HUDSON, N.C. — ASA Late Model Series officials announced Saturday they have added two races to the 2008 schedule, including a season-ending non-point race at Memphis Motorsports Park and a Labor Day weekend event in concert with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Gateway Int’l Raceway.
The added events are another step in the right direction for burgeoning future of the ASA Late Model Series, said series President Ron Varney, who also evoked memories of the ASA’s proud past as he looked ahead.
“These are tracks where the Nationwide Series runs and the Truck Series runs,” said Varney. “It puts us on a bigger level than just your typical, average regional-touring series.
“We’re getting very close to what the old American Speed Ass’n was back in the day. We’re developing these kids and giving them opportunities to race at tracks where they will be racing at the next level.”
The ASA Late Models will be at Memphis, Tenn., for the All-Star Challenge 200 Nov. 14-15 and at Gateway Int’l, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Mo., for the Challenge Division Season Championships Gateway 100 on Sept. 6. Both tracks are owned by Dover Motorsports.
“We’ve been working closely with the folks at Dover Motorsports, and we’re hoping we can build this into a long-term relationship with them,” Varney said.
Varney made the announcement Saturday from Tri-County Speedway, where the season-opening Rumble in the Hills 200 was scheduled to take place, but heavy rains forced the postponement of the event. No makeup date has been announced.
At 1.25 miles, Gateway will be the longest circuit visited by the predominantly short-track series, which also visits The Milwaukee Mile. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Gateway 200 is also slated for Sept. 6, the Saturday before Labor Day.
Despite its length, Varney said the ASA Late Models should have no problems navigating the Gateway oval.
“It’s just a tick bigger than what we run at Milwaukee, and it’s not your typical superspeedway,” he said. “With the tight turn one and turn two, the guys will be on the brakes pretty hard and that’ll cut some speed down, but turns three and four will be quite quick, but all-in-all, we did a feasibility study on how the cars would hold up and we felt it would be fine.”
The All-Star Challenge 200 replaces an annual non-point event previously held at Nashville Superspeedway. When no deal could be reached for the series to return to Nashville, Varney said it was important for the popular race to find a new home in the same region so that it would be accessible to ASA Late Model Series drivers from its Northern, Southern and Challenge divisions.
Varney said the year-ending event routinely attracts more than 60 drivers, and he doesn’t expect that to change with the move west across Tennessee from the home of country music to the home of Elvis, blues and Beale Street.
“It’s a big-money prestige event, and that’s what encouraged folks to come out,” he said. “I think we can build the Memphis event into a bigger show than we had at Music City.”