After Year One, ASA STARS National Tour Looks Ahead to Future

One year ago, the foundations for the ASA STARS National Tour were announced during a meeting at All American 400 weekend. This Friday after All American 400 practice, those same teams and figureheads met with one year of racing to look back upon and a new season to prepare for.

STARS will crown its inaugural champion on Sunday in the All American 400, with a title fight that has come down to eight points between Ty Majeski and Cole Butcher. However, preparations are already underway based on the lessons learned from the series’ first year.

“We had so much support from the three regional tours,” said Bob Sargent, president of Track Enterprises. “Midwest Tour, CRA and Southern Super Series and all their people. You all know it, but these guys spent hours and hours on the phone every week massaging the procedures and all of that.

“We feel we have a very good start for 2024 and beyond. That’s why I’m here to share how positive I am about 2024.”

Last week, the series published its 2024 rulebook, and hope to have a schedule announced before the annual Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show on December 7-9.

ASA STARS National Tour officials also plan to utilize some of the feedback from the inaugural season as they move forward. One particularly focused effort on this front will be a new owner/driver committee, where teams will be able to offer their input and insight.

“We’re going to form an owner/driver committee going into next year, composed of the top six owners in points standings after Sunday,” explained Mark Gundrum. “We’re going to seek an at-large member from the rest of the participant base from the owners.”

ASA teams will be given the opportunity to vote on the “at-large” member of the committee, giving them the chance to elect a representative on the committee.

“The purpose is, as a group, to narrow down a single voice to bring forth ideas, suggestions, and recommendations,” added Gundrum. “We’re going to lean on you guys for your help. We’ve had to make a lot of hard decisions on a lot of things throughout the year, and you absolutely deserve a voice in those decisions.”

Gundrum also noted a Rookie of the Year program will be added for the series second season. Eligibility requirements have not been determined at this time, as the series wants to weigh the balance between encouraging new teams to participate while acknowledging an ASA “rookie” who didn’t take part in the series this year could be a veteran racer.

“As this was our first year, we did not have a Rookie of the Year program. We will for next year, and we have people interested in supporting that,” said Gundrum. “We need to be smart about how we set that eligibility, but we are interested in bringing in first time owners and first time competitors in the series.”

Of course, some things will remain the same for next year. The series is still eyeing a 10-race schedule for next season, and believes they will have a similar broadcast package for next year.

“We are going to stay at 10 races,” said Sargent. “We feel that is a good number. Some people said go to eight, some people said go to 16.

“Our TV partners this year came through well. We had MAVTV step up and do tape-delayed, and we had live streaming through Racing America and our platform, MidwestTour.TV and TrackTV.com. We feel very confident we’ll have a similar package next year, if not a little stronger.”

Sargent also admitted there were some growing pains during the opening season, but believes those have been necessary to make he

“We were maybe a little too naïve in changing things around. You guys were loud and clear, but we were trying to hone in on the best procedures for you guys. We’ve learned a lot in the first 10 races.”

While more details will be announced at a later date, Friday’s meeting was also an opportunity for the ASA STARS National Tour to share with competitors the progress towards a more uniform Hoosier tire for use in Late Model competition next year.

“It’s been a work in progress,” said Sargent. “We wanted to get the right tire, the right wear and the right price. Hoosier has stepped up, worked on different molds and everything in testing. We’re proud to work with Hoosier and let them explain what they’re doing not just in this series, but across the United States.”

“I know what you guys go through, trying to get help, trying to get down the road,” said Hoosier’s Irish Saunders. “We’re all in this together, we’re all passionate. These guys are doing the best they can to sell the show.

“We’re going to make this combination of tires where you basically run one combination everywhere except for a place like Winchester or The Milwaukee Mile,” added Saunders. “We want to get you guys the best possible product. My hats off to you guys. We’re hoping to have a little bit bigger roll out with these tires from the marketing team at the Snowball Derby.”

“[Saunders] stepped up to the executives in Germany, at Continental and General Tire, to get the best product he can,” said Sargent. “He’s really stepped up and stood up at the factory. Hopefully, we’ve got the right tire here, and it will put on a good race.”

While the 2024 season will be here soon enough, with competition under the ASA banner opening at Crisp Motorsports Park's SpeedFest on January 19-20, 2024, there is still a champion to crown this weekend.

Fans unable to attend this weekend's All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway can watch live on Racing America.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy/Racing America