November 12, 2024 | By Billy Rock

Inaugural "MLRA Founders Tribute" To Open 2025 Tour At Springfield Raceway

WHEATLAND, Mo. — The Lucas Oil Midwest Late Model Racing Association (MLRA) has big plans on tap for their 37th season of racing in 2025, starting with a return trip to the Springfield Raceway for the Inaugural running of the “MLRA Founders Tribute” race weekend.

The season opener will feature two complete nights of action on February 28th & March 1st, marking the earliest start to an MLRA season in series history. The ¼ mile semi-banked clay oval in Springfield, Missouri has hosted the MLRA on seven prior occasions, including the MLRA opener back in 2012. Friday night’s opener will feature a $5,037 to win and $537 to start A-Main, while the Saturday night finale will pay $6,037 to win and $637 to start.

The early season opener will honor and pay tribute to a pair of individuals who were responsible for laying the ground work to one of the nation’s longest running dirt touring series. Kenny Essary and Randy Mooneyham founded the MLRA back in 1989 and operated the series through 1996, when they turned over the reins to Allen (Cowboy) and Harriett Chancellor.

Springfield Raceway owner Jerry Hoffman said the idea for the event came from a discussion between himself and current racer and former MLRA winner Justin Wells. “Justin Wells and I were talking and Justin came up with the idea to do something to honor these guys. Justin really thought it would be a good idea to find a way to honor Kenny and Randy and document how the MLRA got its start.”

“It’s going to be neat to be able to honor the two of them”, continued Hoffman. “They are getting up there in age you know, and a lot of people just don’t know the history of the series and how it got started and I think that is important to be able to tell the history and story of the series to people. We are going to do a little bit of a documentary via a podcast here in the next couple of weeks to talk a bit about the race and how the series got started.”

The full 2025 Lucas Oil MLRA schedule is nearing completion, and is expected to be released in the coming weeks. For more information on the Lucas Oil MLRA visit the series website at www.MLRARacing.com.


About Springfield Raceway:

Springfield Raceway is located just off I-44, in Springfield, Missouri and is notably known as the home of “Turkey Bowl XVIIl", which is held annually in November. The 2024 edition will be held November 14th – 16th, featuring a $6,064 to win Saturday night late model feature that will include many of the drivers expected for the “MLRA Founders Tribute” in 2025. For additional details visit www.SpringfieldRaceway.com.

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