It is a little over 20 years since ASCAR hit its peak, filling Rockingham while luring top international and BTCC talent. But the domestic stock car series' boom couldn't last 🎢 ✍️ mattkewF1 revisits how the championship exploded, then imploded ⬇️
When the public address system at Rockingham Motor Speedway near Corby blared out We Will Rock You by Queen in the early 2000s, it spelled doubly good news. Firstly, spectators sitting in the chilly grandstands could start to get circulation back into their feet. Second, it signalled that an ASCAR race was about to begin.
“ASCAR is about delivering motorsport as entertainment,” said series CEO Mike Schmidt. “Teams should be prepared not to take themselves too seriously – that will endear them to the fans.” ASCAR had come too close to death in its first year. The only way was up. And with no-nonsense Berridge in charge, it rapidly climbed higher than anyone might have imagined
ASCAR had come too close to death in its first year. The only way was up. And with no-nonsense Berridge in charge, it rapidly climbed higher than anyone might have imagined. For 2002, Channel 4 picked up the TV deal, support categories were organised, and a £100,000 prize fund was on offer for the first female to win a race. Then, in the biggest coup of all, reigning BTCC champion Jason Plato was signed ahead of a showy season launch party at the Sports Cafe in Piccadilly, London.
But in what was already becoming a tradition, things couldn’t go off without a hitch. The opening race was put under threat due an eleventh-hour need to resurface Rockingham. This was to resolve ‘weepers’ on the brownfield site. Water oozing through the asphalt wasn’t new. It did, though, become a major problem when the cracks were filled with a sealant, which had all the grip properties of glass, for a bodged fix.
McRae was one of many stars who turned up for a round in 2002, although the series continued to have problemsA second visit to the EuroSpeedway ran well enough, but a third in late September was cancelled when ASCAR couldn’t put together a cross-Channel support package, with CART having already pulled out of its event due to the circuit filing for bankruptcy.
It’s also said that tweaks to the rules governing the rear wing, whether directly aimed at his ultra-efficient Pontiac aerokit or not, hurt Turner the most. To bunch up the pack, it was also not unheard of for a yellow-flag caution period to be spuriously thrown for a piece of non-existent debris just out of view on the far side of the circuit…
Minassian, who won just once on the way to the crown, adds: “It was really real! He was a tough competitor, a hard guy! Quite a few times we were shouting. But now it makes me laugh. He was a hard cookie to play with. It was a massive rivalry together. That’s what made it fun.” This was too much for Berridge, who departed soon after Pover’s appointment. He recalls: “Rockingham spent a huge amount of money [getting the circuit up and running] but there was a mistake made by the management. They didn’t have any content apart from a CART race. I was brought in by the chief exec to set up ASCAR. The idea was for it to be a franchise system, and the teams would make money off sponsorship and we would make money off the entry fees and tickets.
Scrapes were never far away as the action thrilled on track, but off-track decision-making threatened the series' survivalFormer ASCAR press officer Neil Randon explains: “It didn’t help that they had to change the name because NASCAR was causing a real stink. They thought it was almost a breach of copyright.” Therefore, for 2003, the series would be known as Days of Thunder in deference to the questionable Tom Cruise flick.
Another 31,000 people attended the season finale, and Pover was intent on trumping that in 2004 with a colossal music booking: American rap sensation 50 Cent. But as Randon says: “He cost an absolute fortune to coax over. And, because you needed parental guidance to see his events, families didn’t attend because the kids couldn’t come because of the strong language. It cost Rockingham a bloody fortune.
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