ASCAR Racing Series
ASCAR , was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR Mintex Cup from 2001 to 2003, later known as the Days of Thunder Racing Series and the SCSA before its final season as the SCSA MAC Tools VSR V8 Trophy. Although going through these varying identities the series was commonly referred to and known by its original name of ASCAR. The series predominantly raced the oval tracks at the Rockingham Motor Speedway and the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in the early years but in its final season in 2008 was solely road racing series that would visit various tracks in the UK most notably Brands Hatch and in France at Croix en Ternois. The series folded in 2008 and merged into part of the European Late Model Series in 2009, racing in Belgium and the UK.
Constructor cars consisted of NASCAR style Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac racers with a field that peaked at 37 drivers competing during the 2002 season. John Mickel was the first ever champion with a different driver winning the title over all six-seasons, with Team West-Tec, RML and Torquespeed each winning two drivers championships each. Colin White and John Steward were the only drivers who raced in every season, whilst various drivers from a range of different styles of motorsport competed either single races or single seasons, most notably Colin McRae, Aaron Slight, Jason Plato, Max Papis, and the 2002 champion Nicolas Minassian.
History
The ASCAR Mintex Cup made its debut in 2001 with the first ever race being held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway on 26 May, the race was won by former two-time BTCC champion John Cleland for his Chevrolet-powered Cleland Speedsport team. The event that took part in front of 12,000 fans saw Cleland qualify on pole, however he had to fight back to win the race which had seen six-different race leaders Further rounds at Rockingham, Knockhill Racing Circuit in Scotland, EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany and Mondello Park in Ireland were cancelled due to a fuel pickup issue, so Round 2 didn't hit the calendar until 26 August back at Rockingham. The initial season saw 14 teams fielding 21 cars with the season eventually being won by John Mickel of Torquespeed, by beating Dutchman Michael Vergers in the final race by 0.2 seconds, winning the title despite only two wins to Vergers three. Following his championship win, Mickel stated "I owe it all to my crew. We've grown up around the short ovals together and most of them have been with me since I was 10, they didn't let me down. They won it for me."The 2002 season saw the peak number of drivers racing in the series with 37 taking part during the year, representing a total of 13 teams. Each race event would partner the BRSCC Pickup Truck Racing, with the series being split between six-events at Rockingham, and two in Lausitz consisting of a total of 20 rounds. The season saw its first American competitors compete as NASCAR drivers Randy Tolsma and Brandon Whitt both drove the no.48 Deuce Racing car, whereas Colin McRae, Darren Manning, Matt Neal and Jason Plato all joined XCEL Motorsport. Darren Turner registered six-wins during the season but having missed the opening five-rounds he would only place 7th in the Championship with the title going to French driver Nicolas Minassian of RML Group who only won the one race back in Round 2.
In 2003 the series took on the additional name of "Days of Thunder" after the film of the same name, the season was reduced to 13 rounds spanning over 8 events at both Rockingham and Lausitz. Minassian's replacement at RML, Ben Collins took six race victories, all coming in the final eight rounds of the season. In 2004 the ASCAR label was dropped completely and the series was labelled as the "Days of Thunder Racing Series", the series also dropped the Germany races due to the costs involved and the projected grid numbers of cars willing to make the journey. The season which now ran exclusively from Rockingham was won by Stevie Hodgson of TorqueSpeed.
2005 saw the series renamed once again "Stock Car Speed Association" after a link-up with the American Speed Association and incorporated the Pickup Truck Racing Series under the same banner. Michael Vergers who had been with the series since the inaugural season took the title for Team West-Tec winning three of the twelves rounds which once more were all held at Rockingham. In 2006 the SCSA and Pickup Truck Racing ran at Rockingham as part of the "Thunder Sundays" package organised by the BRSCC. The series continued to field only the twelve rounds and the participating number of drivers was moved down to 18. Oli Playle took the title with a dominating season scoring eight race wins.
The SCSA name remained for 2007; as part of a new sponsorship deal competitors competed for the 'SCSA MAC Tools V8 Trophy'. On Wednesday 5 September, British motorsport publication Motorsport News reported that the SCSA would come to an end after the final race of this season. However, the teams, and the organisers of the Mac Tools V8 Trophy vowed to continue in 2008, whether as a MSA Sanctioned championship, or just as a "series". The final recognised oval racing season was won by Colin White, with the field reduced once more to seven rounds, competed by only 15 drivers. 2008 heralded a new direction for the series with a focus on road courses due to a lack of dates offered by the oval tracks. The cars ran as part of the VSR Series, with the stock cars known as the VSR V8 Trophy. In 2009 the series joined with CAMSO V8 to form the new European Late Model Series.
| Period | Sponsor | Brand |
| 2001–2002 | Mintex | ASCAR Mintex Cup |
| 2003 | No Sponsor | ASCAR Days of Thunder Series |
| 2004 | No Sponsor | Days of Thunder Racing Series |
| 2004–2006 | No Sponsor | SCSA |
| 2007 | Mac Tools | SCSA Mac Tools V8 Trophy |
| 2008 | Mac Tools | Mac Tools VSR V8 Trophy |
Race days
In 2003 the series took on the additional name of "Days of Thunder" after the film of the same name. This was done as a marketing tool as starting in this year they promoted the series as a day out for all the family and had appearances from bands such as Busted and The Darkness.Teams and Cars
ASCAR fielded the latest NASCAR Generation 4 variant race machines at the time, a combined field of 5.7 litre V8s tuned to 470 bhp & sporting Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Pontiac Grand Prix body shells.In 1992, the Gen 4 car arrived at the sport when steel bodies became primarily custom made instead of using stock pieces, and wind tunnels became a staple as teams worked to gain aerodynamics.
1994 was also the final year that V6 engines were used in the Busch Series, as many short track series had abandoned six-cylinder engines.
The Gen 4 car was used full time until 2007, and it was retired in the Cup Series after the 2007 season, while the other sixteen races were run by the fifth-generation Car of Tomorrow. The Car of Tomorrow went full-time in 2008, with the second-tier series adopting their own Car of Tomorrow first part-time in 2010 and full-time the following year. Body panels in the style of the Gen 4 car continue to be manufactured by Five Star Race Car Bodies, and were legal in the ARCA Racing Series until 2020, when composite-bodied cars in the style of the Generation 6 were mandated. As of 2022, the Gen 4 car is still legal in the ARCA Menards Series West and East ; Hailie Deegan scored her first NASCAR win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt track in a Gen 4 Toyota Camry in 2019.
In the generation's final years, aerodynamic development led to some of the cars being called "twisted sisters" in reference to the asymmetrical shapes of the car's body. The Car of Tomorrow, by contrast, featured a symmetrical body in order to curb aerodynamic development wars in an attempt to cut costs.
File:Michael Vergers 28 NEC car Rockingham.jpg|thumb|right|Team West-Tec are the most successful team in the series, winning 2 titles like TorqueSpeed and RML, they won more races than any other team with 21.
| Team | Constructor | Seasons | Championship Wins | Race Wins |
| Team West-Tec | Chevrolet Ford Pontiac | 2001–2006 | 2 | 21 |
| Colin Blower Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2001–2002 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Catchpole Racing | Chevrolet | 2001–2006 | 0 | 0 |
| Cleland SpeedSport | Chevrolet | 2001 | 0 | 1 |
| Oughtred & Harrison | Ford | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| Shear-Speed | Pontiac | 2001–2003 | 0 | 0 |
| Streber Motorsport | Pontiac | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| TorqueSpeed | Chevrolet Ford | 2001–2005 | 2 | 17 |
| Dudman Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| Lee Caroline Racing | Ford | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| Steward Racing | Chevrolet Ford | 2001–2007 | 0 | 1 |
| CWS Racing | Chevrolet Pontiac | 2001–2007 | 1 | 15 |
| Michael Smith Racing | Chevrolet | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| TJ Motorsport | Ford | 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| Hodgson Motorsport | Chevrolet Pontiac | 2002 | 0 | 2 |
| RML Group | Chevrolet | 2002–2003 | 2 | 10 |
| Fast-Tec Motorsport | Ford Pontiac | 2002–2005 | 0 | 0 |
| Deuce Racing | Chevrolet | 2002 | 0 | 0 |
| Xcel Motorsport | Ford Pontiac | 2002–2003 | 0 | 1 |
| Team HTML | Pontiac | 2002–2004 | 0 | 7 |
| Kidd-Richardson Racing | Chevrolet | 2003–2005 | 0 | 0 |
| Shark Racing | Chevrolet | 2003 | 0 | 0 |
| Intersport Racing | Pontiac | 2003–2004 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Turn-Four | Chevrolet Ford | 2004 | 0 | 1 |
| 24-7 Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2004–2005 | 0 | 0 |
| Renegade Racing | Chevrolet | 2004 | 0 | 0 |
| Kraco Racing | Chevrolet | 2005 | 0 | 0 |
| MyOwnRaceTeam | Pontiac | 2005 | 0 | 0 |
| Team For Trucks | Ford Pontiac | 2005–2007 | 0 | 0 |
| Revolution Racing | Chevrolet | 2006–2007 | 0 | 1 |
| Team Networking | Chevrolet | 2006–2007 | 0 | 0 |
| M-Tec | Chevrolet | 2006 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Ranger Racing | Chevrolet | 2007 | 0 | 0 |
| CB Racing | Chevrolet | 2007 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Air Ambulance | Pontiac | 2007 | 0 | 0 |
| KLANN Racing | Chevrolet | 2007 | 0 | 0 |