B&M series changes hands, new owners promise TV coverage.

by Dale Wilson
11/24/03

Two loyal followers of the B&M Racer Appreciation Series now own it.

The bracket racing series, now in its eighth year, was sold in October for an undisclosed sum to Tommy Castanedo and A.J. Ashe, two long-time friends from Gulfport, Mississippi, who bought the series from racing promoter and heir to the B&M Racing and Performance Company, John Spar, who had run the program since summer 2003. Castanedo and Ashe, as well as their fathers, Milton and Alvin, have been long-time bracket racers and have followed the B&M series almost since its inception by racing promoter George Howard of Birmingham, Alabama in 1995.

The pair promise to take the series to its next level, and that level will include televised coverage of all seven B&M races in 2004 on ESPN2's Speed Vision, part of it being coverage of drag racing with the program, "Inside Drag Racing." The coverage will be presented through Masters Entertainment, and highlights of each race will be aired Sundays at 11:30 a.m.

B&M's Spar, who will now devote more time to building and running the company that his father, Bob, helped start in California in the 1950s, said the B&M Racer Appreciation Series is in good hands. "Both Tommy and A.J. are active bracket racers who wanted to get more involved in the B&M series. It will still be the B&M series. We've already had a commitment from (B&M's) Brian Appelgate about backing the series and making sure it will grow. Once he met with both of them in October, he said they're perfect."

Castanedo has his own web site, www.bracketnews.com, while Ashe owns an auto repair shop with his father in Gulfport. Castanedo races a dragster, while Ashe has a Tim McAmis built split-window Corvette. Both racers said they will not compete in any B&M series races next year, but instead will focus their attention on running the series.

Through the television coverage, Spar said all involved will try to show the world, through coverage of each race, "just how awesome bracket racing is. This is something I've been dreaming about for years," he said. Included in each TV episode will be tech and how-to stories, behind-the-scenes happenings and full race results, including winner and runner-up acknowledgments.

The first B&M series race will begin in January 2004 at Montgomery (Alabama) Motorsports Park, just a day after a banquet to honor the 2003 racers, their families and sponsors. Dates will be announced. There will be a total of seven B&M races in 2004.

Although there will be new B&M owners plus TV coverage of the races, the basic format will be the same: guaranteed purses, low entry fees, and those beautiful B&M "Shifter" trophies that were given out to the winners and runners-up in 2003. "The racers will know where they stand each time they enter one of the B&M Racer Appreciation Series facilities," Castanedo said.