NASCAR Tours - Have Car, Will Race

Paul Warner, media relations director with United Speed Alliance Racing (USAR), says the organization's plate is already full with its expansion on the East Coast.

"We keep adding series so we don't have to send drivers home," he says.

Warner says the USAR may make a push toward the Midwest in the next couple years, but it would be with the cars it already races.

"The USAR cars are basically a Busch Series car," he says. "The Elite Division cars are entirely different. We may be able to offer a touring series, but it wouldn't be for the cars the Elite drivers are in today."

The ASA Late Model Series also would be a poor fit for the cars.

Scott says he could offer drivers a home in his CRA, but if they want to win, they'll have to build a new chassis.

"And then they are still stuck with the old chassis and body that really has no value," Scott says.

In an unprecedented move, NASCAR has offered drivers some advice on where the cars and drivers might go: Somewhere else.

One of the suggestions is the growing SRL Super Late Model series on the West Coast.

NASCAR's announcement in December was no surprise to ASA owner Dennis Huth, who is working with the SRL to offer Elite division competitors an option for 2007.

"We had heard rumors about the possibility that NASCAR may drop the Elite Division a few months earlier and were already considering ways to fill the void if it happened," Huth says. "It happened much quicker than we anticipated."

The American Speed Association quickly launched plans to help expand the California-based SLR Super Late Model series next year to pick up the pieces of NASCAR's Northwest and Southwest tours.

Huth apprenticed at NASCAR. He ran tracks in the Pacific Northwest and created what was then called the NASCAR Northwest Tour in 1985. Later, he was the first director of NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series.

He bought the ASA's regional touring series and its member track program after the ASA fell upon hard times in 2004.

Huth is working with Davey Hamilton, former Indy 500 driver and competitor in the Indy Racing League, and Steve Fensler, director of operations for the SRL, to launch the ASA-sanctioned series in 2007.

Hamilton and Fensler already run a touring series-the 12-race SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout, aka SLR Super Late Model Series-in central California. They will use it as the template for twin series on the West Coast beginning next year. The SRL uses rules almost identical to NASCAR's Elite Division.

"It is way too early to talk specifics," says Huth. "All I can say for sure is that we have been contacted by tracks and drivers about becoming part of what we offer in 2007."

Huth says the inquiries have not been limited to the West Coast.