SOMERSET, Ky. — Chris Tilley has sold the MARS Racing Series to Tony Izzo Jr. and Sixteens Race Promotions, effective Oct. 18, 2019.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank each promoter and race track, each race team and driver, every sponsor and race fan along with all of our great staff who made the last two seasons the best the MARS tour had ever seen,” said Tilley. “I would like to thank Schaeffer’s Oil for being our title sponsor last season and we will continue to work with them on our Iron-Man Series in the Southeast and they’ll remain with us on our Southern tours.”

Tilley cited his busy schedule that attributed to the sale of the tour.

“I stretched myself thin last year, but we were able to cover all of the events with the crew we had. I know that Tony (Izzo) will be able to schedule more events and I’m sure he’ll be able to secure a lot more sponsors to help the racers get up and down the road,” said Tilley. “The future of MARS looks very bright and I’m happy to turn the keys over to someone who will have time to make it grow even more and continue what we started and I’m sure Tony and company will get the job done. We look forward to transitioning everything over.”

During the last two seasons, Tanner English (2018) and David Seibers (2019) won the MARS Racing Series championship. The series ran 23 events with 14 different winners, eight of those being first time winners.