Fans of top-level snowmobile oval sprint racing competition will be bamboozled looking for next year’s race season online. So far, anyway. But if they went to the Hay Days Grass Drags, they would have seen an exciting, nine-race 2024-25 schedule posted in broad daylight!
The United States Snowmobile Association (USSA) had both a 2024-25 ProStar Cup Tour schedule and a ProStar Series schedule posted in their booth at Hay Days. For those in the know, both had exciting news.
The USSA ProStar Cup Tour is the national points series that incorporates events that run both inside and outside of the normal USSA schedule. Therefore, its schedule gives more of an overview of North American oval racing for the coming winter. The USSA ProStar Series, meanwhile, is more of a local series with races in Wisconsin and one just barely across the border in Michigan’s U.P.
All USSA ProStar Series events have USSA ProStar Cup points races at them. But fewer than half of the USSA ProStar Cup points races are held at USSA ProStar Series tracks.
Confused? Read on.
USSA ProStar Cup Tour
The USSA ProStar Cup Tour essentially crowns a North American champion in a small handful of key classes – most notably Pro Champ 440.
That series starts and ends with events at the famed Canadian Power Toboggan Championship (CPTC) facility in Beausejour, Manitoba. The big track always creates some high speeds! The first points race there will be December 14, the opening day of a weekend of racing in a multitude of classes.
Three weeks later, the sport makes a triumphant return to Ironwood, Michigan, for the 2025 Snowmobile Olympus. The Ironwood facility has faced all sorts of challenges in recent years, including a raging fire. But local organizers and volunteers won’t back down to anything! We’re very glad to see it back on the schedule for January 4-5.
Round three, the Cup series moves to Eagle River, Wisconsin, with a points race Friday night, January 17. It’s a part of the World Championship Snowmobile Derby weekend that’ll crown a new World Champ in the Formula III class on Sunday, January 19. It’s also the first of seven consecutive weekends of points races on the ProStar Cup Tour.
The USSA has made round four in Wausau, Wisconsin, into a premium event the past couple of years, with extra money on the line and a Sprint World Cup moniker. It’ll be January 24-26 in 2025.
The circuit then returns to Canada, first for racing at Eganville, Ontario – another historic site – on February 1 during Bonnechere Cup weekend. Then it’s on to the Grand Prix de Valcourt in Ski-Doo’s hometown of Valcourt, Quebec, on February 7-9.
Then it’s back to Wisconsin for the popular, multi-faceted Manawa SnoDeo February 15-16. It’s followed by a second event at Eagle River with the 2025 World Series February 21-22.
The wrap-up comes March 1-2, back in Beausejour, Manitoba for the 63rd annual Canadian Championship.
The weather the last couple of years created havoc with past aggressive plans by oval racing schedulers. Let’s hope all this talk of a cold La Nina winter is accurate and the full schedule can be completed.
USSA ProStar Series
Not to be confused with the USSA ProStar Cup, the exclusive USSA ProStar Series includes four of the races mentioned above. Yeah, the national series vs. local series gig was a lot easier to keep track of when one was called a TLR Cup! Where are you Tommy Lipar?! (In all seriousness, his generosity to the sport should not be forgotten.)
Either way, the Ironwood Snowmobile Olympus (Jan. 4-5), Sprint World Cup in Wausau (Jan. 24-26), Manawa SnoDeo (Feb. 15-16), and World Series in Eagle River (Feb. 21-22) will feature a full slate of USSA oval race action in multiple classes, beyond the high-profile classes in the ProStar Cup.
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