Rebirth of the All Stars

London, Ontario (February 1, 2008) -

A few years ago, I think it’s fair to say that the All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car series was in trouble. Ownership of the series was in question, and the World of Outlaws/National Sprint Tour split caused 2 of the tour's biggest names and their teams - Chad Kemenah and Jeremy Campbell - to make the jump to the World of Outlaws, where the split created openings for them. 2006 was a tough campaign for the All Stars tour, as only a handful of teams competed full time, some scheduled events were cancelled well after the season was already underway, and rumours of the demise of the series began to surface. The ‘06/’07 offseason, however, brought optimism for “big league” 410 sprint car racing, as the National Sprint Tour halted operations and many of those teams returned to the World of Outlaws. In turn, the 2007 edition of the World of Outlaws tour featured one of the strongest full time driver rosters in series history.

The rejuvenation of the World of Outlaws helped the All Stars, as much stronger competition for rides and sponsors in the WoO forced some drivers to look elsewhere. Some looked to the All Stars - namely Brian Paulus last season, and for this coming season, Paul McMahan. McMahan, having lost his seat at the end of last season in the Tony Stewart Motorsports #20 to Kraig Kinser, has joined forces with legendary Ohio driver-turned car owner Rick Ferkel for a full assault on the All Star tour for 2008.

Having said all that, much of the rebirth of the All Star tour over the past year seems more due to hard work by the ownership and officials of the series than it is the result of the unification of the Outlaws (although that certainly helped). Before last season, a new title sponsor was brought on board (O'Reilly Auto Parts), and the All Stars took over the defunct Mid-American Sprint Series (MASS), renaming it Midwest All Star Series. The new group had a reasonable amount of success in it's first season, competing at tracks in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. A solid schedule was put in place for the All Stars in ’07, and new drivers joined the tour full time, including Fremont Speedway and Attica Raceway Park regular Craig Mintz, and Western Pennsylvania standout Brian Ellenberger (both will be back full time on the tour for ’08).

The big news for the All Stars this season is new, big name additions to the driver roster. Along with McMahan, Central Pennsylvania star Lance Dewease, and longtime Ohio standouts Dale Blaney and Dean Jacobs have all announced plans to run with the tour full time this season.

Another driver to watch is Neil Shepherd, who made his debut in a full size sprint car with the All Stars at Attica, Ohio in April of 2006. Shepherd has progressed quickly and ran very well in some non-wing events in Indiana last season, including some top 10 runs during USAC Indiana Sprint Week. Shepherd is planning on running for the rookie of the year award with the All Stars this season, but don't be surprised if he is also in the hunt for the overall title as well.

These drivers, along with many returning drivers from last year, including Paul May, Brock Mayes Greg Wilson, and Brandon Martin, should combine to create one of the most competitive full time rosters in series history. The additions also make up for the departure of Danny Smith, who was one of the more popular and competitive drivers from last season, finishing just 2 points behind Greg Wilson for the ’07 drivers championship. Smith is moving up to compete with the World of Outlaws full time in 2008.

Yesterday, the All Stars released their full 2008 schedule with 42 confirmed events and 5 more to be announced, and tonight kick off their season at the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida. All the action will be broadcast live (audio) on www.DirtVision.com with new tour announcer Dave “DC Bash” Campbell and his BAS Racing Network.

In Other News…

…The Empire Super Sprints announced this week that Lucas Oil has been signed as title sponsor for the series. The tour will visit Southern Ontario once this season, at the Ohsweken Speedway on June 20^th…

…Ohsweken Speedway has a title sponsor for it’s new weekly 360 sprint car division. CORR/PAK Merchandising, based in Richmond Hill. The company sponsored the “best appearing car” award at last year’s Canadian Sprint Car Nationals…

…An article in the London Free Press this week by Jim Cressman brings good news for London-area race fans: Property owner Nick Spivak and the Delaware Speedway ownership group have signed a new 35 year agreement which will see the property remain a speedway for at least that amount of time. With the new agreement, track management is going ahead with a $2 Million renovation which includes repaving the track surface and replacing the retaining walls. Click here to read the full article: http://www.londonfreepress.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=222552&s=massacre …

…More good news for another “local” short track: Lancaster Speedway in Buffalo, whose owner said repeatedly last summer that the track would close if a buyer could not be found, has been saved. Former owner Ralph Galuzzi is back and has signed over naming rights of the track to Dunn Tire, with the track being renamed Dunn Tire Raceway Park. The number of race nights has been drastically reduced, but it is better than not having a track at all, which was the alternative. To read the Buffalo News article about the Speedway’s new owner and his plans, click here: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/264869.html ...

...The North American open wheel season unofficially kicked off last night at Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park with the first of 3 nights of ASCS American Sprint Cars on Tour action. Kenny Adams beat Gary Wright and more than 50 other competitors for last night’s feature win. Quebec's Michael Parent is the lone Canadian on hand at East Bay. Saturday night’s Ronald Laney Memorial King of the 360’s event pays $10,000 to the winner. Live audio of all the action is available on www.HighSpeedRadio.com …