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Chris Tilley offers more details on Volunteer Racing Series
By admin | January 1, 2010
By Richard Allen
On December 30, 2009 plans were announced in regard to the formation of a new racing series to be originated out of the east Tennessee area. The Volunteer Racing Series will serve to take the place of the Tennessee Thunder Dirt Car Series which has declared that it will not sanction races in 2010.
A triumvirate of experienced racing pros will head up the project. East Tennesseeans Mike Kittrell and J.J. Templeton will join Kentucky’s Chris Tilley as founders and leaders of this fledgling organization. These three men are well versed in the racing game. Kittrell and Templeton have their own race teams while Tilley already heads up the Battle of the Bluegrass racing series and is an executive board member for the National Dirt Late model Hall of Fame.
Tilley will take care of the day-to-day operations of the series as well as handle race day activities.
Tilley took the time to answer some questions so as to go beyond the initial press release and shed more light on his group’s intentions.
“We hope to run 12-15 races for the 2010 racing season,” Tilley offered. “We want to concentrate on an area within a three hour radius of Knoxville.
“We are looking at some tracks as far south as the north Georgia area and as far north as the southern Kentucky area.”
Tilley added that he hopes the series will hold its first event on April 10, 2010.
Purses will be structured in three different levels. Some races will pay $3,000 to win with a total payout of $13,235. Other options for promoters will be to offer $4,000 to win with a total payout of $15,565 or a $5,000 to win race with a total purse of $17,700. The hope is that this structure will be fair and will work for both promoters and competitors.
JumpStart Communications hopes to have the series’ website up and running by mid-January.
“We are currently working on the 2010 schedule,” Tilley said. “The tracks have been contacted and the races are being booked.”
Tilley also offered a bit of a glimpse into the series’ rule book. “The tire rule will be a hard tire on the rear, open front,” he said. “This will allow us to keep a watchful eye on tires and cheating going on with the series.
“This is also economical for the racers. They don’t have to choose a hundred different tires/compounds and won’t have to buy a bunch of tires to come race in one of our events.”
The Volunteer Racing Series will award points for each race. The top-10 points earners will receive prize money at the season-ending banquet.
Look for more information coming soon and watch for the Volunteer Racing Series to visit a track in your area this season.
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly column appears in The Mountain Press every Wednesday.
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