Known as the USARacing Pro Cup Series, USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, CARS Pro Cup Series, Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series and CARS X1-R ProCup Series in the past, the CARS Tour is a stock car auto racing championship taking place all over the United States but mainly on short speedways. The series is governed by the Championship Auto Racing Series and came onto the racing scene in 1997. The current chairman is Jack McNelly.
Formation Of The Tour
April 1, 1993, was the day when Mark Brooks, NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki, Dan Duncan, and pilot Charlie Campbell, tragically lost their life in an airplane crash. Mark Brooks’ father, Robert Brooks, the owner at Hooters and a big businessman at the time, decided to honor those who lost their lives by forming the Championship Auto Racing Series, the CARS Tour regulatory body.
Robert Brooks may have only lived nine years from the first CARS Tour race, but he is arguably the one that contributed the most to establishing the series and ensuring it’s growth.
Having started with a late model series, formed directly after the regulatory body was set up, the focus was changed in 1997 when Brooks decided to concentrate on steel-bodied racecars and the Pro Cup series. The first race took place on the 9th of February 1997 at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida, and saw 40 cars involved.
The First Race & Series Winner
Chad Chaffin, sponsored by N & S Car Parts and Red Line Oil at the time, ended up first driving a Ford. But the winner of the 1997 series was Mario Gosselin, who won five of the 12 events and claimed the first Series title. Brad May has been chosen as Rookie of the Year.
Jeff Agnew won the same Series title the following year in 1998 while Bobby Gill claimed two in a row in 1999 and 2000. Starting 2001, organizers decided to have two divisions, Northern Division and Southern Division. The top drivers from each division were going to challenge themselves in what was known as the Four Champions Challenge, consisting of five races. The best competing driver would be assigned the Championship Series trophy.
That being said, it was Bobby Gill once again to win the Southern Division and defeat the other drivers in the 2001 play-offs, claiming his third Series title. The next time he would achieve that would be in 2007, which was his last major success at the CARS Tour.
Multiple Series Winners
Other drivers that managed to lift the CARS Tour series title were Jason Sarvis (2002), Shane Huffman (2003), Clay Rogers (2004, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013), Benny Gordon (2005 and 2008), Jeff Agnew (1998 and 2011), J.P. Morgan (2012) and Caleb Holman (2014).
Clay Rogers has five Series titles under his belt and is arguably the most successful driver at the CARS Tour. He is still racing today and when you compare odds from the best betting sites he is always one of the bookies favorites pre-race although only last season he only managed a 25th in the Late Model and 14th in the Super Late Model standings.
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2014: A Re-brand
Things changed dramatically in 2014 when Series owner Jack McNelly reformed the series because of lack of entrants and created the CARS Tour we have today, based around Late Model stock cars and Super Late Models, two divisions have been established.
As of 2015, the new system was implemented and the winner of the Late Model series was Brayton Haws while Cole Timm was the best in the Super Late Model series.
Some of the most notable tracks used in 2015 for the series include Concord Speedway, Hickory Speedway, Orange County Speedway, Motor Mile Speedway, Myrtle Beach Speedway, Suthern National Motorsports Park or Tri-County Motor Speedway.