|
NEW AMS ALL-STAR CHALLENGE
by
Ian Tocher
8/9/04
 or
years, Drag Racing Online has been advocating
something new in drag racing presentation, and
finally it appears someone is listening. Race
promoter Kenny Nowling, with backing from J.
Lee Didier at Towers Inc., along with A.J. Ashe
and Tommy Castanedo of the national B&M/Hedman
Hedders Bracket Series, recently assembled the
inaugural AMS All-Star Challenge presented by
Towers Inc. to pit an 11-driver AMS Pro Mod
team against 11 of the country's quickest and
fastest "Outlaws" from all other walks of doorslammer
life.
Kenny Nowling of
Nowling Motorsports Management
(photo by Jeff Burk) |
"Anything that's a doorslammer and runs fast
is welcome to attend," Nowling (shown) says.
"The only rules are that they have to have working
doors, rear suspension, and a certified chassis.
There's no minimum weight, no blower restrictions,
no turbo limits, they can even run nitro if
they want. So that leaves the field open to
Nitro Coupes, Outlaw Pro Mods, 10.5 cars, or
even IHRA Pro Stockers if they want to come."
He also stressed that AMS team members will
not be held to NHRA Pro Mod rules -- "they can
run outlaw set-ups, too. This is a true outlaw
race!"
Any driver who entered an NHRA AMS Pro Mod race within the past three years must be part of the AMS team, Nowling explains, regardless of where or what he or she is currently racing. The Outlaw team will be comprised of everyone else. Drag racing fans can be part of the action, too, as three of the 11 drivers on each team will be determined via online voting beginning Aug. 14 and closing Aug. 31, at www.dragracingonline.com, amspromods.com, promodifieds.com, and
competitionplus.com. The remaining eight drivers for each team will then be established by three qualifying passes on Saturday. However, even the three fan-chosen drivers from each team will be required to make all three qualifying runs to determine seeding for raceday.
Troy Critchley will be representing the
AMS All-Star team at his sponsor's race
Oct. 9-10, at Carolina Dragway. (DRO file
photo by Ian Tocher) |
"There's no limit on entries and I fully expect
to have a full 22-car field," Nowling says.
"A couple of days after we announced this thing
I already had 25 pre-entries lined up."
On Sunday, team members will each receive a baseball-style jersey with the Outlaws outfitted in black and silver, while the AMS team will fly the company's red and gold colors. On the track, round one will pair up the 11th-place AMS car with the 11th-place Outlaw entry, and so on up the list until the two number-one qualifiers for each team face off. Round two will feature the same format, but with the cars re-seeded based on their first-round elapsed times. The same will apply for the third and final round, and with each round worth one point to the winning team, a total of 33 points will be available.
"Ideally it will come down to 16-16, with the last pair left to decide it all," Nowling says. "No matter what, though, I think it'll be an exciting way to race since no one will be going home early -- unless they break, of course."
Less than a week into planning the event, Nowling says he has more than $25,000 committed for the purse, but hopes to double that figure by race time. As it stands, each winning team driver will receive $2,000, with $500 going to each runner-up. Additionally, Nowling Motorsports Management will award $500 and a special event jacket to the "King of the All-Stars" for setting low e.t. on raceday.
According to Nowling, Carolina Dragway was chosen to host the first Challenge because of its reputation for always having a fast, well-prepped racing surface and because "it's in the heart of Pro Mod country." Regardless, he also says the inaugural event will hopefully be just the first of many since he's already heard from "at least a dozen" tracks across the Southeast and Midwest wanting to know more about the concept.
"I think there's a real need and demand for something like this. A lot of these tracks just don't have access to guys like Scotty Cannon, the Stott brothers, or Mike Ashley. We can bring this to them, give the fans something different to watch, and give the racers something that makes it worthwhile for everyone to attend," Nowling says. "But I want to make clear that I'm not trying to compete with the IHRA or NHRA Pro Mod series. I just want to give Pro Modified a bigger stage. It's so hard to compete for attention with the nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters out there. I want to see the Pro Mod guys get more recognition."
To that end, Nowling says Master's Entertainment will be on hand to tape the race for future broadcast, probably on ESPN2. Fans also will be entertained trackside by a yet-to-be-determined rock band on Saturday night. "I want to make this a real event, with fast cars, music, girls, the kind of things that makes people say, 'I was there.'"
Nowling says he realizes the event will require
a lot of hard work to successfully pull off,
but his motive remains pure and simple. "I just
want to put the 'modified' back into Pro Modified,"
he states. "I want to get back to what Pro Mod
is supposed to be all about." 
What do
you think? Send your email to response@dragracingonline.com.
|
