Help in identifying a division?

[TimD]

Switched on British TV the other night, and caught some stock car racing. It was on in place of the ill-starred British ASCAR project. I spent a bit of time watching it, but I got very few clues as to what it might be.

Here goes.

It was run at night, under lights at a raceway in Nashville, TN. The only competitor I recall was one Mr Sauter, but it wasn't the Busch series (I think).

Had a bizarre yellow when a car got nipped coming out of the turn, and scrubbed its front end sheet metal clean off on the wall. Never seen that before - it was like peeling an apple!

Must have happened in the last couple of weeks or so.

So, what was the race, and what series might it have been?

[Ax Slinger]

That sounds like an American Speed Association (ASA) race. They were in Nasville on June 2nd.

[Joe Fan]

I would have to say that it was ASA too. There are a couple of Sauter brothers and one races in the ASA and the other in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Also, that wasn't sheet metal you were seeing on the cars, it was fiberglass. ASA cars use fiberglass because it is cheaper and when they do hit something, you do some pretty weird things happen to bodywork.

[TimD]

Ah - that would explain it. It was a very weird sight, seeing that front end flopping all over the shop.

Thanks for the information, folks. Now if you could just wrap up one other thing....

What is American Speed Association racing? National? Regional? Has it a following? Just curious, you understand.

While I'm trying to get my head around how it turned up unbidden on British TV....

[SHerbert]

I saw the programme. It was, as already mentioned, the Luxaire 300 from Nashville Speedway USA. The race was won by Johnny Sauter (one of four members of the Sauter family who have won an ASA ACDelco Series event).

The series is a national championship consisting of 20 races, all of which are shown live on TNN. Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and Alan Kulwicki were all big names in ASA before becoming known in the Winston Cup.

Before the Nashville race they showed a list of previous winners of the race and it included names such as Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett and Buddy Baker.

You can find out more about the series at www.asaracing.com.

And finally, the reason it was on British TV. The Knockhill round of the ASCAR Mintex Cup was cancelled, so they put on a ASA race as a taster of the action that could be expected in ASCAR in the future, as the ASCAR machines are closely based on the cars that run in ASA.