CAMARGO, IL (1-30-12) By Brian Liskai – A new sponsor, television, new tracks and more excitement await sprint car fans and teams in 2012 as the University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions get ready to embark on a truly historic season.

The UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions – the university in Lima, Ohio recently announced their partnership with “America’s Series” – will compete in 50-52 events in 2012.

“This will be a true partnership. We will sell this college to prospective students all over the Midwest. This is a great place and we are going to be a good recruiting partner. We are working with great people through the University of Northwestern Ohio,” stated Guy Webb of All Star Championship Racing.

Following the successful regionalization plan the UNOH All Stars incorporated in 2011 – Ohio Region, Eastern Region, Great Plains Region and National – the series is looking to build on that momentum in 2012.

“We added $27,000 to the series’ point fund…more teams competed with us and more teams earned more money. The interest from tracks with our series is up…we will be at seven to eight news places in 2012. The regional idea did what we hoped…we didn’t force teams to go to places they didn’t want to go and more teams made more money,” said Webb.

The 2012 season kicks off with seven events in Georgia and Florida as part of the Eastern Region points battle. It begins Feb. 10-11 at Screven Motor Speedway in Georgia, moves to Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 15-16, and wraps up with a three day extravaganza at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. 23-25.
The series’ traditional Midwest opener will be held at the Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park on April 6-7 to kick off the Ohio Region series. Then it’s a three-race weekend in Pennsylvania Posse country for the Eastern Region battle April 27-19 at Williams Grove, Port Royal and Clinton County. The Port Royal event is a huge $15,000-to-win affair!

May will feature three Ohio region events – May 12 at Mercer Raceway Park and a Memorial Day double-header at Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio May 26-27, including a $10,000-to-win wrap-up.

The month of June will no doubt have everything to say about who will be crowned the UNOH All Star champion with 12 events. It kicks off with three Eastern Region events on June 8-10 at Williams Grove, Lincoln and Utica Rome tracks.

Then it’s the 30th Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek –9 races over nine nights across the Buckeye State. It kicks off at Attica on Friday, June 22, then to the bullring of Waynesfield Raceway Park on Saturday, and then on Sunday the UNOH All Stars will stop at Cannonball Motor Speedway. Monday will be held at Wayne County Speedway, and then Tuesday the series heads to Sharon Speedway and Wednesday for the first of two shows at Fremont Speedway. Thursday night will be at Hilltop Speedway before the traditional week-ending races at Limaland Motorsports Park on Friday, June 29 and the $10,000-to-win finale at Fremont Speedway on June 30.

July finds the UNOH All Stars heading to New York for two week-day events at Brewerton Speedway and Fonda Speedway on July 16 and July 18 before heading west for the traditional “Thunder Through the Plains.”

The Thunder Through the Plains will consist of 10 races for the $10,000-to-win Great Plains Regional point fund. It begins Saturday, July 21 at Wilmot Raceway in Wisconsin followed by a July 24 event at Hibbing Raceway. The series then moves to Red River Co-Op Speedway in Winnipeg, MB, Canada on July 26 and then back across the border to Jackson Speedway in Minnesota on July 27, followed by events on July 28 and 29 at Red River Valley Speedway in Fargo, N.D. and Husets Speedway in Brandon, S.D. respectively.

The UNOH All Stars are working on an event for Sunday, Aug. 5 before once again sanctioning the “Front Row Challenge” at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Monday, Aug. 6. Following the Knoxville Nationals, the All Stars wrap up the Great Plains Region with a show at Husets Speedway on Aug. 12 and at Red River Valley on Aug. 15.

Then it’s back to the Ohio Region battle with the series’ only visit to Michigan on Aug. 18 at Butler Motor Speedway followed by Mercer Raceway Park in Western Pennsylvania on Aug. 25 and Lernerville Speedway on Aug. 31.

September will also be busy for the UNOH All Stars as they wrap up Attica’s season with the annual Ambush on Saturday, Sept. 1 followed by the final visit of the year to Wayne County on Sept. 2.

The Eastern Region point battle will conclude with a big weekend at Port Royal Speedway on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 7-8, which wraps up with a $10,000-to-win affair.
The All Star’s season – and that of the Ohio Region – will conclude with the two tracks that have hosted more series events then any other speed plants. Fremont Speedway will bring in the UNOH All Stars on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 14-15 for the annual Jim Ford Classic which includes a $10,000-to-win finale. Then, Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway will conclude the 2012 UNOH All Star Season on Oct. 13.

“We have many, many of our business partners who once again have come back on board in 2012 and have added several new businesses and we’re excited about the growth they have helped us and will continue to help us achieve,” concluded Webb.

The 2012 season also looks to have several more teams compete in the various regions. “The Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer will look to win his fourth straight series championship. But three-time All Star champion Dale Blaney, along with young up-and-comers Danny Holtgraver, Cap Henry, Pete Miller and two-time series champion Greg Wilson will certainly have something to say about that possibility. Of course the tough Pennsylvania Posse members like All Star Eastern Region Champion Lance Dewease, Fred Rahmer, Daryn Pittman and more will provide plenty of excitement as teams battle for the $20,000-to-win championship.

For the complete schedule and for more information about the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions go to www.allstarsprint.com.

Click Here for 2012 Schedule

CAMARGO, IL.-(12-10-11) By Brian Liskai – The University of Northwest Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions will reward the drivers, crews, owners and race teams who competed during the 2011 season at an awards banquet on Sunday, Jan. 22 at the UNOH Events Center in Lima, Ohio.

Doors will open at noon and lunch will be served at 1 p.m. Tickets are $35 each (make checks payable to All Star Championship Racing, Inc. and mail to P.O. Box 213, Clyde, Ohio 43410). The event is open to everyone!

Two time All Star champion Tim Shaffer will collect most of the hardware, having won the series’ National points, Great Plains Region and Ohio Region. The Steel City Outlaw also finished fourth in the Easter Region points. Three time All Star champion Dale Blaney finished second in the National, Great Plains and Ohio points and third in the Eastern Region, which was claimed by Lance Dewease. David Gravel finished third in the National and Ohio points and sixth in both the Great Plains and Easter Region points. 2010 All Star Rookie of the Year Cap Henry finished fourth in the National and Great Plains regions and eighth in both the Ohio and Eastern Regions.

Others who will collect hardware at the banquet include two-time All Star champion Greg Wilson, Daryn Pittman and young chargers Danny Holtgraver and Pete Miller III.

For more information please visit www.allstarsprint.com or contact Owen Fritz at 217-253-8100.

Banquet Reservation Form

CAMARGO, IL (11-11-11) By Brian Liskai – All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car memberships are on sale now. A membership with the All Stars makes a race team eligible to earn points at series’ sanctioned events in the Eastern, Ohio and Great Plains Regions as well as for National points.

The cost of a season membership – if purchased before Jan. 1, 2012 – will be $425. All Star membership prices purchased from Jan. 1-Feb. 28, 2012 will be $500.

All race teams who want to earn points and membership benefits at the winter races in Georgia and Florida, which begin Feb. 10 and 11 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. (the Georgia and Florida races are for Eastern Region points) must purchase a membership prior to Jan. 1, 2012.

For more information go to www.allstarsprint.com or call Kyle Keesy at 217-722-8043.

 Click here for the 2012 Membership Form

ROSSBURG, OH (10-1-2011) By Brian Liskai – It looked like Tim Shaffer was finally going to break his All Star Circuit of Champions drought at Eldora Speedway Saturday on University of Northwestern Ohio Night. But when Rob Chaney tumbled late in the race, Shaffer and Terry McCarl got together trying to avoid the crash and spun. This handed the lead to Blaney who had troubles of his own with a motor that just wouldn’t take off on restarts, but was good enough to take him to the victory, his 84th career All Star win.

"We kind of got lucky. Shaffer was probably going to win. When Chaney filliped Shaffer and McCarl got together and Shaffer spun. They put him on the tail for being involved in the crash…it was a judgment call," said Blaney beside his Ti22 Performance backed machine.

"My car didn't take off at all on the start until the gate by turn three. We have a mag problem or something. On that last restart I was just fortunate no one behind me could get around…the motor just wouldn’t take off,” added Blaney. “It feels good to get a win at Eldora again…it’s been a couple of years."

Shaffer would come back to finish seventh and claim the $20,000 prize for winning the All Star Circuit of Champion's Ohio Region points. Shaffer, who won the $10,000 Great Plaines Region points, also padded his National point lead.

"We came up on Chaney’s crash so quickly…and we both weren’t sure where he was going. You just have to make a decision on where to go and we both went low and I clipped the rear of his (McCarl) car and spun. It was just one of those deals. Dang I wanted to win an All Star race at Eldora…I’ve won three or four World of Outlaw races there, but I really wanted this one," said Shaffer beside his Aaron Call/Janet Holbrook owned machine.

"It’s great we won the All Star’s Ohio deal…it's a nice reward for the hard work my guys put into this team," continued Shaffer whose #83 carries Kistler Engines/Kistler Racing Products sponsorship.

Blaney and Randy Hannagan would lead the field to the green with Hannagan taking the lead. But third starting Shaffer and fourth starting Brad Sweet clearly had the cars to beat. Shaffer would grab the early lead with Sweet applying constant pressure to “The Steel City Outlaw.” But, Sweet’s challenge would end with about 10 laps to go when he retired with mechanical woes.

It looked like Shaffer would drive away with the win, but Chaney got upside down in turn 1 with seven laps to go, and as Terry McCarl tried to avoid Chaney, he and Shaffer got together with Shaffer spinning. That gave the lead to Blaney who cruised to the win over Hannagan, who also finished second in the NRA Sprint Invaders’ feature, Danny Smith (up from 12th),  David Gravel and Dustin Daggett.

Blaney's 84th career All Star win – his eighth of 2011 - moves him closer to all-time series win leader Kenny Jacobs who has 98.

For Hannagan, it was a great night at Tony Stewart’s Big E. He would also finish second in the NRA Sprint Invaders feature.

 “I felt good at the start and that’s when I knew I was a sitting duck. Usually if you’re tight at the beginning of the race here, you’re pretty good at the end. I was good early and new I was going to be in trouble late. The car just got loose at the end. But, for having only run a handful of 410 shows this year, we’ve had pretty good results. Hopefully we can do a little more of that next year and get into victory lane,” said Hannagan beside his Central Valley Meat Company/Kenny’s Components/Gaerte Engines backed machine.