Grayson, “Tour was class act.”

Racing Commentary by Dave Grayson
First off, before NASCAR officials in Daytona Beach contacts me, I am well aware, and respectful, of the fact that the official name of this racing series is the NASCAR Autozone Elite Division Southwest Series. But at this point in time I’m asking them to recognize the fact that in the hearts of many old school fans of this series, who followed it from the very beginning, it always has and always will be referred to as “The Tour.” 

The Tour officially ended November 9th at the Phoenix International Raceway and concluded a 21 year history of very exciting racing and NASCAR driver development. Driver development was a very important aspect in the Tour’s overall mission. It served as a stepping stone for Saturday night late model drivers and bridged the gap between late models and the more powerful West Series cars now known as the NASCAR Grand National Division. It was, in effect, NASCAR’s minor league farm system similiar to what major league baseball has. The Tour not only helped driver development but it also aided overall team development. It was at this level where teams learned about the rigors of running a regional touring series including equipment needs, the cost of travelling and the logistics of transporting a team from home to the track and back home again. It was a valuable education process that prospective young drivers, crew members and team owners needed while chasing their dream of making it to one of NASCAR’s national touring divisions.

The Southwest Tour alone produced some distinguished alumni who moved on to successful NASCAR careers. That alumni included two time Craftsman Truck Series champion, and Busch Series regular, Ron Hornaday Jr, former Busch Series champion and Nextel Cup regular Kevin Harvick and Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch just to name a few.
With its importance in driver development, its high level of racing excitment and its long and rich history there were naturally questions raised regarding the series’s demise such as why did it have to end and why did it end under such mysterious circumstances?
In the fall of 2005 there were rampant rumors that the Tour was in serious trouble. There were two basic portions to the rumors: first, the Southwest Tour was going to be combined with its counterpart in the pacific northwest and, second, the Tour was going to be completely discontinued. But a huge ray of hope came in November of last year when Don Hawk, former NASCAR Director of Regional Racing Development, was quoted in media reports as saying “the Tour was safe for many years to come.” Based on that information, many of the Tour’s teams began making plans and budgets for the upcoming 2006 season.
Even during the Tour’s annual awards banquet, held last December 10th in Las Vegas, there was 2006 optimism in the room and no hint of problems regarding the future. Series regular Jim Pettit II, honored that night for winning his second consecutive series title, said he was excited about defending his championship and making series history by winning it three years in a row.
18 days later it was all over and everyone was caught off guard. On December 28th Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Communications and Regional Touring, issued a press release announcing the sanctioning body’s plans to completely discontinue its Elite Division. That meant all four series, in the southwest, northwest, midwest and southeast were going to be over following the conclusion of the 2006 season. The official statement also said that NASCAR was going to concentrate more on its Grand Natiional Division, comprised of the Autozone West Series and the Busch East Series, and its Whelen Modified Series for their driver development programs.
The press release stated that the cost of operating and competing in the series had risen in recent years. It also cited some downsizing facts such as overall driver’s purses were down, it was getting increasingly harder to obtain commitments from tracks to present the races and the overall car count was down.
The overall car count did drop in 2006 although there was a slight rise in average starters per race according to NASCAR official results records. During the 2005 Tour season there were 10 races at six different tracks that featured a total of 274 starters. That’s an average of 27.4 starters per race. Granted the 2006 and final Tour season only had 225 starters, likely in part due to the series’ termination announcement, but it still managed to average 28.1 starters for eight races at six tracks.
Still another major blow to the Tour was the demise of race tracks located in the southwest area. 2005 saw the losses of the Cajon Speedway, Mesa Marin Raceway and Pikes Peak International Raceway all former supporters of the Tour. So far this season we’ve lost the Stockton 99 Speedway and the Madera Speedway.

Adding to the problem was some hesitation by track owners and promoters, such as the Bullring in Las Vegas, to schedule a Tour race in light of NASCAR franchise fees and the high purse required for these events.
There was no question that the numbers associated with the Tour were beginning to paint a dismal picture and NASCAR’s concerns were valid ones. But the situation also raised some very critical questions: did NASCAR do absolutely everything they could to save its Elite Divisons or was is just simply easier to pull the plug?
 Still another critical question invovled the timing of the annoucement which came a mere matter of weeks before the official start of the 2006 season. Tour teams were waiting for a completed race schedule for this year last December. What they got instead was eight races and then it’s all over. NASCAR did not become the huge motorsports entity that it is today by making knee jerk decisions. They are well noted for carefully doing their homework and weighing all of their options in order to make the best informed decision. So what happened with the horrible timing of this announcement? How did we go from “the Tour is safe for years to come” in November of last year to it’s ending one month later? The timing of this was horrendous. 

 But the biggest question of all is what will the Tour teams do with their cars and equipment in 2007? Because of the special nature of a Tour car configuration they are not elgible to move into the Grand National Division West Series nor can they participate in NASCAR Super Late Model events at Saturday night tracks. One very viable soloution is Davey Hamiliton’s SRL Wild West Shootout. The SRL features cars that are virtually identical to NASCAR’s Elite Divisions and the series has made an impressive ammount of progress in its short history.

Yet another option is the possibility of a western states touring series co sponsored by the American Speed Association, ASA, and the SRL. Although still in the exploratory stages, this proposed series would be ideal for any Elite Division team. Yet another strong point for this proposed series is the fact that one of its organizers is Dennis Huth a former NASCAR Regional Touring officer who has more than proven in the past that he can get the job done. Even NASCAR Regional Touring current officers has, reportedly, endorsed the concept of this new series as a viable option for its Elite Division teams.

In the aftermath of all this NASCAR’s official record books will show that veteran driver Ron Esau was the Southwest Tour’s first ever champion and its final champion was Rip Michaels who won the 2006 title by a single point. It will also show that M K Kanke, one of the series’ most popular drivers, heads the all time win list with 22 victories.
But the one aspect of the Tour I will always remember is the fact that in 21 years it never failed to throughly entertain the fans who turned out to watch the races. Despite the somber knowledge that the Phoenix race, November 9th, was their last ever event the Tour teams still pulled out all of the stops to make it a very exciting race. They went out with a great deal of class.