The Grand Championships:
How they work

Jun. 30, 2003 – The biggest week in dirt-track racing is off and running under cool skies in Springfield, Illinois, with the start of the AMA Progressive Insurance Dirt Track Grand Championships.

The premier event for amateur and youth dirt-track racers in the country, the Grand Championships this year have drawn more than 1,000 pre-entered riders, with more expected to register to race throughout the week.

The championships offer racers competition on short-track, TT, half-mile and mile tracks over six days of racing. Top racers in 21 classes — from 4-year-olds on 50cc pee wee bikes to over-50 racers on heavyweight machinery — will take home National Championship honors in each type of racing. Top riders in each class compete for grand champion titles, with points tallied from their finishing positions in each race.

The best of the best — typically 15-year-old riders in their final year of amateur competition — go for the event's highest honor: the AMA Dirt Track Horizon Award. Conferred on the racer most likely to have a pro career on the horizon, the award has been given to an impressive list of riders over the years, including Nicky and Roger Lee Hayden, Bryan Smith, Tony Meiring, Cory McDermitt, Jared Mees, Nicky Cummings and Logan Myers.

Despite a heavy rainstorm Sunday afternoon, the half-mile track came in beautifully early Monday, and racers were on the track early under cloudy skies. The Group 1 competitors range from riders on 50cc machines through 125cc bikes.

© 2003, American Motorcyclist Association