This Is Not Your Father's American Speed Association
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But the ASA of today resembles nothing of its predecessor. Since Dennis Huth took over the sanctioning body, ASA racing can now be found north-to-south, east-to-west, and all points in between. Oh yeah, on dirt tracks as well as pavement; stock cars and sprint cars alike all carry the red and gray ASA logo.
ASA sanctions more than 800 events a year now, starting at the weekly track level. The ASA Member Track program has more than 35 racetracks across the country generating the type of short track excitement that the foundation of the ASA was built upon.
The ASA Member Track program was initiated by Huth in 2004 and today includes several of the most renowned facilities in the country. One of the first to sign with the program was Madison (Wis.) International Speedway, and today other notable facilities include Rocky Mountain Speedway (Salt Lake City, Utah), Illiana Motor Speedway (Chicago, Il), Desoto Super Speedway (Bradenton, FL), Adirondack International Speedway (Beaver Falls, N.Y.), Meridian Speedway (Boise, Idaho) and Orange Show Speedway (San Bernardino, Calif.).
There are a number of dirt tracks in the program, something that fans of the original ASA probably never thought they would see. But today, stands are filled at Hartford (Mich.) Motor Speedway, Skagit Speedway (Skagit, Wash.), Silver Dollar Raceway (Chico, Calif.), East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, Fla.) and others to see Late Models, Sprints, and others "fling the mud" ASA-style.
"The ASA Member Track program has really grown quickly over the past five years and I think we can attribute a number of things to that," said Huth, president of the American Speed Association. "Obviously, there is a 40-plus years of history of providing exciting short track action and building champions and people want to be part of. On top of that we have done some innovative things with our exceptional insurance partner WSIB Motorsports Insurance that nobody else in the industry is matching, such as the door-to-door coverage for members during race events. So, while some people never saw the ASA growing beyond the Midwest, today we are literally providing coast-to-coast racing."
Founded as a regional touring series, the ASA still sticks to those roots, and then some. The ASA Kwik Trip Midwest Tour is the closest thing to the original foundations in that region of the country. A 13-date schedule will keep the Super Late Model teams busy this year as they visit tracks in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana.
This tour has proven so successful that the ASA RC Cola/MoonPie Southeastern Tour brings the same level of excitement and enthusiasm across the South. This group will fight for the checkered flag eight times in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. And there is even an ASA Northwest Tour which clearly proves that stock cars are still a big focus at the American Speed Association in the great Pacific Northwest.
Today's ASA also has a truck series. The Verve! ASA Speed Truck Challenge was one of the first regional racing tours to sign with the ASA and have entertained countless fans with their door-to-door style of action. Their 13-race schedule includes stops at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.), and features racing in California, Nevada and Arizona. The International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series (ISCAR, formerly the Goody's DASH Series) is now running under the ASA banner as well as the Southern Modified Race Tour for Modifieds.
Even Sprint Car fans have a couple of ASA touring series to follow, a far cry from the roots of the organization. The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Car Series hauls the dirt, and the ASA Northwest Sprintcar Racing Series sizzles on asphalt, and both bring big-league open wheel thrills to the American Speed Association.
The Pro-Autosports program is one of the most unique among the ASA Regional Racing series. This Southwest tour visits the road courses of Firebird Raceway (Phoenix) and Sandia Motorsports Park (Albuquerque) and offers high-performance driver education, track time and time trials for street cars as well as sports car club and professional racing programs. Nowhere else in the American Speed Association can you see Ford Mustangs on the track with BMW's, Mazda's, Ferrari's and other performance vehicles at the same time.
"We've certainly have come a long way from the foundations that Rex Robbins set for us so many years ago, but we still focus on providing the best racing action in the industry which is what he established. And while we may have hit a little rough patch a few years ago, the ASA is alive and well and is growing better than ever," Huth explained. "It may seem like the ASA has branched out beyond the stock car core, and we certainly have, but each move was done methodically with the purpose of giving the ASA-brand and our members the national exposure everyone deserves."
"Of course, this type of expansion could never have been accomplished without the dedication and hard work of all the track operators and regional series owners that placed their faith in the ASA and those four-decades of history and relevance that we have in the motorsports community."
The ASA Member Track program is comprised of more than 35 short tracks around the United States, as well as a variety of regional and national touring series. For more information, call (386) 258-2221 or send an e-mail to info@asa-racing.com. For news and information from all the racetracks and tours involved in the ASA, visit www.ASA-Racing.com.
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