All Star Circuit of Champions
| File:All Star Circuit of Champions.png | |
| Sport | Sprint car racing |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction |  United States |
| Abbreviation | ASCoC |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Regional affiliation | United States |
| Headquarters | Brownsburg, Indiana |
| President | Tony Stewart |
| Official website | |
| www | |
 | |
The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC) is an American motorsports sanctioning body of Sprint Cars founded in 1970. The series sanctions 410ci sprint car races in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, and Florida. On average the series runs 40 races per year, starting February and ending in October each year.[1] The ASCoC was purchased by Tony Stewart in the winter of 2015.
History
The ASCoC was founded by Bud Miller in 1970 after a failed venture by himself, Chris Economaki, and Wellman Lehman, to build a new race track near Youngstown, OH failed. Through the meetings about building the track the idea was conceived to create a touring sprint car series in the area. The idea of the All Star Circuit of Champions was then born in 1970 and began operating that year. The series would cease operations after just 3 years in 1973, when the 1973 oil crisis began Miller knew the series couldn't continue to run with the price of oil rising.[2]
The series would reform in 1979 under the guidance of a new owner, Bert Emick. Emick, had been successfully running the MOSS sanctioning body in the Ohio area but lost the naming rights in a legal battle. Thus the All Star name was brought back in 1980 with Emick as President. Emick would run the series until 2002 when Guy Webb took over.[3]
Guy Webb took over as owner in 2002 running the series for 12 years until January of 2015 when he sold the series to Tony Stewart.[4]
Stewart took sole ownership of the ASCoC in 2015 in order to bring about peace in the Ohio sprint car scene. Early in 2015 a second competing series former, the Renegade Sprints, after disagreements with Webb. This caused Stewart to step in bringing both sides back in under the All Star banner.[5]
In January of 2016 it was announced that the series gained Arctic Cat as the series title sponsor, utilizing the banner "The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions" and the social media tagline "#ArcticCatAllStars".[6]
Series owners
- C.H. "Bud" Miller (1970–1973)
- Bert Emick (1980–2002)
- Guy Webb (2002–2015)
- Tony Stewart (2015–current)
References
- ^ "Schedule".
- ^ "All Stars - Then and Now".
- ^ "Bert Emick". National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
- ^ "All Star Circuit of Champions".
- ^ Steven Cole Smith (2015-02-08). "Not everybody in the sprint car world is happy with Tony Stewart".
- ^ "Arctic Cat Becomes Title Sponsor of All Star Circuit of Champions". Business Wire. 2016-01-11. Retrieved 5 October 2016.