"That's made it easier for a lot of guys to keep their costs down throughout the season," said Southers. "A majority of the expenses teams face in auto racing is travel costs. We require pit stops, so you have to have a crew. There's also the cost of hotel rooms, meals, and everything else that goes with running a race team. Our schedule allows them to compete in a series that has a high level of exposure and [to compete] when it makes sense to them."
Bobby Gill, the 2001 champion, was the first to collect the big money in the Hooters five-race championship. Jason Sarvis captured the USAR Championship playoff in 2002 while Shane Huffman won the 2003 crown.
Rogers Takes 2004 TitleThe 2004 season proved to be successful for Clay Rogers as he scored four wins and captured the USAR Hooters ProCup title. Rogers won the crown in the final race at USA International Speedway in Lakeland when he finished fourth in the Four Champions Hooters 300.
Rogers claimed the championship, thanks in part to the bad luck suffered by Benny Gordon who took a 39-point lead into the final event. Gordon started fourth at Lakeland, eventually led, then fell out on Lap 231 with a mechanical problem. The Northern Division regular season champion settled for a 27th-place finish at Lakeland, opening the door for Rogers, who turned in a workman-like fourth-place performance to win his first USAR Hooters title.
Gill, meanwhile, took home the trophy for winning the finale in Lakeland, as he outdueled Jay Fogleman in an exciting race that saw four lead changes in the final 10 laps.
In all, Rogers won one of the five USAR Hooters ProCup playoff races, the Dan Duncan Memorial/Kroger 250 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia. His 861 points were 18 better than Gordon's second-place total of 843. Gill, winner of the final USAR Hooters ProCup event of the year at Lakeland, finished third in the championship battle with 822 points. Shane Huffman and Jeff Agnew completed the championship Top-Five with 793 and 764 points, respectively.
For his efforts, Rogers, a 24-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina, took home the lion's share of the $1.2 million in purse and prize money. Huffman collected $409,600 in earnings while winning the 2003 championship, a USAR record title payout.
While the big payday and the plaudits are nice, Rogers may have won even more as his efforts were featured on SPEED in primetime every Thursday evening throughout the summer. Unlike other motorsports series that battle each other for viewers on the weekends, all USAR regular season and championship events are tape-delayed and shown from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursdays. With no competition for motorsports viewers in that time slot, the telecast has become a popular Thursday night racing fix and a sponsor-friendly showcase for the drivers and their backers.
"We've been on SPEED since 1999," said Southers. "SPEED has grown and we have grown. I know they reach over 60 million households in the United States, and they have been a great partner to work with. TV is the lifeblood for any racing series, helping its racers to attract sponsorship. SPEED's given us a great time slot in prime time on Thursday, and we're looking forward to continuing that in 2005. Thanks to SPEED, when the Hooters ProCup Series comes to town, fans want to come out and see the great racing live that they see on TV every week."
As a short track racing series with television exposure, record numbers of drivers, and growing attendance, the Hooters ProCup Series National Championship has led the way for oval track sanctioning organizations into the playoff-format world we live in. Most of all, they've made it work.