5/22/2025
Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series
Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series and Needmore Speedway Returning to Speedweeks in 2026 with Expanded South Georgia Showdown
Norman Park, Ga. (May 22) — After making their Speedweeks debuts earlier this year, Needmore Speedway and the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series will once again partner for Speedweeks racing in 2026 with a bigger and better edition of the South Georgia Showdown, scheduled for January 29-31.
Now in its second year as part of the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks slate, the South Georgia Showdown will expand to a weekend format after launching as a weeknight event in 2025. The move to a Thursday-through-Saturday schedule is expected to elevate the event’s profile and attract an even deeper field of Super Late Model competitors to the 3/8-mile South Georgia oval.
The shift in dates follows a broader reshuffling of the Speedweeks calendar after the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series announced plans to move its Georgia-Florida Speedweeks events, traditionally held from late January through mid-February, to a new window running from mid-February through early March.
While complete event details, including purse structures and support divisions, are still to be finalized, the Super Late Model portion of the 2026 South Georgia Showdown will feature a significant increase in payouts over the inaugural format, which was originally planned as a pair of $10,000-to-win features. This expansion reflects the momentum behind both Needmore Speedway and the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series, as they continue to establish themselves as key players in the Speedweeks landscape.
“Being part of Speedweeks is a big deal for our series,” said series promoter Joshua Joiner. “There’s so much tradition and energy surrounding that time of year in dirt racing, and for us to have a presence in it is something we’re proud of. We dipped our toes in with a mid-week show in 2025, and now with the Lucas Oil Series shifting later in the calendar, we saw an opportunity to expand into a weekend slot and build something even bigger. We’re also really excited to continue working with Chance Smith and his team at Needmore. We had a great show there this year, and we’re looking forward to growing that event—and our partnership—moving forward.
That sentiment is echoed by Needmore Speedway promoter Chance Smith, who sees the partnership with Hunt the Front as a key part of the track’s continued growth and its place in the evolving Speedweeks landscape.
“We’re really excited to bring the South Georgia Showdown back for a second year and continue building on what we started in 2025,” Smith said. “Needmore Speedway has been growing every season, and being part of Speedweeks is another big step forward for us. We’re proud to be working with the Hunt the Front team again—they bring a lot of professionalism, energy, and reach to everything they do, and it means a lot to have their series as part of this event. We had a great show this year, and we’re looking forward to making it even bigger in 2026.”
The inaugural South Georgia Showdown, held in January 2025, was originally slated to be a two-night, $10,000-to-win doubleheader. Weather condensed the event to a single night, where Hudson O’Neal claimed the victory in front of an enthusiastic crowd and a record live streaming audience on Hunt the Front TV.
Full event details—including full payouts, support classes, ticketing information, and more—will be announced in the coming weeks. Fans can stay up to date by visiting www.htfseries.com and following the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series on social media.
Submitted By: Joshua Joiner
