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June 6, 2025 12 mins
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, President, Craig Rust, phoned into WMAN to share about starting up the 64th season of racing at the historic track.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 6, 2025) – The 64th season of racing begins today at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with thrilling International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) sports car competition at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Four Hours of Mid-Ohio (June 6-8, 2025). The three-day event is headlined by a four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge endurance race plus on track action from three other series. 

In total, seven races will take the green flag this weekend as the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin and USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire will each compete in a pair of races on the legendary 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. The headlining four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge endurance race on Sunday at Noon ET is the second of only two four-hour competitions on the series’ 2025 slate. 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we're gonna go to the telephone today as

(00:03):
we begin another season of racing at the mid Ohio
sports Car Course. They are entering as they begin a
big weekend of racing this weekend, their sixty fourth season.
Of course, they'll have five big events coming up and
it all starts with what is going on this weekend

(00:23):
and that is the O'Reilly Auto Parts four Hours of
mid Ohio. And to talk about the season in general.
For this opening weekend, we're happy to have the president
of the racetrack, president of the midd Ohio sports Car Course,
now entering hard to believe, his fourteenth year. That is
Craig Russ. Craig, good morning, Thanks so much for being
with us. I don't have to say good morning because

(00:45):
you're excited right at racing weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yep. No, this is what we work all year four
is to finally get the season underway. So yeah, excited
about the entire season and to kick it off with,
you know, a strong sports our event with him, it's
a great way to start.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, And I want to jump in and have you
highlight some of the races. But you know, here we
are into June and Craig it's finally starting to fill
summer lock. We thought it was never going to get here.
Those temperatures right.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you. Now, this sport works a lot easier and
nice weather than bad weather and cold weather. So yep,
we're happy to see the temperature change a little bit.
And it also much nicer for the fans and you know,
the guests that come on out and watch the races.
It makes everything a little bit easier.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Man, we're talking with Craig Rust again, President mid Ohio
Sports Car Course. I've been giving away tickets to fans
here in the morning. They've been calling in to win,
and I had one guy tell me he won, you know,
the ink last year, and he said heat has had
an awesome time going to midd Ohio. So let's kind
of begin. Craig, I mentioned you have five really big
events over the course of the racing season. It starts

(01:52):
with this weekend. Could you talk a little bit about
the big events for you guys this year.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, we had basically the same schedule as we have
last year, but it's a it's a great schedule. You know,
kick us off this weekend with in in the O'Reilly
four hours, but showcases sports Car, which is kind of
what we were born out of the racetrack. And then
our Vintage Grand Prix in a couple of weeks, again

(02:17):
more of a celebration of car than drivers. SBI is
an amateur body, but the cars are beautiful that these
guys bring out in race and there's you know, a
lot of cars, a lot of drivers, a lot going on,
so that's a kind of a cool just has kind
of a melloware vibe if you're really into cars. And
then we get into the Indy two hundred, which is

(02:39):
the event we're most known for. These are the guys
that run the Indy five hundred. Mid Ohio has a
strong history with IndyCar racing. It's great to see the
Indy Car Series grow the way it has over the
past I'm going to say four or five season. It
just seems to be getting stronger each year. They sold
out the Indy five hundred on Memorial Day weekend and

(03:03):
that modes well for the track and we can see
that with the numbers of people that have been coming out.
And then our VMD event that it's a shared event
with the AMA celebrating Village Motorcycles. Between camping and the
spectators that come out. There's thousands of motorcycles out here
tearing up the place. And then we end the season

(03:26):
in August with motor America. And we were lucky enough
once we committed to repaving the track, they put us
on the schedule and we had a great event last
year and you know that'll be the wind down for
the season for us.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
And again you're hereck from Craig rest this morning as
we talked about the season sixty fourth of racing at
the Middle Ohio sports Car Course. He is president of
the Mid Ohio sports Car Course, and he mentioned opening
up this weekend, you know, first full week of June
with the O'Reilly Auto Parts four Hours of Mid Ohio.
He mentioned the Grand Prix Mid Ohio that's June twenty
to the twenty second. Craig, I want to talk about

(04:02):
the hont Indy two hundred July fourth through the sixth.
We'll give them the date real quickly. Motorcycle Days, the
Vintage one July twenty fifth through twenty seventh, and then
the superbikes. You mentioned moti America in town August fifteenth
to seventeenth. You talked about you know, Indy cars and
how popular that is. You mentioned Indy five hundred Memorial
Day weekend. How about July fourth, fifth, and sixth, you got,

(04:25):
of course everybody the spotlight with the Indy Cars at
mid Ohio. Boy, it's great to have that over the
holiday weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Is it not? It is. It's something that we worked
with IndyCar several years ago when they needed us to
make the switch. I'll be honest, I was a little
bit hesitant about it just being on a you know,
being on a holiday weekend, but the fans have really
embraced it. I think it's become tradition for a lot
of families to come out and check it out. We

(04:53):
do fireworks on Saturday. You know, it is the event
that we are most known for and our relationship with Honda,
and not just American Honda, but we've also developed a
really strong relationship with the R and D Center at Marysville.
A lot of Honda associates come out and bring their families.
It shit a lot of fun and like I said,

(05:14):
I'm an open wheel guy. So as the series has
continue to improve, the drivers are improving. There's I think
there's four or five rookies in the series that popping
in out a little bit, but it really is a
neat weekend.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
And it'll be the forty second running here, the biggest
race in Ohio with the Honda Indy two hundred this
summer July fourth through the sixth at the Mid Ohio
sports Car Course. President at the track, Craig Rust, is
with us on the phone today. Craig, while we talk
about a new season of racing, I know there's a
lot of preparation you mentioned to preparing for each race

(05:51):
each weekend, all those kind of things. Walk us through
kind of the process in terms of, you know, how
early you guys prepare because it's not just like, hey,
you know, we were we have a big event coming up.
There's a lot of planning. Walk us through preparation for Middle.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Ohio specifically after our last major public event, we still
will operate the track for you know, clubs, for regional clubs,
national clubs that come through and rent the track on
weekends and that'll go all the way through October thirty first,
So we typically we are open from April one to
October thirty one. So that means everything that we need

(06:29):
to do from a facility improvement standpoint, needs to happen
during during those months, and then in the fall, when
we're immediately done with the schedule, we have a chance
to kind of take a deep breath, and that's when
you go back and kind of take a look at
notes from each of the races, what went well, what

(06:49):
went bad, kind of make your own to do list
for the off season. But then we get right back
into we got to get ticket sales out online by
November or early December, so we're working on ticket pricing,
camping pricing, anything that we want to add, new hospitality areas,
things like that. It's also our major selling season right there,

(07:12):
so to make sure we have the Hondas, the O'Reilly
Auto parts, the perm Coast on board. They're really sponsors
are really important motorsports. I think everybody knows that, but
we have to secure them and then you kind of
get into execution mode after the new year, and that's, okay,
what work can be done if we get a nice day,

(07:34):
things like that. Last year in the offseason, we did
a complete repave and improvement to term four, which is
the right hand turn coming down the back straight at
the end of the right at the bottom right before
the s's and I think it was seventeen thousand truckloads
of dirt were brought in. We raised the area and

(07:57):
it's all new barriers, new fencing and stuff like that,
you know, safety for the drivers. So we worked with
Indy Car, but we bring NASCAR in for that. So
you don't do anything without kind of the blessing of
the series to say yeah, that'll work. And you know
they send their engineers up and you know it's mundane stuff,

(08:17):
but when you start talking about, you know, digging up
a racetrack or changing a racetrack or changing a turn,
it it matters.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Greg Russ is with us for a few more minutes
as we're getting excited because racing back for the season
at the Mid Ohio sports Car Course this weekend, their
first event with the O'Reilly Auto Parts four hours of
Mid Ohio. Greg, if somebody you know is thinking about
coming out this weekend, just you know, kind of highlight
a little bit about this opening weekend. What are some

(08:45):
of the things to watch out for some you know,
don't miss things this weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Really, I would just encourage people. The biggest thing, these
cars are beautiful. I mean it's the Audi's the BMW's Lexus,
the Honda Portia. It's just a showcase of the car manufacturers.
We are one of two four hour events or the

(09:10):
Pilot Challenge Series. The other one is Daytona, so it's
only Daytona and midd Ohio that this series runs for
our events. But other than that, then we have the
VP Series which is another into series, the Mazda Miata
Series which m X five which fans love a lot
of cars. They are really fun event to watch competitive,

(09:34):
and then this year we are bringing in the USF Juniors,
which is a feeder series but an open wheel series,
you know, younger drivers, so a lot of stuff going
on on the track. The schedules on the website, all
the ticket pricing is there. Tickets are very reasonable for
either coming out for the day or wanting to come

(09:54):
out for the weekend. So and then you know, we
have a full midway, you know for fans to walk
around check things out, and obviously all the concessions and
stuff like that, so you know, hopefully a nice time
for folks to be outside, check out some good racing
and some cool cars.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
All right, check it out. Tickets, all the info Middohio
dot com last thing before I let him go. Craig Grass, President,
Mid Ohio sports Car Course. I get a chance over
the course of the summer to visit with a few
of the drivers. I'd like to talk to you. And
it's kind of funny, you know. I've been you know,
in radio probably in this area for about twenty years,
and I'll talk to drivers, different people every year. They

(10:32):
all seem to just love this track at mid Ohio.
Is you know elevation Well, Craig, what is it you
talk to people all the time. I mean, so many
people just love when they come to this track.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, the track really lends itself. And you know, been
at other racetracks, another road course, but one of the
things Middle Ohio really lends itself to both top professional
racing and amateur racing. I don't know if that's what
they were shooting for they when they built it, but

(11:02):
with the elevation change. For folks listening that have not
been here, we're not a street course. It was designed
right into the lay of the land so to speak,
and the landscape so just cool areas to view different
types of turns. We have several one, two, three very
fast sections of the track that lead into very tight

(11:23):
turns and that's what helps create passing and racing. So yeah,
the drivers all seem to love it, you know, from
all the series, but you know also the amateurs. Amateurs
love coming out here and racing with their clubs.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Craig, I know, I got to let you go, but
we mentioned this weekend of course with the four hours
at mid Ohio. But if they want to get tickets
for the Grand Prix mid Ohio Indy, you know Weekend
Indy two hundred Weekend Vintage Motorcycle Days Superbikes later in
the summer, they can go do that now right at
the website.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Correct, Middohio dot Com has all the information pricing different
packages for different events, so that's place to get all
your information.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
And you mentioned the ys earlier, but maybe some people
you know have him been there a bunch. You can
camp and really make it an extra fun time, right.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, we've really built up our camping areas so to speak.
But yes, great place, you know, especially on that Fourth
of July weekend. Like I said, we do fireworks on
Saturday night. A lot of fun stuff goes on with
Honda and they do some fun stuff with the drivers
and take them back into the campgrounds. But yeah, there's

(12:28):
camping available for this weekend. If you're going to camp somewhere,
why not do it around the racetrack and get to
see some racing.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah yeah, world class racing. Absolutely, we're gonna let him go.
Craig rast, President of the midd Ohio sports Car Course,
with us as they open up officially for their sixty
four season of racing this weekend. The four Hours of
midd Ohio. Midd Ohio dot com is a place to go, Craig.
We always appreciate the visit. Thanks for being with us.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I appreciate it, and thanks for having me out
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