This week saw the announcement of the schedule for the Tougher Than Dirt Tour! This year marks the sixth year of the tour and that means it has survived past the dreaded and relatively unknown five year litmus test. What's that test? Well, simply put any major race, series, or racing tour that survives past five years has made it and should be considered as a relatively important and big deal. As mentioned before the Tougher Than Dirt Tour has made it to its sixth year and it has had to survive some incredibly daunting challenges. Two years ago was the rainout year where the tour was plagued with multiple rainouts and then there has been the Covid Pandemic that it has navigate through. To say the least, it has been a rough road but the Tougher Than Dirt Tour has been tougher than dirt!
In all of the excitement of the announcement there are some very noticeable aspects that stand out on the schedule. First, a stronghold of the tour is noticeably missing as the Estevan Motor Speedway is off the tour this year. Now before anyone casts judgement about this decision, let's take a moment to understand why this decision had to be made. To be blunt, the Canadian border is still shut down for recreational/nonbusiness travel and this means that racers cannot travel north or south of the border. It may be an unpopular decision but it's a decision that Brandon Beeter (tour director) was forced into making. However, after talking with Brandon about the decision of having to drop Estevan, he was extremely adamite about the Tougher Than Dirt Tour returning north of the border.
The other aspect that was noticeable on the announced schedule was the return of the week long format of the tour. As you may remember the Tougher Than Dirt Tour was split up throughout the summer due to Covid regulations and issues. While the format last year allowed for the tour to take place during such a trying year, the return of the week long format looks to strengthen the field of drivers again. One other benefit that this brings is a steady amount of excitement for the tour and it keeps the hype surrounding it at fever pitch throughout the week.
The Tougher Than Dirt Tour garners a lot of attention for the classes that it spotlights and it very well could be considered the working mans tour! The IMCA Sport Mods and the IMCA Hobby Stocks take center stage and are the focal point of the tour. From that point on, Brandon Beeter has been ensuring that these classes got their opportunity to be the headlining classes for the tour. He has also ensured that these drivers have received a fair and strong purse to go with each race in the tour. The Tougher Than Dirt Tour also is has gotten the reputation of being a tour that sees extremely close points battles. This has been proven as the winners in either the Hobby Stocks or the Sport Mods have won their respected division by less than five points every year that the tour has been around.
The Tougher Than Dirt Tour continues to be a staple in race season for North Dakota and looks to stay a staple for years to come! Remember if you are unable to attend any of the races you will be able to watch them live on DARN TV. For more information please go to https://www.facebook.com/tougherthandirttour and message them.
2021 Schedule
June 9th: McLean County Speedway
June 10th: Thunder Mountain Speedway
June 11th: Williston Basin Speedway
June 12th: Southwest Speedway
June 13th: Nodak Speedway
Sport Mod Nightly Payouts Hobby Stock Nightly Payouts
$700 1. $400
$500 2. $325
$300 3. $250
$200 4. $175
$185 5. $165
$175 6. $150
$150 7. $140
$145 8. $130
$125 9. $120
10-20. $100 10-15. $100
21-24. $75 16-19. $75 20-24. $60
Previous Winners
2020
Sport Mods: Robby Rosselli Hobby Stocks: Brad King
2019
Sport Mods: Brady Bjella Hobby Stocks: Brandon Honrud/Brad King
2018
Sport Mods: Rocky Caudle Hobby Stocks: Brock Beeter
2017
Sport Mods: Robby Rosselli Hobby Stocks: Tyler Lucy
2016
Sport Mods: Brady Bjella
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