Ontario race fans were stunned to hear that Can-Am  midget legend and all-time feature wins leader, Keith Dempster decided to leave pavement racing behind and join the Southern Ontario Sprints. That was not the only good news for the S.O.S., halfway through the season it was announced that the club had formed a partnership with the Indy Racing Northern Light Series and their Road to Indy Program.

     Another solid crop of rookies joined the series in 2000 along with Dempster, they included 14 year old sensation Sean Stafford, Jim Porter, Bruce Waddell and Sean Felt. While Dempster and Stafford garnered most of the attention the other 3 rookies ran very strong and all recorded top 10 finishes.

     Dempster answered anyone who thought that he wouldn't be able to run on dirt by winning the opening race of the season at Brighton Speedway after he made a late race pass of race-long leader John Riegling.

     The second race of the season is one that all who saw will not easily forget. Dempster was leading the feature over a fast closing Jerry Whitney when he did a 360 degree spin and made contact with Whitney. Mike Galajda was able to squeak through but he had his hands full with Riegling. Riegling rode around his customary high line while Galajda protected the bottom, the two drove side by side for the final five laps and out of turn 4 the two made contact with Galajda picking up his first career S.O.S. feature win by half a car length, both drivers called the contact close racing and there were no hard feelings.

     It was just a matter of time before Ryan Coniam made his way into victory lane, he did so in the 3rd race of the season at Brighton after holding off the repeated challenges of veteran Charlie McCann who was also hungry for his first win. With his win Coniam had solidified himself as a genuine title contender and from this point on he would chase Dempster furiously.

     Garry Evans took the 4th race of the season at Ohsweken but it was not without controversy. While trying to pass Coniam for the lead he took the slippery bottom line in turn 1 and slid up into Coniam knocking him out of contention for the win.

     Warren Mahoney threw his name into the hat as a title contender at Ransomville by taking the feature win but it was by no means easy. Mahoney flipped over the turn 2 fence during the Dash for Cash putting the team behind the 8-ball for the rest of the night. DIRT star Danny Johnson, driving Mark Christiano's back up car had lead the feature all night long and looked to be invincible. A late race restart saw Coniam and Mahoney lining up behind Johnson and on the restart Mahoney was able to get by Coniam and set his sights on Johnson but time was running out. Finally entering the first turn on the final lap Mahoney was able to slip underneath of Johnson and cover the last lap to record his first career S.O.S. feature win.

     The title fight was shaping up to be a three car battle between Dempster, Coniam and Mahoney. Dempster did his best to end any possible battle and he did so in convincing fashion by capturing two straight S.O.S. feature events with both wins coming at Ohsweken. Warren Mahoney did not let Dempster's performance get him down though and responded by winning the next three feature events, an S.O.S. record. One of those wins was captured at Brighton Speedway in his father Dick's car after his suffered mechanical gremlins. Coniam did his best to keep pace with the trio by placing no worse than 3rd during those 5 events.

     With 2 races remaining in the season the fans got what they wanted to see at Ransomville, a showdown between the trio. Dempster jumped out to the lead with Coniam and Mahoney following closely. All three cars were evenly matched so traffic became a factor, at one point it looked like Mahoney had Dempster trapped but the cagey veteran went three wide down the backstretch and was able to get away. A late race restart bunched the trio together for one last showdown but no one could make anything happen and Dempster led Coniam and Mahoney to the line.

     The trio headed into the final race, the Canadian Sprint Car Championships with each driver having a shot at the title. Most observers felt that they were the favorites heading into the race but no one counted on ESS superstar Mike Woodring showing up. Mahoney was able to pass Dempster during the final Dash of the season to win the Dash Championship and then 22 cars lined up for the biggest race of the season. Mahoney jumped out to the early lead but it was soon evident that Woodring was the car to beat, the Eden, NY driver won his heat race from 7th place and finished a strong 2nd in the Dash for Cash. Woodring sliced his way through the field from his mid pack starting position and was on Mahoney's tail tank a third of the way through the race. Woodring made got past Mahoney in traffic but Mahoney would not give up easily and would return the favor on the following lap. A yellow flag bunched the field together and Woodring dove under Mahoney and drove away and pocketed the $2000. Mahoney spun exiting turn 2 midway through the feature relinquishing 2nd to Charlie McCann. Dempster finished the feature in 5th position and was able to win the championship over Mahoney who barely edged out Coniam.

     Dempster received an additional honor when he was a finalist for the 360 Rookie of the Year in the National Sprint Car Poll. Dempster lost out to S.O.D.'s Jeremy Campbell who is now running 410 sprints on the Gumout circuit. 14 year old rookie Sean Stafford was spotted by Mike Ling’s former car owner, Jim Brown and was chosen to drive his car in the Auto Value Super Sprints series for 2001.

     During the off season Ken Reading chose to step down as club President. Marketing Officer Peter Turford was elected President and Media Officer Dave Cook was elected as Vice President.