Virginia Motor Speedway and FASTRAK share vision of affordable racing

When Virginia Motor Speedway first joined the FASTRAK family of weekly sanctioned tracks in 2013, a vision was born. That vision was to offer an affordable way for weekly drivers to participate in Late Model Racing. After the initial season which saw the Chevrolet Performance Late Models mixed in with Virginia Motor Speedway’s limited late model class, the Pro Late Models stood alone in their own class the following season.

“FASTRAK’s vision as far as an affordable class is the way to go now and into the future,” said Virginia Motor Speedway owner Bill Sawyer, “It’s going to become too expensive for guys to go race on a Friday and Saturday night unless we continue in this direction.”

Virginia Motor Speedway and FASTRAK recently reached an agreement to continue hosting the FASTRAK World Championship weekly through 2020. It was announced at FASTRAK’s Night of Champions banquet that the 2019 FASTRAK World Championship will pay $50,000 to win and $2,050 to coincide with the celebration of the Jamaica, Virginia track’s 50th anniversary. The 2019 FASTRAK World Championship will be the biggest purse that Chevrolet Performance Late Models have ever seen with a total purse of $158,075.

“If I didn’t believe in the FASTRAK World Championship I wouldn’t have supported initially and continue to support it,” continued Bill Sawyer, “To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the track we’re hosting the biggest paying Pro Late Model race ever by paying $50,000 to win in 2019.”

The relationship between the track and sanctioning body has blossomed over the past five years. The Chevrolet Performance Late Models have gone from being mixed with another class to averaging 15 cars each race night. As the class has grown, so has the support for the FASTRAK World Championship, which had 71 competitors enter the $20,000 to win race in 2017.

“When we first came on with FASTRAK, we respected their direction,” said Virginia Motor Speedway General Manager Clarke Sawyer, “the relationship has been built on a mutual understanding of the goal, which is affordable racing.”

The 2018 season will see the Chevrolet Performance FASTRAK Racing Series make three visits to Virginia Motor Speedway. The King of the Commonwealth will be held on April 14th and the USA 100 will be held on June 16th, both paying $3,000 to win the FASTRAK portion of the events. The FASTRAK World Challenge, a $5,000 to win members only race, will be on September 14th. September 15th is the FASTRAK World Championship paying $20,000 to win. The 2018 FASTRAK World Championship will provide more drivers the opportunity to race for money with the addition of at least one non-qualifiers race. The strong turn out for the 2017 FASTRAK World Championship prompted the Sawyers to find ways to make the event even bigger than it has been in the past.

“To this point it has proved to bring affordable racing to reality,” said Clarke Sawyer, “Being in the FASTRAK family has proved beneficial for the drivers and the track.”

Check out the official website for the Chevrolet Performance FASTRAK Racing Series at www.fastrakracing.com and continue to follow our social media networks for the FASTRAK Racing Series. Like and Follow our Fan Page on Facebook plus follow @FASTRAK_SE and/or @FASTRAK_MOV on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.

The 2018 marketing partners for the FASTRAK Racing Series are Chevrolet Performance, Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuel, Excalibur Race Cars, TNT Race Cars, Arizona Sport Shirts, Safecraft Fire Suppression Systems, Rockauto.com, RacingJunk.com and Thomas Clarke Performance.