A Small Wisconsin Town Just Locked Up Short Course Racing Through 2027

Forget the desert for a minute. The Dirt City Off-Road National rolls into Lena, Wisconsin this month, and the track just signed a three-year deal to keep it that way.

A handshake that turned into a long-term commitment

Every year a small-town racetrack has to hope its sanctioning body sticks around is a year of uncertainty for everybody who built the place. That worry just got put to rest in Lena, Wisconsin. Champ Off-Road and the Lena Motorsport Club put pen to paper on a fresh multi-year arrangement that carries the Dirt City Off-Road National on the national schedule into the 2027 season, giving organizers, sponsors, and the surrounding community a runway to plan around instead of re-negotiating every winter.

Club president Troy Schaden framed it as more than a racing story, it is a local economy story too. The event pulls hundreds of racers and thousands of spectators into a town that leans on that weekend, and locking the date in for three more years means the restaurants, the gas station, the campgrounds, and the volunteer groups the club supports all get to count on it sticking around.

What actually happens July 24 through 26

Dirt City Motorplex has been hosting this race since 2019, and the layout has earned a reputation as a driver's track: a one-mile course built tight enough that horsepower alone will not save a bad line, but wide enough to let the Pro trucks stretch their legs when the course opens up. Sportsman classes share the weekend with the Pro field, so the ticket covers everything from grassroots privateers to the series' fastest names.

The weekend does not wait for green flag to get going. Friday night turns downtown Lena's Main Street into a meet-and-greet, with racers and rigs parked out for fans to walk through before a single lap counts. Add a truck pull track running alongside the short course, camping on site, and a natural viewing area built for thousands, and it is clear why this stop has grown from a regional curiosity into one of the calendar's stickier weekends.

Where Lena sits on the 2026 championship map

Dirt City is round five of an eight-weekend national schedule that opened in Missouri back in May and does not wrap up until Glen Helen in California in late September. It follows directly on the heels of the ERX Motor Park round in Minnesota and hands off next to the Rumble in the U.P. at Bark River, meaning three straight weekends of Midwest short course action bridge the middle of the summer before the tour eventually heads west.

Series president Carl Schubitzke put the bigger picture simply, noting the championship keeps thriving because of the passion and dedication of everyone involved, and the numbers back that up. More than 425 drivers ran across 20 classes last season between the pro ranks and the sportsman divisions, and the tour broadcasts live through FloRacing with highlight packages airing on Fox Sports, so a small-town Wisconsin venue is reaching a national audience whether it feels like it or not.

Why a desert crowd should still care

Short course and desert racing are built from different DNA. One is measured in hundreds of miles of open silt and rock, the other in tight laps where a single missed jump costs you the whole race in seconds. But the trucks, the classes, and a lot of the same manufacturer names show up in both disciplines, and plenty of racers cut their teeth bouncing between the two before ever pointing a Trophy Truck at Baja.

Watching a venue like Dirt City lock down its future is a reminder that the sport's health is not only measured out in the open desert. Grassroots tracks that keep their community bought in for years at a time are exactly what keeps the whole off-road pipeline healthy, feeding drivers, sponsors, and fans up toward the bigger stages we cover every week.

What to know before Dirt City weekend hits

Here is the rundown for anyone planning to follow along, in person or on the stream.

1. The dates: Racing runs July 24 through 26, 2026, at Dirt City Motorplex in Lena, Wisconsin.
2. The deal: Champ Off-Road and the Lena Motorsport Club just signed a three-year extension keeping the race in town through 2027.
3. The track: A one-mile short course built tight for technical racing but open enough for the Pro trucks to run.
4. Friday night first: Downtown Lena's Main Street hosts a fan meet-and-greet before the weekend's racing begins.
5. More than one discipline: A truck pull track runs alongside the short course for fans who want both flavors of horsepower.
6. Camping is covered: On-site camping and a natural spectator viewing area handle the crowd for the weekend.
7. How to watch: FloRacing streams the racing live, with highlights airing later on Fox Sports.
8. Its place in the season: Dirt City is the fifth of eight 2026 national weekends, right between the ERX and U.P. rounds.

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