Arkansas owns an abundance of picturesque landscapes across the Ozark Mountains, roots in country folk music, and top-notch BBQ, among many other aspects.
While it is not as widely hailed as its neighboring states, the American Sprint Car Series has inseparable ties to the state since the dawn of national 360 Sprint Car racing.
The state is the birthplace of the Series and has hosted 176 Series races, ranking second-most, behind Texas. Across 35 seasons, there have been only three years (2016, 2019, 2023) in which the Series never visited the state.
In 2026, the ASCS National Tour will visit the state for two weekends in the summer. First, it’ll be a two-track doubleheader with Batesville Motor Speedway hosting its makeup date on Friday, July 10, then to Texarkana 67 Speedway on Saturday night for the Ralph Henson Memorial on July 11. Later in the season, the Series will visit Riverside International Speedway for King of the Ditch II on Saturday, Aug. 22.
Located 15 miles away from the State Capitol in Little Rock, AR, the Series hosted its first sanctioned race at I-30 Speedway on March 28, 1992. The 1/4-mile track saw Wally Henson score the first Feature win, then Mike Ward captured the inaugural National Tour event on May 15, 1993. I-30 hosted the Series two additional times that year, with home state driver Tim Crawley – the lone National Tour champion from Arkansas – and Tennessee native Terry Gray taking victory. The Series also made a stop at Beebe Speedway, with Gray driving to Victory Lane.
In 1995, three more Arkansas tracks joined the slate – Arkansas Raceway Park (also known as Lake Ouachita Speedway), in Mount Ida, Riverside International Speedway, in West Memphis, and Stateline Speedway, in Texarkana. Gary Wright won the Series’ lone stop at Arkansas Raceway, while Gray won the first Series race at Riverside and Rickey Hood won the first race at Stateline.
The following year, Batesville Motor Speedway, in Locust Grove, made its debut on the schedule with two race dates. Ward won them both.
It wasn’t until the dawn of the 21st century that a quartet of Arkansas facilities appeared on the ASCS schedule for the first time, with Crowley’s Ridge Raceway, in Paragould, Thunder Valley Speedway, in Fayetteville, Texarkana 67, in Mandeville, and North Central Arkansas Speedway, in Yellville, joining the schedule for 2000. The following season, Diamond Park Speedway (also known as Southwest Arkansas Speedway), in Nashville, AR, became the 11th and latest track from the state to host the Series for the first time.
The Series stuck to a core trio of Arkansas tracks that included I-30, Riverside, and Texarkana throughout the decade. After 2009, Texarkana fell off the schedule, but I-30 and Riverside continued to represent the state with appearances throughout the 2010s.
I-30 solidified its place as a staple track in ASCS with the annual Short Track Nationals, which began as an unsanctioned event before being slotted into the schedule for 1995. The event tested the best in Sprint Cars in both 360 and 410 competition, with the winners list including ASCS champions like Gray, Wright, Crawley, Sam Hafertepe Jr., and Blake Hahn. World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champions Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Jason Meyers, and Brad Sweet were also triumphant in the event.
The most vital tie between ASCS and Arkansas came to a close when I-30 hosted its final race in October 2022. Honoring the track that saw its birth, ASCS was there for its final race with Hafertepe besting Aaron Reutzel to become the final winner in the track’s history.
While the departure of the Little Rock facility was a heartbreaking book to close, others have opened with new pages to extend the longstanding tradition of the Series in Arkansas. Crawley became the promoter of Texarkana in 2022 to help bring the National Tour back to the area for the first time since 2009 with the Ralph Henson Memorial – a race formerly held at I-30 until its closure.
Following the success of Riverside’s unsanctioned King of the Ditch finale in 2025, the race returns in 2026 under the ASCS banner for the first time. After being absent since 2004, Batesville returned to the schedule in 2021 and has become a recurring visit on the trail during the heart of the summer months.
For event information for Batesville, Texarkana, Riverside, and all 2026 American Sprint Car Series races, click here.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
ARKANSAS AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES WINNERS
28 wins – Gary Wright
21 wins – Tim Crawley
10 wins – Sam Hafertepe Jr.
9 wins – Jason Johnson
8 wins – Terry Gray
6 wins – Derek Hagar, Eddie Gallagher, Garry Lee Maier, Mike Ward
5 wins – Tony Bruce Jr., Travis Rilat, Wayne Johnson
4 wins – Aaron Reutzel, Shane Stewart, Zach Chappell
3 wins – Blake Hahn, Brady Bacon, Pete Butler, Sammy Swindell
2 wins – A.G. Rains, Brad Sweet, Christopher Bell, Danny Lasoski, Jordan Mallett, Seth Bergman
1 win – Anthony Nicholson, Billy Willburn, Brian Brown, Brooke Tatnell, Chad Jones, Dale Howard, Danny Wood, Darren Stewart, Eric Sandage, Gary Taylor, Harli White, Jack Dover, Jason Meyers, Jeff Swindell, Kenny Coke, Larry Neighbors, Matt Covington, Michael Dupuy, Nick Smith, Paul McMahan, Pete Braswell, Rickey Hood, Ricky Logan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Timms, Tim Shaffer
