Consisting of five races in its inaugural season at the Florence Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Myrtle Beach Speedway and a TBA date this season looks to be the start of something big.

Chris Owens sat down with Ed Cox, Series Promoter and asked him several questions about the new series.

Chris Owens(CO): How did the Southeast Limited Late Model Series come about?

Ed Cox(EC): It was created by myself and Bill Hennecy, a long time friend and manager at Myrtle Beach Speedway to give the Limited guys a bigger stage to run on.

CO: What is your goal of the first season?

EC: To establish a common set of rules as well as develop a core following for next year.

CO: Why just 5 races in the inaugural season?

EC: We wanted to run only when it would not interfere with regular season races/points at local tracks. That's why there's a long break between the first and second races.

CO: How many cars are you expecting at the first race at Florence Motor Speedway?

EC: Going by all the phone calls to Charlie Powell (Florence Promoter) and myself, around 45-50 from all over the region.

CO: What is your plan for next year's tour?

ED: We have talked to a few more tracks that have expressed interest in having a race next year. More money, more cars, more tracks!

CO: The TBA date on the schedule, do you have any idea where that is going to be at?

ED: We have a meeting with Ace Speedway this week and some people at Coastal Plains are working on sponsorship for race out there. So a couple more races could be added to the schedule at a late date.

CO: There's a lot of interest in this series, how is it going to be different from the other tour Late Model series out there?

ED: We are giving racers that never get a chance to race big races a chance to be in the spotlight and see who is the best in this division.

CO: Why race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in its first year back with the Sunoco National Tour that looks to be down on cars this year?

ED: It has so much history and a lot of room to race. The people at North Wilkesboro are great and eager to promote good racing.

CO: What is the purse structure looking like? In this economy how are you going to attract the big fields from all over the southeast?

ED: We have a $15,000.00 minimum purse, but the promoters have the option to increase the purse. We are getting a lot of interest because these drivers never get to race for this kind of money. It's like a big event each time we go to another track. In the limited world, it compares to Late Models running for $10,000.00 per race.

CO: How is the race structure going to be? How many cars start the feature? Is there going to be a last chance race like the Pro All Star Series does and UARA-Stars do?

ED: We leave it up to the promoter at each event, but it will be at least 32 cars with 26 making the race on time and the rest coming thru qualifying races.

CO: Final question Mr. Cox. Transponders. Florence and Myrtle Beach don't use them. So how is the series or track(s) going to score so many cars?

ED: Myrtle Beach uses a clock and scorers for each car. We will probably do the same at Florence.

With the new tour coming about and a lot of interest from all over the region. This looks to be the start of something big if the series can find that all important series sponsorship. After the big Limited Late Model race at Myrtle Beach last year, who wouldn't want to run in this series?

RACE22.com is planning to have live "At the Track" coverage of the inaugural event at the Florence Motor Speedway July 3rd and 4th, so check back for the latest info on the SouthEast Limited Late Model Series!