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2006 is shaping up to be a year of change in the world of sprint car racing. The shake up in the upper ranks of the sport over this past off season has prompted many track promoters to question the future of winged 410 sprint car racing. Many also questioned the ability of the All Star series to survive this split and those questions have been answered. “America’s Series” remains true to its roots in providing great racing and good family entertainment at an affordable ticket price.
The All Star series opened the 2006 season at Volusia County Speedway in February and will run approximately 50 races throughout the summer at dirt tracks around the Midwest. Danny Lasoski, Donny Schatz, and Terry McCarl have all visited victory lane with the All Stars already this season.
The All Stars, in an effort to help bring stability back to sprint car racing and increase the exposure of the teams and drivers within the series, have formed an alliance with DIRT Motorsports, SLS Promotions, and the infamous World of Outlaws to co-sanction a number of races and bring the two series together to race head to head on the same track for the first time in history.
What this means to the fans is added value for their admission price. The All Stars will be competing with the World of Outlaws in 14 events in 2006. The two series will do battle and provide the fans with an intense showdown at each one of these events. Tom Deery, president of DIRT Motorsports says, “We’re bringing together the two longest running winged 410 sprint car sanctioning bodies in the United States to run on the same track on the same night. We feel this will increase the entertainment value and experience for the fans.”
The races will be run under the World of Outlaw’s format, but points will be tracked separately for each series. This gives the teams in each series the opportunity to receive points from both the All Stars and the Outlaws if they are card carrying members of both sanctioning bodies.
The teams will receive tow money from their respective series just as they would at any other sanctioned event. Points, however, are a little bit trickier to follow. The highest finishing All Star member will receive points equal to that of winning an All Star event. The second highest finishing All Star member will receive 2nd place points, and so on. If those same drivers also carry an Outlaw membership, points will be awarded to them based on their finishing position under the Outlaw format.
“I feel this is a huge boost for our drivers,” stated All Star series owner Guy Webb. “It gives our guys an opportunity to race for more money and go head to head against some of the best drivers in the business.” He went on to say, “A number of these co-sanctioned races are going to be televised on the Outdoor Channel. That helps to increase our exposure and will hopefully attract new sponsors to our series and provide more value for the ticket buying public’s entertainment dollar.”
Guy Webb has been working with Steve Sinclair of SLS Promotions to put this deal together to increase car counts and to bring the All Star brand to new markets. "At SLS we're extremely pleased to be working with premier regional sprint groups such as the All-Stars, IRA, NOSA, and SCOA in markets where we can,” said Sinclair. “By doing so we're providing additional value to the fans and hopefully they'll realize that SLS is doing everything we can to present a good show. It's good to have positive relationships with other series and have a common goal. I see it as a significant plus.” SLS has had recent success with this program already in 2006. “In Arizona we worked with SCOA and the AMRA Midgets and I thought it worked great, plus we had the highest car count in our three years of bringing World of Outlaw events to Manzanita, plus our crowd was up. I think it's great that the World of Outlaws see this as a positive as well and are allowing us to do this. It's great for 410 racing," stated Sinclair.
Guy Webb has also put together a few deals outside of the SLS promoted shows to increase the number of times the All Stars will have this opportunity to race with the Outlaws. “What we’re trying to do is bring some stability back to the sport,” said Webb. “This split has damaged the integrity of our sport and it is our goal to work with the World of Outlaws to make sure than fans get to see a great race.”
Originally formed in 1970 by Bud Miller and then re-formed in 1980 by Bert and Brigette Emick, the All Star Circuit of Champions has been one of the most competitive dirt track sprint car racing series in the country. Over the past 27 years, 1,358 races have been run with 149 different drivers making appearances in victory lane. Guy Webb would like to continue that tradition as he leads the historical series into a new era in sprint car racing.
Many of the top names in sprint car racing have competed in the All Star series at some point in their careers. Current NASCAR drivers Dave Blaney, Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne are graduates of the All Star series. Other drivers who have won All Star races in the past include Steve, Kraig, Kelly, and Mark Kinser, Frankie Kerr, Kevin Huntley, Bobby Allen, Rick Ferkel, Jeff Shepard, Doug Wolfgang, Sammy Swindell, Ricky Hood, Danny Lasoski, Stevie Smith, Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease, Greg Hodnett, Keith Kauffman, Chad Kemenah, Kenny Jacobs, and Gary Wright.
For the 2006 season, many more of the top open wheel drivers in the country will join the competition on the All Star tour. Veterans such as Danny Smith, Dean Jacobs, and Dale Blaney will once again compete with the likes of Paul May, Greg Wilson, Brock Mayes, Barry Ruble, and Tim Hunter for the $50,000.00 All Star Season Points Championship. Also, rookie contenders Chad Blonde and James Mosher will take to the dirt along side the others to compete for the $10,000 Rookie of the Year award.
The 2006 season resumes with the first co-sanctioned events of the year at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on April 7th & 8th. The All Stars (allstarsprint.com) will then head to Attica Raceway Park for the Attica Coors Lite Spring Nationals on April 14th & 15th.
2006 All Star Circuit of Champions Schedule
(NS) = Non-sanctioned event
(CS) = Co-sanctioned event with the World of Outlaws
(NP) = Non-points event
(TV) = Televised event on the Outdoor Channel
February
2/7 - Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL – Danny Lasoski
2/8 - Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL – Donny Schatz
2/11 - Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL - rain
2/12 - Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL - Terry McCarl
April
4/7 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH (CS)
4/8 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH (CS)(TV)
4/14 – Attica Raceway Park – Attica, OH
4/15 – Attica Raceway Park – Attica, OH
4/21 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, IN (CS)(TV)
4/22 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH
May
5/6 – Fremont Speedway – Fremont, OH
5/13 – K-C Raceway – Chillicothe, OH (CS)(TV)
5/20 – Butler Battlegrounds – Quincy, MI
5/27 – Port Royal – Port Royal, PA (date change to be determined)
June
6/1 – Wayne County Speedway – Orrville, OH (CS)
6/2 – Williams Grove Speedway – Mechanicsburg, PA
6/3 – Lincoln Speedway – Abbottstown, PA
6/4 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, IN (CS)(TV)
6/14 – Powercom Park – Beaverdam, WI (CS)
6/16 – Red River Valley Speedway – Fargo, ND (CS)
6/17 – Red River Valley Speedway – Fargo, ND (CS)
6/23 – Lernerville Speedway – Sarver, PA
6/24 – K-C Raceway – Chillicothe, OH
Ohio Speedweek
6/25 – Attica Raceway Park – Attica, OH
6/26 – Wayne County Speedway – Orrville, OH
6/27 – Muskingum County Speedway – Zanesville, OH
6/28 – Sharon Speedway – Hartford, OH
6/29 – Fremont Speedway – Fremont, OH
6/30 – Limaland Speedway – Lima.
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