CARS Tour
Sanctioning late model stock car racing on paved short tracks.
The CARS Racing Tour sanctions a pair of late model stock car racing series in the United States: the zMAX CARS Tour (formerly known as the USAR Pro Cup Series and CARS Pro Cup Series) and the SPEARS CARS Tour West. Sanctioned by the Championship Auto Racing Series and sponsored by zMAX and SPEARS Manufacturing, the series competes on paved short tracks in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The tour has deep roots in late model racing, evolving from the Hooters Cup in 1995 through multiple rebrandings to its current two-division format.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1997
- Category
- Stock Cars
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Headquarters
- Mooresville, North Carolina
- Chairman
- Jack McNelly
- Owner
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jeff Burton
- Kevin Harvick
- Justin Marks
- Speedway Motorsports
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The series' Four Champions Challenge playoff, introduced in 2001, was so successful that NASCAR devised its own playoff system in 2004.
- During the 2014 season, car counts dropped as low as four cars at Coastal Plains Raceway in Jacksonville, NC.
- In 2015, the CARS Tour became the first asphalt tour to carry its own streaming and broadcast service, CARS Tour TV.
- The CARS Tour will make its Fox Sports 1 broadcast debut in 2025 during NASCAR All-Star Race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
History
The sanctioning body was formed by Hooters owner Robert Brooks to honor four people who died in an April 1, 1993 airplane crash: his son Mark Brooks, reigning NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki, Dan Duncan, and pilot Charlie Campbell. It began as the Hooters Cup late model series in 1995. At the September 1997 race at the Milwaukee Mile, Brooks decided to stop sanctioning the late model series in favor of the Pro Cup series, aiming to use steel-bodied racecars similar to those in the NASCAR Busch Series and ARCA Racing Series. There were eleven races in 1997, expanding to twenty in 1998. In 2001, the series created a northern division and a southern division that race separately, followed by a five-race playoff called the Four Champions Challenge. The driver with the most points in those races is declared the USAR champion.
SPEARS CARS Tour West
The CARS Tour expanded in early 2024 by splitting its Pro Late Models into East and West Tours, a move backed by co-owner Kevin Harvick. The CARS West series uses identical Pro Late Model rules but is a separate tour for West Coast drivers, holding races in California and Nevada. These events are broadcast live on TrackVision TV, a collaboration with Low Budget TV and Speed Sport. Later that year, the 2025 West Tour schedule was released, which rebrands the existing Pro Late Model division as the Limited Pro Late Model, using Hoosier 980 slicks. The new Pro Late Model division will follow the same rules as the East Tour. The West Tour will also add Super Late Model and Legends divisions. By 2026, the West Tour will split its Pro Late Model series into Southwest and Northwest divisions, featuring crossover races.
More in Auto Racing Organizations in the United States
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