They might as well call this the "Lazarus Racing Series." One year after being left for dead, the Southern Touring Asphalt Racing Series (STARS) is not only alive and kicking, but also growing. After an initial failure, the STARS concept was just too good to ignore. The idea is simple: Racers in cars that adhere to NASCAR's Late Model Stock rule book tour short tracks around the Southeast. These racers are given a chance to get their feet wet in a touring series that is less expensive and demanding than NASCAR's Busch Series, ARCA, or just about anything else. It is a chance for them to get a taste of the touring lifestyle with no more investment than the Late Model they are already racing weekly at their home track.
Just a few years ago, the STARS began as a racing series under the auspices of an organization called the "ARA" (American Racing Association). The series was successful right out of the gate, but the ARA was not. After less than a season, the organization was sold; after two, it was broke. That left the STARS racing series and all the competitors out in the cold-until a new sanctioning body, the United Auto Racing Association (UARA), was formed to give the orphaned series a home.
In 2002, the UARA sanctioned 16 STARS races at six different racetracks with good success and plans to run a full 16-race schedule again in 2003. The difference this time around is that the principals, Kerry Bodenhamer and Karen Schulz, are longtime racers themselves and care deeply about racing-not just the potential to make money.
"Kerry and I were here for the STARS series the first time around when it was under the ARA," Schulz explains. "We saw the potential that this had and didn't want it to just go away." The two had an insiders' view of the series' potential. Schulz worked the television commentary for the races and Bodenhamer, a longtime car builder, had cars competing in the series. Together, the two decided to take a chance on continuing the series.
"Kerry has been in the racing business for 35 years," Schulz says. "He remembers back when guys like Jack Ingram and Dale Earnhardt and Tommy Houston would come to a Saturday-night track like Hickory (North Carolina), and race on a Saturday night. Then, the next weekend, they would be running one of the big races on a tour track. Being able to have that connection between the big name drivers and the local drivers and their fans was important to racing. It was really good for the sport of racing overall that the local drivers could test their skills against the big guys every once in a while.
"We are trying to give the racers the same kind of thing," she continues. "Unfortunately, with the size of the sponsorship contracts and the commitments they demand, and also with their hectic schedules, Winston Cup and Busch Series drivers just don't have the time to do that anymore. So that gap has broadened. There is no more Sportsman division where you can find that middle ground between the local drivers and the touring professionals. That's where this series is trying to fit in."
Making the jump from racing weekly at a home track to competing in a touring series is a big step for most teams. Racing the same track every Saturday night means your setup can evolve weekly until it is dialed in perfectly, and the driver can memorize every bump and dip in the track's surface. Racing a different track every week means a team must be much more adept at making critical decisions quickly and correctly. That's hard enough as it is, but it gets monumentally harder if you have to go out and acquire brand-new equipment to race with. That's why the STARS series races cars that follow almost exactly the same rule book as NASCAR Late Model Stock. It gives racers competing in the Late Model Stock division (by far the most popular top division in the Southeast where the UARA races) the chance to compete in a touring series with their existing equipment. The only added expense is traveling.