MOBILE, AL :: The arrival of Thanksgiving is an annual reminder that the Snowball Derby is less than a week away.
Event promoter and Southern Super Series spokesman Tim Bryant was on the promotional trail Tuesday afternoon, attending an ARCA Racing Series press conference in Mobile, Ala. announcing the return of the ARCA Mobile 200 to Mobile International Speedway in March.
The event also gave him the opportunity to talk about the upcoming Snowball Derby and 2015 Southern Super Series season. Race22.com sat down with the veteran track promoter and discussed both his big event and the future of his still relatively new Super Late Model tour.
Race22.com: When I look at the Snowball Derby entry list that you guys have put together this year, I can’t help but think that it is the best in the history of this event. Would you agree with that assessment?
Tim Bryant: The quality of short track drivers that we have this year is certainly the best ever. Some of these names may not be household names to our local market but we have brought in some of the best drivers from all over the country in guys like Derek Thorn from California, Ty Majeski from Wisconsin and Joey Polewarczyk from Maine. These guys are the stars from their specific regions and and I think we’re going to know all their names before we leave next week.
22: The big news from Monday is that you guys are finally broadcasting the Snowball Derby with Speed51 and 51TV. What made this year the time to finally go that direction?
TB: This is something we have been contemplating for quite a while. We know there are a lot of folks from distances far away that enjoy this race, especially when their drivers are participating like our three drivers from California. We understand that all these folks can’t make it to Pensacola for the first weekend of December so we wanted to provide them an opportunity to see what this is all about.
22: You asked the Escambia County (FL) tourism board for up to $25,000 during the summer to help with some day-to-day stuff with the speedway and the Snowball Derby. How did that play out for you guys?
TB: That was an effort on our part to get some outside the market advertising dollars. Most of our advertising efforts are located right here along the Gulf Coast. So with their help, we were able to reach some outer regions this year and I think it has helped judging from this first wave of ticket sales.
22: We have this conversation every year so surely you know it’s coming. Do you have a prediction for this year’s Derby? You called it right last year when you picked Erik to go back-to-back.
TB: I think people are going to be looking at three young guys when they come in next week — Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. But when you think about our regulars and the teams who run the Blizzard races and in the Southern Super Series, you have to look at Bubba Pollard and down the list of our standings. They all have to be considered favorites because they are the elite of short track racing.
22: This event has really become the marquee event in all of short track racing under your promotion and leadership. So when you look at all the growth you have seen over the past decade, what do you think the Snowball Derby looks like in 10 years?
TB: To answer that question, I would have to admit that I can only look at what it’s going to look like 10 days from now. There has been so much support for our event and it has been such a group effort to continue growing the race that we just want to maintain that foremost and make sure that the fans and racers have a pretty good experience when they come down for years to come.
We don’t have a long term vision because we want it to continue growing at a pace we can manage.
22: Speaking of growth, we’ve seen the Southern Super Series really evolve into the premiere Super Late Model touring series in the country over the past two years. In many ways, the second year topped the first year. So how would you rate the 2014 season and the growth that the series has enjoyed during that time?
TB: All I can think about when you ask me that is the final lap of that final race and the three-wide finish for the win between Daniel Hemric, Jeff Choquette and Augie Grill. I think the Southern Super Series has an extremely bright future.
Super Late Model racing in general, I believe, is on the rebound. A new tour (CARS) is starting in the Carolinas and of course there are some other great divisions throughout the country. But when talking about our area specifically, I can tell you that the Southern Super Series schedule is almost ready to be released and we’re looking for a strong 2015.
22: With that in mind, I know that the situations with Nashville and Gresham (defected from Super Late Model racing and shut down respectively) surprised you guys so how has the Southern Super Series tried to approach the schedule for next season and maintain the strength from the first two years.
TB: We’re excited about going back to South Alabama Speedway for the opening race — the Rattler 250 with (promoter) John Dykes. We’re adding Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Ga. to the schedule next season.
We have one other track that we’re looking at doing something with and of course, Montgomery, Pensacola and Mobile are the mainstays on the schedule. We don’t want to grow too fast because to some degree, when we first started the Southern Super Series, we were not as prepared as we could have been for immediate growth.
It’s a work in progress and once we get a solid foundation under us, I think other race tracks will be looking at adding our events.
22: With the announced debut of the CARS Tour, it’s a good sign for the health of Super Late Model racing. But on the other hand, the schedule is starting to get crowded with a lot of races. How important is it for everyone to get on the same page so no one is running against each other, allowing drivers who want to run a variety of races do so while still chasing the championship?
TB: I can only speak for the Southern Super Series and I think this is vitally important. 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.
So if we can manage our schedules, I could foresee teams that are geared up for it, maybe running 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.
