By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, OK - It has been determined by series founder and president Emmett Hahn that the O’Reilly Sprint Bandits series will suspend operations for the 2005 season.
“We’re actually very pleased with what we’ve accomplished with the Sprint Bandits so far,” commented Hahn. “The series head not only makes 410 Sprint Car racing more cost effective, but the series head was also on equal ground with the sleeved down open motors, so basically a guy with a $10,000 or $12,000 engine could be competitive and a guy with an expensive open motor could still race with us too. So we now know that the concept and the formula both work.”
“There’s still some uncertainty in the 410 ranks, and with our ASCS 360 group so strong in this part of the country, it’s probably in everybody’s best interest that we plan on getting the Sprint Bandits into some different markets. And that’s what we plan to do in 2006 or ’07, we just need to see how some of the other situations in the 410 world shake out first,” Hahn concluded.
The fledgling Sprint Bandits series contested ten events in 2004, including a non-points paying event at Memphis Motorsports Park in May. In nine points-awarding events, the series averaged 29 cars per race with events in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Shane Stewart capped the series title by winning the season finale at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on October 16.
TULSA, OK - It has been determined by series founder and president Emmett Hahn that the O’Reilly Sprint Bandits series will suspend operations for the 2005 season.
“We’re actually very pleased with what we’ve accomplished with the Sprint Bandits so far,” commented Hahn. “The series head not only makes 410 Sprint Car racing more cost effective, but the series head was also on equal ground with the sleeved down open motors, so basically a guy with a $10,000 or $12,000 engine could be competitive and a guy with an expensive open motor could still race with us too. So we now know that the concept and the formula both work.”
“There’s still some uncertainty in the 410 ranks, and with our ASCS 360 group so strong in this part of the country, it’s probably in everybody’s best interest that we plan on getting the Sprint Bandits into some different markets. And that’s what we plan to do in 2006 or ’07, we just need to see how some of the other situations in the 410 world shake out first,” Hahn concluded.
The fledgling Sprint Bandits series contested ten events in 2004, including a non-points paying event at Memphis Motorsports Park in May. In nine points-awarding events, the series averaged 29 cars per race with events in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Shane Stewart capped the series title by winning the season finale at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on October 16.
