Based on the inaugural Media Day and Open House event on Wednesday night, CARS Tour is looking to revolutionize and modernize short track racing both on the track and inside the front office.

A packed house of drivers, owners and executives attended the event, which was held at the Roush Yates Performance Products Center in Mooresville to prepare for the debut season of both the CARS Super Late Model and Late Model Stock divisions.

Series Director Chris Ragle spent a large portion of the event addressing the attending participants, outlying standard event procedures and taking questions. Amongst those attending the event were David Gilliland, Todd Gilliland, Max Papis, Kaz Grala, Clay Rogers, Steve Wallace, Dennis Setzer and Brandon Setzer.

“We’re trying to make it better for you and bring short track racing to the 21st Century,” Ragle said, referring to his online entry form option. With that said, that quote is also a euphemism for the entire CARS operation.

A Meet and Great and Media Day, complete with an online web streaming broadcast felt like new territory for Late Model racing. In addition to participating drivers and team owners, the event attracted representatives from Kyle Busch Motorsports, American Racer, AR Bodies and Five Star.

In short, it’s the hip new toy in short trackin’ but like all things the hype will eventually must be met with results and that was the larger purpose of the meeting – a chance for all involved to hash out potential conflict and pitfalls before they have a chance to present themselves on Opening Night on March 28 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, N.C.

One year removed from drawing only a handful of cars in the dying days of the Pro Cup Series, CARS founder and President Jack McNelly was legitimately overwhelmed by the turnout and reception of his latest project.

“To say that Chris and I are excited for this season would be a gross understatement,” McNelly said. “With 80 teams registered, it’s mind-blowing to us. It’s fulfilling. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m speechless.”

McNelly also laid out his big vision for the tour, urging everyone in the room to work together to make CARS the best it can be — to compete but tug in the same direction.

“You know this is a big business,” McNelly said. “It’s about partnership and cooperation between people. Racing is a business and partnership between people. Competitors cannot stand on their own. They need sanctioning bodies, suppliers, media and they need fans. Sanctioning bodies need that too.

“Everyone in this room needs everyone else in this room. If you don’t feel that way, we don’t need you. We need you if you want to compete and be on time and do something special. Thank you and see you on the 28th.”

The following are a few notes from CARS Tour Media Day:

Over 80 teams are currently registered between the Super Late Model and Late Model Stock divisions.

Every event will feature an optional test day Friday before each event. The Friday before the season opener at Southern National will have a tech crew to check both Super Late Models and Late Model Stock Cars.

There will be heavy penalty for teams who don’t pre-enter events. With all the teams potentially starting, CARS Tour needs to know how many haulers they are parking.

“We are huge on this,” Ragle said. “I know a lot of you aren’t used to pre-entering but it’s big deal for our staff because we need to know we’re parking 30 haulers or 70 haulers so we’re big on pre-entering.”

The Late Model Stock Car entry fee is $100 and the Super Late Model entry fee is $150. The late entry fee is $250 and that team will pick tires last.

“It’s that big deal of a deal to us,” Ragle said.

One of the bigger controversies was the announcement that drivers who miss the start of a CARS Tour race (missing pace laps and the green flag) will not be allowed to race and will receive no prize money or championship points.

It caused a bit of a stir and Ragle said that drivers that show the intent to start the race will be eligible. But the tour will work to better clarify the rule moving forward.

Lastly,Roush Yates Performance Products provided vouchers and gift cards to attending teams and drivers for coming out and participating.

The complete rules packages for both tours can be found here.