The Ultimate Super Late Model Series will be heading to this area for a big weekend of racing action. The series that contests races in the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia will make stops at the Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. on Friday night then move on to the North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, GA for a Saturday night show.
Ultimate series director Kelley Carlton believes his tour is in the midst of a great season.
“It’s going really, really well,” Carlton said in a telephone interview. “We’ve had five different winners in six races and we’ve got a tight points battle going on. We don’t have just one driver dominating everything.”
This weekend, like so much of the Ultimate schedule, will feature variety for drivers and fans of the series. Carlton takes pride in the tracks that are part of his series.
“I’m particular how I schedule for the series,” the director declared. “I get a lot of calls to add races but we want to race in places that are good for our drivers and good for the fans. Our primary focus is typically in the Carolinas but we certainly enjoy getting to branch out into Tennessee and Georgia, like we are this weekend.”
Carlton says that the big, open spaces of the Smoky Mountain Speedway provide a great challenge for the drivers and an opportunity for his series to work with great people. His friendship with SMS General Manager Casey Moses along with owners Roger Sellers, Stanley Best and Larry Garner has laid the groundwork for a good working relationship between the track and his series.
“That’s a fantastic facility,” Carlton pointed out. “I’ve been friends with Casey and Roger for a while now and they do a great job with promotion of the track. I like how they have it set up for each of the owners to play to their own strengths. It seems to work very well for them.
“I also like that the track runs special events only,” Carlton added of Smoky Mountain. “It gives them the opportunity to really get out and promote each race and draw some big crowds. And the track has a great history, having hosted NASCAR years ago.”
After Friday night’s event in east Tennessee, the series will move south for Saturday’s race in Georgia.
“That will be the first of two trips to North Georgia for us,” Carlton explained. “We like to go there a couple of times a year. That’s a really racy place. It’s smaller than Smoky Mountain, but it’s super fast. It’s one of my favorites and it’s been a great track for us.
“The track also draws from a different fan base,” Carlton went on to say. “And it draws from a little different driver base. Guys who race in Georgia but don’t travel too far will come to race there for the bigger events.”
The race at Smoky Mountain will pay $5,000 to the winner while the North Georgia affair will dole out $4,000 to the victor.
Kelley Carlton(center) and his Ultimate SLM Series officials will oversee this weekend’s events.
