OPINION: MY TAKE ON THE LATE MODEL DIVISION IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

8/12/2010

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the future of the Western Late Model division at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series-sanctioned All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. and the new Stockton 99 Speedway.

Both tracks have struggled with car counts, as Roseville has had a low of eight cars and Stockton had a mere four cars show up for one race this year.

But on the other end of the spectrum, car counts for the larger and more prestigious races at the two venues have been as solid as ever.  Stockton saw 24 cars show up for its Tri-Holiday race in May.  Roseville saw fields hovering around 18 cars for its first four events this season.

The talk of either venue dropping the Late Models as their premiere class or even dropping Late Models all together is currently just that – talk.  Tony Noceti at Stockton has used the threats as an ultimatum to try to increase car participation.

Last season, Roseville had as many as 11 teams that could be considered regulars.  This year, the division has only had six or seven drivers consistently at each event.  Stockton’s group of weekly drivers has also fallen.

What hasn’t gone down is the number of drivers with Western Late Models who are willing to compete with them.  The economy isn’t parking cars all together, but instead scaling back plans.  Even Golden State Racing and Eric Schmidt have run a reduced schedule in 2010.

In my opinion, the number one thing holding back Western Late Model racing is the number of nights they are scheduled at each track. 

Including two Open Shows, Stockton has Late Models on 23 nights, with Roseville running one open show to bring its total to 20 nights.  With the addition of a few practice days, you’re looking at going to the race track 30 times to be a weekly racer at these speedways. 

If you are running for the NASCAR California State title, you are looking at well over 40 nights of either competition or practice to make it happen.

The reason for the success of the SRL SPEARS Southwest Tour and the former Westcar Late Model Series is/was solely based on a shorter schedule.  With the allowance of twin main event nights for NASCAR points, there is no reason why both Roseville and Stockton can’t scale their programs down to 12 regular season nights plus one open show. 

Each facility could run nine twins and three 100 lap events.  If the tracks worked out scheduling, this could allow a driver to compete in up to 42 main events for NASCAR points over a 24 night program.  This kind of schedule could also give local drivers a better chance at winning the California State title.  The days of getting 20 cars a week over an 18 night program are probably gone, but that doesn’t mean that the Western Late Models cannot continue to be the premier division in the area.