NASCAR Winston Cup: a guide to show you how difficult it is to get therelr

I don't think many non-Americans or non NASCAR fans realize how hard it is to get to the Winston Cup level. Here is a guide to show you the stepladder series to get there. Hopefully this will show you how huge stock car racing is in the United States and how difficult it is to get to the Cup level especially considering that NASCAR is starting to get an influx of open wheel drivers from CART, the IRL, Indy Lights, USAC and World of Outlaw sprints cars.

1) The NASCAR Winston Cup Series--the pinnacle of stock car racing. www.nascar.com/winstoncup (http://www.nascar.com/winstoncup)

2) Major national stepladder series:

a) NASCAR Busch Grand National (BGN) Series-the usual last stop before reaching the Cup level. The cars are very close to Winston Cup cars but have less horsepower. The series often outdraws the CART series in attendance and TV ratings at the same venues. www.nascar.com/busch (http://www.nascar.com/busch)

b) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS)--Trucks that are really very similiar to actual Winston Cup cars but have taller roll cages to allow them to appear like actual street model trucks. Current Winston Cup drivers who have come out of the NCTS are Mike Skinner, Kenny Irwin, and Stacy Compton. www.nascar.com/craftsmantruck (http://www.nascar.com/craftsmantruck)

c) Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Bondo Mar-Hyde Series-a non-NASCAR sanctioned stock car series that is used by many prospective Winston Cup drivers (and even WC rookies) to gain more superspeedway experience since the series runs at tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. It is not uncommon to see current Winston Cup drivers race in companion events on occasion. Benny Parsons and Davey Allison are notable graduates of the series. Strangely enough the series also races on some dirt tracks. In addition to stock cars, ARCA also sanctions a truck series and open wheel midget series as well.www.arcaracing.com (http://www.arcaracing.com)

3) Lower Touring Divisions

a) NASCAR Winston West Series--The upper echelon of NASCAR's Touring divisions. The cars are almost identical to Winston Cup stock cars. The series primarily runs at tracks on the west coast of the United States and now even races in Japan at the Twin Motegi track. The series has produced past greats like Marvin Panch and Parnelli Jones. Current NASCAR Winston Cup driver Chad Little is also a former Winston West driver. www.nascar.com/touring/nww/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/nww/facts.html)

b) NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series--an open wheel stock car division which is also the oldest division of NASCAR. The series operates on tracks in the northern part of the U.S. and has produced great drivers like Bobby Allison and Joe Weatherly in the past as well as current WC drivers like Steve Park, Jimmy Spencer and Jeff Fuller. www.nascar.com/touring/fms/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/fms/facts.html)

c) American Speed Association (ASA) Series--a non-NASCAR sanctioned stock car series that is the premiere short track series in the Midwestern part of the United States. The series has produced current Winston Cup drivers: Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Kenny Wallace, and Johnny Benson. www.asaracing.com (http://www.asaracing.com)

d) NASCAR Busch North Series-this series operates on tracks in the northern part of the U.S. and has produced current WC driver Ricky Craven. www.nascar.com/touring/bns/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/bns/facts.html)

e) NASCAR Slim Jim All-Pro Series--this series operates mainly in the southern part of the United States although the series does race at Gateway International Speeway. Drivers like the Bobby Hamilton, David Green and the Waltrip brothers have come out of this series before it was NASCAR sanctioned. www.nascar.com/touring/sjap/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/sjap/facts.html)

f) NASCAR Goody's Dash Series-this series uses four cylinder and V6 engines and are very similar in horsepower and weight to BTCC cars. These cars can achieve speeds up to 170mph at tracks like Daytona. The series operates on tracks in the southern part of the United States and has produced current WC drivers Michael Waltrip and Hut Stricklin. www.nascar.com/touring/gds/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/gds/facts.html)

g) NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series-another NASCAR sanctioned series that races in the Southwestern part of the United States.www.nascar.com/touring/fsw/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/fsw/facts.html)

h) NASCAR Re/Max Challenge Series-another primarly Midwestern short track series that was formerly known as the ARTGO Challenge Series. Last year it became a NASCAR sanctioned series. Dick Trickle is the all-time career victory leader with 68 wins and Mark Martin is sixth with 16. www.nascar.com/touring/rmx/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/rmx/facts.html)

i) NASCAR Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series-another series that races in the Northwestern part of the United States.www.nascar.com/touring/rnw/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/rnw/facts.html)

j) NASCAR Busch All-Star Series-yet another Midwestern U.S. short track series that races in the Northern portion of the Midwest.www.nascar.com/touring/bas/facts.html (http://www.nascar.com/touring/bas/facts.html)

4) Other non touring stock car series

a) NASCAR Weekly Racing Series-the stepladder to NASCAR's Touring divisions that races on nearly 100 tracks across the U.S. and is split up into 9 regions where drivers compete for regional championships as well as the overall national championship. Usually drivers start their careers racing at one of these tracks in lower classes like street stock, modifieds, etc. then move up to the feature class of late models. Tracks in the south like South Boston and Myrtle Beach have very competitive late model divisions with well funded teams. www.nascar.com/wrs (http://www.nascar.com/wrs)

b) In addition to the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series there are other late model stock car series at various tracks that are not sanctioned by NASCAR.

INCOMPLETE! Will finish later




[This message has been edited by Joe Fan (edited 15 February 2000).]

You call this incomplete, Joe?
I think this is one of the best Nascar guides
I've ever seen.
Thanks for some great info!

Gerard, it is almost complete but I am still trying to find out what happened to the Hooters Cup series which is/was another major non-NASCAR sanctioned short track stock car series (sort of like the ASA). I think it lost its sponsorship and may be called the Florida Pro Series now. Anyway thanks for the compliment.

[This message has been edited by Joe Fan (edited 15 February 2000).]

There's a series called the hooters cup?

I hope that doesn't have anything to do with racing :).

Nice guide to the major stock car series of USA, but I doubt every driver went through that entire chain.

Besides, how can a series where 50ish driver's belly's hang over the steering wheel be considered hard to compete in?

Just askin,

Jay, the Hooters Cup was a series in the Southeastern part of the U.S. that was sponsored by Hooters restaurants as was the late Alan Kulwicki's car in Winston Cup.

A driver does not have to work their way up through every series but they do start off in 4) above then progess up to one of the touring series in 3) which they usually have to progess from one of the series 3) g through j then up to one of the series 3) a through f. Then to one of the series in 2) before advancing to the Cup level. It is common for NTCS and ARCA drivers to move to BGN before Winston Cup but ocassionaly drivers do advance from the NTCS and ARCA with a few BGN appearances.

As for your 50ish belly hanging remark--get real! The top six drivers in NASCAR Winston Cup's standings last year are only 4.5 years older than the top six in F1. Skill is a requirement in NASCAR, not youthfulness. Drivers with skill would rather race in a safer form of motorsport when they get older especially when they have children. This defintely factored into the moves of Robby Gordon and Scott Pruett from CART to NASCAR--just ask them. BTW, how old were A.J. Foyt , Al Unser and Mario Andretti when they retired? And I don't see but a couple of drivers that are bigger than Paul Tracy in Winston Cup.

Lee, I seen your post to Marcus so I thought I would bump this old topic to the top.

Hooter's ProCup, sanctioned by United Speed Alliance Racing (USAR) is still alive and kicking, and puts on some of the best short track races I've seen (better than ASA or ARCA). I think this is a great schooling series (again better than ASA, mayne not ARCA cause ACRA runs big tracks) that is being overlooked, and some of its stars are starting to get BNG rides (Chad Chaffin--my favoirte, Michael Ritch, Mario Gosselin, Justin Labonte). They use old wc/bgn cars like ACRA does, don't know what the compression is, but my guess would that it's similar to bgn. ProCup is on Speevision usually Fri nights and replays on Mon at noon.

Another reason that it is extremely difficult to break into NASCAR is for the same reason it is to break into F1. Money. If an up and coming driver is markettable, like a Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Matt Kensith, they will have no trouble either joining a top flight team or getting the best equipment to contend. There is a horde of available talent out there in the various series listed above but it is like pulling teeth to get some of the established or older drives out of the car to make room. Why doesn't a guy like Darrell Waltrip get replaced by a fast up and comer? Because Western Auto/Sears pays the bills. Same as Bill Elliot and McDonald's. These guys occasionally show a flash of speed but usually run down in the order.

Joe Fan,
Roger that. Glad you expanded on the topic. Like Heeltoe6 said above, the Hooter's ProCup series is doing quite well. I went to one of their races two weekends ago at Peachstate Speedway in Jefferson, GA. They put on a very good show, followed by an evening of "fun" eating hot wings, drinking good brew, and watching the girls at the local Hooter's http://ten-tenths.accelerator.org/ubb/biggrin.gif! This series has grown in popularity for the last several years, as Heeltoe6 also said, those of you that get the channel Speedvision can watch their races there. The cars are mainly old Cup/Busch cars, however some teams prefer to build their own cars, or have their cars built by some of the same shops that build Cup/Busch cars. I can't, off the top of my head, remember what the enging compression is either. They do not produce quite as much horsepower as the Busch cars, only about 500 to 550 Hp. There is a lot of young talent that will be moving up in the next few years.