Mooresville, NC – The CARS Pro Cup Series will visit Southern National Motorsports Park on October 6th, as part of the Pro Cup Championship Series.
This will be the tenth Pro Cup race at the 4/10 mile, high-banked, asphalt oval located in Kenly, NC. Pro Cup’s most recent visit was in 2008, when Jay Fogleman won the Dan Duncan Memorial 250.
“We look forward to taking the Pro Cup Series back to Southern National this season, and being part of the new ownership’s first season. Pro Cup has had a long history with Southern National and we are excited to open this new chapter together,” said CARS Pro Cup President, Jack McNelly.
Southern National Motorsports Park will be re-opening this season under new ownership.
Contingency Program Growing for 2012: With five weeks remaining to the Pro Cup Series opener March 24th at Anderson Speedway, the 2012 Contingency Program has already surpassed the 2011 program.
“We have had a very successful off-season so far, in terms of bringing aboard new sponsors. We are still hard at work everyday to bring in even more. We thank all of sponsors for their support and we look forward to making sure they are pleased that they put their faith in us this season,” said CARS Pro Cup President Jack McNelly.
Among contingency sponsors on-board for the 2012 season include: Five-Star Bodies, Champion Brands, Automotive Specialists, T & D Rocker Arms, Holley, Brown & Miller, Auto Carpet Pros, Competition Transmissions & Gears, Kool Mat, Staubli, Hess Automotive and others.
Pro Cup teams will be competing for several contingency awards this season, which will increase the race winnings for successful teams. Contingency prizes up for grabs this year include the: “KoolMat KoolMove of the Race,” “T&D Rocker Arms High Finisher Award,” Holley Halfway Leader Award,” and the “Auto Carpet Pros Hard Charger Award”. Brown and Miller will also be handing out weekly awards and Champion Brands will be awarding a year-end award to the Series Champion.
More sponsors are being added weekly, so the pool of contingency awards will grow as the season approaches.
Five Questions with CARS Pro Cup Series Driver JP Morgan:
Off-season activities and preparations?
JP Morgan: “We’ve been dealing with our Pro Cup cars, we went through all of cars just before Christmas and finished getting them ready, but with the tire change, we are reworking some things, doing our research and getting ready to start testing. We have an idea of where we are going to start with our cars and we don’t think the tire change will be too drastic for us.”
2012 Season Outlook?
JPM: “Right now we are very hopeful that everything will continue on the good path the Pro Cup series has been on lately. There have been strong fields and it is headed in the right direction. It’s exciting for us for to finally see some growth in racing, industry-wide. We were looking at some entry lists for other series for speedweeks and it appears that some teams are starting to get out of the garage and back to the track. Hopefully that will be the case for Pro Cup as well. We are looking forward to a good Pro Cup season as well as looking at some other series and events to run this year.”
Favorite Race Track?
JPM: “Would have to be Iowa Speedway. It’s such a nice facility. I have loved it since the first time I went there. It combines the best of all racing. Has high corner speeds, but its not too big that you lose the racing, you can definitely race there. It is one of the best facilities in any series. I also like Rockingham, it just has so much character.”
Hometown & Family?
JPM: “I grew up in Texas, lived in Sydney Australia from the time I was 8 until I was 13. I now live in Charlotte and have been here a few years with my wife, Jackie who is a real estate agent. Anyone looking for a house should visit www.soldbyjackiemorgan.com.”
Hobbies outside of racing?
JPM: “I enjoy golf, boating, hunting and classic cars. I have ’69 RS/SS Convertible Camaro that did the mechanical restoration on. I take it out a couple times a year when the weather is nice.”
