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On this week’s edition of the “O’Reilly ASA Fastlane” broadcast Ron Varney, President and Founder of the ASA Late Model Series, sat down and talked at length with co-hosts Terry Wall and Jack Smith about the past, present and future of the popular touring series.
The ASA Late Model Series actually consists of three different series: the Challenge Division, Northern Division and Southern Division. All three have tight points races in 2007, the most competitive fields of any short track series in the country, and seems to be just getting started.
Varney, a third generation racer from Michigan, has his roots deep in short track racing, and seems the perfect fit for the series he commands. The story begins in 2002 when, under the leadership of Ron Varney and Race Director Chris Throgmartin, the USPRO Cup was created. This series actually grew out of drivers and Varney, the promoter, getting together on the rules.
“We invited some of the most respected drivers in the industry into a closed door meeting, and we said ‘Guys if you had a rule book that you could design right now, what would you do?’.” Varney explained. “We sat in the room for probably 4 or 5 hours and threw ideas together and that’s really how we came up with the cost savings on shocks and brakes and things like that.”
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One of the men who was influential was Freddy Campbell, a legend in Michigan racing circles. Campbell, Butch Miller, Dave Sensiba, Mark Kortz and Jeff Bozell tested both the Ford and GM engines in 2002. GM Racing, Howe Racing Enterprises and Port City Racing were also among the racing industry leaders consulted during the formation of the series.
In 2003 a partnership was formed with the American Speed Association and Varney’s USPRO series that led to the birth of what is now the ASA Late Model Series. In 2006 the series expanded to a Southern Division, and though the newest Division has exceeded Varney’s expectations, he tells of the growing pains, “Everybody was on the sideline going, ‘yeah we’ve heard it all before, but we are going to wait and see’, so we knew the first year was going to be a a struggle.”
Things changed quickly in 2007 however with the first race at the Bronson “Bullring”, “When we came out of the gate this year and had 40 plus cars at the first three events it far surpassed every expectation we had.”
Though Ron Varney is a stickler for the rules and runs a very tight ship, as both drivers and his staff will attest, the humility that has earned him enormous respect from the drivers never seems far way. “I hear about guys building cars and going to race next year even more, and that kind of support is sometimes overwhelming to me; that people will come out and embrace what we have going on because they believe in it.”
In the interview with Real Racin’ USA Ron Varney touches on many subjects, from threats of lawsuits for disqualifying drivers, the difficulties of keeping the costs down and track promoters resistance to change, while bluntly detailing the harm NASCAR is doing to the Saturday night short tracks, and the effect the economy is having on fan turnout at short track events.
One idea the ASA adopted is running counter to a lot of promoters these days, and that is the subject of ticket pricing. The ASA dropped ticket prices during 2007 and saw fan attendance increase, and in the interview Varney goes into detail about the subject of attracting fans with attractive ticket prices. “What is the most expensive seat in the house”, he asks and answers “the empty one of course”.
Terry Wall asked the ASA late Model Series promoter about NASCAR’s penchant for ever expanding its Saturday night races. Varney made it clear where he stands on this ongoing debate, “We have done enough surveys, enough studies to know for a fact that it does hurt the crowds.” The passion for short track racing came through loud and clear as Varney continued, “Whether NASCAR says that they are friends of short track racing or whatever, how can you be when you are cutting the throat of the short track racers?”
Just to put a point on it Varney said, “For them to bury their heads in the sand and say yeah ‘we’re proponent’s of short track racing’ and then go and do that is just spitting in the face of these track owners that are trying to make a living and cultivating their [NASCAR’s] next stars.”
While the man in charge of this highly successful series sees pitfalls in too much televised racing, he nonetheless is eagerly looking forward to bringing the ASA Late Models to your home. “I believe you are going to see TV in some way shape or form, whether it’s all the races, or whether half of the season, or whether it is just two or three big shows.” Varney went on to tease ASA fans about next year, “We have got several big name sponsors on the line, and we could even see a re-branding of the ASA series into XYZ ASA Late Models Series.”
“We have got a lot of big things on the horizon, we have got another manufacturer stepping up, we’ll get a foreign name plate in there”, he laughs and adds “there is a lot of interesting things going on behind the scenes right now.”
Though the series does race at the Milwaukee Mile, Varney describes it as “a short track on steroids”. In addition the famed Wisconsin track the series has raced or is racing in 2007 at places like Five Flags Speedway, Music City Motorplex, Hickory Motor Speedway, Hawkeye Downs, and of course Bristol Motor Speedway.
While the series is looking to include some more big name tracks in the near future, Varney insists the series will remain a short track series. “I don’t foresee us going to Kentucky Speedway or places like that, although we have had some offers to do that, I just think that at this point in time we are just going to stick to our roots.”
To listen to the complete interview use this link: Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Two ASA Northern Division drivers locked in a heated battle for the 2007 points championship, Peter Cozzolino and Trent Snyder, were also guests on this edition “O’Reilly ASA Fastlane” Wednesday night.
The “O’Reilly ASA Fastlane” airs each Wednesday at 8PM on Real Racin USA and all shows are archived on the website as a podcast for online listening or for download. The one hour show is also sponsored by The Brake Man, Five Star Racecar Bodies, PowerMaster, Port City Racing, Evergreen Development and RH2Way Radios.
