USAC Midget Weekend Derailed as Saturday Race Moves to Monday
NXTbets Pro | Published On: August 15, 2026
Friday rainout
The USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship never got past its first green flag. Rain rained out the Friday opener at Coles County Speedway in Mattoon and turned a planned three-race stretch across four nights into a weekend already fighting the weather. The series was set to return with a run that included races at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Illinois, Coles County Speedway and a Sunday stop that never made it to the finish line. USAC’s national racing season had also been lined up to resume with the Bettenhausen 100 for the Silver Crown Championship at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, which put the midget weekend inside a broader return to national competition.
That made the Friday loss an early blow to the schedule. The opener was supposed to launch the midget weekend at Coles County, but rain ended that plan before the series could settle in. The weather left USAC with a compressed path through the holiday weekend and pushed the rest of the program into a race-against-the-clock setup. The organization still had Saturday and Sunday on the books, but the opening night failure set the tone for the rest of the trip. One race was gone before the weekend truly started.
Saturday postponement
Saturday’s Lake Land College King of Coles at Coles County Speedway did not survive the weather either. Rain postponed the program to Monday on Labor Day weekend, keeping the event from running as planned in Mattoon. The card was built around USAC National Midgets, non-wing Junior Sprints and Restricted Sprints, a mix that gave the night a full short-track lineup beyond the headline class. The feature was scheduled for 40 laps and $6,000 to win, which made it the weekend’s biggest single race before the postponement pushed it back in the calendar.
The schedule for Saturday was already set with a clear rhythm. Gates were scheduled to open at 3 p.m. Central. The drivers meeting was set for 5:15 p.m. Track activity was scheduled for 6 p.m. That timetable was wiped out when rain moved in and forced USAC to carry the event into Monday. The postponement kept the Lake Land College King of Coles alive, and it left Coles County Speedway holding the weekend’s main surviving race after Friday’s rainout. The event still carried the same structure and purse when it was moved, but the weather changed the timing and the flow of the entire stop.
Sunday cancellation
Sunday’s Premiere at Jacksonville Speedway was canceled and will not be rescheduled. That ended the weekend’s final race before it could be made up and closed the door on the full four-night stretch USAC had planned for the midget series. The cancellation followed Friday’s rainout and Saturday’s postponement, leaving the schedule with one event pushed back and another removed entirely. The weekend no longer had the shape USAC had drawn up when it lined up the three-race run.
That left the series with a narrowed path through its holiday weekend slate. The Friday opener at Coles County Speedway in Mattoon was lost to rain. Saturday’s Lake Land College King of Coles was moved to Monday. Sunday’s Premiere was wiped out for good. The result was a weather-hit weekend that trimmed the original plan down quickly, even with the midget championship set to return as part of a broader national racing schedule. The calendar still pointed to the same tracks and the same classes, but rain forced the story to shift from preview to postponement and cancellation.
