Wilson Motorsports will have multiple opportunities at the inaugural ASA STARS National Tour championship in 2023.
Team owner Donnie Wilson will have two cars at all ten races this season, with a third and possibly a fourth car present at different races throughout the year. Cole Butcher and Gio Ruggiero will compete for series championships, with another pair of drivers scheduled to make appearances.
“We’ll have Gio Ruggiero in the No.22 car and Cole Butcher in the No.28 car; they’re coming to every one of them for sure,” said Wilson. “We’ll have William Sawalich, I think he’s going to do seven of them. Sammy Smith’s going to do two or three. Some races we’ll have three, maybe four, but most of them we’ll have two.”
The inaugural ASA STARS National Tour brings a national Super Late Model series and points championship to Super Late Model racing, something that Wilson and others have wanted for years. When ASA STARS was announced along with the diverse schedule, he was looking forward to getting the season started.
Daniel Vining Photo
“It’s exciting like any new series you get to run. The way they’re doing it at different venues, I think it’s a pretty good mixture for people all across the United States to go run that maybe didn’t have the opportunity to run these kind of races before.”
Wilson Motorsports has been one of Super Late Model racing’s top teams over the past few years, having won races such as the Winchester 400, Snowball Derby, Florida Governor’s Cup, and the Redbud 400. The team’s year has already started off with wins at New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt.
Donnie Wilson himself has had a strong career behind the wheel, as well. He’s a former All American 400 winner and ASA Southern Super Series champion, with top-five runs in both the Snowball Derby and Winchester 400.
As his team has grown the past few years, his starts behind the wheel have become less and less. He’s competed in just two races since the start of 2021, though he did set fast time and finish second in his only start last year at Mobile International Speedway.
“I still want to race, just with all the opportunities with all the drivers we have it doesn’t give me much room to drive. There will be some times where I’ll get behind the wheel, I just don’t know when. Hopefully I’ll get to shake the dust off here every now and then, hopefully a couple races.”
With two drivers racing full-time this season, he will have two chances to take home an ASA STARS National Tour championship. A win and/or a championship won by a Wilson Motorsports competitor feels the same to Wilson as if he were to accomplish it himself behind the wheel.
“Every year, we set goals; win races and hopefully a championship. It would be cool for one of our drivers to win a championship in the inaugural year of the ASA STARS National Tour. That would be a cool deal.
“That’s the goal. We’re off to a good start after the first race. Cole wound up fourth, Gio got into that incident at the end of the race but he was running in the top-five as well and finished 15th, but both of them are in the top-ten in points. We’ll keep hammering away, it’s a long season and hopefully one of them can do it.”
Race two of the inaugural ASA STARS National Tour is on Sunday, May 7 at Madison International Speedway for the Joe Shear Classic. More details, including a weekend schedule, will be available soon.
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 will debut in 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced in October, many of the best drivers in America are expected to compete in the 10-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.
The national series 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.
A Winner’s Circle program will also be part of the ASA National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program details will be announced at a later date, but it will be in the same vein as ASA utilized in its heyday.
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.
