The appointment of Kevin Miller as president of the United States Auto Club and Jason Smith’s return as USAC’s Director of Racing, received mixed reviews from those we talked to. While the majority seems supportive and ready, not only for change, but to hear what Miller and Smith have in store for the 52-year-old sanctioning body, many are resistant to new ideas.
Some perceive Miller as knowing nothing about racing. While Miller was a 23-year marketing executive with Chrysler and Mopar, he is no stranger to racing, and as we see it, his job will have little to do with racing, and more to do with marketing the excellent product that USAC puts on the race track and selling it to sponsors and television partners.
In our opinion, USAC has some of the best races and best racers that no one knows about.
The matter of racing will be Smith’s job. In his second tenure at USAC, Smith told NSSN straightening out the Silver Crown and Ford Focus divisions will be the first jobs he will need to tackle. We think he’s up to the task.
While there certainly is an old line within the board, staff and competitors of USAC that would prefer the clock be turned back to 1955 when USAC was formed, this may be the last chance the organization gets to take a giant leap into the 21st Century. Good luck gentlemen.

• We encountered ASA Racing President Dennis Huth while making the rounds at the PRI Trade Show at the Orange County Convention Center.
Naturally, we quizzed Huth about his lawsuit (see separate story, page 18) against ASA Late Model Series headman Ron Varney.
Huth, as expected, didn’t have a lot to say: “The release from my attorney says it all,” he said. “I do not want to be litigated in the press.”
Essentially, the issue comes down to ownership of the trademark and the right to use it. Huth believes he has the documentation to prove he is the rightful owner of the ASA trademark, having purchased it from previous series owner Steve Dale.
“I have to protect my trademark,” said Huth, who acknowledged he did attempt to settle the issue out of court.”
Huth, however, was agog over the success of his ASA membership track program and the ASA Midwest Series, which he reported averaged 46 cars per event.
“Our touring series have been phenomenal,” Huth said. “The growth curve has been beyond our expectations.”
Meanwhile, the ASA Late Model Series is touting its new schedule and has also seen an explosive growth period with high car counts at its events.
Hopefully, both parties will find a way to dispute this issue over the valuable ASA trademark, which grew to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s under the direction of Rex Robbins, who founded it in 1968.
“This is a great time for us because of the freedoms that we have to promote our product,” Huth said. “We have a lot of new things we are working on and that we will be introducing. We want to continue moving forward in a professional manner.”

• Sitting in the backstretch grandstand at the Mopar Sprint & Midget Classic, we were surrounded by as many good racers as there were on the track. To our right was NHRA Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon, who owns a USAC midget operation and in the row in front of us were Tony Stewart Racing drivers Tracy Hines and Levi Jones.
We watched with great interest the genuine concern shown by the drivers when Adam Cramer took a wild ride during the midget race and took a few minutes before climbing from his car under his own power.

• In yet another attempt to suck up to Speedway Motorsports Chairman O. Bruton Smith, the city of Concord, N.C., announced the North Carolina Transportation Board voted to rename the current Speedway Boulevard to Bruton Smith Boulevard. It’s the latest oddball occurance by the city and the state to court Smith after it angered Smith over a dispute regarding a drag strip to be added at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

• We enjoyed the following quote from World Racing Group marketing guru Ben Geisler: “We don’t need to make dirt racing bigger. We just need to raise the profile of it.”

• High Rock Raceway, a road course being built north of Charlotte, N.C., is being touted as America’s first true “green” racing facility. High Rock officials will promote low-emissions racing by booking racing series that use clean-burning fuel. High Rock Raceway officials also hope to host special vehicle events and provide support for schools, companies and organizations developing alternative fuel and power technologies.