In a few days we will flip our calendars from 2008 to 2009. The change from 2008 to 2009 is more than just flipping pages on a calendar for the American Sim Racing Series, it is about a brand new year and another great season.

Over the past two weeks, the American Sim Racing Series has made several changes. The new class of Championship Committee members has been selected and each has a different background and story of how they made it to ASRS. These individuals as a group will have the responsibility of reviewing penalties and incidents on the racetrack and thus will provide a level playing field for everyone here at ASRS.

New for 2009 is the "Realignment" of divisions. The National Series and Modified Series have been dropped in favor of the Late Model Sportsman Series, which will focus solely on short tracks. The Outlaw Paintshop All American Series will see a bit of an elevation in 2009 as it travels to a few slightly larger facilities and changes from three season per year to only two. The Camping World Truck Series will also see a change, as a result of a late event change, Iowa Speedway has gained the truck series, while South Boston has lost the series after three years on schedule. Iowa will become the second event in the Chase for the Championship, after the inaugural event at Chicagoland Speedway. Meanwhile, Mansfield will replace South Boston as the 23rd event on schedule, and 8th in the Chase for the Championship, after occupying a May date since 2005.

A few brand new special events will be run in 2009 in addition to the 12th Annual All American 400 in Novemeber and the 4th Annual Snowball Derby in December. While details will be forthcoming, these events will be "can't miss" races.

Everyone at ASRS is excited about what 2009 holds. The Late Model Sportsman Series has gained attention across the sim racing community and a whole new crop of rookies will take to the track in 2009. With everything going on, ASRS is the place to be in 2009. So stop by and give us a try.

Late Model Sportsman Storm into ASRS!

The 2009 ASRS Late Model Sportsman Series schedule has been released. The schedule includes two-nine race seasons. Among the 18 host tracks, many have previously hosted ASRS events, including trips to Stockton 99 Speedway, which hosted its most recent ASRS event in 2006; Colorado National Speedway, which has not held an event since 2007 and New York's Spencer Speedway, which has not hosted an ASRS division since 2005. In addition, two tracks are scheduled to host their first ASRS event in 2009 as part of the Late Model Sportsman Series, Wisconsin's Lacrosse Speedway and Southern National Raceway Park in North Carolina.

"The really neat thing about this series is that we have limited it to the short tracks, we won't take it to any track over 3/4 mile in length, and realistically my goal it keep the tracks under 5/8 mile." ASRS President Jim Foose said. "I think this is a good thing that we are going to with this series and I hope that everyone has a good time in this series. We are happy to be able to return to many of the tracks that built the foundation of this league and what we have become today."

The American Sim Racing Series has seen continued growth since its birth in 2002. Since 2005, some of the biggest names in short track sim racing have raced in the American Sim Racing Series, making it America’s #1 Online Short Track League. For more information on the ASRS visit www.americansimracing.com.