April 4, 2024 | By USMTS PR

King of America XIII starts tonight in Humboldt

HUMBOLDT, Kansas — RacinDirt presents King of America XIII on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 4-6, at the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan., featuring the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.

USRA Stock Cars and USRA B-Mods will join the Summit USMTS Modifieds all three nights.

Thursday's opener will mark the 62nd main event since the inaugural visit to 'The Hummer' on June 28, 2000, when Johnny Bone Jr. captured his first of two USMTS wins here. Only the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., has hosted more USMTS shows.

The winningest USMTS racer in Humboldt history is Jason Hughes with 13 of his 158 career USMTS wins here. Stormy Scott is a six-time winner while Kelly Shryock and Ryan Gustin each have five wins and Rodney Sanders has four.

Each of these four are also former King of America champions. Gustin is the only driver to wear the crown twice.

With his opening night win in this event last year, Terry Phillips has three triumphs to his credit. Two-time winners include Bone, Jason Krohn, Johnny Scott, Zack VanderBeek and Jake O'Neil.

Past USMTS winners at Humboldt Speedway:
13 - Jason Hughes
6 - Stormy Scott
5 - Kelly Shryock and Ryan Gustin
4 - Rodney Sanders
3 - Terry Phillips
2 - Johnny Bone Jr., Jason Krohn, Johnny Scott, Zack VanderBeek and Jake O'Neil
1 - Tim Donlinger, Jon Tesch, Steve Holzkamper, William Gould, Jeremy Payne, Mitch Keeter, Kyle Strickler, Lucas Schott, Ricky Thornton Jr., Tanner Mullens, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Brooks Strength, Kale Westover, Dereck Ramirez and Dan Ebert.

Gould, Keeter, Strickler, Strength and Westover picked up their first and only career USMTS wins at the Humboldt Speedway—all of them happening during a King of America weekend. Strength was the champion while the others topped preliminary features.

Eleven different drivers have claimed victory in the previous 12 King of America contests, and the list is a who’s-who of dirt modified racing.

Ebert, hot off a win March 2 at the Rocket Raceway Park, is the reigning King of America and comes into this year’s mega-event sitting atop the points battle for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt as well as the ARMI Contractors South Region presented by Gene Nicholas, LLC.

O’Neil added the King of America crown to his trophy case in 2022 while Strength captured his first and only USMTS feature win in 2021 to earn the biggest triumph of his career en route to garnering the Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year title.

Prior to an off-year for the COVID-19 hysteria in 2020, Thornton captured the crown in 2019 and Schott was the 2018 winner after Gustin won in 2017 to become the first and only repeat winner of this event.

VanderBeek captured the title in 2016 after a thrilling late-race battle with Sanders—the 2014 winner. Hughes was the 2015 winner; Stormy Scott topped the 2012 event and Shryock claimed the inaugural crown in 2011.

Past USMTS King of America Champions:
Oct. 22, 2011 – Kelly Shryock
March 31, 2012 – Stormy Scott
March 30, 2013 – Ryan Gustin
March 29, 2014 – Rodney Sanders
March 28, 2015 – Jason Hughes
April 2, 2016 – Zack VanderBeek
March 25, 2017 - Ryan Gustin
March 17, 2018 - Lucas Schott
March 23, 2019 - Ricky Thornton Jr.
March 27, 2021 - Brooks Strength
March 26, 2022 - Jake O'Neil
March 25, 2023 - Dan Ebert

The Humboldt Speedway is located 0.1 mile west of US 169 at the Humboldt exit, then 0.5 mile south, then 0.9 mile east to 1663 Georgia Rd, Humboldt, KS 66748.

For more information including history, payouts, rules, event times and ticket prices, check out the FAST FACTS for RacinDirt King of America XIII.

While the King’s crown and $12,000 winner’s share of the prize money ($20,000 to sweep all three nights) are the dangling carrots of this blockbuster, points will be awarded in the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt and the Mel Hambelton Racing USMTS Central Region for the first time this season.

Mel Hambelton Racing USMTS Central Region:
April 4-6,  Humboldt Speedway, Humboldt, Kan., RacinDirt King of America XIII
May 22,  Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City, Iowa, 14th Annual Spring Classic
June 18,  Off Road Speedway, Norfolk, Neb., Inaugural Event
June 19,  Beatrice Speedway, Beatrice, Neb., 3rd Annual Battle on the Big Blue River
June 20-22,  81 Speedway, Park City, Kan., 2nd Annual Ed Gressel Memorial
July 17,  Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, S.D., 9th Annual River City Rumble
Aug. 2-3,  Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, Mo., 14th Annual Show-Me Shootout
Aug. 8-9,  Lakeside Speedway. Kansas City, Kan., 7th & 8th Annual Grant Junghans Memorial
Oct. 25,  Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., 13th Annual Jayhawk Classic
Oct. 26,  81 Speedway, Park City, Kan., 4th Annual Modified Spooktacular

One driver could pocket more than $180,000 in post-season earnings at the end of the season. This year’s USMTS national champion will earn $50,000 and each of the three regional champs get $10,000. If a driver wins all three regions and the national points, a staggering $100,000 bonus awaits as the cherry on top of the $80,000.

Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
Top 10 as of  April 3, 2024
1. 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., 337
2. 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn., 333
3. 12 Jason Hughes, Westville, Okla., 328
4. 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., 319
5. 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., 317
6. 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 305
7. 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla., 297
8. 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., 296
9. 12H Mike Hansen, Dickinson, N.D., 290
10. 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 285

What’s more, the RacinDirt TV Challenge is $30,000 which will be split evenly between all drivers with perfect attendance in 2024. After March 2, there are 40 drivers remaining with perfect attendance. That’s $750 each and it keeps going up every time a driver misses a show.

In 2023, the 25th Anniversary of the USMTS and most competitive season in series history saw a record 18 different winners claim victory utilizing a record 17 different chassis manufacturers in the 34 races that were held. What’s more, there were a record 17 competitors who attended every event.

For more information including history, payouts, rules, event times and ticket prices, check out the FAST FACTS for RacinDirt King of America XIII and watch RacinDirt live to get exclusive content on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.