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Tag: short track racing

  • SHORT TRACK: An Homage to a Forgotten Series

    SHORT TRACK: An Homage to a Forgotten Series

    The Stephen Cox Blog is presented by Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) ran exciting, wheel to wheel stock car races on short tracks around Indiana. This series was distinct from and should not be confused with today’s southeastern CARS series that descended from the old Hooters ProCup series.

    The original CARS series was Indiana-based, founded by former ARCA driver Morris Coffman. The concept was built around a spec stock car chassis powered by 305 cubic inch Chevrolet small block engines with two-barrel carburetors that produced about 335 horsepower. The hard compound tires were grooved to limit grip. A completed car, ready to race, was available for about twenty thousand dollars while kits could be purchased for half that price and assembled by the race teams.

    The result was a fun, affordable mid-level touring series that frequented premier Midwestern short tracks including Indianapolis Raceway Park (now Lucas Oil Raceway), Winchester Speedway and Illiana Speedway.

    The crowds were good. The race cars were fun to drive. They had enough power to slide through the turns but not so much grip that engine prices soared into the stratosphere. For a while – a very short while – CARS provided an excellent platform to learn the craft of stock car racing.

    I competed in the series from early 1999 until August 2000. My record was marginal, winning two of the series’ smaller events, sitting on the pole at Winchester and finishing sixth in the season points championship. But the competition sharpened my driving skills and introduced me to some great people who remain friends nearly two decades later.

    Jeff Cannon (33) battles Stephen Cox (21) at Winchester Speedway, 1999

    On September 19, 1999, we put on a pretty good show for Winchester Speedway’s race fans on a bright and cool Sunday afternoon. The top five cars broke away from the field and ran nose-to-tail and sometimes side by side on Winchester’s extreme, 32-degree banking for most of the 20-lap feature. My father and spotter, Nelson, coached me up to fourth place late in the event. The whirlwind speeds of Winchester’s high groove took your breath away, especially when running in a two or three-wide pack of five cars, all vying for a win before a huge crowd at a historic track. I finished fourth in one of the best short track races of the year.

    Series front runners included many outstanding drivers who had already proven themselves winners at other levels of racing. Mark Fesmire could do no wrong in the 1999 season and left us all in the dust on his way to the first CARS championship title. Indiana short track legend Eddie Van Meter won in front of 25,000 fans at Indianapolis in May 2000. Jeff Cannon was so fast he couldn’t keep tires under his car. Bob Dumke, Tim Green, Wes Bullock, Tim Wallen and other fine drivers competed in my era with many more joining after I departed for the Hooters Pro Cup Series in late 2000.

    Jerome Branscum, who won the 2003 CARS championship title and later purchased the series, said, “It was a series that we could get into for ten grand and get a nice looking car and we could go racing. I was 44 years old and had never driven a race car before. It was a real thrill for me. It was the excitement of getting to go racing every week, and on a budget.”

    Going through multiple ownership changes, the series was active as late as 2012 although it struggled to draw entries. It eventually faded away, forgotten by all but a handful of former competitors.

    The Championship Auto Racing Series existed in the era immediately preceding the Internet, so not a trace of its history can be found online. It existed in the earliest era of digital photography, so traditional 35mm photos are scarce and the few available digital pictures are of poor quality. As far as I can tell all records of its races and indeed, the very existence of the series, have been lost.

    “I would like it to be remembered like it was in the early years,” Branscum recalled, “when you could go racing and it wouldn’t cost you a fortune. You could meet friendly people, race hard and have fun.”

    Stephen Cox
    Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series and FIA EGT sportscar championship
    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN
    CEO, Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

  • Driver Ego: The Key to Building a Successful Racing Series

    Driver Ego: The Key to Building a Successful Racing Series

    The Stephen Cox Blog is Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    The easiest way to increase car count in short track racing and amateur road racing is to keep your drivers happy. Really happy. Fortunately, there is a very effective and affordable way to do that.

    It was four o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, August 29, 2004. It was blazing hot at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit just outside of Tulsa. Although we missed the setup and were posting slower-than-usual lap times, we won the GT-2 qualifying race after the leader retired with a broken supercharger belt.

    I climbed out of the race car drenched in sweat, knowing that I’d won a race I didn’t deserve. The track owner, the late Mike Stephens, was setting up victory lane and preparing to hand out trophies to the day’s winners. I stopped by to chat with him just before the main event and jokingly asked which trophy was mine. Mike laughed and then responded with some of the most truthful words ever uttered in motorsports.

    “Stephen, I’m not in the racing business. I’m in the ego gratification business. I promise we’ll take care of you.”  

    World Racing League championship ring

    The racing driver in me doesn’t like to hear that, but it’s true. Drivers want to participate in events that reward their ego. They’re interested in events that leave behind detailed records so that future generations can see and recognize their efforts.

    Records matter. Even the small ones. Heat race wins, track records, qualifying race wins, entry lists… these things are important to many racing drivers. They want to know that the series keeps careful records that will be made widely available and preserved long after their careers are over.

    Some may call this nothing more than childish ego. Your drivers and teams will consider it an honest, justifiable pride in years of hard work. But ultimately, what we think doesn’t really matter because human nature remains the same.

    The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is now re-writing their record book to include drivers who won A-main races during multi-day events. Previously, drivers who had won feature races on anything other than the final night of the event weren’t credited with official wins. Now they are. This brings a host of new, officially recognized winners into the record books. It makes a lot of drivers and teams very happy, and it didn’t cost the World of Outlaws a cent.

    World Racing League president Joey Todd offers a championship ring to the winners of the U. S. Endurance Championship at the Circuit of the Americas every December. Almost every racing driver I’ve ever met would trade all the trophies and accolades he’d ever earned for just one championship ring.

    It’s also a smart public relations move because a ring is worn regularly and continues to advertise for the series for decades to come. Championship rings hold a special mystique. Nobody gets a ring for participation. Few people will ask about a trophy after it disappears into a closet, but everyone wants to know, “Hey, how did you get that ring?”

    Midvale Speedway has begun posting the names of their track record holders on the front page of their website. It gives drivers something to shoot for. It shows that the series is interested in promoting their own teams and recognizing achievement at their track. It’s a great move that costs the track nothing.

    Every racing series and local track should have a master record book that is digitally distributed at no charge to the racing media, permanently posted on the series website and sent to every online racing database after each season. It should include every team and driver possible, and every record imaginable.

    It costs nothing to include short track heat race wins, track records and class champions in your record book, but your teams and drivers will take notice. They will appreciate the recognition.

    For better or worse, I really believe that Mike Stephens was right. We’re not in the racing business. We’re in the ego gratification business.

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Driver, FIA EPCS sports cars and Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • GHOST TRACKS: Revisiting Indiana’s Armscamp Speedway

    GHOST TRACKS: Revisiting Indiana’s Armscamp Speedway

    “No Trespassing” signs were everywhere. I had taken a wonderful 90-minute ride on my Triumph Bonneville to see the old race track and I didn’t want to go home empty-handed. It took half an hour to find someone who assured me that I could take a few quick photos of the former Armscamp Speedway in Alexandria, Indiana.

    There’s not much left. The south concrete wall still stands, marking the asphalt track’s fast main straightaway. The smaller infield track, which circles inside the quarter-mile main facility, is easier to make out. Half-century-old trees have grown up and through everything, including the old track surface itself.

    Built in 1941, Armscamp Speedway was at its zenith in the 1950s under the watchful eye of owner Paul Karnes, universally known as “Whitey.” If you could travel back in time and attend an average night at Armscamp Speedway, there is absolutely nothing that you would not recognize. You would feel right at home.

    You could watch races on Friday or Sunday nights. Occasionally a special double feature would be held with a complete midget show running Sunday afternoon at 2:30 pm, followed by a “hardtopper” show at 8:30 pm the same evening for stock cars. For a dollar, you could watch them both (about $6.50 in today’s devalued currency).

    The entire nightly routine would feel familiar to a modern short track fan. See if there’s anything here you recognize…

    Qualifying, or “time trials’ as they were then known, began an hour before the first race. If you could run the quarter-mile bullring in about 17.5 seconds, you were among the fastest cars.

    Fifty or more “hardtops” would enter the event, divided up into a trophy dash and four 10-lap heat races. The faster cars advanced into one of two 15-lap “semifinals,” with the fastest semifinal cars transferring to a 25-lap feature event.

    Amateur racers competed in “pleasure cars,” sort of an early version of street stocks. All other drivers were listed as professionals if their class paid a purse. The fact that most of them held day jobs mattered not. If you got paid, you were a professional racing driver.

    Just like today, a handful of the fastest open-wheel touring pros could make a decent living by racing full time. When Bob Breading of Indianapolis won the first of his three eventual Consolidated Midget Racing Association titles in 1946, his earnings for the year totaled $14,000. He would spend more than half of that on travel and car maintenance, but $6-7,000 was an upper middle class living in 1946 when the average US annual salary was barely $2,600.

    Special events paid more. A $2,000 total purse for a special main event was a big payday in the early 1950s, and a common sum for special touring series events or 100-lap championship features.

    Does all this still sound familiar?

    Drivers and officials at Armscamp Speedway argued over fairness and budgets just like today. Whitey Karnes introduced a new rule for the 1952 season declaring that any car winning three features must be sold to the first bidder for five hundred dollars. If no one bought it, the driver was free to continue competing in it. The “claim” rule is standard for many Midwestern short tracks today.

    Armscamp’s 1953 rules package was exactly ten sentences long. This is an exact quote: “Motor… anything you can’t see (is okay). If the motor looks stock outwardly, it’s okay. No tear downs!”

    The successful drivers were well known to race fans throughout the region. Names like Huston Bundy, Audie Swartz, Johnny Arnold, Francis Morris and Bill Holloway were in the newspaper every week.

    In 1953, Holloway was a 29-year-old from Muncie who built his own cars, managed the family garage, held a full-time position at Delco and ran four or more short track races every week. The previous year he had set single lap, 5-lap, 10-lap, 15-lap and 50-lap speed records at Armscamp while posting more Hardtop feature wins than any other driver. He raced for thirty years in stock cars and midgets before taking up motorcycles. He was still riding a 1200cc bike (rapidly) at age 83. If they’re going to build a Hall of Fame, guys like Holloway belong in it. He was typical of the local heroes who lit up Midwestern tracks every weekend in the middle of the 20th century.

    Armscamp Speedway ran its final race in the summer of 1967, after 26 years as a mainstay on the Indiana/Ohio short track racing circuit.

    If you could travel back in time to Armscamp Speedway in the 1940’s and 50’s, every single moment of your experience would be familiar. It would feel like home. You would instantly become comfortable with the format, the atmosphere and even the fans. It is shocking how little has really changed throughout the history of short track racing.

    The ruins of Armscamp Speedway can be found about a hundred yards northwest of the Centennial Steel building on the north side of State Road 28, less than a mile west of the junction with State Road 9 in Alexandria, Indiana. There’s not much to see, but I still considered it worth the trip. It’s like having your own personal time machine.

    But be sure and ask first. There are “No Trespassing” signs everywhere.

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series & FIA EGT Championship

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • Cox Wins From Last Spot on Starting Grid in Super Cup Title Chase

    Cox Wins From Last Spot on Starting Grid in Super Cup Title Chase

    Submitted by Global Media, Midvale, Ohio (June 4, 2017) – Stephen Cox charged from last place on the grid to win the second of Saturday night’s Skipco Auto Auction Twin 50s presented by United Tire & Service at Ohio’s Midvale Speedway, the first stop on the Super Cup Stock Car Series national tour.

    After his STA-BIL 360 Performance / McGunegill Engine Performance #21 was sidelined with mechanical issues earlier in the day, Cox jumped into the #7 Codie Rohrbaugh Racing machine when driver and pole sitter Larry Berg graciously gave up the seat.

    Cox, who holds the official Super Cup track record at Midvale, began working his way forward under the guidance of spotter Thomas Rohrbaugh and crew chief Codie Rohrbaugh.

    “They had to slow me down a few times early in the race,” Cox said after the victory. “The brakes on this car were very different from mine, and I was driving it too deep into the corners until I got a feel for it. Tom and Codie really saved the race by slowing me down and backing up my corner entry. Once I did that and adjusted my entry line a bit, the car was just a rocket ship.”

    Cox moved from dead last to second by the midway point of the 50-lap event, trailing veteran driver Jim Crabtree, Jr. Leaving the rest of the field behind, the two cars began a long struggle that would end when Cox slipped underneath Crabtree in Turn Three, just eight laps from the checkered flag.

    “Jim drove a great race and ran cleanly with me all night,” Cox continued. “He was trying high and low lines but I could see his car getting loose off the corners. Josh and Rick and Frank and all the guys on my crew had worked so hard all night and I knew my car would stick on the bottom. There wasn’t a car in the field that would stay with us off Turn Four.”

    Cox went from last place to first place to secure his first win in the Super Cup series, adding this to an oval track victory record that already included the Mid American Stock Car Series, dirt cars, open wheel modifieds and the original, Indiana-based CARS series. The win keeps him in contention for the Super Cup national short track championship which continues in two weeks at Kingsport, Tennessee.

    The Midvale winner is also slated to compete this winter in Europe’s Electric GT Championship road racing series as well as selected American road course events late this season.

  • Irwindale Event Center Trying to Bring Short Track Racing Back to Southern California

    Irwindale Event Center Trying to Bring Short Track Racing Back to Southern California

    issWith the closing of Toyota Speedway at Irwindale this past season, it raised a lot of speculation on how a state of the art facility could go from one of the Nation’s most popular short tracks, to one of the biggest mismanaged fiascos since Ontario Motor Speedway closed its gates in 1980.

    It wasn’t long after the track opened, that it became one the most talked about racing facilities from coast to coast, and the excitement the track generated during the early part of its inception was nothing like the disappointment it became in its latter years.

    On any given Saturday night, car counts were at all-time high, and the level of competition was some of the best with the fans showing their appreciation by filling the stands week after week.

    Irwindale would gain even more National exposure when NASCAR decided in 2003 to hold its annual non-points All-Star Showdown, which brought together both the Camping World East and West series teams to battle for bragging rights on the progressively banked ½ mile speedway.

    The race itself was dubbed “The Daytona 500” of short track racing because of the prestige that came with winning this two day racing extravaganza, and the race itself attracted drivers from all over the country including NASCAR’s touring and regional series.

    The following year in 2004, the track continued to flex its majesty when Greg Pursley won one of NASCAR’s most prestigious awards. Pursley, who had a full-time job at the track as an instructor at the Performance Race Training School, won the weekly series national championship, an award that had not been accomplished by a California driver in 19 years.

    Attendance, as well as car counts began to decline when the drivers and teams begin to voice their opinions on rule changes that were taking place in the middle of the season, along with certain drivers and teams who were being given special treatment.

    It became more and more obvious that the vice president and general manager of the track Bob DeFazio, along with competition director Lester Boyer were quickly losing control of the facility when the drivers and fans slowly began to look for other venues to get their racing fix.

    During this time, one of the biggest questions surrounding the track was how the track’s CEO Jim Williams could allow the facility to take a turn for the worse, without stepping in and putting a stop to what became obvious throughout the pit area.

    More and more things got worse around the track, and during the 2011 season NASCAR sent their officials to find out how the late model division, which happened to be the same division that would crown the national as well as the state champion could allow cars to race without first qualifying.

    Defazio knew that in order for either the state or national champion to come from his track, they needed a minimum of 20 cars to start each race, so he allowed both super stocks and the S2 cars to start and park in order to reach the needed car count.

    NASCAR approached Defazio and Boyer telling them that all cars had to qualify, in addition to passing tech inspection which included having the same rear spoiler.

    All of this embarrassment along with the closing of the track could have been avoided if Defazio would have taken the time to listen and work with all the drivers in all the divisions, instead of playing favorites and trying to monopolize racing to a single track.

    Jim Cohan’s Team 211 Entertainment group are on the right path to mending what was broken by a greedy, and unappreciative general manager who only looked out for his own interests while forgetting about the well being of the track.

    Cohan knew it would be an uphill battle from day one, and overcoming the challenges ahead could only be achieved by getting the entire racing community involved. “We know that we’re starting out a couple of laps behind,” Cohan said.

    “But we also know that we have the support of a great number of former racers, sponsors, and most importantly, our fans who have stood by waiting for this track to come back on line again. We’ll really need everyone’s good will and support, and we’ll be trying very hard to return the favor by running a facility that always puts the customer first.”

    Cohan and his management team have been busy working on a schedule as well as formulating a universal rules package with other tracks, in order to accommodate all drivers with the goal of bringing short track racing back to the Southern California area.

    With the opening night announcement and full racing schedule only a day away, Cohan secured Los Angeles-based LoanMart as one of the tracks sponsors.

    “We met with Colby Estes (LoanMart’s Director of Marketing) two days ago and had an instant rapport,” said Jim Cohan, President of 211 Entertainment Company.

    Cohan also added that, “LoanMart told us that they were pleased to be able to associate with Irwindale and that they had been waiting to hear that we were back in the oval track racing business.”

    With the pieces slowly but meticulously falling into place, it won’t be long before opening night rolls around and the action and excitement of oval track racing picks up where you left off at the event center, but with a whole different outlook.

    Cohan and his 211 Entertainment Company were able to resurrect the 1/8 mile drag strip bringing the Summit Racing Series racing back, along with the street legal program to give teenagers and adults  a safe environment to race their cars on.

    From all the hype the track has received since announcing it would bring back oval racing with the upcoming schedule only a day away, and the popularity the drag strip has generated since reopening in 2012. Cohan and company look to be on their way to a very successful and highly energetic racing season in 2013.

  • Daytona Introduces Short Track Races For Speedweeks 2013

    Daytona Introduces Short Track Races For Speedweeks 2013

    Daytona track president Joie Chitwood III: “Grassroots short track racing is the foundation of this great sport.”

    [media-credit name=”Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”222″][/media-credit]Recently announced to take place at Daytona during Speedweeks 2013 is the inaugural “UNOH (University of Northwestern Ohio) Battle at the Beach” event that will include three non-point special races for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified tours, and the Late Model division of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

    All these series are used as stepping stones to NASCAR’s more lucrative national series, such as Sprint Cup and Nationwide.

    The series’ will race on a temporary oval slated to be a quarter mile (0.4) in length built on the 2.5 mile superspeedway’s back stretch.

    “When I think about adding a short track event here, it’s just an opportunity to connect with that local racer supporting NASCAR,” Mr. Chitwood said.

    He also went on to say he is thrilled to give young drivers the opportunity to fight for a win at the” World Center of Racing”.

    “Many of NASCAR’s greatest stars cut their teeth on short tracks around the country and we look forward to hosting the stars of tomorrow in 2013. Whether it’s a hobby or profession, everybody should have the chance to race at Daytona. ”

    The criteria for setting the field in the event include: winners of the 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West events as well as the series champions will automatically be locked into that series’ race at Daytona next year.
    Additionally, winners of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour or NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour races this season and series champions will be locked into the Modified event.

    The top 10 finishers in this year’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I national standings will earn a starting spot in the Late Model race.

    And the champions of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, NASCAR Toyota Series from Mexico, and Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series this season will earn a protected starting spot in whichever one of the three 2013 Daytona races they choose to run.

    The remaining spots in next year’s features at Daytona will be filled through time trials and heat races.

    The “UNOH Battle at the Beach” event is scheduled for February 18-19, 2013, the Monday and Tuesday before the Daytona 500. Days that are also known as Daytona International Speedway’s “dark days”.