Premier Racing Assoc. 2007 schedule

Judging by their rather short 2007 schedule, the Premier Racing Association (PRA) is also struggling to stay afloat. Some say the France family pulled another one of their divide and conquer moves by forcing USAC to move to hideous looking front engine superspeedway cars that most of the owners could not afford. Those owners are now running their existing equipment in the PRA while the USAC Silver Crown division continues to struggle with small grids because the majority of team owners are in the PRA. In summary, the USAC Silver Crown division has money and the PRA has most of the teams. Those same critics claim that the France family used a similar strategy with great success on Indy Car Racing (supporting Anton George's split from CART and the destruction of that sport) and Sports Car Racing (the formation of the Grand-Am series to keep ALMS at bay) to ensure those forms of racing never get too strong to threaten NASCAR.

Press Release

Following a highly successful first season of operation, the Premier Racing Association has announced a 9-race schedule for 2007. The Big Car Series will make return visits to South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel , Georgia , O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis and USA International Speedway in Lakeland , Florida . New venues for 2007 include Berlin Raceway in Marne , Michigan and Oswego Speedway in New York . Two other dates are nearly finalized and will be announced soon.

“We’re thrilled to be able to add two legendary tracks like Berlin Raceway and Oswego Speedway to our schedule for this year", stated PRA co-founder Jason McCord. “Both have great histories of racing, but Big Cars have never competed at either venue. Our level of competition will bring a new dimension of racing to these facilities."

The PRA’s first visit to South Georgia Motorsports Park in 2006 saw Ryan Newman in victory lane before a near capacity weeknight crowd. The 2007 visits to SGMP will both be on Saturday nights, as will a return visit to USA International’s three-quarter mile oval in Lakeland , Florida .

One of the two visits to O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis will be contested on Friday night, the other ORP date and the event at Berlin Raceway will be on Wednesday nights.

Veteran driver Chet Fillip won the inaugural PRA Big Car Championship, despite not winning a race. Race winners were Bobby Santos III (twice), Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, and Eric Gordon. In all 43 drivers competed in the series in its inaugural year.

April 7 South Georgia Motorsports Park Adel, GA
May 16 O'Reilly Raceway Park Indianapolis Clermont, IN
June 13 Berlin Raceway Marne, MI
TBA To Be Announced
Aug 10 Oswego Raceway Oswego, NY
TBA To Be Announced
Sept 14 O'Reilly Raceway Park Indianapolis Clermont, IN
Dec 1 South Georgia Motorsports Park Adel, GA
Dec 8 USA International Speedway Lakeland, FL