Regional Tours Offer Tune-Up Opportunities For ASA STARS National Tour Teams
Macon, IL (DATE) – As the weather breaks in the upper Midwest, snow banks are melting, trees and flowers are blooming, and the sound of ASA Regional Tour Super Late Models turning laps as local race tracks open their gates, signifies the changing of the seasons. Now, local race tracks are opening and the ASA Regional Tours are no different.
The spring of 2023 brings new life to the sport or auto racing, with the addition of the ASA STARS National Tour for pavement late models, along with the ASA sanctioning of the CRA Super Series and the Midwest Tour.
A pair of Wisconsin tracks will kick off 2023 with big shows for Super Late Models. Slinger Super Speedway will host the “Miracle on the High Banks” for the ASA Midwest Tour on Sunday, April 23. Two weeks later, Madison International Speedway will host the second event for the newly formed ASA STARS National Tour with the Joe Shear Classic. The May 7th event at MIS will also be an ASA Midwest Tour championship race, making the Sunday afternoon special event a “must-see” spectacle for Wisconsin race fans.
In between Slinger and Madison, Anderson Speedway will host the ASA/CRA Super Series season opener at the high-banked quarter-mile oval in central Indiana. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 is set for Saturday night, April 29.
“Things are about to get very, very busy real quick,” commented Joe Balash, Director of Race Operations for the ASA STARS National Tour. “The regional tours will be opening up in the northern part of the country, along with the ASA STARS National Tour’s second event, which comes at Madison on May 7. The month of May stays very busy with STARS National Tour with events at North Wilkesboro and Hickory in North Carolina, plus the Midwest Tour at Jefferson Memorial Day Weekend back in Wisconsin.”
The ASA Midwest Tour season opener at Slinger and the ASA CRA Super Series opener at Anderson potentially serves as tune-up for the ASA STARS National Tour events at each track later this summer. Slinger and Anderson will host back-to-back STARS National Tour events in July – The Slinger Nationals Tuesday, July 11 and the Red Bud 400, just four days later on Saturday, July 15.
“I’d like to think that the teams who are serious about running for the ASA STARS National Tour championship would take advantage of the opportunity to ‘test’ during live events at both Slinger and Anderson,” continued Balash. “Those two high-banked quarter-mile tracks are challenging enough in their own right. Add to the challenge that the STARS National Tour events are less than a week apart at these two facilities, combined with a very busy summer schedule and the opportunity for the regional tour opening events to serve as tune-ups would seem to make a lot of sense.”
The Miracle on the High Banks is first up for the ASA Midwest Tour, Sunday afternoon April 23. The track will host an open practice day on Saturday, April 22. Tickets for the Miracle on the High Banks, the 76th Miller Lite Season Opener, are available at Slinger Super Speedway, or by visiting the website at slingersuperspeedway.com.
Madison International Speedway will offer a pair of open practice sessions – including the annual Track Clean-Up Day on April 29, and a second open practice for all divisions on Saturday, May 6.
The Joe Shear Classic 200 will mark race two of the inaugural ASA STARS National Tour. The event is set for 2:00PM CT on Sunday, May 7. Advance tickets are available by visiting the track website at misracing.com/tickets, or at the track office during regular business hours.
The Joe Shear Classic will be live-streamed on Racing America, MidwestTour.tv and TRACKTV.com. MAVTV will air the event on a tape-delayed basis.
Anderson Speedway will host an open practice this Friday, April 7, as well as each Friday during the month of April, leading up to the ASA / CRA Super Series opener April 29. Tickets for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 are available at the track or by calling (765) 642-0206.
The ASA STARS National Tour opened the ten race, six-state schedule at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL on March 11. Georgia racer Casey Roderick won the Sunshine State 200. Roderick is expected to enter the Joe Shear Classic 200, along with the rest of the top Super Late Model drivers in the country.
For the full ASA STARS National Tour schedule, plus Super Late Model rules and other information, please visit the series website at starsnationaltour.com, or be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: STARS National Series | Twitter: @racewithstars | IG: @starsnational).
ASA STARS National Tour
The ASA STARS National Tour debuted in March of 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced last October, many of the best drivers in America will compete in the ten-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.
The ASA STARS National Tour is made up of three races from each of the regional pavement Super Late Model Series under the Track Enterprises banner; the ASA CRA Super Series, the ASA Midwest Tour and the ASA Southern Super Series.
The Team Construction Winner’s Circle program has been announced as a part of the ASA STARS National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program provides additional financial incentives to those teams who support the Series, thanks to Team Construction.
Track Enterprises, a Racing Promotions Company based in Illinois, will operate the ASA STARS National Tour. It announced the acquisition of the CRA sanctioning body in January and followed that up with the purchase of the Midwest Tour in July. In October, Track Enterprises President, Bob Sargent announced a partnership with the Southern Super Series which set the table for the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour.
