Australian Sprintcar Championship

The Australian Sprintcar Championship is a dirt track racing championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion for winged sprint car racing. The single championship meeting runs in either late January or early February and has been held each year since the Windsor RSL Speedway in Sydney hosted the first championship in 1963. After the first nine championship meetings were held in New South Wales, the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia (SCCA) now holds the meeting in a different state on a rotational basis, with 1972 seeing the first championship held outside of NSW at the Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria. The Australian Sprintcar Title is only open to Australian drivers and is run and sanctioned by the SCCA.

Traditionally it was the most prestigious race in Australia to become the country's national champion, as it is restricted to Australian drivers only. However, the race has lost its prestige even to locals because of its closed status of domestic drivers only, compared to major national championships in tennis, golf, and speedcars, which are open to internationals. In 1984, Garry Rush said the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, founded in 1973, had surpassed the Australian Championship because it was a "national open" because of his rivalry with international drivers Danny Smith of Indiana (which Rush won seven Grand Annuals to six by Smith) and Jac Haudenschild of Ohio (who won two Grand Annuals) in the Grand Annual, while neither Smith nor Haudenschild could participate in the Australian Championship.

I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I regard (The Grand Annual) as the most important on the sprint car calendar. It brings greater satisfaction than winning the national title.

In addition, two races founded in 2024 have gained increasing exposure to sprintcar racing in Australia, the invitation-only NAPA Sprintcars in the City, held in Adelaide, South Australia during the Supercars Adelaide Grand Final, and the high-paying High Limit Racing International: Perth in Western Australia, an open race held days after Boxing Day. Both races also feature domestic drivers and those from New Zealand, United States, and Canada, establishing a higher sense of prestige because of visiting international stars. The Adelaide race, Grand Annual, and High Limit Perth pay more than the Australian Championship in addition to being open to non-Australian drivers.