WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO RACE AT AGE 14?

Source: ASA Speed Truck Media
Date: 06/26/2008

UPLAND, California -- While most fourteen year-olds in America are consumed with starting high school, playing with their X-Box games and wishing Mom didn’t have to drive them to the mall; the ASA Speed Truck Challenge offers them the chance to climb behind the wheel of a 2,450-lb, 375-horsepower, V-8 Speed Truck that cruises at a mere 110 miles per hour on the straight-aways at race tracks like the TOYOTA Speedway at Irwindale, known as “LA’s - 1/2 mile Super Speedway.”

Sounds a little far-fetched at the outset, however while NASCAR requires their lower level drivers across the country to be at least 16 to step into a race car, and their upper level series at age 18, the American Speed Association (ASA) and its premier traveling series on the West Coast; the ASA Speed Truck Challenge; welcomes any driver to join its ranks to be among some of the finest drivers in the country at only 14. “Most of our drivers have come up through the ranks of Karting, Bandoleros, and Legends,” says ASA Speed Truck Challenge president, Jay Rutherford. “Even at 14, they understand the basics of racing and how to respect the talents of other drivers on the track. In this series, we are able to redefine their driving talents and give them the true experience at a young age on as many as 10 different, varied size oval and road course race tracks in California, Arizona and Nevada. With that kind of understanding of different track conditions, truck setups and endurance of 100-lap features, I would put our rookies at the end of their first season up against anyone in the country,” explained Rutherford.

Add to the rush of driving their own Speed Truck and traveling over the West Coast, the thrill of learning to be interviewed and seen on national television at such a young age, preparing them for all aspects of what national sponsorship teams will expect out of a new driver. Now in its eighth year being nationally televised, the ASA Speed Truck Challenge gives these new drivers the opportunity to showcase their talents all over the country with broadcasts that have run on FOX Sports, The Outdoor Channel, and VERSUS Network, to name a few since 1999. This year, there has been no shortage of young “rookie” drivers in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge. “Are you kidding?” said 14-year-old Donny St. Ours, a development driver for Greg Biffle Motorsports. “This is the experience of a lifetime! I am thrilled that ASA gives me the chance to run with all of these other great drivers and gain the needed time behind the wheel of a Speed Truck on some of the greatest oval tracks and road courses in the country, preparing me for my future in racing. This is a blast!” St. Ours is definitely holding his own with half of the season gone holding a top ten position in the Championship Points’ race.

Because of the excellent parity between trucks on the track, it truly has put winning the championship all about the driver behind the wheel. In 2005, Victor Pfluger at age 14 won a main event in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge. In 2007, at only 16, he won the series championship in the very last race of the season with only two points separating him from two-time series champion, Darren Young, age 43. “This is exactly what my officials and I have been working for over the years and I believe we have done it, remarked Rutherford. “With only three races left in the 2007 season, we had ten drivers that mathematically could have won the championship. It just came down to a great team effort and super driving ability that put the Pfluger team on top for the season.” To prove the point, over the entire season of fourteen races on eight different tracks, qualifying times were separated by less than 7/10 of a second on the oval tracks.

Chris Buescher out of the David Ragan driving stable has quite a story to share with many of his fellow Legend Car drivers. At the ripe old age of 15, Buescher showed up at Tucson Raceway Park on March 22nd, having never seen a Speed Truck. Strapped in, ran the practice sessions, qualified on the pole, won the Trophy Dash and went on to win the 100-lap feature, and all of this on national television. At Orange Show Speedway on May 24th Buescher won another Speed Truck main with yet another 100-lap feature coming out in the Winner’s Circle. “This series is helping me move up the ladder. Nowhere else can I gain the “big car” experience I need to move up to West, ARCA, Craftsman Truck, Nationwide or the Sprint Cup series.”

ASA is extremely fortunate to have its partner carrier, Federal Insurance Company a member company of Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, work with them so closely to arrange this unique motorsports program. It provides the ability for 14-year-olds to race on all of the ASA sanctioned tracks as well as NASCAR tracks with full protection. This huge supporting $500,000 coverage on and to/from the race track, adds the exclamation point to the series stepping up to the plate with a tremendous emphasis on safety. “We have our own Safety Director at every race,” continued Rutherford, “who inspects every safety item on the Speed Trucks to make sure the drivers have every precaution. We want the parents and families of all of our drivers, particularly the younger ones, to know that both on and off the track, we run an extremely safe series for our teams,” concluded Rutherford.

The Speed Truck Challenge travels the Southwest competing at I-10 Speedway, Tucson Raceway Park, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Orange Show Speedway, Havasu 95 Speedway, Irwindale Speedway, Firebird International Raceway, California Speedway, Kern County’s New Home to NASCAR (formerly Mesa Marin Raceway) and has raced numerous events at Phoenix International Raceway, San Diego Grand Prix, LA Grand Prix and others. The Speed Trucks weight 2,450 pounds, are full tube chassis, 108 inch wheelbase, 375 horsepower Van Gordon Racing Engines V-8’s, a 2-speed direct drive transmission, aluminum quick-change Speedway Engineering rear end, 8-inch Hoosier Racing tires on Allied Racing Wheels, powered by Torco Race Fuel and fired by Mr. Gasket’s - Mallory / ACCEL ignition systems. The Speed Trucks sport exact replica Norris Racing fiberglass bodies in Chevy S-10, Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota and Toyota Tacoma. Check them out at SpeedTruck.com., C,

To find out how you can climb into your own Speed Truck and join this exciting West Coast series, call Jay Rutherford at 909-949-4780 or jay@speedtruck.com.

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