American Stock Car Championship

The American Stock Car Championship (abbreviated ASCC) is an American auto racing series, starting its third season as a reconstituted series.

It mainly operates within the southern United States, though it does sanction races outside that region.

History
The American Stock Car Championship started as a Southern-based stock car series. Drivers like Alan Foster, Nicholas James, and Garth McCallister, Sr. cut their teeth in the series and went on to become TM Master Cup champions.

Through the 1960s and 70's, the series gained notoriety more for what went on off the track than on it: the garage became an environment hostile to both women and minorities, discouraging both from becoming involved in the series. The paddock was also overtly Christian, and races included both pre- and post-race invocations as well as an active Bible study group. Contingency decals for the cars included an American flag decal as well as one denoting if the driver was a military veteran (two aspects still retained in the modern ASCC). The league also banned foreign manufacturers from the series, mandating that manufacturers be at least 75 percent American.

Despite this, series organizers consciously tried to bring in minority drivers. The league never (officially) banned blacks or women, but when a black driver won the pole and had his car sabotaged by a competitor so it would blow up after about 10 laps, and despite the saboteur being banned for a year, the league's reputation was cemented.

Absorption
The series often used three-to-four-year-old Master Cup cars at the end of its lifespan in the late 1970s, prompting the better-funded Master Cup to purchase the series. The series (or idea of it) laid dormant for about 30 years. But McCallister had plans for its return.

Revival
In 2009, McCallister, who by this time was running his own team, McCallister Motorsports, in the Master Cup series, remarked that he found the series' schedule for the 2010 season to be unfavorable, saying, "The series has a long history in the South. Money has taken over, and that's why there is only one race in the South. It's a disgrace to the series, this is supposed to be an American series, not some kind of international crap. We are home-brewed and we better stay that way."

McCallister, a native Texan, had repeatedly said that he did not want to be in the TM Master Cup if it continued to spread internationally and dropped American races. However, he was also instrumental in taking away the Joliet race date and bringing it to the Texas Motor Speedway. Despite the Joliet, Illinois track having more history than the Texas venue, McCallister insisted that the South should not be ignored.

"If Omecha and the TM Master Cup Series keep taking away all the Southern race tracks...if they want that, then we might bring back the American Stock Car Championship," McCallister stated.

While most pundits regarded McCallister's threat as just that – a threat – events transpired during 2010 that made some believe McCallister wasn't bluffing. The most notable events involved tests with Tremwell and Sellick Cars which used ASCC-spec cars. Further fueling speculation was a test at Atlanta in which Cyrus LaTerza drove a Mitchell & Sons car to the top of the speed charts. That particular test session saw Chris Davenport, who was scheduled to drive the No. 00 Sellick in the session, being denied a track pass. Though it wasn't certain that Alexis Rainsford was involved with the operation, ASCC officials, citing a rule prohibiting female car owners, kept the car – and by extension, Davenport – off the track. "I won't be too surprised if they toss Nikki Brillon out before tomorrow," Davenport said in an interview. (Brillon was not listed as the owner of her car, however.) "That's not right if you ask me, but they don't release the rulebook to the public, so they keep that rule real quiet. They allow cars out there that say Feminism is Demonic, so I'm not surprised."

In the 2010 offseason, the rebirth of the ASCC became a reality as it purchased the assets of the faltering RROL Elite Series, prompting most of that series' entire executive staff to resign en masse. Reaction from the now-former RROL teams was mixed: some teams immediately announced they would not return to a series under the ASCC's control, while others took a more "wait-and-see" approach.

The buyout had an unintended secondary effect: the former RROL executives promptly, alongside British billionaire Mark Vaughn, announced a new series, the Vaughn Stock Car Championship, which would begin operations in 2011. The new series assumed the mantle of the old RROL, and many teams from that series migrated to the VSCC. (For more information on that series, please see the appropriate article.)

The present

 * For more information, please see: 2012 American Stock Car Championship season.

For 2012, the ASCC announced ambitious plans: it would unveil a new, more streamlined body style (in 2010 and 2011, the series used cars similar in style to the modern TM Lights cars), along with a new manufacturer: Bolden. Saar and Lenard also return, this time, using their primary marques instead of Tremwell and Sellick.

Goodyear and Wrangler Jeans signed on as co-sponsors of the series: the series' official name for this season is Goodyear Presents the ASCC Wrangler Cup Series.

Some star names of the past and star names of the future are preparing to enter the series, with both the driver lineups and the team lineups. The ASCC will be ensuring that the cars are low-cost and that the racing is close and competitive. It will allow short track superstars to mix it up with some of the biggest names in racing...once the series kicks off later in the year.