NAPLES, ME :: Pro All Stars Series (PASS) officials announced that a slate of select races have been set to comprise the 2014 PASS National Championship Series. Six PASS races spanning the Southeast, New England, and Canada will be featured once again to crown Super Late Model racing’s only true national champion. The tracks selected to host PASS National Championship races in 2014 will be New Smyrna Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Oxford Plains Speedway, Autodrome Chaudiere, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, and Southern National Raceway Park. While awards are still being finalized with sponsors, the 2014 PASS National Champion will once again be presented with a diamond encrusted championship ring from long time series supporter Northern Race Tire. Former PASS National Champions include Cassius Clark, Ben Rowe, Preston Peltier, and Jay Fogleman.
“We’re very happy to once again bring the PASS National Championship Series to some of North America’s most legendary short tracks in 2014,” said PASS President Tom Mayberry. “Since 2008, we’ve been able to bring some of America’s greatest short track racers together to compete for the PASS National Championship. We feel the tracks that have been selected this year will provide a true test of man and machine throughout the season and will provide some truly exciting events for our race fans.”
Fans will not have to wait long for the PASS National Championship Series to get underway as it will begin in just over two weeks at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. The 3rd Running of the Florida Winter Meltdown will mark a return to the fast, high-banked half mile for the first time since Brad Leighton took the checkered flag there in 2010. In addition to being the first PASS National Championship Series race, the Winter Meltdown will also serve as the opener for the PASS South Super Late Model points season. Last year, Maine’s Joey Doiron parlayed a win in the Winter Meltdown, held last year at Auburndale Speedway, to runner-up finishes in PASS National and PASS North Super Late Model points.
From New Smyrna in February, it is back to the most traditional stop on the PASS National Series at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina on April 19. Hickory’s Easter Bunny 150 has grown to be one of short track racing’s biggest events of the Spring. Since veteran Mike Rowe won the first Easter Bunny back in 2006, Hickory Motor Speedway’s hallowed victory lane has been one cherished by every Super Late Model driver that has followed in his tire tracks.
Race three of the 2013 PASS National Series will be, at perhaps, the most legendary of all short track races. The 41st Annual Oxford 250 at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway on July 20 will once again bring the best short track drivers from across North America together to compete for $25,000 to win. With nearly 70 Super Late Models in attendance last year, points provisionals following New Smyrna and Hickory will be at a premium. The list of past winners reads like a “who’s who” in stock car racing and includes such names as Lindley, Bodine, Hanley, Craven, Rowe, Harvick, Busch and last year’s winner, Travis Benjamin. With $25,000 in lap leader money in addition to the race purse, this year’s Oxford 250 winner could take home upwards of $50,000.
Next up, will be back-to-back PASS National Series races in the month of September. The PASS National Series returns to Canada’s Autodrome Chaudiere on September 6. The 200 lap race will serve as the final event of the Autobus La Quebecoise Triple Crown, a “mini-series” of the three PASS North races at Autodrome Chaudiere with a separate bonus points fund for drivers who compete in all three events there. Last year, Ross Kenseth took the checkered flag in the finale, while 6-time PASS North champion Johnny Clark came out on top in the Triple Crown.
The following week the PASS National Series returns to another traditional stop in New England, the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, ME. The PASS 400 Weekend at Beech Ridge on September 12-13 is always a favorite for both fans and competitors and this year’s contest will be no different.
Finally, the PASS National Series will conclude on November 15 at Southern National Motorsports Park with the 9th Annual Mason Dixon Meltdown. The 200 lap test on Southern National’s fast, high banks will once again crown both the PASS National Series and PASS South Super Late Model champions.
The first event of the PASS National Series will be the Florida Winter Meltdown from New Smyrna Speedway on February 8 and will be broadcast live on PASS TV. This 125 lap event is attracting some of the best in Super Late Model racing and is sure to become an instant classic. If you would like to purchase the Florida Winter Meltdown on PASS TV pay-per-view you can now find the link on ProAllStarsSeries.com.
