Richmond, CA. Immediately after Round One of the American Stockcar Challenge (ASC) and ProTruck (PT) Series, discussions between the teams and officials were nonstop. The most prevalent topic among the ASC teams was over the tire rules. Several teams had expressed concerns about excessive tire wear during the first round at Willow Springs Raceway. Their push to lift the tire limit rule was rejected by ASC officials who ruled that allowing more tires would drive up the cost, falling against the mission of ASC. This decision was verified by Goodyear Tire technicians who determined that the excessive wear was due to setup.

Round Two of the ASC/PT Championship will take place on March 7-8 at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA. The professional sportscar configuration which utilizes more than half of the speedway as well as the infield will be run. For most ASC teams, this event will prove to be a good equalizer as few of the drivers have run this circuit. The only ASC driver who has experience in this configuration is Tucson Arizona's Ken Stinnett (ASC #43). In mid February, Stinnett took advantage of an SCCA clubrace that ran this configuration by entering his ASC car in GT1. Not surprisingly, he did well, finishing first overall before getting disqualified for being about 70lbs underweight.

Unlike ASC cars that are free to change gearing for the long straightaway, the ProTrucks are required to run fixed gearing. Having run this circuit previously, Donn Cross (PT #41) claimed to hit redline before Turn One. For spectators following the ASC/PT battles, this will prove to be one of the more exciting races of the year as the narrower and lighter ProTrucks will have the advantage in the tighter infield sections, especially with fresh tires both days, while the ASC cars will be able to stretch their legs but forced to run on the same tires both days.

With less than a week remaining before Round Two, the ASC/PT entry list continues to grow:

ASC Entry List
1) #03 Mike Arnheiter
2) #06 Justin Sallows (ASC-X)
3) #27 Manuel Gil Del Real
4) #33 Dave Arnheiter
5) #43 Ken Stinnett
6) #44 Bill Blauvelt
7) #55 Ed Ochylski
8) #90 Steve Carvajal
9) #99 Mike Carson

PT Entry List
1) #00 Ed Fernandez
2) #7 Tim Wright
3) #9 Peter Dunkel
4) #25 Gary Fenn
5) #27 Franz Klarer
6) #33 Mark Cross
7) #41 Donn Cross
8) #50 Ed Fernandez
9) #54 Larry Dunkel
10) #57 Jim Swartzbaugh

For more information about the American Stockcar Challenge, visit the official website at: Ascracing.com

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