IRWINDALE, Ca — The history of the Toyota All-Star Showdown (TASS) at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale is interesting for fans and financially rewarding ($500,000) for racers. One only has to look at the impressive field of drivers assembled this year to see how the premier NASCAR short-track event has grown in prestige and attendance since the first TASS in 2003. That year the top 15 drivers in what is now known as the K & N Pro Series East and West were invited to compete in the 30 car field. The TASS is known as “the Daytona 500 of short-track racing” for a good reason. It features three and four-wide racing on the progressively banked 6, 9 and 12 degree half-mile. It is a showcase for upcoming ambitious, talented drivers seeking NASCAR racing careers. Drivers trying to impress national series car owners covet a victory in the TASS event to help open doors for them in one of NASCAR's three national series—Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.
NASCAR statistics show that 68 of 119 drivers who have started a TASS race also started a NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Truck race. The TASS is a non-point, stand alone event that occurs annually after the conclusion of point seasons for all drivers. Drivers from NASCAR touring series just below NASCAR's top three national series are able to pursue victory in the TASS race. The original TASS weekend was in October, but NASCAR switched it to the last weekend of January in 2009. The TASS is still considered the concluding race of the season, just as the NFL Super Bowl is the concluding NFL event of the season. It culminates the preceding racing season and whets the appetite for the upcoming season for fans and competitors alike. The event is officiated by NASCAR national short-track officials assigned by NASCAR headquarters.
Highlights from past TASS events include:
> The emotional 2003 victory by Californian Austin Cameron. He had missed most of the season while undergoing cancer treatment.
> The first TASS race in January had Sprint Cup rookie Joey Logano cross the finish line first in an orange Home Depot car after his final lap contact in turn four sent leader Peyton Sellers into the wall. causing NASCAR officials to place Logano 40th (last). Matt Kobyluck, a K & N East champion, became the first two-time TASS winner. He also won in 2006.
> Logano won the January 2010 TASS legally in a thrilling two-man, race-long position-swapping duel with 17-year old Sergio Pena to bookend his 2007 TASS victory and become the second two-time TASS champion. Pena, a Columbian now residing in Virginia, proved a talented, unknown young driver could still become an overnight sensation at the TASS during the oval-track racing-starved month of January.
> Other TASS winners were K & N East veteran Mike Johnson (2004) and Californian David Gilliland in 2005 after K & N East driver Mike Olsen was disqualified for using illegal right side wheels. Gilliland's TASS success earned a Nationwide ride and he won a Nationwide race in the No. 84 car. That caught Robert Yates eye and resulted in a Yates Ford Cup season-long ride for David. He has raced in Cup ever since and was part of the three-car Front Row Motorsports team in recent seasons with a national sponsor (Taco Bell) for his No. 37 Ford.
The 2011 TASS features top drivers from the K & N Pro Series East and West, (2010 champions Ryan Truex and Eric Holmes), plus international flavor with champions of NASCAR series in Canada (5-time 2010 winner D. J. Kennington and 3-time 2010 winner Andrew Ranger) and Mexico (German Quiroga) plus Mexican drivers Ruben Rovelo and Daniel Suarez. NASCAR's weekly racing series Whelen All-American Series National Champion, and RACECAR Euro Series champion Lucas Lasserre, from France, will compete. NASCAR national series drivers such as Ron Hornaday, Jr., Logano, Matt Crafton, Trevor Bayne, Brian Ickler, Justin Lofton, Auggie Vidovich, Ricky Carmichael, also have competed in past TASS races. X-Games/Rally America rally driver Travis Pestrana entered the 2011 TASS prior to making his Nationwide debut in 2011 for Michael Waltrip Racing. Greg Pursley, the 2004 TS@I champion and 26 feature winner, California State and NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Whelen All-American National Champion is entered again.
The importance and growth of the TASS event is shown by some of the 2011 entrants. Steven Wallace, a top ten Nationwide driver and son of 1989 Cup champion Rustty Wallace, is a first-time TASS entrant. “It's a race we always watch during the off-season and is one I've always thought would be a lot of fun to drive.” K & N East and West 2010 race winners have guaranteed starting positions. They are: (East) - Ryan Truex, Brett Moffitt, Darrell Wallace, Jr, Ty Dillon. (West) – Paulie Harraka, Holmes, Vidovich, Patrick Long and Pursley. Max Gresham and Ranger won in both series. Open-wheel racers Cole Whitt (P. 4 in East 2010 points) and Kevin Swindell (P. 7 in East 2010 final points) are possible entrants. The TASS has been televised live nationally each year by SPEED. NASCAR national series team owners watch the TASS as a source for talented upcoming drivers. TV coverage again has anchors Rick Allen and Phil Parsons in the booth with Dick Berggren and Jim Tretow the pit reporters. The current TASS format, a 225-lap race with breaks at the 100 and 200-lap marks, offers an exciting 25-lap sprint to the checkered flag for drivers who make it that far. That's when fans have become accustomed to seeing some daring passes and wild action in recent years by drivers vying for a prestigious TASS victory.
