Championship Off-Road will kick off its 2025 season with the Show-Me Off-Road Shootout at Lucas Oil Speedway. Revealed on Friday, it marks the series’ first time racing in Missouri.
Located in Wheatland and not to be confused with Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Speedway is a 3/8-mile (.6 kilometre) dirt oval that has hosted a variety of dirt track series including World of Outlaws and High Limit Racing. The Superstar Racing Experience concluded its 2023 season at Lucas Oil Speedway in what remains the series’ latest race to date.
Short course first took place at Wheatland in 2007 with the World Series of Off Road Racing, doing so on a newly built 1.3-mile (2.09 km) infield course. The series folded at the end of 2008 and the discipline did not return again for another eight years. In 2016, the off-road course was rebuilt in time for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series the following year; while LOORRS was primarily based on the West Coast, the date came together in collaboration with the Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League. It stayed on the calendar through LOORRS’ final season in 2020.
Pro 4 driver Adrian Cenni described the track as having “everything from a long hang time sky jump to a big bowl turn and tight over under infield section.” The course features nine turns, an over/under jump, and a massive tabletop jump spanning 120 feet in length and twenty feet high.
MidAmerica Outdoors’ Truck and SXS Championship Series raced at the track in 2023. When MAO owner American Outdoor Events attempted to form its own short course series to rival COR for 2024, Lucas Oil Speedway was included as the inaugural season finale, though the breakaway championship ultimately fell through.
“The Wheatland track is an amazing facility, and we are extremely excited to be able to expand our footprint,” commented Carl Schubitzke, president of COR organiser International Series of Champions. “The facility is first class, and fans and races will be treated to an exceptional experience. We are still busy closing out our 2024 season, but we are beyond pumped to get the 2025 campaign underway.”
It will be one of two new tracks on the COR schedule for 2025 alongside Deadwood in South Dakota.
