By Justin Melillo
Following a two-week holiday break, the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series season returns on Monday night with action from Fairbury Speedway. The first of four remaining races on the calendar, the championship is still anyone’s guess as Ryan Avila leads by eight points over Aiden Forster. Defending series champion Tyler Schell is still looking for his first feature win of the season as he sits fourth in the standings.
The racing from Fairbury begins on January 8 at 9PM ET, and it will be live on both DIRTVision and iRacing’s social media channels.
Last Race: Three-time champion Alex Bergeron returns as the most recent winner in the series, as he picked up his third win of the 2023-24 season less than three weeks ago at Knoxville. The most-winning driver at the Sprint Car Capital of the World was unmatched, driving away from the field to easily win. The battle for second was the fight to watch as Forster closed the points gap with his best finish of the season over Logan Rumsey and Avila.
Last Season: Like this year, Fairbury was the return race from the holiday break as well in the 2022-23 season. A driver still looking for his first win of the 2023-24 season, James Edens was victorious just over 365 days ago when he bested Kenny Miller to score his second win of that season, and the 10th of his career.
Track Info: Located in Illinois, Fairbury is a banked 1/4-mile oval that hosts Sprint Cars and Late Models for both World of Outlaws and DIRTcar competition. It is a three-time winner of the DIRTcar Track of the Year. For nearly three decades, it’s hosted the Prairie Dirt Classic at the end of July. The usual season at the venue runs from May to September with weekly competition.
Race Format: These races feature qualifying and heat racing to determine the 20 drivers that will compete in the main race. There will be four heat races of 10 laps each, where the top four will advance forward through to the main event. There will also be two 12-lap consolation races where the top two finishers in each will move on. In the 35-lap feature races, caution laps do not count. This is the first Sprint Car season since iRacing’s Dirt Refresh was launched in June.
Next Up: After Fairbury, only three races remain to determine who claims the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series championship. The first of those will take place in a week’s time at Port Royal Speedway on January 15th. Released in the 2022 iRacing Season 3 build, Port Royal will make its Sprint Car schedule debut this season.
For more information on the series, visit www.iracing.com/woosc. For more information on the World of Outlaws, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
