YOUNG LIONS DIVISION ADDED TO SUMMER SHOOTOUT ACTION
By Jason Buckley
Every weekend in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers try their best to qualify for the 43 spots available to race. While some are elated to make it in, others are disappointed and frustrated when they do not make the cut, forcing them to load up the car and go home before the green flag flies. This takes a toll on the driver and the crew members as multiple days of preparation feel wasted while the sponsors feel cheated out of exposure on race day.
At the Summer Shootout on the quarter-mile at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Concord, NC) a similar situation occurs in the Semi Pro Legends ranks. Only 26 drivers can make it to the A-Main race during a night’s event. With over 50 Semi Pro drivers in the garage area, half of the competition each event for 10 weeks are forced to watch from the stands as their rivals race in the most prestigious races in the Legends world.
In 2007, that is going to change.
This season, a new division at the Summer Shootout is being added to the racing card. The ‘Young Lions’ division for inexperienced racers from 12 to 16 years old will help split the Semi Pro drivers up into two groups, allowing for more drivers to get into the A-Main and less drivers going home empty-handed.
While the division is new to the Summer Shootout, it is not new to the Legends world of racing.
“Back in 1997, Mr. Wheeler (Humpy Wheeler, President and General Manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway) called me about helping start a Legends program,” said Ken Ragan, General Manager of 600 Racing, Inc. “That is now known as Legends of Georgia down at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Ed Clark. The Legends rule on age was 14. This
young 12-year-old driver, Reed Sorenson, came along and his dad wanted him to race Legends. He raced a Bandolero, but Reed was beyond that because of his training in Quarter-Midgets. So I talked to Mr. Wheeler about changing the age limits and it was changed from 14 to 12 years old.
“I then talked to Ed Clark about creating a new division. Many mothers told me they were not too comfortable having their 12- and 13-year-olds out there racing with adults. They wanted us to do something that would allow them to race amongst themselves. In fact, my wife said the same thing about our son David. So we started the first Young Lions division of Legends racing at Atlanta in 1998. It was a hit at Atlanta, and the fans loved it.”
While the success of the Young Lions program flourished in Georgia, in North Carolina it was a hard sell to Roger Slack, Director of Events at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, for the Summer Shootout.
“We have been talking to Roger Slack for three years in a row,” said Ragan. “We kind of beat up on him a little bit saying, ‘Can’t you do it? Can’t you do it?’ And certainly with Roger being a promoter, he has to end his program at 10:30 pm, and he cannot start prior to say 5:30 pm, and he has to have everything within that window. How can you add another class when you are jam-packed? But I think we convinced him, or he finally thought that maybe he could run Semi Pro and Young Lions separate as fast as he could run them all together.
“Now you are going to have moms and grand moms that are going to have fun out at the Summer Shootout because they will get to see their kids race. The worst thing that can happen is for them to buy their 12- or 13-year-old a Legends car, they show up at the track with the 50 or so Semi Pros and they do not make the show. The daddies are hot, the mommas are crying and the grand mommas haven’t even gotten to the track yet. What kind of fun are you having with that scenario?
“That is how I sold it to Ed Clark in Atlanta, and I think what happened in Atlanta showed that it works. When a kid comes out here to the Summer Shootout and knows he is going to be in the A-Main, that is a confidence builder for their career. You cannot get experience by the car sitting in the trailer.”
The new Young Lions group will allow younger Legends drivers to be amongst their own age of drivers, as those that are older than 16 at the start of the season will not be allowed in the division. That does not mean that a younger driver has to be in that division, according to Ragan.
“Not all 12- to 16-year-olds will be in that class,” explained Ragan. “If you have a 12-year-old that is in the Pro class, he has given up his rights to run in the Young Lions. Mitchell Coble is a good example; he is the caliber of a Pro driver and that is why he is in the Pro class. In the Semi Pro, an experienced young driver can choose to stay in the Semi Pro class. But the inexperienced 12- to 16-year-olds will be in the Young Lions. Young Lions is an age-based group based on a driver’s experience.”
Adding this new class to the Summer Shootout without changing the overall show length will be challenging to Roger Slack and the Officials. Each race throughout the night has a time limit. With this added class, there could be more races hitting that time limit rather than completing all scheduled laps. Drivers and teams will have to keep on their toes and be ready to roll when their race comes up to keep the program on time.
Still, the current concern is making sure enough young Semi Pro drivers decide to move into the Young Lions division. As of late April, the Summer Shootout pre-registration roster showed 32 Semi Pros with 15 Young Lions. Those numbers still would send some Semi Pro drivers home while the Young Lions division is short of a full field. For Ragan, it is worth the gamble this season.
“This year we are going to try it,” he said. “Everything we do is a trial and a work in progress. Of course we have to have the car count to substantiate another class. 26 cars start the A-Main, and I hope we have 26 of them.
“The Young Lions group will be fun to watch. It will be neat to see the 12- to 16-year-olds racing amongst themselves.”
With the car count over the last few years at the Summer Shootout, another division just made sense.
