2008 ASAMT RULES RELEASED
By: Kevin Ramsell
Friday, December 28, 2007 (Daytona Beach, FL) – Back on Sunday, December 16th, ASA Midwest Tour officials met with a majority of the top 20 owners and drivers at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, WI. The meeting was an opportunity to sit down and review the inaugural season and look at what improvements can be made for the 2008 season.
Those teams who were not able to make the meeting did get their opportunity to voice their thoughts to ASAMT President Tim Olson. Olson did share those thoughts with the teams represented at the meeting.
Some of the items discussed at the meeting included weight, engines and tires with the overall goal in keeping the ASA Midwest Tour an affordable tour for the teams and working towards the goal that everyone is on a level playing field.
Much of the discussion had to do with the car weights based on the engine package a team decides to run with. Olson handed out a statistical sheet showing the breakdown of wins and top-fives from the past season based on the different engine packages.
In 2007, 67% of the competitors raced with an ACE Motor while 21% had a 9-1 motor. ACE led the wins category by taking home eight wins (61%) while 9-1 had four wins (31%), and there was one win with a crate motor.
ACE also led in the top-five category by having 58% and 9-1 having 35%.
The top-two hard chargers, Dave Feiler and Rich Loch, each ran with a 9-1 motor.
After much discussion, the majority of the top 20 teams voted to keep the weight package the same for 2008. ASAMT officials will have seven different weights listed in the 2008 rules for the different engine types that will be competing.
Representatives from B and B Race Engines and Tesar Engines were available to offer their insight.
Another hot topic was tires and finding a way to manage this. Olson stated at the meeting that his goal was find a way to get race teams to end the purchasing of extra tires for “mock” time trial runs during practice.
With the variety of teams on hand, ranging in different racing budgets, a compromise was reached and will be officially announced at the pre-season meeting on Sunday, January 27th at the Kalahari Resort, the day after the Championship Banquet. “Our goal was to find a way that the low budget team would be able to get on a level playing field with a high budget race team when they come to compete at our events,” Olson stated. “I think when the teams hear our announcement in January, they will be pleased. There will be a lot of work for us to do on the officials end to make this work, and I am very confident that this will work well.”
From the race procedure discussion, it was decided that the qualifying heats will start straight up based on their qualifying times. This will give those teams who barely missed making the feature event on time a better opportunity to race their way into the event. The qualifier heats, heat races for those who qualified into the feature race, will still be inverted. Both heats have an opportunity for each team to gain points towards the 2008 championship.
“We were really on the fence about this,” Olson stated. “We had to find a compromise between giving the fans a great show and also giving those teams who barely missed making the feature a fair opportunity to race their way in. I think the fans will still get to see some good racing because it’s no surprise that some compete better in race conditions rather than qualifying conditions.”
In the area of safety, ASAMT officials are announcing that head and neck restraints WILL be required for all 2008 ASAMT events.
The 2008 rules are now available on the Tour’s website at www.asamidwesttour.com.
The ASAMT Championship Banquet will take place on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Kalahari Resort. Race teams are encouraged to visit the ASAMT website for more information on making their hotel reservations.
The 2008 ASA Kwik Trip Midwest Tour Presented by Echo Outdoor Power Equipment season will begin on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN.
To learn more about the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by Echo Outdoor Power Equipment, log on to www.asamidwesttour.com or call the ASA Midwest Tour office at (262) 514-3880 or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@asamidwesttour.com or Steve Einhaus at steve@asamidwesttour.com.
To learn more about the Daytona Beach, Florida based Racing Speed Associates or the American Speed Association Racing Member Track program, call (386) 258-2221 or send an e-mail to info@asa-racing.com. For news and information from racetracks and regional tours involved in the American Speed Association, visit www.asa-racing.com.