Once again, the 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. will open the racing season by hosting the 5th Annual ‘Hangover’ on New Year’s Day. But there will be a change this time around as the event will feature Super Late Model competition promoted by Chris Tilley’s CT Promotions and officiated by a Southern Nationals Bonus Series crew.
Track owners Mitch and Tanya McCarter along with speedway manager Rick Brooks made the decision to convert the event from a Limited Late Model show, as it had been throughout its previous four years, to a Super Late Model event paying $4,000-to-win.
411 Motor Speedway owners Mitch and Tanya McCarter
“When we started this five years ago, our plan was to come along with the Super Late Model class and we just felt like this year was the year to do it,” Mitch McCarter explained. “With the addition of Rick Brooks, who has been successfully involved in this racing industry for over twenty years, I felt a lot more comfortable doing this. He and I had talked about making this move back in the summer and we decided to go with the Super Late Models.”
McCarter felt as if the ground was laid last season for the move to Super Late Models for the 2015 version of the ‘Hangover’ to be successful. Last July, 411 hosted a very successful Southern Nationals race that played out in front of a huge and energized crowd.
“With us getting the Ray Cook race last July along with our acquaintance with Chris Tilley and our relationship with Ray, it just seemed normal to get those two guys involved in this deal,” McCarter added regarding the decision to associate with CT Promotions. “It’s not a Southern Nationals Bonus race, but we’re going by those rules. The rules and tech inspections will be done by Chris Tilley and his gang.”
By employing the January 1st date, 411 is typically the only track racing so early in the season, which allows them to kick off the dirt racing season for this area and the country as a whole. That not only provides the track added exposure, but it also fits nicely with one of the McCarter family businesses.
“I’ve made a living in the adult beverage business and the Hangover is on January 1st, that’s what we call that day,” the proprietor of Gatlinburg’s Parkway Liquor Store said. “It’s been good for us so far. We’d like for it to be the track’s marquee event ten years from now.”
McCarter believes the addition of occasional Super Late Model events will add in a positive way to the track’s weekly racing schedule and will offer fans more of what they want.
“During the past six years that I’ve had the racetrack and been involved in racing with my boys, I’ve paid a lot of attention and talked to a lot of people when we go to races. People like to see Super Late Models and they like to see special events. I don’t think we’re the kind of track that could run them weekly, and I don’t know that anybody in our area could.”
Aside from Super Late Models, there will be competition in the Sportsman, Street Stock and Mini Stock classes on New Year’s Day. The drivers meeting is slated for 1:00pm with racing action to follow soon afterwards.
