NASCAR’S REAL MINOR LEAGUES

Source: Mike Kattan
Date: 04/25/2005

RacingWest would like to thank Mike Kattan for the following informative article he wrote on NASCAR's "Minor Leagues". --janet

Remember back to as recent as the late 90’s when the NASCAR Busch Series was considered the “Minor Leagues of NASCAR”. Well, times have changed and with a huge influx of development deals and Buschwhackers, that has changed that theory. So with the other major NASCAR division, the Truck Series, full of seasoned veterans it seems to the average NASCAR fan that there really isn't any "minor leagues".

Well think again because the minor leagues of NASCAR can be found in the Grand National Division, West Series where all tracks that are raced on come from the West (hence series name). This is what NASCAR minor league racing was like before the Bushwhackers took over the Busch Series. Of course on occasion, NEXTEL Cup drivers Kevin Harvick and Ken Schrader race and give the regulars a run for their money. Michel Jourdain Jr., a Busch Series rookie for ppc Racing, competed in his first ever NASCAR sanctioned race in the #19 ppc Racing Ford at Phoenix International Raceway on January 30th, 2005 in the West Series. Michel finished 6th after a 15th place start in the race.

If I were a Busch or Cup owner, there would be two drivers in this series that I would go after immediately, Scott Lynch and David Gilliland. Last year, it seemed like Scott found his big break as he was tabbed as the 4th driver in the “Hungry Drivers” Busch Series program for Tommy Baldwin Racing. But after only making one start at Richmond (finished 39th after 37th place start) he never came back in the #6 Country Crock Dodge. Scott is now back in the West Series and so far in 2005 has 1 win and 2 Top 5s in 3 races and leading the points standings. Earlier this year it seemed like David Gilliland might have his big break. The 29 year-old was one of the finalists for Jack Roush’s “Gong Show” (a kind of talent show for Jack Roush’s Truck Team) but made it to the final 10 but didn’t’ make the cut for the Final 3 and the seat went to Todd Kluever. This year, Gilliland is 5th in points with 1 win and 2 Top 5s in 3 starts.

Charly Porter established a site purely dedicated to NASCAR racing out West in the early 1990s as a home site in Prodigy when he could not find results on that weekend’s Winston West Series races. So, he tried to go to each Winston West race and would post the results on a bulletin board (now called message boards). When the Internet become common to every household he started a website on Prodigy called “The Unofficial Winston West Page”. Around the year 1995, he bought space on a server and in 1997 purchased the domain rights www.racingwest.com and from the beginning, Janet Peery became a member of the site.

Many years ago, Janet became the anchor to a then-exclusive race broadcasting system called Near Live. It began as an email service to family and friends of Winston West competitors and then would spread to cover include other racing series. Then the mailing list began to grow so Janet and Charly decided to put it up online for the public.

Near Live is typed by Janet as she relays the race’s coverage in a sort of chat room environment. The main goal for RacingWest is to keep up what they are doing now, giving free coverage to the friends and families of racers. They choose what to cover from the demands of the fans. Janet says, "If it turns out they want us to cover a dirt track over Pikes Peak, then that is probably what we will do". Also RacingWest has a home track, Mesa Marin Raceway, in which they give priority to.

If you want to follow perhaps the future’s biggest stars follow the NASCAR Grand National, West Series and you will find a driver named Ryan Moore. Ryan is a Chance2 Motorsports development driver and will most likely replace Busch Champion Martin Truex Jr. in the #8 Bass Pro Shops Chevy as Truex jumps to NEXTEL Cup with DEI, next year. So, you want to watch NASCAR’s real minor leagues, go to www.racingwest.com and watch the race Near Live.

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