McNelly Discusses Expectations for Inaugural CARS Tour Season

MOBILE, AL :: In the months following his termination of the Pro Cup Series and retooling it into the Late Model CARS Tour, series president Jack McNelly hopes his efforts place him back at the forefront of a short track revolution in 2015.

The Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) generated a great deal of conversation and energy when McNelly announced that he was transitioning his league away from Pro Cars and towards two separate but equal Late Model divisions — the Late Model Stock Car and Super Late Model.

McNelly initially purchased Pro Cup back in 2008 and became the sole proprietor in 2011. He spent the three following seasons attempting to return Pro Cup to the level of success it enjoyed back in the 1990s and early 2000s but falling car counts made it obvious that it was time for a new direction.

“Needless to say, we were struggling with the Pro Cars for whatever reason,” McNelly told Race22.com on Wednesday night. “We could not get those teams to participate on a regular basis. We needed them to come out an entertain the crowd, and without them, you’re not going to have a crowd.

“As a result, we started looking at ways to increase our car counts.”

The UARA had ceased operations by the end of the 2013 season, creating a major void for Late Model Stock owners wanting to travel across the Mid-Atlantic. McNelly called it a “no brainer” to utilize those cars above all else.

He also received a great deal of interest from Super Late Model teams looking for other options aside from the Pro All Stars Series and Southern Super Series, receiving so much feedback that he ultimately settled on a dual 150-lap feature format for both the Late Model Stocks and Super Late Models across 10 events in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

“We were cognizant that there was another series (PASS South) in the region but those teams came to us,” McNelly said. “So we asked ourselves what were the positives and negatives to running both types of cars. Fans who buy a ticket to our events will get two premiere races on one night so we eventually decided that it made a lot of sense to do so.”

It’s worth noting that CARS and PASS do not have a single direct conflict all season, allowing teams to run both tours if they are interested in doing so.

As for the Late Model Stock division, McNelly isn’t really concerned about the perception that CARS will be competing with NASCAR and Division 1 events either, citing the state of the national championship and several tracks deciding not to run those cars in 2015.

“I’m not sure teams care if they win the (NASCAR) national championship anymore,” McNelly said. “I feel like teams with that equipment want stiffer competition and they want to travel. We’re not going out to California or Arizona obviously but teams do want to travel, especially with so many tracks dropping the Late Model Stock from their schedules.”

McNelly said it is important for CARS to work together with PASS, the SSS and CRA to unify rule books, avoid date conflicts and promote each other for the good of teams and drivers. So far, it is a sentiment shared by both the leaders of the SSS and CRA.

Southern Super Series co-founder and director Tim Bryant said the goal was ‘vitally important’ and that he hopes the different tours are able to share teams and drivers moving forward.

“New race teams are not popping up every single day so we like to encourage our racers to go elsewhere and race if it’s an off-week for us,” Bryant said. “So if we can manage our schedules, I could foresee teams that are geared up for it, running maybe 20 to 22 races a year for three different tours while never leaving the Southeast, including the Pro All Stars Series.

“So hopefully the other series directors will feel the same way and it’s going to benefit everybody.”

CRA co-founder and director Glenn Luckett has been a long-time leader in creating synergy throughout the industry, spearheading the move to a universal body type and generating a unified rule book between the CRA and SSS.

McNelly and several members of the CARS technical staff will travel to Cordele, Georgia later in January to meet with Luckett and RJ Scott at CRA Speedfest, looking for additional ways to add to that unity.

“We need to work together,” McNelly said. “There are no monopolies in this country. The only way we can survive is to work together. We can’t survive in a cocoon. Pro Cup was in a cocoon and it didn’t survive. We can become partners in this industry and hopefully we will. There are a few people who look at other tours as the enemy and that’s not going to grow the sport.”

McNelly cited 2012 PASS South champion Kyle Grissom as a marquee example. He expects Grissom, who finished sixth in the Southern Super Series standings in 2014, to run full-time in CARS this year while also running close to a full schedule in the Southern Super Series. He said that any success Grissom has in CARS only helps the SSS when he travels south or vice versa.

“If he wins one of our races, I hope Tim promotes the dickens out of him,” McNelly said. “Because we would do the same thing if he won at Pensacola. This is an opportunity to make national stars out of all of our drivers.”

The CARS Super Late Model Tour is geographically squashed in the middle of both the SSS and CRA while also promoting races near the Charlotte hotbed of motorsports. These factors have him optimistic that his events could become all-star shows of sorts, featuring Grissom, Bubba Pollard, Steven Wallace and countless winners from all over the country.

“That would be wonderful,” McNelly said. “Hopefully we can do that and have the blessing of Tim, Glenn and RJ too. Look, we’re not trying to take anything away from anyone. I don’t want my own Snowball Derby. I’m 67-years-old and just trying to have fun. I don’t expect to make a lot of money but I just don’t want to lose it. I want to promote exciting and entertaining shows and I want that to be my legacy.”

Wallace is running for the Super Late Model championship and has also prepared a Late Model Stock to double dip at select tracks.

“I like this CARS Tour man,” Wallace said. “It’s going to be badass because it’s going to be like the old ASA National Tour days or the old All- Pro days. You’re going to have a bunch of really good teams and great racing.

“That’s what is so appealing. I know the purse isn’t that much more, but it’s almost double compared to any other racing.”

In addition to the Super Late Model recruits, McNelly has also received commitments from Tommy Lemons Jr., Todd Gilliland and Kyle Grissom to enter cars in the Late Model Stock division.

All told, McNelly is just excited to start the season, especially given the interest over two months away from opening night on March 28 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina. He is working on an online streaming package and has extended an invitation to numerous media outlets to spread the word.

“We’ve taken a lot of chances on this and we recognize that,” McNelly said. “I think it make take some time to grow. It’s going to depend on social media and getting the word out. (Director of Operations) Chris (Ragle) will be going to the Motorsports Expo in Charlotte and I’ll be going to Cordele.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure teams and fans know what we have in store.”

What they have in store is perhaps the most interesting and star-studded concept in the history of short track racing and the beginning is only a few months away.