Downs will host 2 ASA races in '07

By Jeff Dahn
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — The racing series that helped launch Landon Cassill into NASCAR is coming to the race track where Cassill got his start in stock car racing.
The ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division — the elite of the three ASALMS divisions — will be at Hawkeye Downs Speedway for the May 12 running of the Crate Motor Classic 200. Hawkeye Downs will host a 100-lap ASALMS North Division race Sept. 1.
The visits by the two ASALMS divisions are the highlights of the tentative 2007 Hawkeye Downs schedule released this week.
‘‘( Track officials) talked about getting a Challenge Division race last year and wanted to see how it went,’’ said Hawkeye Downs media contact Brad Grupe. ‘‘They’re looking forward to getting (drivers) not only from this part of the country but from points farther south.’’
The ASALMS has Challenge, North and South divisions. The Challenge Division visits tracks across the country. The North and South divisions are more regionalized.
The Challenge Division teams will be at Iowa Speedway in Newton May 19 for the Iowa 150. Other venues include San Antonio (Texas) Speedway, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and the famed Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.
‘‘You’re in some pretty good company there,’’ Grupe said.
Cassill, of Fairfax, ran a full-time schedule in the Challenge Division last year and won the Missouri 150 at I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo., in July.
He became the first driver in ASALMS history to win feature races in all three divisions the same season.
Cassill signed a contract this month to drive for NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports team but can’t compete in a NASCAR race until after his 18th birthday July 7. He reportedly has tentative plans to run in some ASALMS events before that date.
ASALMS co-founder and president Ron Varney Jr. said it is the mission of the ASALMS — whose slogan is ‘‘We Build Champions’’ — to send young drivers like Cassill up the racing ladder.
‘‘We are so proud of Landon for this opportunity and Hendrick is very fortunate to have someone of Landon’s caliber in their stables,’’ Varney said in an ASALMS news release. ‘‘We wish him the very best of luck and we know he’ll make us proud.’’ Hawkeye Downs opens weekly racing April 27. With the addition of IMCA sportmods, seven divisions will race on its half- and quartermile paved tracks. There are seven dates on the 17-date weekly schedule when all seven divisions are in action, however.
‘‘That can get to be a full night of racing,’’ Grupe said. ‘‘It gives us some flexibility and gives the drivers a night off when they need it every now and then.’’
Other specials on the tentative schedule include the USAC Ford Focus Midgets (June 1), the 35th Annual Keith Fleck Miller 100 (June 15) and IMCA Dirt at the Downs (Aug. 8)
• Contact the writer: (319) 368-8841 or jeff.dahn@gazettecommunications.com