Superstar Racing Experience Race Format, Championship Structure
The Superstar Racing Experience has a format.
Essentially IROC with legendary drivers but on iconic dirt and short tracks, the SRX will race on six consecutive Saturday nights starting June 12 at Stafford Motor Speedway with every race airing live on over-the-air CBS.
Each of the six events will consist of three segments -- two 15-minute heat races and a 100-lap feature.
The heat races will determine the starting lineup for the main event, and championship points will be accumulated in both the heats and the feature. There will be a halftime break for drivers to make adjustments in advance of the finish.
The race at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin will be 150 laps due to track length.
The events are made for television and will fit in a two-hour broadcast window. The full-time roster features Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Bill Elliott, Hélio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Michael Waltrip, Willy T. Ribbs, Paul Tracy and Ernie Francis Jr.
After Stafford, the series will race at Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Lucas Oil Raceway, Slinger and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
At each stop, the 10 full-timers will have to compete against a local legend like six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby at Stafford or two-time Knoxville 410 Sprint Car champion Brian Brown.
The Slinger Nationals Super Late Model race winner will drive the so-called Rocky Balboa Car in the Superstar Racing Experience event at Slinger. USAC ace Kody Swanson and open-wheel standout Bobby Santos III will represent their best tracks in Lucas Oil Raceway and Eldora Speedway respectively.
Current NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA racers have expressed interest in entering in a one-off capacity over the course of the season too.
The format is as follows:
Heat Race No. 1:
Timed race (15 minutes). When time is up, leader is shown white flag signifying one lap remaining.
All drivers draw for their cars to start this heat.
Field is lined up by a random draw.
Heat Race No. 2:
Timed race (15 minutes). When time is up, leader is shown white flag signifying one lap remaining.
Drivers' finishing position in Heat Race No. 1 will be inverted for start of Heat Race No. 2.
Feature Race:
Distance is 100 laps (except at Slinger Speedway where distance is 150 laps).
Starting lineup is based on finishing position in Heat Race No. 2.
Unlimited attempts at a green-white-checkered finish.
In each heat, the winner can receive a maximum of 12 points while second place earns 11 points down to one point for the 12th-place finisher. Meanwhile, the winner of the main event will receive 25 points, second place gets 22 points, and third place receives 20 points.
"It was very important to come up with a format that would provide the best entertainment to our fans while rewarding the drivers for their performance. This format will do that," SRX co-founder Ray Evernham said. "Every driver has the same opportunity. They're in a car that's very different because it's so universal. It's a road-course car first, a pretty good dirt car, and just an OK paved oval car. That takes the advantage away from the stock-car guys who run ovals all the time."
