It’s easy to make a small fortune in motor racing, the old saying goes. Just start with a large one, and buy a team. But that was before US Legend Cars International, a racing series designed around big fun instead of big money.

Like many things American, the sport has colourful roots and something of an outlaw past. It can trace its origins to scofflaws who drove as if their liberty depended on it, because it did.

Not quite as much will be at stake when the series makes its Singapore debut as part of Goodstock Speedfest, a high-octane event that will run from Aug 11 to 13 at Changi Exhibition Centre. Instead, 30 drivers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and yes, Singapore, will duke it out on an oval track for kudos and a S$100,000 payday for the winner.

That’s a handsome amount to take home, considering the low cost of taking part. The US Legend Cars came about in 1992 to specifically address a need for affordable, low-maintenance racing cars. “Retail money, the car’s about 18 grand, 19,” says Garland Chapman, the vice-president of racing operations for US Legend Cars.

That puts it in the neighbourhood of S$24,200 in our money. Good second-hand examples go for around three-quarters of that amount, Chapman adds.

By racing standards, running the cars is laughably cheap. “Our Summer Shootout, you could run for under US$10,000, and that’s buying your tyres and everything,” says Chapman, about a 10-race event within the series. “As long as you don’t damage the car or total the car or anything.”

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For comparison, if you fancy having a go at a season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, set aside 220,000 euros (S$313,000) for a car, and perhaps S$700,000 to run a team.

Yet, the anti-elitism of US Legend Cars subtracts little from its professionalism. Many of its alumni have gone on to greatness. The Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt, have 94 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar) Cup wins between them. Dale Earnhardt Junior, a retired Nascar giant, reportedly amassed US$300 million from his racing career.

Chapman likens US Legends to go-karting as a feeder series for professional racing, only “way, way less expensive”. Indeed, drivers as young as eight can take part by climbing aboard the Bandolero, a less powerful machine built for the young (or young-at-heart, since adults can fit into it, too).

For now, Speedfest promoter Goodstock Motorsports is merely hoping that spectators will like what they see in August. “I want kids here to have fun, real motorsports fun. You can see the cars, you can touch,” managing director Ben Tan says. “I’ve been trying very hard to bring motorsports here.”

At Changi, the cars and drivers will do their thing around a 400-metre-long oval course, with a weekend of qualifying races culminating in a 30-lap final. That makes it a scaled-down version of American stock car racing, whose premiere event is the Daytona 500, named for the length of the race in miles.

The “Changi 7.5” might not have the same romantic ring to it, but the US Legend Cars themselves should provide quite the spectacle. Built to resemble a 1930s Ford Coupe, each is a throwback to Prohibition-era America, when bootleggers in the Deep South would modify their cars to outrun the cops at night, and keep them looking stock to avoid attention in the daytime.

Drivers went from running moonshine to racing each other, people turned up to watch, and the rest is Nascar history. Crime doesn’t pay, but US Legends racing is a playful reminder that it can often be fun and exciting.