User blog:Ajaxcupseries/The Art of Finding the ASCA’s Next Young Superstar

The Fallon Corner - February 2024

Many across the sporting landscape believe that ASCA team owners have it relatively easy when it comes to scoping out the next generation of young talent making their way through the ranks.

In many ways, the sport’s development system holds a lot of parallels to college football, with the star prospect ranking scale and the young talents having the ability to choose where they want to go in order to further their racing careers.

Things are much different in racing compared to the stick and ball sports, as there is no league wide draft to level the playing field for bottom tier or upstart organizations. There’s no tanking at play in this sport, as there’s nothing stopping the best prospects from going to the best teams that will give them the best chance to succeed.

Ronnie Woods, Randle Woods, Jimmy Hood, Todd Kidd, Cameron Atwood, and Brynn Rennerd, are just the names of a few multi time Cup winners to get their start at Ronnie Woods Motorsports, arguably the most recognizable team in the ASCA. Not to mention the drivers they currently have in the pipeline with former Craftsman champs Shane Park, Ross Jackson, and Colin Ward.

With all that talent, you’d think RWM would win the championship every year…..right? Or at least have found the most successful driver of the modern era?

The answer to both of those questions is….no. The organization has only won two titles in the past decade, with none coming since 2017.

One thing that many seem to overlook when it comes to teams signing developmental prospects is that a lot of the “can’t miss” talents don’t exactly pan out as advertised.

The obvious most recent example of this being Devin Smith, who was once upon a time at the start of the decade considered to be the “next Jimmy Hood” and the new “King of Short Tracks”, signing with the Ford Development Program and tearing up the Craftsman ranks in their historic No. 6 before making the jump to the Cup Series with Michael White Racing the following year.

While many were convinced at the time that Toyota had found their era parent with teammates Norm Lester and Randle Woods climbing up there in age, fast forward three years and Smith is now on a one year “prove it” deal with Tico Bowden Motorsports while his predecessor, Dan Rodgers, is still going strong racing as one of the best drivers in the Smithfield Cup Series.

Other notable hotshot young talents to flop at the Cup ranks throughout the years include Henry Brady, Adam Petty Jr., Rob Buddy, and more.

Then, what happens if that “can’t miss” prospect you sign isn’t exactly a bust, but also doesn’t become the superstar you thought they would be?

CJ Barrymore Racing had been stuck in this conundrum for YEARS.

Many thought they had assembled a dream lineup of former Craftsman champs Caleb Henderson Jr, Ryan Dixon, and Chris Barrymore that would take over the sport in the coming years and put the once proud organization back on the map.

However, what CBR thought would become the most dynamic young driver trio in the sport’s history only combined for 12 victories in the half decade they were together for. By comparison, Diego Orkedi alone scored 15 wins and two Ajax Cup titles during that same span.

The problem was, neither Henderson Jr., Dixon, or Barrymore were total busts as they could win races here and there and compete for championships when everything went right for them. But, they also never became the transcendent talents that many expected out of them when they entered the ASCA.

This left the team in purgatory for that half decade stretch, until Caleb Henderson Jr. regressed to a level the team could not overlook any longer which opened the door for CBR to bring in a truly elite level talent in Cameron Atwood. The rest, as they say, is history.

Its also worth noting that not every big name prospect chooses to kick off their careers at big name organizations - some get their starts at an upstart team that looks to be building a solid infrastructure to be competitive in the future (Greg Healey), while others have some notable off field baggage that many more well known teams don’t want to put up with (Laquon Scransen). And in the cases of Snoots Enterprises and Dexter Andrews Motorsports, the second Healey and Scransen got to the Cup Series they were already turning around their respective teams for the better.

However, even in cases like that for every Healey and Scransen there’s way more Adam Petty Jr’s and Sylvester Lyons’ that don’t exactly pan out and turn your organization into an even bigger laughingstock.

Even the current laughingstock of the ASCA in Tico Bowden Motorsports had a budding star behind the wheel for them in the aforementioned Cameron Atwood, a driver that Ronnie Woods Motorsports didn’t think would ever be good enough for a Cup seat so they let the future champ walk.

Atwood was never the highest ranked prospect and was normally left out of the “youth movement takeover” of the Cup Series that had been discussed for years, but he just used that as extra fuel to become a better driver and made the most out of a terrible situation at TBM.

This has led team owners to believe that maybe poaching young drivers who are unable to properly show their talents on underfunded teams is the way to go - but is it really?

Ronnie Woods Motorsports tried this by tabbing TBM’s Doug Bowden to replace their flagship driver Randle Woods when he left a few years back, and how’d that one work out?

A similar scenario with a much older name is when Norm Lester was poached once again from TBM by Michael White Racing, and outside of one breakout season plus a Windows 300, the veteran has finished outside the top 10 in points twice in his three seasons with the team.

Finding the ASCA’s next generational talent quite simply, is no easy task. There’s a reason why there’s only one Diego Orkedi, and one Randle Woods after all.

There’s a lot of guys that have looked the part, had the pedigree before the big leagues to back it up, and tore up the Craftsman ranks only to become a mediocre driver at the Cup level or even becoming a flat out bust.

Add in the competition at the top level of the sport only getting tougher and tougher as the series continues to grow in popularity and teams continue to discover more and more driver development tools such as simulators, youRacing, and others, and becoming a superstar now is MUCH harder than it was a decade ago.

At the end of the day, there’s always going to be risk with whoever you sign in hopes they will become an ASCA legend.

Whether its the 17 year old five star prospect, the 21 year old dirt track ace, or finding a hidden gem 25 year old who’s been underrated his entire career in underfunded equipment, there’s no guarantee ANY of them will succeed. The only thing that is a given, is that 99% of them probably won’t pan out.

All team owners can do is roll with what their scouts and their gut tells them is the right decision, surround that kid with the best possible team and crew chief to succeed, and pray for the best.