While NASCAR's playoff system ultimately proved to be compelling and competitive, no one in Daytona Beach, Florida, knew for sure that determining the 2004 NASCAR champion by staging 10 Chase events would deliver increased fan interest, race attendance, and television ratings.
Just up the coast in Longs, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach, the folks at the United Speed Alliance Racing (USAR) Hooters ProCup offices could have offered plenty of insight into a stock-car playoff system given they've had one of their own since 2001. Based on the USAR experience with a playoff format, had NASCAR called for advice, Hooters ProCup executives would have given them a big thumbs-up on the project.
From almost every angle, the Hooters ProCup five-race Championship Series has been a huge success for the organization. After seeing what a playoff format has done in the Hooters ProCup Series, Tim Southers, USAR media/public relations director, says he's not surprised at the success NASCAR experienced with its 10-race Chase format.
"To my knowledge, nobody from NASCAR called and asked us what we thought," joked Southers. "I do know what we would have told them if they had called. We'd have told them to go for it. NASCAR got tons of additional media coverage and other advantages by going to this type of playoff format this year. That's what's happened to us as well since we initiated our playoff system. "USAR Hooters ProCup has grown exponentially in every area since we went to the playoff format in 2001. I commend NASCAR for changing their system because it's done nothing but raise the interest and excitement level, not only for NASCAR, but for all of racing."
The genesis for Hooters ProCup racing can be traced to the plane crash that claimed the life of 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki. Hooters was Kulwicki's primary sponsor when he perished en route to Bristol, Tennessee, on April 1, 1993. Also lost in the crash was Mark Brooks, an executive in the marketing of the Hooters NASCAR program and the son of Hooters CEO Robert Brooks.
Hooters carried on its NASCAR team sponsorship for a season after the incident and sanctioned its first series, a Formula 2000 open-wheel division, in 1994. A year later, the Hooters Cup Late Model Series made its debut with 2,800-pound cars primarily run on pavement tracks in the southeast United States. Paying $15,000 to win, the Hooters Cup Series was a hit with historically cash-poor Late Model competitors as several top drivers defected from other sanctioning bodies to run for the big dough.
Meanwhile, the NASCAR Sportsman Series chugged to a halt after a trial run in the mid-'90s. The series focused on heavy cars with small carburetors and low horsepower running on big tracks like Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.
A Series Is BornIn 1996, the Hooters ProCup Series was launched featuring heavier 3,330-pound, fullsize, steel-bodied cars reminiscent of those in the Sportsman Series. The rules were changed to give the cars more horsepower and the events were brought back to the short tracks where the cars race hard and close. The shows proved to be well attended by competitors and fans alike, and one year later the USAR Hooters ProCup Series ran full-time with Mario Gosslein taking the inaugural season title.
From the beginning, keeping the cost of racing in line has been a consideration for the sanctioning body. The series currently uses a BFGoodrich Traction T/A Radial tire and limits teams to eight per event. Each car uses a stock four-barrel carburetor that reins in horsepower at the 600 mark. There are no Happy Hours, other than those at the local Hooters Restaurants afterward, as cars are impounded after qualifying.
The tightly regulated series has proven to be a hit with racers, as the average cost of a Hooters ProCup car is in an affordable $60,000-$80,000 range. During the off-season, a decent turnkey car could be had on eBay or a wide number of trader sites for $40,000-$45,000.