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Southern Super Series Announces 2013 Schedule

16-Events Across Four States with $10,000 Up for Grabs for the Inaugural Championship

“Old School” is the approach the Southern Super Series is taking as its officials announce today the inaugural 2013 schedule.  The 16-race slate brings together five racetracks in four different states and will include such legendary races as the World Crown 300 and the All American 400.  Alabama’s Mobile International Speedway and Montgomery Motor Speedway, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, Georgia’s Gresham Motorsports Park and Tennessee’s Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville make up the facilities that some of the best Super Late Model racers will compete on with the series this coming year.

Taking a page from southern racing history, the series was formalized recently in Prattville, Alabama, which was the birthplace of the former All Pro Series that legendary promoter Bob Harmon once created.

“With all due respect to the promoters in the room, I assure you that there was not a Bob Harmon in attendance,” said Tim Bryant of Five Flags Speedway and Mobile Int’l Speedway.  “Collectively we believe we can implement some good ideas in to the Southern Super Series.  We have a couple of good officials that will be key in the whole thing, one of which was a long-time employee of the old All Pro Series with Bob Harmon, and that is Dan Spence.  There are some parallels there for sure, but this is a different time and a different era, so there will be a lot of things that will be different.  Nonetheless, we do feel like the timing is right and the racers are hungry for this type of a tour.”

In addition to Spence, who will act the Southern Super Series Race Director, it has also been made official that Ricky Brooks will serve as the series Technical Director.

With the exception of the World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park (Jefferson, GA) and the All American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway (Nashville, TN), the remaining 14 races will be 125-green flag laps.  Each of the regular distance races will pay $4,000 to win and $500 to start, based on a 32-car starting field.  The 125-lap races will have a break at lap 75 for 10-minutes for teams to make adjustments to their cars.  A six-tire limit per race will be governed for those regular distance races.

“You sit down at a conference table with all these guys and we had four promoters sharing thoughts and input.  It’s incredible for promoters to come together, especially at big name tracks like this. You have all the big races and all the main bullet points for tracks and successful promoters working together in one concept.  It is a dream of a lifetime for me,” said Fairgrounds Speedway’s Tony Formosa.  “Our first race will be April 6th, the first Southern Super Series race and the first race for Nashville.  It will give the cabin fever boost to all of Nashville and the surrounding areas with a big ‘Super’ show as the opening event, I don’t think you could give them a better venue than that.”

“The formation of the Southern Super Series is the most exciting thing that has happened for the sport of racing in the South in more than a decade,” stated Gresham Motorsports Park’s Dan Elliott.  “I cannot ever remember a time when this many short tracks have come together to form an alliance that will not only help us as individual tracks, but will also help race car owners, drivers, and fans. It was designed to save teams money by not having to travel so far to compete for a championship, create interest and excitement for our fans, and to bring the tracks in the South together for one common purpose, to help the sport of short track racing. The South lacked a strong effort among tracks to cooperate, not only on race dates but common rules also.  The Southern Super Series will do just that.  The Southern Super Series will offer fans and drivers a lot of excitement during the 2013 short track race season. I feel extremely honored to be associated with some of the best track owners and promoters in the South and the best race fans too!”

The 2013 Southern Super Series will also crown a champion at the conclusion of 16 races.  That title will be worth $10,000.  Currently the top three in the final series points will be awarded a points fund check, however, series officials are quick to point out that if sponsorship is found, it would like to pay the top ten point finishers.  And although the Snowball Derby is not part of the 16-race SSS schedule, the series champion will receive his laurels at the prestigious event in December at Five Flags Speedway (Pensacola, FL).

There are several other items of interest to racers and fans alike that will be announced in the coming weeks, including how points will be awarded during each race.

“This is a work in progress, but it’s all about making Super Late Model racing in the south better for the fans, the teams and the tracks,” said Montgomery Motor Speedway’s Paul Boswell.  “"As a fan, I have been wanting to see something like this in the South for a very long time. All of us at Montgomery Motor Speedway are honored to actually be a part of making it a reality.  I believe this will help unify this type of racing in the South and this is only the start of great things to come."

For more information on the Southern Super Series, its website, SouthernSuperSeries.com, will be launched in the coming weeks.  The Facebook page for the Southern Super Series is located at www.facebook.com/southersuperseries and on Twitter it’s @SoSuperSeries.  For advertising or sponsorship questions, we invite you to contact the track representatives.  For media inquiries, please contact Matt Kentfield at 51 Sports via matt@51sports.net.

January 3, 2013