The Little 500 is not your average sprint car race. In fact, it’s not even your average motor race. With 33 traditional sprint cars - each pushing out upwards of 850 horsepower - taking the green flag 3-abreast to begin 500 gruelling laps on a high banked ¼ mile oval, complete with pit stops in cars that were never designed for pit stops, the Little 500 is not your average anything.
The historic Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Indiana is the venue, and the 59th Annual Pay-Less Little 500 is the event. The Little 500 purposely shares many similarities with the Indianapolis 500, including the format for time trials, and how the starting grid lines up.
To even qualify for the event – which is the world’s richest pavement sprint car event with a total purse of nearly $123,000 - in the unique 4 lap time trial format is an accomplishment in and of itself.
In his Little 500 debut in May 2005, Lyons, Ontario, Canada’s Ryan Litt managed to come home with a 7th place finish after qualifying 18th – pretty good for a rookie with very little experience in a full size sprint car and a hastily assembled pit crew. Last season, with more sprint car racing experience under his belt and better team preparation, Ryan improved his time trial effort, qualifying 11th, but did not finish the race and was credited with 25th. This year Ryan will be gunning for his first top 10 qualifying effort and his first top 5 finish in the gruelling event.
Before the Little 500, teams will have a chance to tune up for the race on Wednesday night, May 23rd in the rain-postponed USAC National Sprint Car Series Glenn Neibel Classic Banjo 100 – just one fifth of the distance the drivers will face on Saturday night, May 26th. On Thursday May 24th it will be time for pole day/first round qualifying for the big show. Friday May 25th features final round qualifying for the big race, and Saturday is the big day.
From Litt Racing P.R. (May 22, 2007) by Tommy Goudge
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