Commentary by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected] (@langleyaustin on twitter)
Asheville, NC(January 16, 2012) — Every year there are rumors of a new series, rumors of a series to compete with the UARA, a series to compete with PASS, a series to compete with the SouthEast Limited Late Models, or a new series for Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and the like and while usually they come and go without anything happening, there’s one this season that will happen.
New for 2012 will be the SouthEast Super Trucks, a series developed for the Late Model Trucks. This series boasts a short, but impressive 10 race schedule that will put the Late Model Trucks center stage on at least six of the areas best short tracks. The SouthEast Super Truck Series is the brain child of Super Late Model and Late Model Stock Car racer, Jeff Myers, who is hoping to be able to give the Truck racers a good platform to travel while keeping expenses at a minimum.
Of course, this has been tried before …… The Late Model Trucks had a touring series of its own just a couple of seasons ago, under the direction of the PASS South Series. The experiment for the PASS South Series was a failure and only lasted a season before being thrown away, sending the racers to compete at a weekly track or move up to another division. While, the PASS South Series may have cast the idea aside due to low car counts and bickering between the racers, the idea wasn’t lost on everyone as many perceived the move to get rid of the division as a hasty one.
Either way, the Late Model Trucks seemed to be dying and without the PASS sanctioned series, fewer and fewer trucks were making their way to the tracks and more and more tracks have cut the division. Now, with trucks sitting in garages everywhere collecting dust, it’s an opportunity for the racers to blow the dust off and hit the tracks again. The SouthEast Super Trucks may well save the dying division, but only if racers get on board and show up to the races rather than talk about it.
The series is setup to be a low budget racers friend, with the rules setup to enable racers to spend less money on the trucks and keeping the travel to a minimum. The series will hit tracks throughout the SouthEast region including Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, SC, Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, TN, Newport Speedway in Newport, TN, Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, VA, Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, NC and Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, NC.
The series will feature several companion races with the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Car Series and drivers from around the region are already committing to running the series. Some of the drivers that have been posted on Facebook to be joining the series for at least some of the series races are Kenneth Headen, a Greenville Pickens Speedway Late Model Stock Car racer as well as Greenville Pickens dominator, Marty Ward among others.
The SouthEast Super Truck Series is a unique touring series targeting a great group of low budget racers and racers that are just looking to have fun and with the rules in place, the structure of the series and the current schedule, it looks as if the Super Trucks may have found a new permanent home.
For more information on the up-start series, you can visit their Facebook page by CLICKING HERE … RACE22.com will be keeping up with this series and will provide as much of an outlet as possible for people to learn about this new series over the course of it’s inaugural season in 2012.
2012 Schedule(Tentative & Subject to Change)
March 23rd – Anderson Motor Speedway(SC)
April 13th – Kingsport Speedway(TN)
April 28th – Newport Speedway(TN)
May 18th – TBA(To Be Announced)
June 2nd – Lonesome Pine Raceway(VA)
June 22nd – Hickory Motor Speedway(NC)
July 13th – Kingsport Speedway(TN)
August 3rd – Tri-County Motor Speedway(NC)
September 1st – Newport Speedway(TN)
September 21st – Anderson Motor Speedway(SC)