Why the UARA is the Best Racing ...
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Wytheville, VA ~ Late Model Stock Car racing can often be a little boring at a track if you go there every week, sometimes lacking due to the nature of the rule book, but there's one race you can go see at any race track that will leave you using the edge of your seat, if that .... it's the UARA-STARS Series.
16 races were contested in 2008 at 13 different race tracks and in those sixteen races there were fourteen different winners. That statement alone tells you of the level of competition, but that only begins to tell the story of what is probably the best racing series in short-track racing. There's a whole lot more.
The UARA showcases a variety of drivers at a variety of levels in their respective careers with anything from series win leader, Jamey Caudill a veteran of Late Model Stock Car racing, who has accomplished almost everything he can in this division to Brandon McReynolds, the son of a former NASCAR crew chief, who competed in his first Late Model Stock Car race in the season opening event at Concord. These two drivers are separated by 21 years in age, but on the race track these two guys are separated this season by merely one victory and often times found they were racing each other for position.
Caudill, the eldest of the series regulars at the age of 38 and McReynolds at age 17 isn't even the youngest of the UARA drivers, that honor belongs to another driver, who won his first race this season, Darrell Wallace, Jr. Wallace turned 15 years old just before the 14th of the 16 races. With drivers ranging from 14 to 38 years old on the scale for regular drivers and with the series seeing a few older drivers from time to time reaching to the age of 49, the tour has a great mix and someone for everyone in the stands to cheer for.
You've got other great veterans like Jamie Yelton(34 years-old), BJ Mackey(31), Matt McCall(27) among others competing at least part time, then you've got younger drivers who are nearly as accomplished as the veterans like Alex Yontz(24), Ross Furr(24), Richard Boswell(24) and with young drivers such as 2008 series champion, Jake Crum(17), McReynolds(17), Cliff Daniels(20), Wallace(15) and Corey LaJoie(17) among others. That's a great mix of drivers some with aspirations to make the move up, some settled into Late Model Stock Car racing and some finishing up great careers in the toughest series out there.
Think there's a mix bag of ages, then take a look at the great mix of personalities. Roger Lee Newton, the villain, self proclaimed the "Outlaw", this top shelf driver takes it to the competition each and every week using the same theory that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. used ... "Lead, Follow or Get out of the way!". Then you've got Alex Yontz, one of the most accomplished drivers in Late Model Stock Car racing today. Yontz takes a quiet, methodical approach often qualifying outside the top five and making his way to the front and winning the biggest races in Late Model Stock Cars. In fact Yontz is the only guy to ever win Martinsville and Bristol in a LMSC as well as the only guy on the UARA tour to repeat at Bristol.
This years champion, Jake Crum is another personality all his own. Cocky, relaxed and driving the wheels off anything he sits in on the track and off the track he's the sideways hat wearing, pants around the knees kid who's out to have nothing less than a good time. Crum's different, but don't take that away from how great he is behind the wheel. On the track he's Kyle Busch and off the track he's Scott Speed(without the painted finger nails ... I think) ... and I think that has worked out pretty well for those two.
Talk about personalities ... Jamie Yelton is a character. Once looked at as the Newton type, using the bumper as needed to win or make a point, now he's the crafty veteran you hate to see in your rear view mirror because he's going to get around you. Off the track, like Newton he's one of the best guys to talk to because you're going to have a good time. Paddy Rodenbeck, the California(really Florida) kid with long hair, a semi-quiet personality, but fast behind the wheel. He looks more like a skater, but drives like a missile ... Paddy, like Crum is different, but different is good and when you can drive like this kid, it doesn't matter.
Age and Personality differences only begin to tell the story ... the best part of this series is the racing you'll see at any of their events. No, not every race comes down to a four-way battle to the finish like the race at Ace Speedway in August and not every race ends with drivers and teams swinging at one another like in April at Orange County, but the UARA-STARS offers the most on track competition anywhere. Only a few races compare ... the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville and the Seneca 400 at Myrtle Beach is usually in the same category, but no one else can boast this kind of racing on a regular basis.
If you're a fan of the UARA already, then you know that it's not just the racing ... even the championship battle comes down to the wire with great excitement. Just the last two years have been enough to make this veteran media member's heart skip a beat. In 2007, Mark Setzer came into the finale as the points leader with Ross Furr less than 20 points back and BJ Mackey a little further behind him, but all three with a chance to win the title. Furr, who had been rallying to the front of the points in the end of the season races got the wind taken out of his sails when a freak qualifying incident happened with another driver turning around on the track and the two running into each other. Furr looked to be out of contention with damage to his car and qualifying toward the back of the field.
With Mackey on the pole and Setzer on the outside it looked like Setzer's night to shine, but that changed on the first lap when Setzer tried to get the jump on Mackey and take the lead and when they came off of turn two it was Setzer, who got crossed up, losing many positions. With passing points in play for Furr, now all he had to do was stay ahead of Setzer and gain positions to win the title. The two ended up racing it down to the final green, white, checkered restart when Furr narrowly missed a crashing car and Setzer was unable to do so. Furr won the title with Setzer actually falling to third in a tie for second with Mackey, who had more wins.
Turn the page to 2008 and it was very close once again with Crum coming in with points lead and Yontz being second. Both drivers qualified good, but Yontz found himself in prime position to pounce with a better starting position. Yontz stayed up front all race long while Crum found himself getting spun around late. Crum restarted at the tail of the field and then found himself in another crash, this one ripping his left front fender loose. Crum chose not to pit and in the final laps of the race the fender came completely loose and series officials had to look closely as to whether to black flag him. In the end Crum won the title with his fender still attached, but barely hanging on.
Lets give credit where credit is due ... whoever came up with the points system for this tour was a genius ... the points system and more importantly the "passing points" and the way they are awarded or not awarded has made the series much of what it is today. Rumors have the series considering getting rid of the "passing points", but I for one can tell you that would be almost as big of a mistake as the "re-qualifying" debacle in 2007 ... it wouldn't be pretty. The points system isn't broke ... don't try to fix it.
It's this kind of drama that keeps racers, media members, teams, car owners and fans coming back for the best racing series in racing today. When the UARA-STARS tour was formed in the ashes of the former ARA tour the right decisions were made ... people who cared about the future of Late Model Stock Car racing stepped up to give racers a tour made up of great racing, competition you wouldn't believe and a staff of officials that give every team a fair shake.
As a member of the media and most of all a race fan, who knows most all of the drivers, teams and series officials about as well as anyone ... I don't always agree with the decisions that are made and sometimes they aren't the right decisions, but for racers and fans alike this is the best racing you can see ... if you don't believe me come check it out for yourself.
Stay tuned on RACE22.com ALL winter long as we take a look at the best and worst moments of 2008, look back at the top performers and the disappointments as well as taking a peek at who might be returning, the new crop of rookies and everything else you need to know to be ready for the season opener at Hickory Motor Speedway on March 14th!
In a time when a full field of cars is sometimes confused as a heat race at weekly tracks, the UARA-STARS Series averaged 31 cars this season in 16 events at 14 different tracks. The 2008 season shined brightly with the car count never dipping below 24 cars during what many call the toughest economy in many years.
Jamey Caudill, a veteran of Late Model Stock Car racing was the oldest of more than 15 asemi-regulars in the UARA-STARS tour this season. He hasn't let this slow him down as the "old man" showed the young guns how it was done two times this season as picked up his 10th and 11th career series victories and gained on his edge as winningest driver in series history, which has had 111 races in 7 seasons.
Brandon McReynolds is one of the brightest new stars of the UARA-STARS Series. He's cool, calm and collected at all times, he's a wheel man, he's smart inside the race car and knows a lot about how the race car works. This kid simply gets it like very few young drivers in this sport today and that will drive him to be a future star in this sport and he's already started to shine bright in one of the toughest series.
Talk about personalities ... Darrell Wallace, Jr., the youngest driver on the UARA-STARS tour at the age of 15(raced at 14 most of the season) is always good for a laugh. The photo above shows a little of this personality and attitude that helps make up the UARA-STARS series with many new faces expected to join the series in 2009 and help mix it up a little more!
This four-way battle to the finish of the UARA race at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, NC. While not every race ends with a battle that takes the leader at the white flag and drops him to third and almost fourth at the drop of the checkered flag, but the racing in this series is always intense. For a really good look into the series take a look at the crowd in the above photo ... I don't think these guys even used the seats they bought for this event.
You don't always have to wait until the last lap for the excitement to unfold, the photo above was a "Talladega Style" crash that took place on the first lap of the series event at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, VA.
Double file restarts usually create a lot of side-by-side racing, but in the UARA-STARS they don't have double file restarts, simply a lot of double file battles for position. The above photo was taken about ten laps into a green flag run ... the cars still look like they're coming down to take the green flag ... it's this kind of action that keeps racers and fans coming back.
Spectacular crashes don't happen in every race, but when they do, they get the fans on their feet and make team members hearts often skip a beat hoping that either their car doesn't get caught up in the incident or they survive it.
Exciting post race celebrations are common, because it's a huge accomplishment for a driver who is young, old, veteran, rookie or anything in between to win one of these races.