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All Star Circuit of Champions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All Star Circuit of Champions
SportSprint car racing
Jurisdiction United States
AbbreviationASCoC
Founded1970
Regional affiliationUnited States
HeadquartersBrownsburg, Indiana
PresidentTony Stewart
Closure date2023
Official website
www.allstarsprint.com
United States

The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC) was an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing. It was founded in 1970 and purchased by Tony Stewart in the winter of 2015.[1] High Limit Racing acquired the series from Stewart at the conclusion of their 2023 season.

History

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The ASCoC was founded by Bud Miller in 1970 after a failed venture by himself, Chris Economaki, and Wellman Lehman, to build a new race track near Youngstown, OH. Through the meetings about building the track the idea was conceived to create a touring sprint car series in the area. The idea of the All Star Circuit of Champions was then born in 1970 and began operating that year. The series would cease operations after just 3 years in 1973, when the 1973 oil crisis triggered fuel price increases and shortages.[2]

The series would reform in 1979 with new owner, Bert Emick. Emick lost the rights to the MOSS sanctioning body in the Ohio area. He brought back the All Star name in 1980. Emick would run the series until 2002 when Guy Webb took over.[3]

Joey Saldana set a series record with 18 wins in 1995 piloting the Art Wendt 77w.

Guy Webb took over as owner in 2002, running the series for 12 years. In January 2015, Webb sold the series to former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.[4]

Stewart took sole ownership of the ASCoC in 2015 after an organization called Renegade Sprints competed with Webb's group. Stewart brought the two groups back together in under the All Star banner.[5]

In January 2016 it was announced that the series gained Arctic Cat as the series title sponsor.[6]

The series had 29 different winners in 2017. Chad Kemenah would control the 2017 season and back up the 2016 championship with his 6th championship in 2017, tying Dale Blaney for most titles in series history. 19 different drivers won in 2018. Aaron Reutzel from Clute, TX took on the series full-time and was crowned champion after a 9 win season.

In December 2018, MAVTV announced they had acquired the rights to broadcast the highlights of select events.[7] Starting in 2020, all races are broadcast live in full on FloSports.[8]

Ollie's Bargain Outlet took over title sponsorship of the series beginning in 2019, sharing naming rights with Mobil 1.[9] FloRacing became the title sponsor for the 2021 season. The following season, Tezos assumed naming rights on a three-year deal.[10]

On October 23, 2023, High Limit Racing announced the acquisition of the All Star Circuit of Champions.[11]

Champions

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Year Driver Wins
1980 Bobby Allen 6
1981 Lee Osborne 4
1982 Lee Osborne 6
1983 Lee Osborne 5
1984 Fred Linder 1
1985 Jack Hewitt 12
1986 Fred Linder 0
1987 Joe Gaerte 4
1988 Joe Gaerte 6
1989 Robbie Stanley 3
1990 Terry Shepherd 0
1991 Frankie Kerr 5
1992 Kevin Huntley 14
1993 Kevin Huntley/Frankie Kerr 6/5
1994 Frankie Kerr 12
1995 Dale Blaney 12
1996 Dale Blaney 17
1997 Frankie Kerr 4
1998 Kenny Jacobs 11
1999 Kenny Jacobs 7
2000 Kenny Jacobs 6
2001 Kenny Jacobs 5
2002 Chad Kemenah 2
2003 Chad Kemenah 5
2004 Chad Kemenah 6
2005 Chad Kemenah 8
2006 Greg Wilson 1
2007 Greg Wilson 1
2008 Dale Blaney 9
2009 Tim Shaffer 8
2010 Tim Shaffer 16
2011 Tim Shaffer 10
2012 Tim Shaffer 6
2013 Dale Blaney 6
2014 Dale Blaney 16
2015 Dale Blaney 12
2016 Chad Kemenah 1
2017 Chad Kemenah 3
2018 Aaron Reutzel 9
2019 Aaron Reutzel 16
2020 Aaron Reutzel[12] 11
2021 Tyler Courtney [13] 8
2022 Tyler Courtney [14] [15] 8
2023 Zeb Wise [16] [17] 9 [18]

Notable drivers

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Series owners

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  • C.H. "Bud" Miller (1970–1973)
  • Bert Emick (1980–2002)
  • Guy Webb (2002–2015)
  • Tony Stewart (2015–2023)
  • Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet (2023-)

References

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  1. ^ Estrada, Chris (2015-01-28). "Tony Stewart buys All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car series". MotorSportsTalk | NBC Sports. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  2. ^ "All Stars - Then and Now".
  3. ^ "Bert Emick". National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  4. ^ "All Star Circuit of Champions".
  5. ^ Steven Cole Smith (2015-02-08). "Not everybody in the sprint car world is happy with Tony Stewart".
  6. ^ "Arctic Cat Becomes Title Sponsor of All Star Circuit of Champions". Business Wire. 2016-01-11. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  7. ^ "MAVTV | MAVTV Motorsports Network to broadcast ten All Star Circuit of Champions events in 2019". www.mavtv.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  8. ^ "Tony Stewart Awards Streaming Rights To FloSports". www.floracing.com. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  9. ^ Altmeyer, Tyler (November 20, 2018). "All Star Circuit of Champions welcomes Ollie's Bargain Outlet as title sponsor for 2019" (Press release). All Star Circuit of Champions. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  10. ^ Altmeyer, Tyler (March 8, 2022). "All Star Circuit of Champions welcomes Tezos as Series Title Sponsor through 2024" (Press release). All Star Circuit of Champions. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  11. ^ "High Limit Sprint Car Series Acquires All Star Circuit of Champions". 23 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Reutzel Secures Third All Star Title With Fremont Win". SPEED SPORT. 11 October 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  13. ^ "Tyler Courtney wins 2021 ASCoC championship". 10 October 2021.
  14. ^ "All Star Circuit of Champions | 410 Outlaw Sprint Car Series ASCoC - All Star Sprint Series".
  15. ^ "All Star Circuit of Champions Central - the Third Turn".
  16. ^ "ASCoC champion Zeb Wise gets first World of Outlaws win at Port Royal". 11 October 2023.
  17. ^ "All Star Circuit of Champions | 410 Outlaw Sprint Car Series ASCoC - All Star Sprint Series".
  18. ^ "Driver: Zeb Wise | Driver Database".