ASCAR (Anglo-American Stock Car Racing), was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR Mintex Cup from 2001 to 2003, later known as the Days of Thunder Racing Series (2004) and the SCSA (Stock Car Speed Association) (2005 to 2007) before its final season as the SCSA MAC Tools VSR V8 Trophy. Although going through these varying identities the series was commonly referred to and known by its original name of ASCAR. The series predominantly raced the oval tracks at the Rockingham Motor Speedway and the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in the early years but in its final season in 2008 was solely road racing series that would visit various tracks in the UK most notably Brands Hatch and in France at Croix en Ternois. The series folded in 2008 and merged into part of the European Late Model Series in 2009, racing in Belgium and the UK.

Constructor cars consisted of NASCAR style Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac racers with a field that peaked at 37 drivers competing during the 2002 season. John Mickel was the first ever champion with a different driver winning the title over all six-seasons, with Team West-Tec, RML and Torquespeed each winning two drivers championships each. Colin White and John Steward were the only drivers who raced in every season, whilst various drivers from a range of different styles of motorsport competed either single races or single seasons, most notably Colin McRae, Aaron Slight, Jason Plato, Max Papis, and the 2002 champion Nicolas Minassian.

History

The ASCAR Mintex Cup made its debut in 2001 with the first ever race being held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway on 26 May, the race was won by former two-time BTCC champion John Cleland for his Chevrolet-powered Cleland Speedsport team. The event that took part in front of 12,000 fans saw Cleland qualify on pole, however he had to fight back to win the race which had seen six-different race leaders Further rounds at Rockingham, Knockhill Racing Circuit in Scotland, EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany and Mondello Park in Ireland were cancelled due to a fuel pickup issue, so Round 2 didn't hit the calendar until 26 August back at Rockingham. The initial season saw 14 teams fielding 21 cars with the season eventually being won by John Mickel of Torquespeed, by beating Dutchman Michael Vergers in the final race by 0.2 seconds, winning the title despite only two wins to Vergers three. Following his championship win, Mickel stated "I owe it all to my crew. We've grown up around the short ovals together and most of them have been with me since I was 10, they didn't let me down. They won it for me."

The 2002 season saw the peak number of drivers racing in the series with 37 taking part during the year, representing a total of 13 teams. Each race event would partner the BRSCC Pickup Truck Racing, with the series being split between six-events at Rockingham, and two in Lausitz consisting of a total of 20 rounds. The season saw its first American competitors compete as NASCAR drivers Randy Tolsma and Brandon Whitt both drove the no.48 Deuce Racing car, whereas Colin McRae, Darren Manning, Matt Neal and Jason Plato all joined XCEL Motorsport. Darren Turner registered six-wins during the season but having missed the opening five-rounds he would only place 7th in the Championship with the title going to French driver Nicolas Minassian of RML Group who only won the one race back in Round 2.

In 2003 the series took on the additional name of "Days of Thunder" after the film of the same name, the season was reduced to 13 rounds spanning over 8 events at both Rockingham and Lausitz. Minassian's replacement at RML, Ben Collins took six race victories, all coming in the final eight rounds of the season. In 2004 the ASCAR label was dropped completely and the series was labelled as the "Days of Thunder Racing Series", the series also dropped the Germany races due to the costs involved and the projected grid numbers of cars willing to make the journey. The season which now ran exclusively from Rockingham was won by Stevie Hodgson of TorqueSpeed.

2005 saw the series renamed once again "Stock Car Speed Association" (SCSA) after a link-up with the American Speed Association and incorporated the Pickup Truck Racing Series under the same banner. Michael Vergers who had been with the series since the inaugural season took the title for Team West-Tec winning three of the twelves rounds which once more were all held at Rockingham. In 2006 the SCSA and Pickup Truck Racing ran at Rockingham as part of the "Thunder Sundays" package organised by the BRSCC. The series continued to field only the twelve rounds and the participating number of drivers was moved down to 18. Oli Playle took the title with a dominating season scoring eight race wins.

The SCSA name remained for 2007; as part of a new sponsorship deal competitors competed for the 'SCSA MAC Tools V8 Trophy'. On Wednesday 5 September, British motorsport publication Motorsport News reported that the SCSA would come to an end after the final race of this season. However, the teams, and the organisers of the Mac Tools V8 Trophy vowed to continue in 2008, whether as a MSA Sanctioned championship, or just as a "series". The final recognised oval racing season was won by Colin White, with the field reduced once more to seven rounds, competed by only 15 drivers. 2008 heralded a new direction for the series with a focus on road courses due to a lack of dates offered by the oval tracks. The cars ran as part of the VSR Series, with the stock cars known as the VSR V8 Trophy. In 2009 the series joined with CAMSO V8 to form the new European Late Model Series.

PeriodSponsorBrand2001–2002 Mintex ASCAR Mintex Cup2003 No Sponsor ASCAR Days of Thunder Series2004 No Sponsor Days of Thunder Racing Series2004–2006 No Sponsor SCSA (Stock Car Speed Association)2007 Mac Tools SCSA Mac Tools V8 Trophy2008 Mac Tools Mac Tools VSR V8 Trophy

Race days In 2003 the series took on the additional name of "Days of Thunder" after the film of the same name. This was done as a marketing tool as starting in this year they promoted the series as a day out for all the family and had appearances from bands such as Busted and The Darkness.

Teams and Cars

ASCAR fielded the latest NASCAR Generation 4 variant race machines at the time, a combined field of 5.7 litre V8s tuned to 470 bhp & sporting Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Pontiac Grand Prix body shells.

TeamConstructorSeasonsChampionship WinsRace Wins Team West-Tec Chevrolet (2001–2004)Ford (2001–2003)Pontiac (2003–2006) 2001–2006 2 21 Colin Blower Motorsport Chevrolet 2001–2002 0 0 Team Catchpole Racing Chevrolet 2001–2006 0 0 Cleland SpeedSport Chevrolet 2001 0 1 Oughtred & Harrison Ford 2001 0 0 Shear-Speed Pontiac 2001–2003 0 0 Streber Motorsport Pontiac 2001 0 0 TorqueSpeed Chevrolet (2001–2005)Ford (2004–2005) 2001–2005 2 17 Dudman Motorsport Chevrolet 2001 0 0 Lee Caroline Racing Ford 2001 0 0 Steward Racing Chevrolet (2001)Ford (2002–2007) 2001–2007 0 1 CWS Racing Chevrolet (2001–2007)Pontiac (2005) 2001–2007 1 15 Michael Smith Racing Chevrolet 2001 0 0 TJ Motorsport Ford 2001 0 0 Hodgson Motorsport ChevroletPontiac 2002 0 2 RML Group Chevrolet 2002–2003 2 10 Fast-Tec Motorsport Ford (2002)Pontiac (2003–2005) 2002–2005 0 0 Deuce Racing Chevrolet 2002 0 0 Xcel Motorsport Ford (2002)Pontiac (2003) 2002–2003 0 1 Team HTML Pontiac 2002–2004 0 7 Kidd-Richardson Racing Chevrolet 2003–2005 0 0 Shark Racing Chevrolet 2003 0 0 Intersport Racing Pontiac 2003–2004 0 0 Team Turn-Four ChevroletFord 2004 0 1 24-7 Motorsport Chevrolet 2004–2005 0 0 Renegade Racing Chevrolet 2004 0 0 Kraco Racing Chevrolet 2005 0 0 MyOwnRaceTeam Pontiac 2005 0 0 Team For Trucks Ford (2005)Pontiac (2005–2007) 2005–2007 0 0 Revolution Racing Chevrolet 2006–2007 0 1 Team Networking Chevrolet 2006–2007 0 0 M-Tec Chevrolet 2006 0 0 Team Ranger Racing Chevrolet 2007 0 0 CB Racing Chevrolet 2007 0 0 Team Air Ambulance Pontiac 2007 0 0 KLANN Racing Chevrolet 2007 0 0

Drivers

The inaugural championship in 2001 was won by future NASCAR driver John Mickel racing for Torquespeed. In 2002 French driver Nicolas Minassian of RML Group arrived from CART and took the title. Further Champions were Ben Collins in 2003, who also worked as The Stig on Top Gear during his ASCAR tenure, Stevie Hodgson, Michael Vergers, Oli Playle and Colin White.

Although most of the field often included a field of British professional and semi-professional stock car drivers, a number of well-known racing drivers from across a wide variety of series competed, often racing either single races or for one full season. They included former WRC champion Colin McRae, ex Formula 1 drivers Max Papis and Kelvin Burt, former IndyCar series driver Darren Manning, former World Superbike Championship rider Aaron Slight, American Nascar drivers Randy Tolsma, Brandon Whitt and Steve Grissom also took part, as did former BTCC champions Jason Plato, Matt Neal and John Cleland. Aside from Ben Collins, future Top Gear presenter Chris Harris took part in the 2004 season, and fellow motoring journalists Tiff Needell and Amanda Stretton raced in the debut 2001 season. Toby Scheckter the son of 1979 F1 champion Jody competed in the 2002 season.

Notable Drivers SeasonDriverTeam(s) 2001 Amanda StrettonTeam West-Tec 2001–2004 Rob SpeakTeam West-Tec, Colin Blower Motorsport, Team Turn Four 2001 John ClelandCleland SpeedSport 2001 Tiff NeedellColin Blower Motorsport 2001–2005 Mark ProctorOughtred & Harrison, Fast Tec Motorsport 2001–2005 John MickelTorqueSpeed 2001–2007 Colin WhiteCWS Racing 2001 Aaron SlightTJ Motorsport 2002 Kevin McGarrityHodgson Motorsport 2002 Kelvin BurtRML Group 2002 Nicolas MinassianRML Group 2002–2004 Ben CollinsFast Tec Motorsport, RML Group, Team Turn Four 2002 Paula CookFast Tec Motorsport 2002 Randy TolsmaDeuce Racing 2002 Brandon WhittDeuce Racing 2002 Toby ScheckterDeuce Racing 2002–2003 Derek HayesDeuce Racing, Team West-Tec, Team HTML 2002 Colin McRaeXcel Motorsport 2002 Darren ManningXcel Motorsport 2002 Matt NealXcel Motorsport 2002 Jason PlatoXcel Motorsport 2002 Darren TurnerTeam HTML 2003 Steve GrissomRML Group 2003– Andrew KirkaldyXcel Motorsport 2003 Kieran DynesScott Racing Services 2003 Max PapisTeam HTML 2004, 2006 Steve DanceTorqueSpeed, Team Catchpole Racing 2004 Chris HarrisTorqueSpeed 2005 Gavin SeagerKidd Richardson Racing 2005–2006 Hunter AbbottTorqueSpeed, Steward Racing 2006–2007 Pete WilkinsonTeam Ranger Racing 2006 Paul PoulterSteward Racing 2007–2008 Carl BoardleyCB Racing

Nationalities The nationalities of every driver who participated in an ASCAR race from 2001 to 2007. Country Drivers United Kingdom 70 United States of America 4 Australia France Republic of Ireland 2 Colombia Germany India Italy Netherlands New Zealand South Africa Sweden 1

Champions

Year # Driver Points Team Constructor Wins in Season2007 78 Colin White1940CWS RacingChevrolet 52006 88 Oli Playle1985Team West-TecPontiac82005 28 Michael Vergers2245Team West-TecPontiac 32004 24 Stevie Hodgson2010TorqueSpeedChevrolet 22003 84 Ben Collins2299RMLChevrolet 62002 8 Nicolas Minassian2535RMLChevrolet 12001 24 John Mickel860TorqueSpeedChevrolet 2

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