The Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series announced it was removing its restrictor plate rule for open motors for the series moving forward.
In a post to Facebook, the series stated, “Promoter Ray Cook has announced an amendment to the engine rule for the remainder of the year, along with a pair of bonuses for this weekend. The 1.100 restrictor plate rule for open motors – that was instituted back in January prior to the season opener – has been lifted. Effective immediately, drivers can now run an open motor without a restrictor plate with a weight rule of 2400 pounds at all remaining SAS events.”
The change is in response to low car counts at SAS events. The series’ opening night at I-75 at the beginning of February only had 22 cars qualify. In it’s second event in the middle of March at Southern Raceway only 19 cars showed up. The second night at Southern Raceway saw the car count decrease to 16. When it made the trip to Penton Raceway in April it increased, but just to 20 cars. 19 cars showed up to Winder-Barrow Speedway in the middle of April. It had its highest car count at West Alabama Speedway in the middle of May with 24. In the second night it was down to 22. The series has only averaged 20 cars per race so far.
Cook stated, “I always told people when we put that engine rule in at the beginning of the year that we would constantly evaluate the kind of racing it promoted and of course the car counts. I think the racing has been pretty good with it all year long, but we just haven’t picked up the amount of cars that I thought would support it. So, effective immediately, I’ve decided to allow open motors without a restrictor plate for the rest of the year and we’ll pay bonuses for small or less horsepower engines this weekend. We did that for years in the past with the Southern Nationals and it worked well.”
The series also revealed bonuses for drivers at Lavonia running the previously approved engine packages a, “The four different engine packages that were instituted back in January are still legal and if a driver runs one of these four engine packages for the entire racing program at Lavonia, they will be eligible for bonus money. In the ‘Brad York Memorial’ on Saturday, a $500 bonus will be up for grabs for the highest finishing driver that runs either Package A – Open Engine with 1.100 restrictor plate, Package B – Steel Block Aluminum Head Engine, Package C – All Steel Engine, or Package D – GM / CT525 Engine. A $1,000 bonus will be paid out if a driver wins Saturday’s 50-lap SAS feature with Package A, B, C, or D.”
Furthermore, drivers will select which engine package they are running at pre-race registration and “will be given a color-coded sticker to display on their racecar letting fans in the stands and those watching the streaming broadcast at home know what kind of engine is underneath the hood of each racecar.”
Cook commented, “It will be pretty neat, I think, to be able to see from the grandstand what kind of engine is in each car on Saturday. he idea is kind of a spin off of what Jim Bernheisel is trying to do with his tires on the Appalachian Mountain Speedweek deal where you can paint the sidewall a different color, which allows fans to keep track of what driver is on what compound of tire.”
“I’m also excited about the new bonuses for Saturday at Lavonia that could enable a driver to earn an extra $2,000 on top of the $5,000 first place prize,” he added.
On top of the engine bonuses, American Racer Tires will provide a $500 bonus ” to the highest finishing driver on four American Racer tires on Saturday. If a driver wins the SAS feature on four American Racer tires, a $1,000 bonus will be paid out.”
Cook shared, “American Racer has sold more tires than ever and the company wants to step up and give back to the racer more than ever!”
Billy Franklin leads the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series Point Standings. He has an 82 point advantage over Kendall Franklin in second and 94 point advantage over Ronnie Johnson in third.
What do you make of the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series removing their restrictor plate rule?