Wade Nygaard began his 26th season by winning last week’s River Cities Speedway sprint feature.
His goal hasn’t changed from any of the previous 25 seasons.
“I’d like to get faster,” he said.
More speed isn’t necessarily guaranteed but more races this season for the Grand Forks driver -- and others -- may be in store to find that faster speed.
The opportunity for Grand Forks-area sprint drivers to race more this season exists after the Badlands Motor Speedway -- formerly Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. -- announced an aggressive 2016 race schedule.
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The track will race Saturday and Sunday nights, with payouts significantly higher than previous seasons.
The track also will offer guarantee money for out-of-town drivers, making the trip to the Sioux Falls, S.D., area more affordable. Also, the Badlands 410 feature pays $5,000 to win while the track’s Sunday shows, for 360 drivers, will pay $2,500 to win.
For Nygaard, he plans to race RCS on Friday nights, then compete in South Dakota whenever he can.
The Northern Outlaw Sprint Association, based in Grand Forks, also has a more aggressive schedule this season.
All sprint races at RCS are sanctioned by NOSA. The race club also has planned eight sanctioned races this season in Crary, N.D., Glyndon, Minn., West Fargo, Ada, Minn., and Greenbush, Minn.
“We’re going to race three nights a week when we get rolling,” said Nygaard, who won the 252nd feature of his career last week at RCS.
The first non-RCS show for NOSA this season will be May 14 at the Devils Lake Speedway, located near Crary.
The second show of the season is planned Friday at RCS. All four classes will be racing.
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Car counts for all classes were strong last week, which sometimes is unusual this early in the year. There were 28 sprints on hand.
