All Star Circuit of Champions
The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC) is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing founded in 1970. The series sanctions 410ci sprint car races in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, and Florida. On average the series runs 50 races per year, starting February and ending in October each year.[1] The ASCoC was purchased by Tony Stewart in the winter of 2015.
Sport | Sprint car racing |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | |
Abbreviation | ASCoC |
Founded | 1970 |
Regional affiliation | United States |
Headquarters | Brownsburg, Indiana |
President | Tony Stewart |
Official website | |
www | |
History
The ASCoC was founded by Bud Miller in 1970 after a failed venture by himself, Chris Economaki, and Wellman Lehman, to build a new race track near Youngstown, OH. Through the meetings about building the track the idea was conceived to create a touring sprint car series in the area. The idea of the All Star Circuit of Champions was then born in 1970 and began operating that year. The series would cease operations after just 3 years in 1973, when the 1973 oil crisis began Miller knew the series couldn't continue to run with the price of oil rising.[2]
The series would reform in 1979 under the guidance of a new owner, Bert Emick. Emick, had been successfully running the MOSS sanctioning body in the Ohio area but lost the naming rights in a legal battle. Thus the All Star name was brought back in 1980 with Emick as President. Emick would run the series until 2002 when Guy Webb took over.[3]
Joey Saldana set a series record with 18 wins in 1995 piloting the Art Wendt 77w.
Guy Webb took over as owner in 2002, running the series for 12 years. In January 2015, Webb sold the series to Tony Stewart.[4]
Stewart took sole ownership of the ASCoC in 2015 in order to bring about peace in the Ohio sprint car scene. Early in 2015 a second competing series formed, the Renegade Sprints, after disagreements with Webb. This caused Stewart to step in bringing both sides back in under the All Star banner.[5]
In January 2016 it was announced that the series gained Arctic Cat as the series title sponsor, utilizing the banner "The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions" and the social media tagline "#ArcticCatAllStars".[6]
2017 was a very competitive year, as the series had 29 different winners. Chad Kemenah, piloting the Hunter Racing 10H, would control the 2017 season and back up the 2016 championship with his 6th championship in 2017, tying Dale Blaney for most titles in series history!
2018 was another thrilling year with 19 different winners for the series. Aaron Reutzel from Clute, TX took on the series full-time and was crowned champion virtue of his strong 9 win season. Carson Macedo, Chad Kemenah, Paul McMahan, and Dave Blaney rounded out the Top 5 in points.
December of 2018 MavTV announced that the have the rights to broadcast the highlights of select events.[7]
Starting 2020 all races will be broadcast live in full on FloSports.[8]
Past Champions
Year | Driver | Wins |
---|---|---|
1980 | Bobby Allen | 6 |
1981 | Lee Osborne | 4 |
1982 | Lee Osborne | 6 |
1983 | Lee Osborne | 5 |
1984 | Fred Linder | 1 |
1985 | Jack Hewitt | 12 |
1986 | Fred Linder | 0 |
1987 | Joe Gaerte | 4 |
1988 | Joe Gaerte | 6 |
1989 | Robbie Stanley | 3 |
1990 | Terry Shepherd | 0 |
1991 | Frankie Kerr | 5 |
1992 | Kevin Huntley | 14 |
1993 | Kevin Huntley/Frankie Kerr | 6/5 |
1994 | Frankie Kerr | 12 |
1995 | Dale Blaney | 12 |
1996 | Dale Blaney | 17 |
1997 | Frankie Kerr | 4 |
1998 | Kenny Jacobs | 11 |
1999 | Kenny Jacobs | 7 |
2000 | Kenny Jacobs | 6 |
2001 | Kenny Jacobs | 5 |
2002 | Chad Kemenah | 2 |
2003 | Chad Kemenah | 5 |
2004 | Chad Kemenah | 6 |
2005 | Chad Kemenah | 8 |
2006 | Greg Wilson | 1 |
2007 | Greg Wilson | 1 |
2008 | Dale Blaney | 9 |
2009 | Tim Shaffer | 8 |
2010 | Tim Shaffer | 16 |
2011 | Tim Shaffer | 10 |
2012 | Tim Shaffer | 6 |
2013 | Dale Blaney | 6 |
2014 | Dale Blaney | 16 |
2015 | Dale Blaney | 12 |
2016 | Chad Kemenah | 1 |
2017 | Chad Kemenah | 3 |
2018 | Aaron Reutzel | 9 |
2019 | Aaron Reutzel | 16 |
Notable drivers
- Dale Blaney, 137 wins, 6 championships
- Kenny Jacobs, 98 wins, 4 championships
- Joey Saldana, 74 wins
- Tim Shaffer, 58 wins, 4 championships
- Jack Hewitt, 56 wins, 1 championship
- Frankie Kerr, 53 wins, 4 championships
- Dave Blaney, 48 wins
- Bobby Allen, 46 wins, 1 championship
- Kevin Huntley, 44 wins
- Kelly Kinser, 42 wins
- Jeff Shepard, 40 wins
- Steve Kinser, 37 wins
- Doug Wolfgang, 37 wins
- Danny Lasoski, 37 wins
- Chad Kemenah, 33 wins, 6 championships
- Aaron Reutzel, 25 wins, 2 championships
- Lee Osborne, 17 wins, 3 championships
Series owners
- C.H. "Bud" Miller (1970–1973)
- Bert Emick (1980–2002)
- Guy Webb (2002–2015)
- Tony Stewart (2015–current)
References
- "Schedule".
- "All Stars - Then and Now".
- "Bert Emick". National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
- "All Star Circuit of Champions".
- Steven Cole Smith (2015-02-08). "Not everybody in the sprint car world is happy with Tony Stewart".
- "Arctic Cat Becomes Title Sponsor of All Star Circuit of Champions". Business Wire. 2016-01-11. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
- "MAVTV | MAVTV Motorsports Network to broadcast ten All Star Circuit of Champions events in 2019". www.mavtv.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
- "Tony Stewart Awards Streaming Rights To FloSports". www.floracing.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.