The ASA Late Model Series Weekend of Champions was a Great Success

The weekend began with the ASALMS “How to Clinics” which offers the teams a variety of insights on areas such as building their ASALMS car, marketing, PR and safety. We had outstanding participation from ISP Seats, Safety Solutions, Crane Cams, Hoosier, Racing Electronics and Race Safe Systems, Phil Harper Motorsports, RV Performance, Five Star Bodies, General Motors and of course the ASALMS Officials.

Russ Chapman the ASALMS Tech Director was able to be a full participant via video conference even though he was still recovering from his recent hip surgery. ASALMS Officials Brad Barlow, Tom Powell and Burt Thomas all added valuable insight and entertainment.

Of course it would not be an ASALMS event without some weather and indeed there was. One of the major snow storms of the winter came in and graced us with about 10 inches of snow beginning on Friday. Some of the teams turned this lemon into lemonade and played in the snow, we all found ourselves enjoying this despite ourselves.

Friday night rolled into the Annual Meet and Greet where the teams from all divisions get a chance to get to know one another in a casual setting.

Russ even made it to this party where he was set up at his own table in the corner on a smaller video outlet. It turned out to be a great party that lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.

The 2009 Owner/Driver Meeting went off on Saturday morning despite the tired teams and the snow that made it tough for outside teams to travel in. The series got all their information across and the teams only managed to get Ron worked up one time. We call that a success around here!

We had a few hours of down time between the meeting and the Awards Banquet and it was snow, snow, snow and more snow. Justin Larson and his team decided that sledding behind a car in the empty parking lot next to the hotel would be fun. Justin got to experience the snow face first but like a true racer he just kept on going.

The Awards banquet was wonderful; The series got a chance to recognize the teams from all divisions, the series sponsors and officials as well as a few special people. Hilderbrand Jewelers provided Gold Champion Rings for the 2008 Champions to commemorate the year. Below is a list of all the companies that helped support the series and teams over the 2008 season, please take a moment to look that over and next time you need a product or service please remember these companies that support short track racing.

The four Champions; Peter Cozzolino, Eddie Hoffman, Jimmy Lang and Dave Gentile Jr all presented themselves with exemplary style and class. Our Rookies of the Year; Brett Moffitt, Justin Larson and Andy Marchiniak did a great job. We also had one special award that was presented to Janet Billing an ASA long time fan, participant, crew member; it was the 2008 ‘ASALMS Shining Star Award.’ This one was near and dear to all of us. We also had a total of 10 ABC Bodies Awarded at the Banquet, 3 of those were done by random draw per division and the winners were; Brent Downey, Joey King and Dustin Dunn.

The most remarkable part of the awards ceremony was that we stayed on schedule, which may be a first in our history. That is a good sign for
2009 and we will take it and run with it.

Now we move on to the really fun part of the weekend, the party! We are not sure if it was the open bar, the DJ or just the need to really let our hair down but it turned out to be the party of the century. I don’t know how many DUI’s (dancing under the influence) were issued that night but I would guess it was quite a few.

I think we all knew when Steven Brooks, Josh Nelms, Tony D’Ambrose, Tom Powell, Dave Gentile and Jeremy Gerstner performed as the village people that we were in for a pretty special night.

Irish Saunders of Hoosier raised the bar when he got up on stage and sang with Ron; ‘Taking Care of Business.’ Not to be outdone the Ladies from Eddie Hoffman’s team performed Diana Ross and on it went.

We even had a hoola hoop debut and learned that Chris Eggleston is not only a racer but a darn good hoola hooper. Many of us who were out late on Friday refueled at the bar and got our second wind to celebrate a great year in the history books.

Eddie Hoffman dancing? You betcha! Jimmy Lang dancing? Oh, Yeah!

The Grand Finale of the night was the ‘Ron Varney Cocktail’ – Just take one pretty uptight guy, add alcohol, add a little more alcohol, and some more, more, more and presto you have John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Who knew? This phenomena rolls around about every 8-10 years and it is definitely worth the wait!

For a complete photo gallery visit our website at www.asalatemodels.com.
Also visit cgphotos.net for a more detailed gallery from Chuck Gonzalez the Series Photographer. To purchase photos, please contact Chuck Gonzalez at cgphoto@ameritech.net or call 708-418-5083.

We do offer a special note of gratitude to the Clarion Hotel for allowing us to be overly festive. They also did a great job despite that fact that 2 weeks before the banquet they had a major fire in their kitchens and had to have all the catering and bar services brought in for the event.

1. GM Performance Parts
2. Torco Race Fuels
3. Hoosier Tires
4. Choice Hotels
5. Crane Cams
6. ARP Aluminum Racing Products
7. Appleton Rack and Pinion
8. ATI Performance Products
9. AP Racing
10. Budget Rentals
11. BSR
12. Basset Race wheels
13. CDOC
14. DTS
15. Fast Shafts
16. Five Star Bodies
17. Holley Performance Parts
18. Hilderbrand Jewelers
19. Howe Racing
20. Hyperco
21. Hans
22. Jerico Performance Parts
23. K&N Filters
24. Kam Racing
25. Karl Chevrolet
26. All-star and Lane Automotive
27. Late Model Racer
28. Leavitt Racing
29. McGunnigall
30. Miller Electric
31. Nelson Specialties
32. Penske Racing Shocks
33. Port City Racing, Racecar and South
34. Pyrotec
35. Performance Concepts
36. Performance Friction
37. Power Master
38. Phil Harper Motorsports
39. Quartermaster
40. Race Against Drugs
41. Racing Anonymous
42. RV Performance
43. Race Safe Systems
44. Racing Electronics
45. Racing Junk
46. Rogers Crankshaft
47. Roltek
48. Redline Oil
49. Renegade
50. REDI
51. Roberts Engines
52. Sign 1-1
53. Safety Solutions
54. Sonic/Tilton
55. Speed Bear
56. Southern Automotive
57. Safety Kleen
58. The Joie of Seating
59. TNT Engines
60. Tomal Systems
61. Turn One Power Steering
62. VDL
63. Whelen
64. Zapp Racing
65. ASI Limited – ORP
66. Texas Road House
67. Zaxby’s
68. Advertising Edge
69. Cool It
70. Gor-Den Rebuild
71. G-Force
72. Tomtech
73. Track Fresh
74. Winters

The 2008 Season once again provided over one million dollars in purses, awards and points funds for the season. This is the 3rd season in a row that we have awarded our teams with such a great amount. These partners above make it all possible.

Now that the weekend is complete it is officially time to get right in to 2009 and work towards making it one of the best seasons for the series and teams. Please visit our websites at www.asalatemodels.com, www.asalatemodelsnorth.com, and www.asalatemodelsouth.com for more detailed information about the series and the 2009 season. The ASA Late Model Series, ‘America’s Premier Short Track Series.’