CHARLOTTE, NC :: The Pro All Stars Series (PASS) appears destined for even more growth in 2015 after the 2014 season saw solid car counts in the north and the south. Adjustments to the championship format, new venues and deals with other sanctioning bodies have strengthened the PASS brand heading into a new season.
RACE22.com spoke with PASS South announcer and media relations guru Alan Dietz to discuss the upcoming season, which starts on March 7th with the South Carolina Clash at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, South Carolina, a race that featured spectacular action from start-to-finish in 2014.
“I think the car counts should be where they were last year,” Dietz said. “I don’t think they’ll be off. If anything, they could be a bit better. There are definitely a lot of Super Late Models down here now compared to what they were 10 years ago when PASS South first started. There’s no lack of cars in the south and in the Carolinas anymore.”
The dynamics have changed for Super Late Model racing in the Southeast with the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) evolving into a Late Model Stock Car and Super Late Model tour. That evolution has some of the teams that run the Perimeter-style Late Model Stock Cars putting together Straight-Rail Super Late Models. Dietz remained cautiously optimistic about the possibility of the PASS South tour gaining a handful of cars as a result of the CARS Tour.
“If they want to race, they used to have to go to Florida or the Deep South when they weren’t racing. These teams can stay closer to home now if they want to. The only thing that concerns me is, between PASS and that other deal, I think there’s going to be some people that try both and, if they’re not careful, they risk the chance of running themselves out of business trying to race too much. There’s nothing you can do about that. Then there’s going to be some folks who pick one or the other. That’s why I think the car counts will hold steady or build a little bit because that other deal is running less times than we are.”
PASS’ 2015 schedule is the strongest it has been in recent years. The 2015 schedule new venues up north at Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh, New York and Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont, among others. PASS South will make a trip to Kingsport Speedway in Bloomingdale, Tennessee for the first time while also returning to Concord Speedway in Concord, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach Speedway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
“I think the schedule in both series is stronger than it’s ever been before. When you leave the south, the number of different tracks we’re going to. Then you look at the tracks we’re going to this year that are new like Kingsport or races we’re going back to such as Concord and Myrtle Beach, it’s really hard to beat the schedule that we were able to put together this year
“It’s the same thing up north with the Oxford 250, moving it to the end of August, that should help us pick up more teams out of Canada and out of the north and even teams out of the south that aren’t racing for two weeks on either side of the 250. I know there are teams that want to get back up there so we’re thinking 70. That’s what we’re shooting for and that says a whole lot if you’re looking at 70 cars.”
A recent addition to the PASS North schedule is an Independence Day Weekend race at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway, nicknamed “The Magic Mile”, in Loudon, New Hampshire – a track that has been a staple in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since 1993.
“Going to a one mile racetrack that’s a current Cup racetrack, not many series can say that at all that are short track series,” Dietz stated.
Another thing that strengthens the PASS brand up north is the recent alliance with the American Canadian Tour (ACT). The alliance will bring the ACT Late Models to Oxford Plains Speedway while bringing PASS to Airborne Park and Thunder Road. That alliance came as a surprise to many given the pre-existing narrative that Tom Mayberry, the president of PASS, does not play well with others. Despite that narrative, the alliance with the ACT was not the only one. Down south, PASS has also teamed up with the recently created KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series for a set of doubleheader races in the month of May.
“There are a lot of people that have said we don’t work with anyone. When you look at, I don’t think there’s any series in the country that’s working with other short track series like PASS is. The partnership with the ACT between Tom Mayberry and [ACT President] Tom Curley getting the ACT cars back to Oxford and PASS cars Airborne and Thunder Road where nobody thought they’d see PASS cars. Then you look at the south and the KOMA Modifieds racing with us at Kingsport and Concord and I think there’s a lot to build on with that relationship. I think we might see more races in the future.”
Dietz also stated that the deal between PASS and ACT is unprecedented as both series would be running separate races at the same track – something that differs from the sole race co-sanctioned by the Southern Super Series and ARCA/CRA Super Series at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville in 2013.
“Some of the people who say PASS doesn’t want to work with anybody might want to look in the mirror. Those series say they work with other series but they don’t.”
One area where PASS has faced criticism over the years is when it comes to regulating members of the media in regards to social media updates and live-blogging of PASS racing events. It first came into the spotlight in 2012 when PASS issued a release following the All-American 400 at Nashville stating that members of the media would not be allowed to post live updates of races on Twitter or on websites such as RACE22.com. Following the fallout from Nashville, RACE22.com reached a deal with PASS in 2013 to cover races exclusively.
“It’s kind of funny now when I see some of the comments people will make about Twitter and things like that, I’m pretty proud personally when you look at our Facebook page in a couple years how much it’s grown. I think by this time next year, we’ll have over 10,000 people. It’s the same thing with our Twitter page. We don’t discourage those things at all. The only thing we’ve ever said was, when it came to live updates and things of that nature, when it’s a specific media entity, whether it’s Speed51 or RACE22 who are great partners, all we want is to ask for permission.
“We had an agreement with RACE22.com and I don’t think it would be fair to RACE22.com to let someone else come in and do updates. I think you’ll see more PASS coverage potentially with PPV. I wouldn’t rule that out. I think if you’re going to do PPV races, out of fairness, you have to limit that.”
The issue came up once again when a miscommunication led to an argument with “The Orange Cone” on Twitter that went viral. Dietz reiterated that fans and team members are not prohibited nor discouraged from posting updates on social media during the races – but he said the series also has an obligation to protect its brand.
“As far as fans go, we have never at any time discouraged fans and team members from tweeting or doing Facebook posts,” Dietz explained, saying he wanted that reiteration published underlined and in bold text. “We want them to post photos and updates. It helps the series and we would never discourage that. I don’t think we’re different than any other major league… we’re on a much smaller scale but we take what we do seriously and our property seriously. It’s the only reason that issue ever came up. I think people have used that to jab us and punch us. I think people who did that had their own interests ahead of us. It was just an excuse to get a dig in.”
Last season, PASS started live-streaming races on the internet. Following the launch of PASS TV, other Super Late Model leagues followed with putting races online – whether on their own or through XSAN.tv Speed51.com’s 51TV.
“I know that, last year when we started PASS TV, we could see where things were heading. As far as asphalt goes, we were the first people trying to do anything like that, then 51TV and other people got into things like that. I don’t know if it would be us, a partnership or whatever with a media entity. We have to do what’s in the best interest of the series and doing it right.
“Just in a year, it’s amazing how much this PPV coverage has come and I think that, whereas a year or two ago, we wanted to see more of these races on OTA TV. As a racing series, it’s hard to afford that. PPV gives you an option now where you can do it cheaper, the quality is just as good and fans are enjoying it just as much.”
Dietz said it was hard to say at this time what new drivers would be running in the tour since, unlike the CARS Tour and other sanctioning bodies. PASS does not require driers to purchase an annual license.
“With PASS, we don’t require drivers to buy licenses. A lot of teams sometimes buy licenses at that first race. We give them that option… I think you’ll see some of the northern drivers run in the south, especially early in the season. One of the things we try to do is emphasize for these teams is buy licenses… if you have a license and get your entry in early, the entry for Dillon’s only going to be $75.”
Dietz stated that Trevor Noles, Jody Measamer and Nick Robertson would be among the drivers contending for the PASS South championship. Kodie Conner and Lucas Jones will also be competing in the PASS South Super Late Model Series while DJ Shaw, Joey Doiron and Cassius Clark are among the drivers who will again compete for the PASS North pennant. Like last season, a handful of the PASS North drivers will likely head south for the first few races.
Another change that was made to the PASS North tour, with the addition of the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, is that teams running for the PASS North championship can drop their worst finish. There will also be two separate championships in the north – one for the entire PASS North tour and another for drivers who only run the races in New England.
The 2015 PASS season will begin on Saturday, March 7th at Dillon Motor Speedway. That race will be followed by two national events, one at Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, South Carolina on March 21st followed by the Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, North Carolina on April 4th. Hickory Motor Speedway will also be where the PASS South season holds its finale on November 21st, a change from the past couple of seasons where the finale has been held at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina.
