TOWN OF RUTLAND – The incursion is complete.
First we were hit by an invader from the south and then one from north of the border.
For fans of Wisconsin super late model racing, the ASA STARS National Tour’s two-race swing through the state might have been hard on the ego, but it also should serve as a reminder of just how spoiled we are.
After North Carolina teen Carson Brown won the Slinger Speedway round June 21, Canadian Kyle Steckly took the checkered flag June 23 at Madison International Speedway. In both cases, promising young talents with teams that travel nationally had to beat Wisconsin’s best of this generation.
“It was a grind,” the 21-year-old Steckly said. “We struggled at both tracks and we struggled at the start of both races and we worked our way to the front in both races. Not quite as far at Slinger. We worked our way up to fifth and I think we learned some things there in what I need to do and what I like in a race car, and we were able to apply it on the pit stops here.”
That’s what you want, right? A test.
Although it didn’t look like much of one as he drove away in the final stage, Steckly and Wilson Motorsports were challenged. Challenged by two demanding tracks. Challenged by other talented drivers and teams from around the United States.
Brown and Anthony Campi Racing were as well.
The challengers included the Wisconsin’s own Ty Majeski, the measuring stick in this type of racing for several years now. Brown held off Majeski in the Badger 325 at Slinger, where the Seymour native has been the king of special events. Then Majeski made Steckly and Brown work to pass in the Capital 200 at Madison even on a night when his car was a little off.
The ASA swing is far from perfect.
While packaging two races into one trip makes the most sense for traveling teams, running two long features on demanding tracks also puts is a strain on equipment and resources.
It also may be hard on fans. A $35 ticket isn’t expensive by modern sports ticket prices, but two in three days – one of those a weekday – requires commitment.
Rules governing engines and tires make the events cost-prohibitive for many local and regional teams. It’d be nice to have more familiar drivers to cheer for, but the series also is trying to position itself as elite.
Marty Melo, the series’ new owner, has a background in marketing and says his first priority is to make STARS a better business proposition for teams. That’s both long overdue and easier said than done.
In a perfect world, there’d be a big-bucks special, ASA or otherwise, at the Milwaukee Mile – which was seen a generation ago as the Wisconsin short-tracker’s Daytona – but that’s a topic for another day. Other people’s money is always easier to spend.
Speaking of which, ticket sales were soft for both races. Weather concerns hurt Slinger and the fact Madison was on a Tuesday undoubtedly didn’t help.
Did car counts keep people away? Sixteen raced at Slinger and 21 at Madison. Both numbers are small for what should be big events. Two or three more travelers and two or three more locals would have helped perception, even if they wouldn’t necessarily help the show.
If those numbers affected attendance, though, fans who chose not to come missed an opportunity to see some good, entertaining competition. In both cases, an early leader seemingly had the race in hand – Majeski in the Badger 325 and 15-year-old Tristan McKee in the Capital 200 – yet neither won.
Each race had battles, and both events were relatively clean. In fact the only cautions at Madison were the scheduled stage breaks. Both rounds of pit stops seemed to shuffle the deck a bit.
ASA STARS has raced two years at Slinger and four at Madison. Through those events, Wisconsin fans have been introduced to the likes of Steckly, the bubbly son of a NASCAR Canada champion; Brown, a Richard Childress Racing development driver; Max Reaves, a Joe Gibbs Racing prospect; and McKee, who has showed promise in everything he’s driven.
“We struggled at Slinger a lot, kind of got beat around a lot for 325 laps, and this track is a lot of fun,” McKee said. “So it’s definitely a fun week.”
And a grind for some. In this case that’s a good thing.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ASA STARS National Tour completes Slinger, Madison, WIsconsin swing
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