ASA what happened???

[gttouring]

wel what did happen to ASA
a great short track oval series, great spec fuelinjected motors and nice body work (more traditional than the mega aero of Cup, ARCA, and even hooters)
so what happened it was really unque and this year they moved numbers to the rear Quarter of the car...
So they lost money left and right, couldn't pay out a race at lowe's (owned by HUmpy wheeler) and lowe's siezes the ASA assets and no series?
what is going on are they gonna survive and what good is ruining it? USAR, adn ARCA seem like good Ol' southern Cup hand me down series... ASA was actually different and midwestern based so what gives?

they even had a modified tour and ....

[kingfloopy]

The problem to begin with was that ASA has no title sponsor. ARCA has the RE/MAX real estate company, USAR has Hooters, and NASCAR has sponsors for every series from the local short track series to Nextel (or Nextel/Sprint or something now) cup. With no sponsor you have nobody to fall back on for money, and as everyone knows money=racing. Also the lack of a title sponsor means a lack of tied in advertising. The uniqueness of the series is also a major issue. I've been to an ASA race and the racing was awesome and by far the best I've seen. But the normal "weekend" fan fails to understand anything that isn't status quo. NASCAR is the status quo in the U.S. The ARCA series uses the same cars as Nextel cup and similar engines. A lot of USAR teams use old Busch cars or similar chassis. In addition most fans don't understand the spec motors, they don't want to see Fords and Dodges with Chevy engines. The third major problem is that ASA abandoned the short tracks this season. This may have expanded the series draw in some areas but turned away established fans in the areas they left. I for one was dissapointed when I found out that they wouldn't be returning to my area and quit following the series after that. They gave up a lot of markets and areas where NASCAR wouldn't go to move to where NASCAR is already well established. All in all ASA may look great and put on a good show, but for attracting and keeping fans/sponsors lately they have failed miserably.

J.D.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by gttouring

wel what did happen to ASA
a great short track oval series, great spec fuelinjected motors and nice body work (more traditional than the mega aero of Cup, ARCA, and even hooters)
so what happened it was really unque and this year they moved numbers to the rear Quarter of the car...
So they lost money left and right, couldn't pay out a race at lowe's (owned by HUmpy wheeler) and lowe's siezes the ASA assets and no series?
what is going on are they gonna survive and what good is ruining it? USAR, adn ARCA seem like good Ol' southern Cup hand me down series... ASA was actually different and midwestern based so what gives?

they even had a modified tour and ....

NASCAR was on the verge of buying ASA some years ago but when Chevrolet become highly annoyed at NASCAR rules they jumped in and offered ASA the spec. engine deal, just to show NASCAR they were not as stong as they thought they were.
Naturall ASA jumped at the deal and told NASCAR, "don't call us, we won't call you." (This is a barely abstract of what happened)
Well, ASA had bigger eyes than wallet and screwed themselves up financilly.
As Humpy Wheeler is a butt-kissing buddy of the Frances, it was probably just a back-door pay-back deal; NASCAR showing the ASA who is boss.

The Frances are arses and Wheeler is a turd.
Bob

[gttouring]

but is it over? i see the schedule and all for next year on the web site. and this is an excellent place for NASCAR to practice with Fuel Injection
afterall, ARCA is the wasteland for old NASCAR stuff, so why not put the new stuff into ASA and monitor it for future improvements, it isn't like it was taking anyones thunder- NASCAR already made sure of it with bad to Zero TV coverage

[luke]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

The Frances are arses and Wheeler is a turd.
Bob

A shame because I really enyoed ASA and it was prihaps the only series we got to see over here on motors, at this time of the year, apart from season reviews.

[RaceFanStan]

ASA may have tried to snub NASCAR but they forgot their roots.
Hard short track racing is what made them great.
They wanted to be seen different than NASCAR.
However they didn't realize most of their fans were NASCAR fans 1st.