Jacksonville’s Banking, Speeds Bring Thrills, Challenges To Midget Racers

CONCORD, NC (Oct. 2, 2024) — Banked, curbed and fast. Jacksonville Speedway hosts the 2024 season finale for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota this Friday–Saturday, Oct. 4–5, and will offer drivers one of the biggest challenges of the season.

Located approximately two hours north of St. Louis, the black dirt, banked 1/4-mile oval located inside the Morgan County Fairgrounds in Jacksonville, IL, has been a host of Midget racing every year since 2005 and has hosted the Xtreme Outlaw Series in each of its first two seasons. This weekend, its hosts one final Midget special for the year with a 25-lap, $4,000-to-win main event on Friday and a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win program to close the season on Saturday.

Home-state racers Chase McDermand and Karter Sarff — last year’s Xtreme winner at Jacksonville — will race points leader Cannon McIntosh and the rest of the field on both nights of the event. Each offered their sentiments on competing at the venue and the excitement surrounding championship weekend.

Generally speaking, what are your thoughts on racing at Jacksonville?

McDermand: I really like Jacksonville. We seem to have good speed there. I’m super familiar with the track; I’ve grown up going there from when my dad raced Stock Cars there to various Midget races growing up, and then racing there with the D2 and Badger stuff even before Xtreme came along.

McIntosh: I feel like all year, it’s been kind of breaking down those barriers of tracks that I’ve either not been great at or not enjoyed racing at. We’ve went out and kind of changed the narrative for me this year. I’ve won at tracks that I’ve struggled at in the past this year, and actually enjoyed a lot of the tracks that I didn’t enjoy racing at before.

I feel like I’ve lacked a bit of comfort when it comes to running there. It’s probably a little bit of [a mental thing], but I’d say a lot of it is just really understanding the way the track works. I’ve raced there quite a bit, but I feel like I’ve just never got a full understanding of it and what I need to do when I go there.

Sarff: I always look forward to racing at Jacksonville. It’s close to home, not too far of a drive to get there. It’s a little bullring, a lot of action. I have a lot of laps around there, so we’re usually pretty good there. I always look forward to going back to Jacksonville.

Do you like racing at the tiny bullrings like Jacksonville?

McDermand: I do. Jacksonville at least has a little room to move around and race compared to some of the other places we go to. I feel like the big tracks kind of suited me for a couple races this year, but I’ve had good runs on the small tracks too. It helps having some familiarity with the venue that we’re going to, and just having a good notebook is always important to success.

Sarff: Yeah, it seems to be the places we usually stand out, with the big ol’ cushion. But I don’t know, this year we’ve been pretty good on the big tracks as well. I think just getting our whole package put together has been a big thing for us. I’ve always been a short track racer and like the cowboy-up, big-cushion tracks, and that’s usually what Jacksonville is. It suits me pretty well.

What makes Jacksonville stand out from all the other 1/4-mile “bullring” type tracks that Midgets so commonly race on today?

McDermand: For the classification of a 1/4-mile, I feel like it’s pretty small. Seems like we go to a vast majority of 1/4-miles, and they all seem to be a little bit different in length. It’s a tight 1/4-mile and it’s got a lot of banking, which I feel like races well. It seems like it always builds a nice cushion up on the wall, which helps with the sliders and that type of racing. The track’s usually pretty good when we go there in terms of being pretty slick. That bodes well for our type of racing, and it seems like we’re always putting on good shows when we go there.

McIntosh: I’d say one of the things that makes it stand out is how hard you have to run it. It’s usually up around the fence, and you’ve gotta be pretty much running 99 percent the whole time to keep a good pace.

Sarff: I feel like it’s one of the fastest 1/4-mile bullrings that we go to. It usually puts on some good races no matter what; I feel like we’ve never really had a boring race there. It’s close to home too, so that stands out to me. Not too far of a drive to get there and a short drive home as well. We’ve always ran well there. It’s the place I ran my first 305 Sprint Car race at, so I have a lot of special laps I’ve made there.

What is something that only a driver would know about racing at Jacksonville, something a fan can’t understand by just watching?

McDermand: As a driver, something that always sticks out to me about Jacksonville is the frontstretch. When you’re racing on the frontstretch — that’s where you pull on and off the racetrack, so there’s no wall or anything there — so you have to be careful of the huge berm going into Turn 1 and off of Turn 4. That’s something that’s definitely bitten a lot of people.

McIntosh: The top is trickier than it seems. Being able to trust your car. I feel like it definitely tests the balance of your car, especially early in the night — it’s a lot more rough than it may look. Each corner you get into, there’s always a little bit of a hump that the car goes over, and it unloads the car. It definitely tests the balance and whether or not you can trust your car throughout the night.

Sarff: It’s just fast. It’s one of those places where, as a driver, you go up to watch a Heat Race that you’re not in and it’s just kinda wild to see how fast they’re going.

What are your expectations for the atmosphere and the racing in the final weekend of the season?

McDermand: Me and Ashton (Torgerson) that are kind of tight [in points], maybe a little bit harder racing there compared to the rest. You might get a couple of those throughout the top 10 maybe that are close, but nothing changes for me, really. You still have to go out there. My philosophy is if you win, you do everything that you can to get the points anyway. We always show up to win, so nothing really changes from my perspective.

McIntosh: I feel like it’ll be pretty normal. Obviously, people know what’s on the line, but at the same time, I’d like to think that a few of us have enough respect to race each other the way we have all year and not try to overdo it. There’s a lot of guys that aren’t in contention anymore and can make up some places, but I’d say that everyone is gonna be smart about it and respectful.

Sarff: I think some drivers may be a little on the cautious side, but then again, they gotta be running up front, doing all they can and taking advantage of every spot they can get. For drivers that are racing for the championship, I think their mindset shouldn’t change much because they still need to try and win to try and seal up a championship. But for me, how it’s been all year long — we just want to win races.

ARTICLE: https://xtremeoutlawseries.com/news/track-talk-jacksonvilles-banking-speeds-bring-thrills-challenges-to-midget-racers/

EVENT INFO: https://xtremeoutlawseries.com/schedule/event-info/?event=6141

TRACK INFO: https://jacksonvillespeedway.com/

FAN 101: https://about.dirtcar.com/