Tony Stewart buys All Star Series

[Frasson118]

When was the last time you saw a televised All Stars race? Sponsors love TV time and big in-person audiences. ... in both cases, the WoO dwarfs what they have.

And the money to be made has a MUCH higher potential in the WoO.

If all else WERE equal, why would a team travel to every corner of the US, when they could stay in 1 relatively small region?

Costs, travel, and time are MUCH more demanding..... but so are the rewards.

[Frasson118]

Besides.... it could be seen as a major conflict of interest if the series owner was fielding 3 of the regulars on the Tour.

This would only divide the sport, not unite it..... which is his goal.

[Lurkin]

Is WoO on TV? I don't have cable, not being funny either. Best $100 a month I ever saved

[Lurkin]

Good points though!

[Frasson118]

The Outlaws get probably 8-10 TV appearances a year. Knoxville, Williams Grove, Eldora, Charlotte, Las Vegas, etc.

To my knowledge, the All Stars have zero TV time with the possible exception of Mav-TV which I don't get.

[OldSchool+]

Frasson, A counter point:

How well was Gene Haas' team running prior to Tony? How big do you think his sponsorships were?

I don't think Tony has a beef with the WoO (but then, I don't know...), but I also don't think he purchased a second string series to continue to run it as a second string series with no TV coverage.

Ironic, though, Tony will now bring credibility to the All Star Sprint Car series.

[Winger]

Actually the All Star series had problems and a faction split off and started their own series. It was hurting the sprint car racing in that area, so Tony made a deal and bought both series. He has recombined them and they will run under the All Star name. They have something like 50 races scheduled. It's pretty much a regional series, not comparable to the World of Outlaws. Most WoO races probably pay nearly as much to start as the All Stars will pay for third place. That's my guess. I think the All Stars are 360 CI while the WoO are 410 CI. You're comparing apples to oranges. WoO have the big names and money behind them. The All Stars are more grass roots. To be honest, the All Stars probably puts on better racing. LOL The WoO have a 90 race schedule. The 2015 champion will cash a check for $150,000 with a total cash payout of $650,000 in the point fund. If you follow the WoO as one of their contract drivers, you are pretty much guaranteed your travel money.
As for the TBARA, that's a club and not owned by an individual, so buying that would be just a bit different. Don't confuse the series that Davey Hamilton has formed to replace the TBARA with the series Tony Stewart has bought. Their names may be somewhat similar, but they have nothing to do with each other.

[Winger]

Here's a link to a story about it. Just to emphasize again, this has nothing to do with the series that is replacing the TBARA. Seems there seems to be some confusion about that. http://www.onedirt.com/news/tony-ste...racing-empire/

[OldSchool+]

Notably, from the article: “Racing is my business, and I look forward to building on the All Star Series’ already impressive legacy by taking it to a new level of success and sustainability.”-T Stewart

[Matt Albee]

When was the last time you saw a televised All Stars race? Sponsors love TV time and big in-person audiences. ... in both cases, the WoO dwarfs what they have.

And the money to be made has a MUCH higher potential in the WoO.

If all else WERE equal, why would a team travel to every corner of the US, when they could stay in 1 relatively small region?

Costs, travel, and time are MUCH more demanding..... but so are the rewards.

That's true, but Eldora has sure been televised since Tony bought it. The big sponsors always seem to fall in line with Tony on his projects. Look what he brought to the Haas team. And i do mean Tony brought, everything that team has become is 100% Tony and his ability to attract talent and money.
Look what he did with the PRI Show. Started his own version a couple of years ago in Indy, it became just as big, and just as important within 2 years and then PRI bought it.
I think you'll see the same thing happen with the All Stars. TV, big purses, big teams and drivers. If i were WoO, i'd be very nervous right now. I doubt there is any WoO track that wouldn't fall over themselves to get a Tony Stewart backed sprint series signed up.

[Groundpounder]

You guys give Stewart way to much credit for something he hasn't done anything with yet...he has just spent his money, we'll see... Tony is an old beat up driver and after last years bad publicity, we'll also see how many preexisting sponsorship contracts renew for him.
It is incorrect to say that Hamilton created a series to replace TBARA. He is just down here fishing in the car owner pool looking to take advantage of what's here for his own unproven series...then he'll leave town. The local pavement sprint car scene is still ripe for the picking! If Rehm was smart he'd just start by scheduling a few pavement races for his group to keep some organization together.

[OldSchool+]

"...everything that [Stewart-Haas Racing] has become is 100% Tony and his ability to attract talent and money."--Matt

Well, excepting Kurt Busch, of course...

[egspeedway]

Other than NASCAR I don't think you will see Tony involved in much pavement activity. Clearly he is a student of dirt. If he wasn't why would he spend a week doing track prep for a midget series. From what I have heard the track was very racy.

[luke81]

Winger, All-Stars are 410's just like WoO. Identical cars from one series to the other. I'm not sure Tony is out to battle the WoO, although anything is possible. He tried that once before with the National Sprint Tour and that failed hard. All-Stars and WoO have happily co-existed so far and I think it's in both of their best interests to continue to do so. Here's the great thing, the All-Star series is already totally set up for success. Even last year before the All-Star/Renegade split they were getting good fields of cars. And that's with a guy owning the All-Stars that everyone hatred and wasn't paying his purses on time. Now that the All-Stars and the Renegades have reunited under this series the cars and the following are already in place for success. Stewart doesn't have to really do anything other than not lie to his drivers like Guy Webb was to be successful.

[OldSchool+]

Yep. Not that there needs to be a "battle".

Pay equivalent purses, have equivalent TV time, and the racers will show up by themselves. WoO better not stumble or there will be a stampede.

All conjecture, of course.

Think about it though. To a potential (and newbie) sponsor, which sells better:
a) Yes, we race with Tony Stewart's All Star Series, or
b) Yeah, we race with the "World of Outlaws"

If you are, say, fruit of the loom (!), which one sounds like it will move more speedos?

A question: If you race with a given series, say the WoO or, for that matter, TBARA, does that absolutely preclude you from racing with another series (as was the case with NASCAR drivers in the 60s)?