Allentown, PA – Alex Payne, the 2024 Super DIRTcar Series Rookie of the Year, will drive the Tyler Bartlett No. 93 in TQ Midget in competition this weekend at the Indoor Auto Racing Series opener inside Allentown’s PPL Center.

Payne, 19, will turn his first laps in an open cockpit TQ Midget during practice on Friday afternoon. He’ll need to get up to speed quickly to qualify for Ironton Global-sponsored feature events to be held on both Friday and Saturday nights.

The Bartlett race team has competed at every Len Sammons promoted Indoor Auto Racing Series event but one since the first in 2003 inside Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. At each event, with the exception of a 2016 New Year’s Eve race inside the Dunkin Donuts Arena in Providence, RI, Tyler’s brother, Ryan, has been the driver, and their father, Dave, a proud member of the pit crew.

Feeling a bit under the weather,  the 40 year-old Ryan Bartlett decided to get out of the seat this past week and give a younger driver a shot. Knowing the interest that Payne had in driving the car from a past conversation, a phone call was placed and he quickly accepted the offer.

Payne can only hope that lightning will strike for a second straight time for a rookie in Allentown. At last year’s event, 15-year-old Tanner VanDoren, another outstanding young Modified driver, jumped at an offer to run a TQ Midget at the Allentown opener and won Friday’s race!

A natural, Payne has advanced quickly to the highest level of dirt Modified competition. Racing full-time on the SDS for the first time this year, he picked up his first win at Ontario’s Brockville Speedway. With five top five finishes in the 19 series races he finished a very impressive seventh in the lucrative point standings. 

Winning six features during the 2024 season, Payne clinched the Outlaw Speedway track title in Dundee, NY and finished fourth in the Land of Legend standings at his hometown track in Canandaigua, NY.

Payne will join VanDoren and over 40 other drivers who will be seeking 24 qualifying spots in Friday’s 30 lap main and Saturday’s 40 lap feature. They’ll be joined by fellow dirt Modified drivers Billy Pauch Jr., Tim Buckwalter, Joe Toth, Matt Caprara, Johathan Reed, Timmy 

Catano and Steve Kemmery in competition.

In addition to the high-speed TQ Midgets—purpose-built race cars powered by motorcycle engines—two support divisions will also race: Slingshots and Champ Karts.    

Tickets for the event are on sale now via Ticketmaster and the PPL Center box office.

Family-Friendly Pricing: Tickets start at just $20 for adults, with general admission for children available for only $5 on the day of the event. Premium front-row seating and reserved seats are also available for an additional fee. Pricing excludes facility and ticketing fees.

Fans can enjoy an exclusive pre-race FanFest on the arena floor, where lower-level reserved ticket holders can walk the track and meet their favorite drivers before Saturday night’s race.

For those who cannot attend in person, the events will be streamed via PPV exclusively on DTDtv, a link for purchase will be available on the series website.

After two nights of racing in Allentown, the Indoor Series stars will head to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, for the NAPA Auto Parts Gambler’s Classic on January 31 and February 1. The series will conclude its season on a clay oval at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, NJ, on February 21 and 22.

For more information about the Indoor Auto Racing Series, including hotel deals, direct link to ticket purchases, racer rules, and entry forms, visit IndoorAutoRacing.com.