History of the American Sim Racing Series
The American Sim Racing Series was founded by Jim Foose in 2002. Foose, a competitor in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series was looking for a way to race with other drivers from across the globe. The American Sim Racing Series was born in NASCAR Racing 3, the 1999 release by Papyrus. After a short season in 2002, the ASRS moved to NASCAR Heat, a 2000 release by Hasbro Interactive that was highly modded by the sim racing community. For 2003 and the spring of 2004, NASCAR Heat was run with the “Late Model Mod” created by a group of short trackers from Michigan, Ohio, and Canada based on the real USPRO Series, that turned into the ASA Late Model Series in 2004.
2004
2004 brought a change for the American Sim Racing Series as a move to NASCAR Racing 2003 Season was made, and a Weekly Racing Series at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway was scheduled. The series thrived, and for 2005 ASRS scheduled the Craftsman Truck Series, Pro Cup Series and Late Model Challenge Series. ASRS was the first league to utilize the brand new Late Model Project mod in competition with the season opener at Nashville Speedway USA. By season’s end, the ASRS took over the longest running online event, the All American 400.
2006
2006 brought about more change, as the ASRS added a new style of racing to the online community with the addition of the “Pure Stock Series”, a full contact stock car division. As the series grew, so did the car counts. The competition became even tougher, and the quality of drivers has risen. In late July, the ASRS Outlaw Paintshop Limited Late Model Series was announced, and the first race run on August 15th, the series quickly grew to include nearly 30 weekly competitors each Tuesday night. In November, the Outlaw Paintshop Limited Late Model Series became known as the Outlaw Paintshop All American Series. A record 86 entries were filed for the 9th Annual All American 400 which was won by Tennessee native Josh Berry. In early December, riding the wave of success from the 2006 season, the 1st Annual Snowball Derby was run, with 73 entries being filed.
2007
2007 was a big year for the ASRS. ASRS added the ASRS East Series and ASRS Modified Series and continued to grow. The 10th Annual All American 400 saw the first 2-time winner, Josh Berry. Later in the year the 2nd Annual Snowball Derby became the first ASRS sanctioned event to award trophies. Josh Berry backed up his All American 400 win with a victory in the 2nd Annual Snowball Derby. During the season the RPM Late Model Series was cut back to a partial schedule featuring special events only. In December 2007, it was announced that the ASRS had obtained the rights to the United Shorttrack Alliance (USA Series) and would operate the USA Series in 2008.
2008
2008 saw a clean sweep of all championships by a pair of JF2 Racing teammates. Jim Foose won championships in the Craftsman Truck Series BozPC National Series, Modified Series and Outlaw Paintshop All American Series Overall championship, Spring and Fall seasons. EJ McDonell took home the Outlaw Paintshop All American Series Summer Championship. Mike Husby and Chuck Chamblee split the 11th Annual All American 400 wins and Jordan Hightower took home the Third Annual Snowball Derby.Foose also took home the USA Series Limited Late Model Series championship in June. The highlight of the 2008 season was the rising competition level and close points battles. It was announced late in 2008 that the National and Modified Series would be dropped and replaced with the new Late Model Sportsman Series.
2009
2009 saw the Foose era kick into high gear, with each championship going to Foose during the 2009 season. The Late Model Sportsman Series kicked off in early 2009 with great fanfare but faded as the summer months slowed growth. The series gave way midseason to trial runs of other divisions to run full time in 2010. The first Grassroots Racing Series was held with Hobby Stocks running at Lee USA Speedway. In early December the brand new TheCrewShirt.com Cup Series was announced to begin in February at Daytona International Speedway. Additionally the All American Series and Camping World Truck Series would return full time in 2010.
2010
2010 saw the addition of the Cup Series and new champions across the board. John Caddell, Greg Evans and Jim Foose won the four season Cup championships, while Jeff Lyden took home top honors in the year long championship. Jake Morris won the ASRS Camping World Truck Series Championship, while Jim Foose and Jordan Morris split the Outlaw Paintshop All American Series season championships, Foose took home top honors for the year long championship.
2011
2011 saw the 10th year of competition and the same three series kick off the year, but by June the decision was made to leave NASCAR Racing 2003 Season andmove to the iRacing Motorsports Simulation. Foose was crowned the Outlaw Paintshop All American Series Champion, and Cup Spring Season Champion in May. The Legend Car Series Championship was won by Dan Murray and the Speedway Action Images Street Stock Series Championship was won by Bill Brown. In November, the Short Track All Star Tour took to the track for the first time as part of 2011-2012 Winter Heat. Bill Brown swept both the Street Stock and All Star Tour 200 lap events at the 14th Annual All American 400.
2012
2012 saw even more new elements, as the Camping World Truck Series was back, joined by the Open Wheel Series on Tuesday nights. The All Star Tour is also back for two seasons in 2012 and the ASRS Pro Series joined the fold for two seasons. By season’s end the Grandview Farms Modified Series also joined the offering for the winter season. Jim Foose and Alan Elwood took the two Camping World Truck Championships, with Foose taking the overall championship. Greg Evans and Foose split the All Star Tour Championship, Foose again took the overall championship, as he did in the Pro Series, which saw Gary Whitson, Jr. and Kevin Pearson win the two championships. Foose also won the Street Stock Challenge Series championship. Dan Murray took top honors in the 15th Annual All American 400.
2013
2013 saw some stability in terms of the massive expansion, ASRS settles in to run the Camping World Truck Series, two 12 week Pro Series seasons in the spring and fall, a 12 week All Star Tour season in the summer, and the brand new Super Speedway Series, utilizing three different vehicles at the super speedway tracks. 2014 saw the Nationwide Series become full time and the first broadcasted ASRS race. 2015 brought the Cup Series back to action full time while all 25 Truck Series races were broadcasted. During the 2015 season Foose partnered with others to promote the Cup and Truck Series beginning in 2016.
2016
2016 saw a change early in the year as Foose retook full control of the league and began rebuilding the league after the partners left. ASRS focused on being the best they could be and by midseason most of the drivers who left for the greener pastures promised by the former partners will back in action at ASRS. The Super Late Models (a longstanding tradition for ASRS which was removed by previous partners) were brought back to life and featured a tiebreaker to determine the champion, the two drivers were original ASRS drivers from 2002 with Matt Vaade beating out Jim Foose with more wins.
2017
2017 saw rapid growth with a broadcast partnership for the full Truck Series and the addition of many great sponsors. The foundation was laid for 2018 when the Cup Series returned again after a two year hiatus and the “Back2Cup” campaign was created. The 2018 saw growth in competition and on track action along with broadcast viewership and the decision was made to continue broadcasting both the Cup and Truck Series in 2019 along with a new premium memebership package. Both were a success and will see action in 2020 as the Cup Series transitions to the sole Premier Series.