Bye Bye CRA South

[bubba]

Per Speed51, the CRA South series is no more. The CRA is still alive and well, but the south division has decided to fold. Must be something in the water or rather something not in the wallets in the south to keep from putting something together that works. The formula seemed to have what it needed, but I think overall, starting an asphalt touring series right now just isn't gonna work.

I know at the beginnning of the year, we all (me included) piled on NSS, etc for being short-sighted with their rules package - citing the emergence of this series and some others that seemed to be thriving - well, NSS is still around.

I had a mild panic attack last week when I heard that Robert Hart was ill and with the car and fan counts down at NSS - I was afraid we would see something bad happen with them. As much as that place can piss me off, it would truly be a heartbreaker if anything ever shut them down. Just to be clear - I have heard nothing of the sort even floated out there - just my paranoia kicking in. I was pleasantly surprised with the show at the Clyde last week - and glad I kicked in my latest installment of $30 to support them.

[carolwicks]

Bubba...

i agree with you Bubba... if we lost NSS it would be a hard knock for Florida racing... its a great track and it is in a perfect location for special events. I too pray hard for Robert to fully recuperate. He has always been so nice to me and his family are the Frances of short track racing in fl.
the old saying "you dont know what you got til you lose it"... so with that said...GET WELL ROBERT!
carolwicks aka oz

[AJ14]

Southern based series sure seem to be having trouble making a go of it while their Northern branches seem to be doing well enough . I keep hearing talk of people wanting another Super Late asphalt series to start up in Florida . I wonder if there is still enough interest on the part of the racers and the fans to make a new series successful . Or is Super late asphalt racing in Florida just going to continue to wilt and die ?

[SeminoleWind]

At least here in Georgia, where the CRA South had a majority of it's events, there were just too many late model touring series in 2009.

*The Southern Pro Series (now defunct)
*CRA South (had only 12 cars at it's last event at Cordele. Most late models in Georgia are no longer "Super" Lates))
*ASA RC/Cola/Moon Pie (by far, the most successful series, with big names, good promotion and car counts in the mid-thirties at many events)
*ASA Late Model (car count usually in the teens, I believe they have cancelled some future Georgia events)
*Georgia Asphalt Series (good promotion, run by Lanier Speedway, I assume car counts have been dissapointing, 12 to 20 per event. Many local drivers, for various reasons, don't like racing at Lanier, where the bulk of the GAS schedule is run.

[AJ14]

That is a lot of series . I can't imagine that more than two good touring asphalt series could survive in any one state . I'm surprised to hear that about Lanier . Wonder why .
Theres only one series in Florida that anyone knows or cares about ( FASCAR ) and its done and gone , might be one in the Panhandle though i'm not sure , so we may have to do what Five Flags does and bring in cars from out of state for special shows .
I wish someone would try to get a good Super Late series going again .

[SeminoleWind]

Add one more series to that total. The Southern Super Stars, out of Alabama, have an event scheduled at Senoia in August. I think they are replacing yet another series that was scheduled for that date, PASS South.
I think there are only 4 asphalt tracks operating in the whole State of Georgia in 2009, only 1 (Lanier) runs late models on a weekly basis. Senoia is around once a month, Watermelon only has late models when touring series come through and South Georgia runs biweekly.
Add this to 2009. Gresham Motorsports Park (formerly Peach State), has completely torn down and rebuilt their facility. They are scheduled to reopen in November.

[bubba]

I can't imagine that if somebody put up $15000 or so to win that you would have trouble filling a quality field for a 200 lapper at NSS. Problem is that somebody has to pony up the $$ no matter what. If they were to turn "the Clyde" (thanks Haud for getting me stuck on calling it that) into such an event with the crowd in for the daytona races and run it on Sunday - I can't imagine it not making the grade.

We need in no particular order $25000 for a purse, FiveFlags rule book and Bobby Diehl to promote it.

I'll get a copy of the rule book...anybody else?

[Winger]

I can't imagine that if somebody put up $15000 or so to win that you would have trouble filling a quality field for a 200 lapper at NSS. Problem is that somebody has to pony up the $$ no matter what. If they were to turn "the Clyde" (thanks Haud for getting me stuck on calling it that) into such an event with the crowd in for the daytona races and run it on Sunday - I can't imagine it not making the grade.

We need in no particular order $25000 for a purse, FiveFlags rule book and Bobby Diehl to promote it.

I'll get a copy of the rule book...anybody else?

Only problem running on Sunday, after the Daytona July race, would be if the Daytona race got rained on on Saturday. Too big a gamble on that date. Sorry, just being the devils advocate.

[AJ14]

You're right , a payout like that would bring every good car in the state out to race . Probably a few from nearby states as well . I'd run it on Thursday night , just like the Clyde ( hey , that does work ) does now . Most of the crowd for the Daytona race is already in town by then , the sports car race will now be run on Saturday , so the Nascar crews have nothing else to do on Thursday but go to NSS . Thursday would draw a good crowd if there was something to go out there for . Now as for the money ......

[DeMan951]

*ASA Late Model (car count usually in the teens, I believe they have cancelled some future Georgia events)
*

I agree and I wouldn't be surprised at all if the ASA Late Model South series is dropped next year. With only one race getting over 20 drivers, and one race in Georgia only getting 12 cars to show up it doesn't look good.

[straight up]

robert hart pay that kind of purse ? you have got to be smokin some wild stuff ! he would have another stroke if he even heard mention of such a thing ! maybe when andrew takes over ! great ideas but not gonna happen with fascar . bobby deals your only hope these days .