Buckeye Association for Auto Racing

The Buckeye Association for Auto Racing, also known as BAAR, is the premier late model racing organization in the Ohio Valley region of the United States for up and coming late model drivers, traditionally visiting local short tracks across the region.

The Merger
In 2013, the West Coast Late Model Series and the Ohio Valley Late Model Series agreed to a merger that would bring both series together to form a national late model championship series, known as the National Pro Cup Championship. The series made its first ever stop at the Long Beach street circuit as a companion event to V8 Champ Car's Grand Prix of Long Beach. With negotiations for a FARC Truck Tour date falling through, Long Beach organizers approached the NPCC with the intention of hosting one of their races, especially with ATATS director Eric Derenberger, the man behind the idea to bring the Truck Tour to Long Beach, coming on board in 2014. In addition, the NPCC competed on the infield road course at Daytona International Speedway to open the season. In addition, The Memorial found a new home at the NPCC as well as a new venue for the event, the Circuit of the Americas. Pepsi Max also signed on to be the official sponsor of the NPCC pole award.

The manufacturers that competed in the NPCC in 2014 were Saar, Lenard, Helsing, Lycoia, Isanni, and Farr. Lycoia won the manufacturers championship, while Chuck Johnson won the driver's championship and the Cobalt Shield. Zach Gott took home the Rose Cup, while Gravity Racing, Inc. teammate John Quackenbush won the Ultimatum Cup title.

Post NPCC
After the 2014 National Pro Cup Championship season, the two organizations that made up the merged league, the West Coast Late Model Series and the Ohio Valley Late Model Series, came to the conclusion that a national touring late model series wasn't working out, so following the season, the two organizations ended the merger, with the West Coast Late Model Series resuming operations under their old banner. However, the Ohio Valley Late Model Series decided to retain the original idea of using super late models for the 2015 season, and after some consideration, decided to change the name of the sanctioning body to the Buckeye Association for Auto Racing, the crown jewel of late model racing in the Ohio Valley.

Divisions of BAAR
Beginning in 2016, BAAR will sanction two different divisions:


 * BAAR Super Pro Series
 * BAAR Pro Lite Series

The BAAR Super Pro Series is considered the crown jewel division of BAAR, and will use the super late model stock cars. The BAAR Pro Lite Series will use muscle-body late models.

Qualifying Format
All cars participating in each event will run what will be known as "Fast Twenty Qualifying". Drivers will get five laps to set their fastest qualifying time. The top 20 qualifiers will automatically advance to the feature race. The rest of the field will participate in a "Last Chance Qualifier", where the top 4 finishers will round out the field for the feature race, capping each feature at 24 cars (including championship events). All drivers who attempt a race will receive 5 championship points minimum.

The length of the LCQs are as follows:

Last Chance Qualifying Race Distances

 * Championship races: 25 laps
 * Tracks 1/4 mile or less: 20 laps
 * Tracks 0.26-0.49 miles: 15 laps
 * Tracks 1/2 mile or more: 12 laps
 * Road courses: 8 laps

Points System

 * Feature Race points will be doubled in Championship events, except bonus points.

Race Bonus Points

 * 1 bonus point goes to the race's polesitter.
 * 1 bonus point goes to all drivers who lead at least one lap during a race.
 * 3 bonus points goes to the driver who leads the most laps in a race.

Demerit Penalty System

 * For every incident that results in a grid penalty, a driver will be assessed at least 10 demerit points, although more points could be assessed depending on the infraction. Warnings will result in 5 demerit points.
 * For every clean race a driver has, they will have 1 demerit point taken off their total.
 * At the end of the season, all drivers that have demerit points will have 10 points dropped from their total.

Past BAAR Super Pro Champions
There have been nine different champions in BAAR Super Pro Series history. Frank Deiny, Jr. holds the record for most titles, with 5, and most career wins, with 47. Packer Carroll was the first driver to win back-to-back titles (99-00), while Deiny, Jr. is the only driver to win back-to-back titles on multiple occasions (04-05, 09-10). Hunter Blaize holds the record for youngest champion (14 years old in 2013), while Dan Moore holds the record for oldest champion (56 years old in 2015).


 * 2014 was run as part of the National Pro Cup Championship.
 * 2015 was the first season to be run under the new BAAR banner.