USAR Pro Cup now a short track powerhouse

Posted April 18, 2007

The USAR Pro Cup Series has evolved into a haven for veteran short track racers and a launching pad for many drivers with stars in their eyes.

Split into two divisions (Northern and Southern, very “Gettysburg” of them), the Series, which emerged into the racing foreground as the old ASA Series was spiraling into a bankrupt abyss, has not only become a nationally-recognized series but a serious development hot spot in today’s NASCAR.

Whereas NASCAR has been racing’s version of Hollywood, the Pro Cup Series serves as the stock car world’s Off Broadway.

The two divisions have taken on separate identities:

The Southern Division, widely recognized by teams and fans alike as the stronger of the two series, contains several of the top young emerging short track racers, including Lakeland winner Matt Hawkins, South Georgia winner Woody Howard, and ARCA winner James Buscher, and several of the top teams including JR Motorsports, Dean Motorsports, and the always competitive team that surrounds veteran Bobby Gill.

The Northern Division is different. There is something more complacent about the division that is filled with drivers who have been cornerstones of the series in the last several years, including former champ Clay Rogers, Shane Wallace, and veteran Jeff Agnew. While the “bull-in-China shop” mentality is well-suited for the Southern Division, the Northern racers have demonstrated more give-and-take than you would expect to see at a short track.

Now, with a lot of division-swapping (South Boston was flooded with Southern Division racers), the two are starting to blend, creating a mixture that leads to a show reminiscent of old school short track racing.

In other news…

Tim McCreadie, only a few days away from the Colossal 100 in Concord, tested a truck for Richard Childress Racing. The truck was provided by Key Motorsports.

Key Motorsports was also in the news recently when they announced that Clay Rogers would pilot their #40 entry for two races. ‘Bout time.

Michael Waltrip Racing development driver Josh Wise will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Kansas Speedway, his website reports.

Kevin Harvick Inc. has no plans for Sean Caisse in 2007 and has apparently let him explore other options. Caisse will be racing full-time in the Grand National East Series with Andy Santerre Motorsports.

USAC winner Darren Hagen, whose stock has been on the upswing since his season-opening win at Perris Speedway (CA), will return to Keith Kunz Motorsports, starting with this weekend’s Elliottbrand Clash at Bloomington Speedway (IN).

2006 UARA champ Brandon Ward will pilot the Rick Humphrey-owned #93 in the USAR Pro Cup Northern Division in addition to racing sparingly in the Whelen Modified divisions. Ward raced the division opener at South Boston for Humphrey, finishing 17th.
 

Will NASCAR drown in the money pit?

Posted April 4, 2007

“David, is it about talent or money?”

Invariably the most asked question I get from parents, drivers, and fans is the aforementioned.

I’m certain there are teams that live by the Pink Floyd philosophy of “grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.” But I’m also aware that the Chip Ganassi Racings and Michael Waltrip Racings of the world are committed to doing their development gigs the right way.

Will NASCAR go the way of IRL and become a cash and grab?

Did Denny Hamlin bring money to Joe Gibbs Racing? No…his parents were ‘bout broke when he signed on with them as a late model driver. Did Josh Wise bring money to Michael Waltrip Racing? No…he ran USAC Sprints and Midgets as if there were no tomorrow and was deservingly courted by the Camry boys. Did Jimmie Johnson bring money to Hendrick? No…he was a minute away from returning to California when future teammate (and rival) Jeff Gordon expressed interest.

There is always going to be a Brent Sherman or two. That is going to happen. But for those who are paying their way into top-tier rides, know this: talent lasts and money doesn’t.

Paul Menard had the wealth and the talent. In the last five years, he’s been the only one with a lot of both. Don’t expect a trend.

For the talented aspiring drivers out there: there’s no need to be envious. Go out, race, and let your talent do the talking. Don’t think it’s not being noticed.

Elsewhere…

We had several big wins this weekend aside from Woody Howard at South Georgia and Derek Thorn at Music City:

Matt DiBenedetto scored a brilliant win in the UARA STARS Series at Concord Motorsports Park. It was the 15 year-old’s first career series victory.

Andy Seuss grabbed his first career NASCAR Modified win with his performance at Music City Motorplex in the Whelen Mod South race. ’06 UARA late model champ Brandon Ward finished 3rd.

Part-time Truck Series racer Scott Lynch won the season-opening Grand National West race at Kyle, Texas, holding off veterans Mike David and Mike Duncan.

Coleman Pressley, son of former NASCAR driver Robert Pressley, earned himself a late model win at home track Hickory Motor Speedway.

In other news:

Have you heard of the contest to see which Music City Motorplex driver would get a chance to drive a Kevin Harvick Inc.-prepared truck? Well, there appears to be somewhat of a mistake. (Track promoters have gone on record saying that they would correct the situation).

Grand National East regular and Ginn Racing development driver Jesus Hernandez will see seat time in three Truck Series races this year, NASCAR Scene Daily reports.

Chip Ganassi Racing development driver Scott Lagasse Jr. will pilot a Mark Gibson-owned Dodge this weekend at the Nashville ARCA race.

The Nashville ARCA race will also mark the series debut for J.R. Norris, who will be driving the #50 Bobby Jones Racing Dodge.

And finally, two Blackboard-ranked prospects tested Ford Midget cars at Anderson Speedway (IN). Mississippi’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Texas sports car racer Colin Braun drove the Bob East-built machines in an exposure test-setting. Whether the two get Ford-backed rides in USAC remains to be seen.
 

A little bit of Spring cleaning

Posted March 28, 2007

It’s been an interesting week for many prospects, including the likes of Buescher, Clauson, Santos, and Wallace, but they had their spotlight in the At The Track section of the site.

Right now, I’ll take care of little house cleaning and touch base on some other drivers making headlines this week:

Matt Hawkins took home a Pro Late Model victory at Lanier Speedway in Georgia on Saturday night. This, coupled with his USAR Pro Cup win at Lakeland, has his stock on the upswing.

Korey Ruble scored a Georgia Asphalt Series win at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA).

Bobby East will tackle the NASCAR Busch Series. The Ford development driver will be behind the wheel of Brewco Motorsports’ two entries for ten races this year and will race in three to five ARCA races.

South Carolina’s Danny Efland has been approved to run in the Busch Series this season. The ’06 Florence Motor Speedway champ will be a teammate to Eric McClure later this year for Johnny Davis’s team.

The first round of the Ricky Carmichael experiment was a dud. The Ginn Racing development driver’s first career late model race ended in a DNF at Lake City. He did get some seat time though, and had more entourage at the track that Vince Chase.

The nation’s #2 prospect, Landon Cassill, was instrumental in Hendrick Motorsports’ set-up of the Car of Tomorrow (as was Penske’s Billy Wease and Ganassi’s Kevin Hamlin), writes Dustin Long of The Roanoke Times.

And finally, for those of you wondering where Cale Gale has been, he’ll return to the driver’s seat at Nashville.
 

Hamilton's podium and Austin's signing

Posted March 19, 2007

The Formula 1 debut of Lewis Hamilton lived up to the billing.

After battling with teammate Fernando Alonso, Hamilton finished 3rd on the day, earning a podium finish in his first career race. The 2006 GP2 Series champion was a man on fire and has easily transitioned from “Juan Pablo’s replacement” to “budding superstar.”

Best yet, he is everything that Scott Speed is supposed to be. He is straight-laced, focused, and dedicated to winning. Hamilton is currently serving as F1’s ambassador to the youth market.

Hamilton will have much success in F1 but the possibility of coming over to NASCAR (Evernham Motorsports, maybe?) might be too good to pass up. After all, he is with Mercedes-McLaren, which is owned by Daimler-Chrysler. With Daimler-Chrysler’s love for Ray Evernham and Ray’s love of F1, this could actually come to fruition.

Elsewhere:

Chase Austin finally signed a development deal with Rusty Wallace Inc. After rumored talks with JR Motorsports, Evernham, and Riley-D’Hondt, the Kansas teen landed with a legitimate team in a solid ride. Austin will race in the Grand National East Series in 2007. If all goes well, he could end up being a teammate to Steve Wallace in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2008.

Colin Braun did take meetings in the Charlotte area last week. As of right now, there are nothing to report, other than the fact that we could be seeing him in ARCA by season’s end.

Las Vegas late model racer Jace Meier was the runner-up on Speed Channel’s Forza Motorsports Challenge show. Meier will compete at Irwindale Speedway this year with hopes that he will graduate to the Grand National West Series in 2008.

And, New Jersey native Paulie Harraka will fly cross country to compete in the Grand National West Series and West Coast late model races for Bill McAnally Racing. Harraka has multiple WKA championships.
 

Development programs could see turnover

Posted March 15, 2007

The middle to end of 2007 could very well see massive overhauls for many driver development programs.

Currently, Roush Fenway Racing, on paper has the most talent; however, the whole roster (minus five-star prospect Erik Darnell) could be dumped in favor of a smaller contingency. Some believe that Roush GM Max Jones is already looking at younger (and I mean younger) talent.

The same can be said for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, Haas CNC Racing, and Ginn Racing. While two out of those three are in pay-to-play territory, all of them are looking to expand, dump older drivers, and reload with a young arsenal. Ginn Racing owner Bobby Ginn has tapped Mark Martin to find talent, which may not be a good thing. If a heavy wave of drivers from the state of Florida (Ginn and Martin’s home state) happens to roll into Ginn Racing, do not be surprised.

Since the NASCAR Busch Series is all but dead as far as driver development is concerned, the Grand National East Series will be the primary scouting bed for teams. That, mixed with this website and The National Speed Sport News, will probably be the extent of scouting for approximately 80% of the teams in NASCAR’s higher divisions.

Not having young drivers compete at companion events to Nextel Cup definitely hurts.

Once teams realize that their programs have been diluted, the overhaulin’ trigger will be pulled.

Some other stuff of note:

In case you missed it, I mentioned this weekend that James Buescher finished 20th in the Lakeland Pro Cup race. After an admitted scoring error by USAR officials, it was found that Buescher was 8th. The reason for the confusion? He came across the line backwards. Now, that’s one helluva debut. Here are the official results.

Also, Trevor Bayne, sporting a Chevrolet under the new Blake Bainbridge regime, has left Team Rensi Motorsports’ development program. Bayne finished 2nd in the Pro Cup race at Lakeland.

After grabbing a win in the CRA Sprint Car race at Las Vegas, Josh Wise topped the speed charts in the ARCA test from Nashville. The test also marked the return of former Hendrick development driver Blake Feese.

Nextel Cup driver Kyle Busch mentioned in a press conference at Las Vegas that he may “take over” the Billy Ballew Motorsports Truck Series team. If true, this would mean that another development door would open and current KBM late model driver Alex Haase could be the first beneficiary.

Ken Butler III will make his ARCA debut at Lakeland, piloting the Eddie Sharp Racing #22 entry.

And finally, the ASA’s Southern Division kicks off this weekend at Bronson Motor Speedway (FL). Three-star prospect Dalton Zehr is the heavy favorite to win the division crown this year after finishing runner-up in 2006.
 

It could soon be 'game on' for Braun

Posted March 10, 2007

He zipped around at a smoldering pace in his Daytona Prototype. When he got out of the car, his competition was shell-shocked, he smiled and thanked his crew and co-driver Max Papis, and walked away.

Don’t let the smile fool you: Colin Braun wants more.

He has a win at Daytona under his belt (from Grand-Am competition) and has already faced scrutiny from NASCAR scouts (last season’s GM exposure test). The test didn’t go as well as he would have hoped and the point of view on his adaptability behind the wheel has received mixed reviews.

One NASCAR team official said, “(Colin)’s a good road course racer and certainly could be the next decade’s Boris Said or Scott Pruett, but oval racing is a different beast. I don’t know if he has it in him.”

A scout from another team disagreed, saying, “He’s young enough to be able to groom behind the wheel of a stock car and since he’s already been facing quality competition, he’s used to racing around (drivers) who are at the top of their field.”

Either way, Braun could be in good shape. He’s on pace to become one of the greatest sports car racers of all time but if he wants to take the path less traveled (or in NASCAR’s case, probably most traveled), then kudos to him.

NASCAR Scene Magazine recently reported that he’s actively looking for a Busch or Truck Series ride (which is utterly ridiculous to report, considering there are about 10,000 other young drivers in the same boat). He has been meeting with several teams but, if he gets signed, don’t expect to see him in an ARCA car until the end of this year.

Here’s some other news items to feed the fast and furious:

Former Evernham Motorsports development driver Anthony Foyt was charged with a DUI in Huntersville, North Carolina. His job with Vision Racing in the IRL IndyCar Series remains intact but this should pretty much kiss any slim chance he had at getting back into NASCAR goodbye.

Tanner Swanson (younger brother of Kody Swanson) won the All-American Driver Challenge and will compete in the USAC Ford Focus Series. The 16 year-old will not be able to drive in a Truck Series race as he does not meet the minimum age requirements.

JR Motorsports is in the planning process for its #83 NASCAR Busch Series entry. The car, branded with Make-A-Wish Foundation, will run a limited number of races this year and it is rumored that owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to see a young up-and-comer behind the wheel.

Chase Pistone has found a ride in the USAR Pro Cup Series.

And for the kicker, former Dale Earnhardt Inc. development driver Ryan Moore will tackle some USAC Silver Crown races this season. After his questionable departure from Key Motorsports in 2006, Moore is looking to regroup and regain confidence within the racing industry. And that will not be easy.
 

Tha Return

Posted March 7, 2007

Well obviously, I’ve been absent a bit from Blog updates, thanks in part to a tumultuous Speedweeks and several technical failures from practically every aspect of the site.

Nevertheless, here’s some of the stuff that we’ve missed…

Roush Fenway Racing development driver Danny O'Quinn has landed a gig with Mac Hill Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series for a limited number of races this season. Even though he captured last season’s Rookie of the Year Award, Roush officials gave him permission to look elsewhere for a ride. He is expected to remain, in affiliation only, with Roush through the end of 2007.

Tim Russell, who looked very impressive during the World Series of Asphalt, captured a victory in the Sunbelt Series season opener at Citrus County Speedway (FL). Russell will compete for the series championship in addition to taking on several ARCA races this year.

Brewco Motorsports made it official with the signing of Phillip McGilton to the team’s development program. Brewco pitted McGilton at Daytona and will continue to provide cars for him for the course of the 2007 ARCA schedule.

The talk in Charlotte is that Fitz Motorsports and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program aren’t getting along. Chris Bristol, who was assigned to Fitz as a result of his performance at the development combine, is reportedly looking for another ride, sponsor in hand. Fitz has given the Grand National East ride that was meant for Bristol to Canadian racer Pierre Bourque.

Las Vegas teen Alex Haase has signed on with MRG Motorsports to drive on the Grand National West Series. The 17 year-old is joining the team made famous by current Nextel Cup driver David Gilliland. 18 year-old Jamie Dick will team with Haase as the two will compete for Rookie of the Year honors.

Cameron Dodson will be behind the wheel of the Carl Edwards/RE Technologies entry when the USAC Silver Crown Series hits the high banks at Homestead. The reason? Dodson is paying to play, temporarily benching Manzanita maestro Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The four-star Stenhouse will remain the team’s primary driver.

In more pay-to-play news, T.J. Bell is bringing his Heathcliff Cat Litter sponsorship to Roush Fenway Racing for 15 races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team could not find a corporate partner to allow development driver Pete Shepherd run the majority of the season as originally planned.

ASA Southern Division champion James Buescher will take on the USAR Pro Cup Series for the entire 2007 season. He will also make his ARCA Series debut at Lakeland driving the #32 Country Joe Racing entry in a one-off deal.

And lastly, Rusty Wallace Inc. may look to expand its development efforts. Chase Austin is reportedly atop the list to be Steve Wallace’s successor in the development process.