Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Rallycross has rebranded to become Nitrocross with the release of a 2023-2024 calendar featuring 10 rounds.
“I love rallycross, with its action-packed sprint racing and door-to-door action,” series creator Pastrana said in a press release. “That core hasn’t changed. But we can’t be relegated to the rules historically in place for rallycross. The Nitro Circus full-send mentality is also a big part of our DNA. We wanted to make sure that attitude came through loud and clear.”
The 10-round schedule will include six locations with doubleheaders in four of the venues.
The series begins at MidAmerica Outdoors in Jay, Oklahoma on June 16-17, marking the first time the series will visit that motorsports park. This track features 150-feet elevation changes, tight S turns and a series of jumps reminiscent of a roller coaster.
From there, the series heads to Salt Lake City, Utah on August 18-19 at Utah Motorsports Campus for Rounds 2 and 3. The series debuted on this track for a one-off event five years ago. Drivers will be challenged there by a gap-jump of more than 100 feet.
Rounds 4 and 5 will be held at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Arizona on November 10-11. Pastrana and series champion Robin Larsson won there last year.
Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernadino, California will host Rounds 6 and 7. The series will race on this iconic track December 9-10, but even though they will be able to avoid the snow and ice covering much of the country, they will not be able to get away from it entirely.
Round 8 is scheduled for a return to Calgary, Alberta and the Stampede Park on February 2-3, 2024.
Last year, attendance at both Wild Horse Pass and Glen Helen surged by more than 30 percent from Nitro’s 2021 inaugural visits as Calgary welcomed more than 20,000 fans.
Rounds 9 and 10 will close out the schedule at a location that will be announced later either late February or early March.
“We are looking for nothing less than to raise the bar of our events,” Pastrana said. “We need custom-built tracks and better entertainment at the venues. We want Nitrocross to be exciting for the competitors and for fans around the world. We are going to have the highest-flying series on earth, and I can’t wait to see what happens.”
Nitrocross expects to draw elite drivers from other sports, just as they have in past seasons. Last year Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric and Jenson Button made guest appearances in the series.
Six drivers stood on the top box of the podium last season in a championship battle that was not decided until the final day. In the end, Larsson beat Andreas Bakkerud by winning the season finale.