Our History

 

This is the growing history of The Midwest Sprintcar Association (MSA). 

The group was founded in 1996 by Gary Schlafer, owner of Beaver Dam Raceway. Gary created a Sprint Car class using hi-performance and durable 360 cubic inch motors that would be competitive, exciting, and affordable for a driver wanting to experience the thrill of sprint car racing. The series was named the USA 360 Division with about 18 cars at the end of the first year. Under Gary's tutelage the USA 360 Division continued to grow through the 1997 and 1998 seasons, also developing a USA 410 Division with several drivers pulling dual duty in both divisions on a nightly basis. 

In 1999, with the selling of Beaver Dam Raceway, the USA 360 class organized itself as the Midwest Sprintcar Association with about 25 regular drivers. MSA continued to race at Beaver Dam Raceway throughout the 2000 season. A partnership was formed with The Raceway at Powercom Park formerly known as Beaver Dam Raceway for the 2001 and 2002 season. The MSA looked forward to the 2003 season touring throughout Wisconsin with 11 different venues on the schedule. 

In 2004 MSA found their weekly home at Wilmot Speedway on 18 Saturday nights as well as continued touring many tracks throughout Wisconsin. 

In 2005 MSA moved its support to Sheboygan County Fair Grounds to assist with the development of PDTR. MSA has continued to support the Saturday night sprint program for 8 years running straight and going forward. 

The 2008 Season brought MSA a new adventure of supporting Manitowoc County Fair Grounds and EWSC Racing on their Friday Night Program. The MSA group began a full season of back to back racing with Friday Nights and Saturday nights. The MSA group became fortunate to have 2 weekly programs as well as a few traveling shows making it the strongest sprint car association in the Midwest with a 45-48 night yearly schedule. 

The future of MSA finds us entering into the 2013 season with its 6th year of continuing to support both PDTR and EWSC on a weekly basis. The 2013 schedule will boast 45 nights between the back to back nights at PDTR and EWSC and a few traveling shows throughout the season. The 45 night race schedule will contest the MSA Masters Championship. With such a heavy race schedule, the President taking all competitors into consideration has created the Challenge Series within the MSA which will consist of 19 Challenge Series events within the 45 scheduled nights of racing. This series within MSA allows the competitors to compete for the Challenge Series Championship within MSA, giving the competitors an opportunity to compete for a series championship with a less demanding schedule. 

The MSA has frequently filled the stands to capacity with appearances at a total of twenty plus different tracks all around Wisconsin. With the rules focusing on driver ability and car setup, the MSA has been an attractive option for drivers looking for fun racing at a reasonable cost. An excellent mix of both experienced 410 class sprint car drivers, desiring to reduce costs, and first time drivers looking to take on the thrill of competing in a sprint car have joined the MSA. Throughout all the years MSA has continued to have car support greater than any other sprint car division within the Midwest on a nightly basis. The Midwest Sprintcar Association continues to grow and is again contending to be the largest sprint car group in the Midwest. 

As one of the original members of MSA and former USA Division, and continuing MSA 2013 President it cannot go without saying that there are countless number of people who have devoted a ton of time, effort and energy to assist with the growth of MSA and to evolve into what it is today. The MSA has become one of the strongest sprint car divisions in the entire Midwest and because of all your continued efforts both during the season and in the background of the off seasons the MSA will continue to grow and be as successful as it is. Thank you to all that have contributed and continue to contribute to the MSA.