FARMER CITY, Ill. — The cars are built. The drivers are primed. And “xtreme” action awaits when the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota kicks off its 2025 season during the World of Outlaws Illini 100 weekend.
The Series’ 11 full-time stars will be joined by several of the best midget drivers in the country during the two-day event at Farmer City Raceway.
Built to be one of Illinois’s most heralded dirt racing events, Farmer City Raceway’s springtime showdown evolved from hosting only super late models and DIRTcar UMP Modifieds to welcoming midgets on the billing card for the first time in 2024.
The weekend at Farmer City Raceway marks the start of the 10-race Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series and the first of two weekends that the midgets share the track with the World of Outlaws late models in 2025.
The series moves into high gear for the first time on Thursday, April 10, for open practice with the midgets, late models, and the MARS Racing Series Modifieds.
The points collecting starts on Friday and Saturday night, April 11-12, with the midgets going around the quarter-mile bullring for $4,000-to-win on the opening night, then Saturday night’s finale has competitors chasing a $5,000 payday.
Beyond the action on the track, off-track activities include pop tab collections on Friday, a cornhole tournament and an autograph session on Saturday, and giveaways throughout the Illini 100 weekend.
Xtreme vs. POWRi, Part I
The third season of the 10-race Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series kicks off at Farmer City Raceway for drivers to chase the $2,500 champion’s bonus.
Last year’s running of the Illini 100 saw a KKM sweep on the top step of the podium, with Ryan Timms and Ashton Torgerson taking victory in Friday and Saturday’s feature races, respectively.
The Challenge Series in 2025 will make stops through Farmer City, Coles County Speedway for the inaugural King of Coles (May 30-31), I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park for the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff and Ironman 55(June 20-21, Aug. 1-2), and the finale weekend at Doe Run Raceway (Sept. 5) and Highland Speedway (Sept. 6).
McIntosh 2.0
Cannon McIntosh is eyeing to bring the same championship-chasing energy he brought toward his first Xtreme Outlaw title in 2024.
The Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) No.71k won six features to move his win total to 11 (most all-time) and began his 2025 year with wins at the Tulsa Shootout, Port City Raceway in a winged outlaw micro, and Creek County Speedway.
In McIntosh’s first visit to the quarter-mile Illinois dirt track, he finished with a top five on Friday before following up with a second-place effort in Saturday night’s finale.
A New Era
Chase McDermand begins the new journey of participating in the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets as an owner-driver for Chase McDermand Racing in 2025.
The Springfield, Ill., veteran is hot off his best year with the series, with a third-place points standing despite one feature win he attained the day after his birthday at Tulsa Speedway.
McDermand picked up his first top-10 of his 2025 year at the Turnpike Challenge ahead of the Xtreme season-opener.
Miller’s Revenge Tour
Early-season injuries took Gavin Miller out of contention for the 2024 Xtreme championship but showed his recovery was complete when he took the checkered flag in the season finale at Jacksonville.
The Allentown, Pa., native has found his way to victory lane in 2025 with a feature win at Port City Speedway over KKM teammates Jacob Denney and Cannon McIntosh.
Miller’s primary goal is simple, yet daunting in his return – win the series championship. It’ll start at Farmer City, where he drove to two sixth-place feature finishes in 2024.
Edwards’ Rising Stock
Tyler Edwards achieved a milestone in his midget career when he drove the Mounce/Stout Motorsports No. 56 to an A-Main start at the Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink in January.
Edwards is fresh off a 2024 rookie season with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets, featuring a career-high fourth-place finish at Atomic Speedway and seven top-10 finishes for ninth in the season’s points standings.
Since racing at the SageNet Center, the Salina, Okla., driver has kept himself busy with sprint car racing by posting a sixth-place effort at Arrowhead Speedway with the OCRS Sprint Cars ahead of his return to the Stanton-powered midget.
Fresh Faces in Farmer City
A stacked lineup of seven rookies will make their full-season points chase with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets when the first green flag drops in Farmer City, Ill., on Friday night.
Joining KKM for the 2025 slate includes Alex Karpowicz, Brandon Carr, Jacob Denney and Colton Robinson. Denney is the only driver of the four to have made a previous Xtreme start, with his debut coming for KKM at the 2024 finale in Jacksonville Speedway.
Karpowicz and Robinson each come from past success in winged and non-winged micro sprints, and Carr moves over from winning European karting titles to racing on the dirt ovals of the United States.
Trifecta Motorsports will field two rookie efforts for Michael Faccinto in the No. 5U, and Kameron Key in the No. 9U. Faccinto spent the last two years with Trifecta at the Chili Bowl Nationals, earning his first career A-Main start in the 2024 running.
Key has made various starts in open-wheel categories, including World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car starts at Volusia Speedway Park for Beaver Racing.
Hayden Wise joins the series in her family-owned midget for her first crack at a national Midget tour in 2025. The 14-year-old from Huntersville, N.C., claimed championships in the NASCAR Youth Series and Dixie Shootout Series Quarter Midgets before she moved up to piloting micro sprints.
