Salem, IN (December 21, 2001) - As we prepare for the 2002 Champion Racing Association / Kendall Late Model Series season, I was asked to take a look at how this series went from nothing in 1997 to the level of success we have now.  When I say "we", I mean all the supporters of the series: the racers, fans, promoters, sponsors and officials.  It may have started from one person's idea, but the road to success was paved by the efforts of some really great people.

Many people have compared the birth and early growth of our series to the days when ASA first began.  I take that as a huge compliment.  When you hear ASA founder Rex Robbins tell the story of how ASA began, it all centered around his desire to purchase Anderson Speedway.  Some 35-years later…it is simply de ja vu

The day that made the Champion Racing Association and the Kendall Late Model Series a possibility is the same day the idea was born for Anderson Speedway to be purchased in 1997.  At the time, I was working as ASA's Director of Communications and had just met and became friends with ASA's C.P.A., Rick Dawson.  Rick had a great accounting business in Pendleton, IN. He enjoyed racing too, which is why he worked as an ASA registration official on the weekends.  As that first season went along with ASA, Rick and I became traveling partners and roommates when we were on the road.  

One day, while making the long journey back from an ASA race at I-70 Speedway in Missouri (in a rental truck that was hauling banners and accessories for ASA), Rick asked me what I wanted to do in the future.  I told him that I always wanted to own a race track.  He said, "Which one?"  I said I'd like to have one like Anderson Speedway…one that had some success but had a lot of potential.  He said, "Why one LIKE Anderson Speedway, why don't we just buy Anderson Speedway?"  I told him you just can't buy Anderson Speedway.  That simple challenge, that we couldn't do it, set the wheels in motion that haven't stopped rolling yet.

We worked on the plan to buy Anderson Speedway for almost 18-months.  As a former late model competitor at Anderson Speedway, I knew the state of late model racing there, as well as surrounding tracks.  Anderson had been an island to itself, with rules that made it so you couldn't race your car anywhere else.  Winchester and Salem were running template style cars, but everyone wasn't on the same page.

The late model car count at Anderson had been dwindling and the racing action wasn't getting better as the car count dropped.  Unfortunately, the not-so-great action on the track was costing the highest amount of money.  Part of the plan when we bought the Speedway, was to change to template bodies and 9 to 1 engines, then get Winchester and Salem to agree to similar rules.  Though the concept of having a car that you could race more than one place was not new to racing, it had been a long time since you could do that in central Indiana.

I had raced only one season of late models at Anderson Speedway but felt really frustrated that we couldn't take the car anywhere else and race it.  From that frustration, the idea was born for unifying the rules and starting a mini-series for late models.  After the purchase of the Speedway was official, I started working the phones, trying to get other racetracks on the same page.  If my plan were successful, we would unify the rules and have an 8-race series with two races each at Anderson Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Salem Speedway and Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Getting everyone on the same page wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as everyone thought it would be, either.  The very first meeting of the parties involved took place at Jonathon Byrd's Cafeteria in Indianapolis.  If my memory serves me correctly, attending the meeting were Rick and I (Anderson Speedway), Linda Holdeman and Randy Christ (Winchester Speedway), Bill Nold (Salem Speedway), and Jason Smith and Tom Wiesenbach (Indianapolis Raceway Park).

The group that put was working on this idea was an interesting combination. Although the idea was mine, it took the efforts of some dedicated people to get it all going.  Rick and I were new kids on the block, full of enthusiasm and ideas.  Linda Holdeman had been around the block a time or two, but was always looking at different ideas.  Jason Smith and Tom Wiesenbach were also young and enthusiastic, but could still remember the days when the guys could race their cars lots of places, especially at I.R.P. on Friday nights in the 70's.  Bill Nold, (not technical director Bill Noel), was also relatively new in his role at Salem Speedway.  He was quiet and stayed in the background, but was supportive of our ideas, nonetheless.

At that first meeting we were able to agree on rules, a purse, a small point fund and a schedule.  It was truly an exciting time and I remember telling Rick on the way home after the meeting, "We were just a part of something that is going to be very special."

Besides the 8-races that made up the first series schedule, Anderson, Salem and Winchester each had other late model races as well.  But these 8 races would highlight the year for all the late model racers in the area.  Ray Skillman, the car dealer and racer, helped put us in touch with the right people at Kendall Motor Oil, and thus a title sponsor was in born.

Our great plan was set in motion, and wouldn't you know it…BAM!!!...before we even ran our first race, we encountered our first major curveball.  News from Salem was that Bill Nold was already gone and some new guy, Glenn Luckett, was running the show at Salem.  Great…we just got everyone on the same page and here comes this new guy.  I remember wondering what terrible deeds this "new guy" would impart on this great plan we had all worked on so intently…there were definitely question marks surrounding the "new guy".

When it all played out though, the "new guy" didn't derail our plans at all.  Through the years, in fact, he made the series better…much better.  He was the right man at the right time.  He was also relatively young and energetic, and raced some too. He would be a great addition.

That first season went off without a hitch.  There was a great deal of enthusiasm among the teams and the fans and some great action on the track.  The inaugural championship came down to the last race.  Kenny Tweedy, the driver who claimed the very first title, had taken the traditional route to get to late model racing, having earned his stripes first in street stocks, then in sportsman.

It was clear after our first season, that we had something very special.  We planned a bigger and better year in 1998, and doubled the number of races.  Also, it was determined that we would make the series stand alone, as its own organization.  We planned to incorporate, with ownership stock being given to the key promoters from the earliest days.

Before we could get organized to incorporate, however, Linda was out at Winchester, and Jason Smith was leaving to run USAC's Sprint Car and Midget Divisions and Tom Wiesenbach would later move on to the I.R.L. and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I.R.P.'s leadership had made it clear they wanted no ownership in the fledging organization and Salem owner Owen Thompson said he wanted no financial responsibility for the series either.  What was essentially left was myself, Rick Dawson and Glenn Luckett.  The incorporation papers were signed and we were equal partners from that point forward.

From the beginning, Rick, being a C.P.A. handled all the financial areas, and left the racing rules, planning and scheduling to me and Glenn.  Since Anderson Speedway was a weekly track that ran races two nights a week, I had to spend much of my time focusing on helping Rick run Anderson Speedway.  Glenn picked up the ball and starting serving as the administrative director for the series from his home and he has been a great day to day leader ever since.

One of the best decisions we ever made, was to hire Bill Noel to serve as our technical director.  He was an old racer himself and was always very fair.  He surrounded himself with good people, and helped convey the image to the racing community that Glenn and I wanted everyone to see:  the Kendall Late Model Series is a place where you can go race and get a fair shake…no matter who you are, or what your name is.

In the past few years, another great addition has been Kyle Larson.  In a lot of ways, Kyle reminded Glenn and me of a younger us:  entirely "ate up" with racing.  His work to keep everyone informed about what is going on with the series, and to keep our message out there, is invaluable.  My hope is that in the very near future we put our company in a position to make Kyle our first full-time employee.

Brett James came on as the series flagman and brought a level of professionalism that the series really wanted in the flag-stand.  Derrick "Chief" Chalfant signed on as the Chief Scorer for the series, and brought with him the passion and understanding of late model racing in the Midwest.  In 2001, Jimmy Wyman came on board to help with the new tire rules, and do absolutely anything else we needed.  He too, is another team player that just wants whatever is best for racing.

Since its inception in 1997, the Champion Racing Association has hosted over 150 different drivers.  Much of the growth in the interest in the series has come from the expanded schedule.  Besides the original 4 tracks, races have been run at Angola Speedway, Baer Field Speedway, Plymouth Speedway, Toledo Speedway, Shadybowl Speedway, and Illiana Motor Speedway.  One new track will become part of the Champion Racing Association heritage in 2002 with the addition of Kalamazoo Speedway.  Four Midwestern states, 11 different speedways, over 150 drivers and thousands of fans have been part of our exciting growth.

We are still a young organization, but without the great sponsors, track promoters, officials, fans and racers…we wouldn't have achieved this level of success today.  I have always believed that for any organization to be successful, all the people involved in it had to treat it like it was their own.  Everyone had to have some sense of "ownership pride", like it was their own and they helped build it.  I believe that for the most part, all those people I mentioned above treated this series just that way, and I hope we all continue to do that.