INSIDE TRACK EXCLUSIVE
We’re going to have a full story on this in the next issue of Inside Track, but here is some information about some recent events involving the former CASCAR Sportsman Series.
When it was announced by NASCAR that there would be no equivalent of the former CASCAR Sportsman Series in 2007, many of the competitors felt they would be on the sidelines this season with equipment that didn’t conform to any existing division or series.
Faced with this, a group including Ron Lethbridge, his father (Ted) and Sunset Speedway owner/promoter Glenn Lloyd decided to test the waters to see if there was any interest in creating a new series to give these drivers and cars a place to race.
This past Saturday in Milton (ON) a group of racers met and formed the Ontario Sportsman Series (OSS). According to Ron Lethbridge, they already have several confirmed dates (Sunset, Mosport & Peterborough) and within days could be in a position to publish an eight-race schedule for 2007. Other facilities in the mix are reported to be: Cayuga, Sauble, Grand Bend, Varney, Delaware, Capital City and Barrie. Only Kawartha and Flamboro have outright declined (said Lethbridge).
The series’ rulebook will be based on the 2005 CASCAR Sportsman Series, omitting the 2006 additions (HANS device, firesuits for ‘over the wall’ crews, etc.). Lethbridge believes these rules were largely responsible for the decline in car counts in 2006.
The cars will race on the 8” Hoosier tires that are the tire of choice for most of the short tracks being considered.
Although the details haven’t been worked out, Lethbridge says it’s likely that NASCAR Canadian Tire Series cars will be able to participate in OSS races if they remove their 4-barrel carbs and replace them with the 2-barrel models used by the Sportsman division.
On the tone of the Milton meeting, Sunset’s Glenn Lloyd said, “Everyone was happy to pitch in. Everyone was co-operative. Most felt it could be a better series with them controlling their own destiny then when it was a ‘feeder’ series under the CASCAR banner. They’re the show now… The positive attitude and the determination to make it work has been great to see.”
The OSS will hold its next meeting on March 31 (details TBA), at which point they will elect an executive committee. The group is looking for a Tech Director and a Race Director.
Ron Lethbridge can be reached at (705) 739-4686. Ted Lethbridge’s cell # is (705) 321-1207.
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9 comments:
It sounds like you guys are going to have a good car count, so kudos to you. Looking at how NASCAR tends to operate, I wish you guys the best of luck as before everything is said and done, you'll need it...
7-8 cars don't make a Series and i doubt if the Nascar CTS teams will run much in this OSS.Unless the local LLM are able to run with this Series without making any rule changes to their cars,i don't see this Series lasting more than a few races,although it could become another 10 car offbeat series/class like Pro Ch,Cup Lite,Legends,Hur-Mid's,f4 Mod's etc...I think the teams deserve to be saddled with ezpensive equipment because they bought into that in the first place.Cascar did nothing to help the weekly racing in Ontario and now these teams are getting the backlash from being part of it.The Cascar rules were so different,the cars were never able to be used to support weekly shows at tracks and weekly racers couldn't run their cars in Cascar,which lead to Cascar counts going way down,especially for full time teams.I think even the Nascar CTS Series will be interesting to watch this season and especially in 2008 when teams learn how the new Series is run,the higher costs,fan attendance etc...Thank you to Kawartha and Flamboro for not supporting yet another "offbeat" class of cars.Let the Cascar Sportsmen teams make adjustments and run at local tracks on a weekly basis to support those programs for a change.
Two Cascar Sportsmen have already sold their equipment and have purchased new LM.Munro and Connolly i think.
Steve Munro to his regret did sell his sportsman car, I however have my Dodge sitting here ready to go. I am working closely with Ron and Ted on this project and we expect a min. of 15 cars the first race. We also expect to have a schedule announced very shortly and I have personally been working on the series sponsors and I'm proud to say that in the last 24 hours we have 5 new sponsors that will be involved this year and a potential series sponsors on the line
Dave Connelly
Team RaceSportz
5 sponsors and a maybe title after a month working on it. Cool if its true and happens. How funny if they announce all that and a schedule before Nascar.
I'm thinking you might see some of the lower budget CTS teams run the OSS this season. Somehow I don't think NASCAR's going to be happy about this at all, especially considering the OSS tour might just out-draw the NCTS tour...
...just a question, why start a new group with 8 cars? why not join the Delaware or Flamboro programs and race where there are established purses and point funds? especially with the new WWS point fund shared between the two tracks on top of their home track stuff... just seems illogical to me... and where is the WWS announcement on this site? did ITMN not get the memo or something?
wws... been there, done that... next. new for 2007, win all the speedy dry you can take home, until they chase them off like Lucas. yawn.
whoever said there would be 8 cars? and why would you think that?
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