23. (Photo from Tony Stewart Racing Page)

Since many of us (namely me) would like a distraction from the constant coronavirus coverage, here is a RaceChaser blog with some news and notes. You’ve got to take the virus seriously and be cautious, don’t get me wrong, but life goes on, too.

The final full schedules for most tracks in the RaceChaser area aren’t out — I anticipate that happening in the next few weeks. RaceChaser has previewed Viking Speedway in Alexandria and Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon already, and look for more previews on area tracks as the schedules come out. Most are close from what I’m told, just a few things to finalize.

We did get a teaser this week of a couple of big things locally.

The World of Outlaw Sprint Cars return to Red River Valley Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 23. This will be the third night of the tour in the midwest, which starts Aug. 21 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. It goes to Dakota State Fair Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 22 and then heads back up north to Red River Valley on Sunday.

The WOO Sprints come to River Cities Speedway on Friday, June 5, and then go to Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids a day later.

This is good news for area sprint car fans, and good news especially for fans of sprint car superstar Donny Schatz, who lives in Fargo. He is a huge draw locally. Plus this is just a huge event for the local tracks, River Cities and Red River Valley, to hold

The other big news is the Expansion of the Red River Modified Tour into the northern part of the country. Previously this has been a southern series only in Texas and Oklahoma. The Red River Modified Tour North will be a four-night swing locally sponsored by Sanders Metal Products, starting on Thursday, July 30 at Norman County Raceway in Ada; on Friday, July 31 it goes to Red River Valley Speedway; on Saturday, Aug. 1 it goes to Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon; and returns to RRVS on Sunday, Aug. 2. Each night will pay $1,000 to the winner of the modified feature.

Point standings will tallied for both the southern and northern parts of the tours. The five-night southern tour will be on May 20-24 starting at Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore, Okla.

There will be a “High Five” combined points standings based on the best four races of both tours. The high five will pay out $5,000 to the overall champion, plus, that driver will be guaranteed a provisional starting spot in the modified feature at the Duel in the Desert in December.

This is great news for modified fans in the area and it’d be great to see some southern drivers come up to follow the northern part of the tour.

Stayed tuned for more previews on the RaceChaser area tracks.