Sport mod's will be featured in around eight races in 2018 at the Estevan Motor Speedway.(Photo Courtesy of Byron Fichter)

It may only be the beginning of January, but before you know it the smell of fuel and dirt will be in the air at the Estevan Motor Speedway, and in 2018, a sport mod class will take to the dirt in hopes to grow the sport.

"It's an entry level class, and to add another beginner class and give these young guys avenues to grow up and be the future superstars of our track is amazing," said Speedway President, Byron Fichter. "I think it's something that our board takes a lot of pride in growing the sport in general."

Racing fans in the south east will get a healthy dose of the new class, as the sport mod's are expected to race around eight times in 2018. With similar features to both the modified class and hobby stocks, President Fichter broke down the differences.

"They look similar to modifieds, they have a bigger wing and basically run the same engine as a hobby stock. A little smaller engine with a little less power and quite a bit of the difference is the unseen things. They don't have as technically advanced suspension systems, a little rougher around the edges in terms of being able to drive in one."

"The fun thing about them is that hopefully if you're a beginner and you get into that class and you race for a while and you feel accomplished, you can move up to the modified class. Part of that is we hope that class will feed our mod class down the road."

Fichter also pointed to the success of the slingshot class that has seen tremendous growth since it's inception at the dirt track.

"We started with having two or three cars in slingshots and last year we had up to 12 at one point, and it sounds like that is going to continue to grow. Having these classes for kids to move up to is amazing."

Click here to read more about 2018's tentative schedule.