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(October 8, 2013) - Saturday's 64th Annual Tim Thompson Nationwide Insurance National Crown will carry on a Central Indiana racing tradition that dates back to 1950. The event will be sanctioned by the International Outlaw Figure 8 Series (IOFS) with support from Anderson Speedway officials for the second consecutive year.

This years' National Crown will feature the richest purse in National Crown history. $3,000 will go to this year's winner. The National Crown will carry a total purse of over $12,000 and start up to 30 cars with a guaranteed $150 to start. With a record purse up for grabs, the National Crown is now the World's highest paying one-day figure 8 event.

The National Crown is the nation's oldest continuous stock car event. No stock car event, including the Daytona 500, predates the National Crown.

The event started in 1950 as a 300 lap "hardtop" stock car event. The format changed in 1960 when a Figure 8 was added to Anderson Speedway. Former owner, Joe Helping, decided to alter the event to take advantage of the popularity of Figure 8 racing that was sweeping the nation.

Current owner, Rick Dawson, wants to see the National Crown return to national prominence that the event enjoyed in the 1960's. In an effort to do such, Dawson left no stone overturned and decided to disperse the record purse and moved the date to latter in the year in an effort to gain more cars.

IOFS Managing Partner, David Sink, explained his thoughts on the record purse."Rick (Dawson) knows how important the National Crown is to Anderson Speedway and the City of Anderson. He would like to see the event become one of the biggest Figure 8 events in the entire country," explained Sink."He has put up a lot of money this year to help make this happen and I applaud him for all his efforts. I think this is the start of something big and I personally am excited about what the future holds for this event," concluded Sink.