Who Is ASA?

The American Speed Association (ASA) for more than 40 years has been a fertile proving ground for some of the leading stock car and race truck drivers in American Racing history. ASA Racing has built itself into a short-track powerhouse by cultivating followings in demographically diverse markets that share an appreciation of the racing experience. While not all of the drivers who currently rank among NASCAR elite start their careers with ASA, those who do retain a tremendous appreciation for the series and its dedication to racing innovation, competition, safety and fan-friendly rules. Their admiration is shared by the multitude of fans who have helped grow ASA into the premier short-track sanctioning body.

“If you can race with those guys, you can race with anybody. You walk through the NASCAR Sprint Cup garages and start asking ‘how many of you guys came from ASA?’ and it will blow you away how many of these guys will raise their hands.” Rusty Wallace, 1983 ASA Champion, 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.

“ASA is a family-friendly series with a lot of great people; I still have a lot of friends there. And, it teaches you the skills you need to be successful in NASCAR, whether you’re a driver, crew chief or crew member.”
Jimmie Johnson, 1989 ASA Rookie of the Year, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.

“For a driver, there is no better preparation for NASCAR than ASA. Staying focused and consistent for long races is tough for any race driver. My years in ASA taught me to do that.” Johnny Benson, 1993 ASA Champion, 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion, 1996 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year, 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion.

“ASA is an awesome series. It’s extremely competitive, reasonably economical and gives a driver great visibility in his career. It got me prepared for NASCAR, and I hope to see my son Matt racing there when he is old enough.”
Mark Martin, Four Time ASA Champion, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver.

The stars of NASCAR, past and present; Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Kenny Schrader, Bobby Allison, Ted Musgrave, Reed Sorenson, Davey Allison, Jimmy Spencer, Sterling Marlin, Kenny Wallace, Johnny Benson and Matt Kenseth, to name a few, each share one common career accomplishment - they made their way in ASA!

Dennis Huth, the man behind the birth, growth, and success of NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series and the Winston Racing Series, former Executive Vice President of NASCAR for 16 years, took the helm at ASA in 2005. Huth now has over 38 ASA sanctioned Member Tracks, an additional 70 tracks hosting ASA events, and has over 700 ASA racing events annually, from coast to coast. The ASA membership is over 12,000 members strong with 8,500 drivers and 12 ASA sanctioned racing divisions. Back in Daytona Beach, Huth’s group is hard at work taking a methodical approach to expanding the series and building the ASA name. The goal is to offer a wide variety of racing options for racers and the track owners, all under the ASA banner. There’s a lot of racing spanning a lot of cars and trucks over a lot of different regions. But that is all part of Huth’s plan. “Over the years, I dealt with so many aspects of racing. I think that overall, the more we can branch out and be involved in numerous facets of Motorsports, we can build an alliance of the tracks, teams, and competitors to help everyone.” Huth stated.

Two areas where Huth has made great strides are insurance and allowing 14 year old drivers to race. No other major sanctioning body does this. Most race tracks offer some type of participant accident medical insurance ranging anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000. To ensure that ASA racers are covered, Huth requires all ASA Member Tracks to carry a minimum of $50,000, but it doesn’t stop there. Huth went a step further: “I secured an additional $450,000 participant accident policy underwritten by one of the largest insurer’s in the world as I wanted to make sure that ASA participant accident insurance is second to none.”

The Motorsports business has radically changed over the past decade. More competition for the fan’s dollar increased insurance costs and car count issues due to our economy and fuel costs are all things that today’s racer and track operators must face. But for the forward-thinking track owner and racing competitor, the savior of short track racing has arrived…its ASA…We Build Champions!