Toledo Speedway

The ASA STARS National Tour returns to action on Saturday, September 16 at Toledo Speedway for the 35th running of the Glass City 200 Presented by DTS Drive Train Specialists and Courtyard by Marriot. Fans attending the event will get to see two of the top Super Late Model drivers in the country competing head-to-head.

Ty Majeski and Bubba Pollard will be taking part in their respective first Glass City 200 appearances when the series arrives at the half-mile on Saturday.  While both drivers have competed at Toledo Speedway in the past, it has been several years for the both of them.

Majeski will be making his first start at Toledo since 2015 for an ASA/CRA Super Series race.  He finished 11th in that race one lap down, one of his first races with long-time Crew Chief Toby Nuttleman.

“The racetrack is fast, it doesn’t have a ton of grip but with the tire we’re on there’s a lot not a lot of falloff.  You’re just fighting for grip from what I remember,” said Majeski.  “It’s pretty smooth but incredibly fast, it reminds me of a flatter and smoother Pensacola.  We weren’t very good, it was in the beginning of Toby (Nuttleman) and I’s tenure together.  I feel like our racecars are a lot better now than they were then and I feel like I’ve come a long way since then as well.  We feel pretty decent about it, our flat track package is pretty good with some of the tracks we have in Wisconsin.  We didn’t get a chance to test or anything so we’ll see what we’ve got.”

It's been even longer since Pollard’s been at Toledo, with his last start coming with the ARCA Menards Series in 2015.  It was over ten years ago when he was last at Toledo in a Super Late Model, finishing fifth in an ASA/CRA Super Series/ASA Midwest Tour combination event in April 2013.  He took advantage of a test session at Toledo on September 8 to get ready for the 200-lap event.

“It had been since 2013 since we’ve gotten to race there, just wanted to make some laps.  We have five or six races here and we really wanted to take advantage of those races.  With the way the schedules worked out we had some opportunity to test,” said Pollard.  We were very happy when we left, we had to work out a few things but all in all, it was a good day.”

Pollard’s career accolades rival any other driver’s in short track racing.  He’s won the Oxford 250, All American 400, Rattler 250, Slinger Nationals, and many other marquee races across the United States and into Canada.  He recently won the Battle at Berlin 250 at Berlin Raceway last month.

Since 2004, he was won 156 races and has finished in the top-ten in an astonishing 70% of his 564 recorded starts.  The Georgia driver has one ASA STARS National Tour win on the season, coming at North Wilkesboro Speedway back in May.

With it having been ten years since his last Super Late Model appearance at Toledo, Pollard felt the need to get track time before Saturday’s race.

“We go to so many racetracks and that’s why we felt like we needed to go up there.  With the way the schedule works out on Saturday, we don’t get very much track time.  We’re taking these new Senneker Performance racecars to new places for the first time and we felt like we needed some track time.  The racetrack’s very fast, it’s got a lot of grip.  I feel like it’s going to be a good race, a lot of fun.  I watched some videos of the last race up there and take in as much information and data as I can to apply it to this weekend.”

After having traditionally been a 200-lap Outlaw Super Late Model race – and more recently a Twin-100 format with Outlaw and Template-bodied Super Late Models – the 2023 Glass City 200 is the first as a 200-lap Template-bodied Super Late Model race.  Pollard does have a start in a Outlaw Super Late Model, coming in 2016 at the Kalamazoo Klash at Kalamazoo Speedway.

He says there are stark differences between the two disciplines.

“The body has so much grip built into it with the downforce and things like that.  It gives you a lot different feel than what we’re accustomed to.  The way you adjust a racecar can be quite a bit different as far as mechanical grip.  There’s not much we can take from the two but I always enjoy racing the Outlaw cars.  They’re cool racecars and I’m sure they would be super fast around Toledo.  You never know, hopefully one day we can get back in an Outlaw car.”

Meanwhile, Ty Majeski heads into Toledo with a 93-point lead in the ASA STARS National Tour standings.  He’s won three races with the series in 2023 – Madison, Milwaukee, and WIR – and has yet to finish outside the top-ten.  Additionally, he also won the Slinger Nationals and the ASA Midwest Tour Jim Sauter Classic.

The Wisconsin driver’s accolades include a record five ASA Midwest Tour championships, a 2020 Snowball Derby win, five Rattler 250 wins, three Florida Governor’s Cup wins, and victories in every major race in the state of Wisconsin.  In total, he has won 126 races since 2011, not including weekly wins in his home state.

The 2023 ASA STARS National Tour season has seen Majeski take on three new tracks, with a fourth new facility coming up next month at Winchester Speedway.

“On the Super Late Model side it’s been a fantastic season.  We’re five-for-five in Wisconsin races, we’ve only raced the big ones,” stated Majeski.  “We’ve run solid at racetracks we’ve never been to this year with North Wilkesboro, Hickory and Anderson.  We’ve done a good job at adapting to places we’ve never been to pretty quickly.  

“I feel like last year we didn’t get to race as much because I was working full-time at the shop here at ThorSport.  I’ve been able to be back more with the Late Model program and racing more and I feel like our cars have gotten better as a team all across the board.  On the Late Model side it’s been a great season, we’ve won a lot of races this year and they’ve all been big ones too.  We’re excited to go into Toledo and see how we stack up.”

Majeski is also in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs, where he has a win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park this season.  The second round of the playoffs starts tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway, a race where he earned his first-career win with the series last season.  

Come the weekend of November 3-5, Majeski could very well be chasing after both a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and an ASA STARS National Tour championship.

“I hope that’s the case, we have a little bit of work to do on the Truck side.  We want to make it to the final four again, and we start the final round this weekend at Bristol.  That would be a dream come true to not only compete for both championships, but it would be unbelievable to somehow some way capture both of them.  That would be a pretty special weekend on both fronts.  I don’t know if anything like that’s ever been done, or at least not in a decent while.  I’m thankful to have the opportunity to race Late Models and Trucks and have each be capable of winning every time we hit the racetrack.  It’s been a dream of mine come true for the last couple years with ThorSport and my Late Model program.  It would be really cool to make the most of it.”

The respect the two drivers share for each other has been mutual ever since they competed against each other for the first time at the 2014 Snowball Derby.  The two have had exciting battles on the track over the years, the latest coming in March when Pollard outdueled Majeski in the final laps at the Rattler 250 and in May when Majeski got the best of Pollard in a 1-2 finish at the Joe Shear Classic.

“Bubba’s a guy where even; which is rare, if he struggles in practice and you think he’s not going to be a factor, he’s almost always ends up being a factor,” Majeski said of Pollard.  “You always have to keep an eye on Bubba, he’s super smart, knows what he wants in his racecars and knows how to get them to where they need to be even if he unloads off.  No matter if you think he’s off that day, he’ll be there at the end of the race.  He’s really sneaky good, right?  Sometimes people write him off but you can’t, I’ve learned that the hard way.  He’s a great racer, old-school guy.  It’s cool to race guys like him.”

““I have a lot of respect for the guy, he’s done a great job over the last several years.  He’s very talented behind the wheel of a racecar.  It’s a lot of fun getting to race with him,” said Pollard of his Midwest counterpart.  “We’re in two separate areas of the country and we don’t get to race together too much, but when we do we’re both up towards the front.  We struggle at places that’s up into the Wisconsin area.  The tracks are just so unique and that’s one of the reasons that they are good.  The experience he and Toby (Nuttleman) have on those racetracks are a lot different than what we are accustomed to down here.  We’ll have a good race this weekend, hopefully we can be up towards the front with those guys because you know they’ll definitely be up there.”

The ASA STARS National Tour heads to Toledo Speedway on Saturday, September 16 for the Glass City 200 Presented by DTS Drive Train Specialists and Courtyard by Marriott. Tickets are on sale now at toledospeedway.com/glasscity200tickets.

The Glass City 200 will be co-sanctioned with the ASA/CRA Super Series, the fifth race of the CRA season. Gio Ruggiero leads the ASA/CRA Super Series points standings over Cassten Everidge.

The ASA STARS National Tour opened the ten race, six-state schedule at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL on March 11. Ty Majeski is the most recent winner, claiming the victory in the Gandrud Auto Group 250 on Tuesday, August 1.

For the full ASA STARS National Tour schedule, plus Super Late Model rules and other information, please visit the series website at starsnationaltour.com, or be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: STARS National Series | Twitter: @racewithstars | IG: @starsnational).

About the Glass City 200
The 35th Running of the Glass City 200 Presented by DTS Drive Train Specialists and Courtyard by Marriott roars to life under the ASA STARS National Tour banner in Toledo on Saturday, September 16th.  Built in 1960, Toledo Speedway first hosted its signature event in 1968, providing some of the most memorable moments in Ohio pavement short track racing history.  Local and national stars alike have raced in this historic event at Toledo Speedway, with a deep wins list that includes Joy Fair, Bob Senneker, Joe Ruttman, Danny Byrd, John Anderson, Brian Campbell, Junior Hanley, Harold Fair, Augie Grill, Johnny Van Doorn, J.R. and Tyler Roahrig, Tyler Ankrum, Carson Hocevar and many others. Click here for a full list of Glass City 200 winners.  New in 2023, the return to the 200-lap main event will prove to be a new endurance test for many of the top drivers in the country.  You can get your tickets now for this race by clicking the link.

ASA STARS National Tour
The ASA STARS National Tour debuted in March of 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced last October, many of the best drivers in America will compete in the ten-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.

The ASA STARS National Tour is made up of three races from each of the regional pavement Super Late Model Series under the Track Enterprises banner; the ASA CRA Super Series, the ASA Midwest Tour and the ASA Southern Super Series.

The Team Construction Winner’s Circle program has been announced as a part of the ASA STARS National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program provides additional financial incentives to those teams who support the Series, thanks to Team Construction.

Track Enterprises, a Racing Promotions Company based in Illinois, will operate the ASA STARS National Tour. It announced the acquisition of the CRA sanctioning body in January and followed that up with the purchase of the Midwest Tour in July. In October, Track Enterprises President, Bob Sargent announced a partnership with the Southern Super Series which set the table for the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour.