A Work in Progress

Growing pains for ORSCA in 2005

2/8/05

To say 2004 was a learning experience for Johnny Fenn and the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) is to seriously understate the obvious. In its inaugural season, the Atlanta-based organization had to contend with everything from canceled events, angry racer protests, and tracks not living up to commitments to help pay the season-ending points fund. Still, practically everyone involved considered ORSCA’s first go round a resounding success. The challenge now is to maintain the momentum.

“I won’t kid you, we’re going through some serious growing pains,” ORSCA president Fenn admits, “and it’s going to take the effort of everyone involved—racers, officials, tracks—to keep this thing going. One big misstep by any of them could easily knock all of us down.”

He’s right, and fortunately for southeastern outlaw racers who previously knew no notoriety outside a tiny cadre of hard-core fans, Fenn is acting proactively to take ORSCA to the proverbial “next level.”

An eight-race All-Star points series is planned for this year, with ORSCA scheduled to visit at least five tracks including big-league facilities at Atlanta Dragway and Memphis Motorsports Park. A new racing division will be added to the ORSCA line-up, too, with Pro Mod Automatic joining Outlaw 10.5, Limited Street, EZ Street, and 6.0 and 7.0 index classes over the eighth-mile. I suspect at least a few 10.5 racers aren’t going to be too happy about being eclipsed by the Pro Mod types as the fastest on the grounds, but Fenn insists, “The 10.5 guys are the show and will be promoted as such.”

Perhaps the biggest and best news for dedicated heads-up racers, though, is the sponsorship roll ORSCA is enjoying heading into the season. Fenn has signed restoration and speed parts distributor Year One to present the Outlaw 10.5 class, nitrous supplier NX Express as the new class sponsor for Limited Street, TCI Automotive is backing EZ Street, and Holcomb Motorsports is the new 6.0 class sponsor. Additionally, Radio Head Communications has been named ORSCA’s official communications sponsor and Roger McCombs RV SuperCenter has been named the series’ official transportation sponsor. Fenn reports it all adds up to about a $60,000 total purse at each points race in 2005, an impressive amount for a series in just its second year of operations.

The early January announcement of TV coverage of the 2005 points series by Masters Entertainment Group also created a bit of a buzz amongst outlaw racing enthusiasts, but an ESPN/ESPN2 schedule is yet to be released. Inevitably, this rapid growth will attract more attention from fans, racers, and media alike; however, it does come with a price—increased scrutiny. Representatives from all three groups will be far less forgiving in the future than the original outlaw core that just seemed happy to finally have a championship to chase.

The most important issue ORSCA must tackle is simply getting its events to run more smoothly and efficiently. Last year, Fenn, with able help from his son Jason and ORSCA vice president Quick Vandiver, put on a good show most times, but it was often clear they needed more officials on hand. Tech inspections were sometimes criticized for being cursory or even non-existent at some events, and there were periodic controversies after some racers were afforded extra time trials outside the designated qualifying sessions. Both of these practices must be brought under control for ORSCA to maintain credibility.

ORSCA also must assume control of the venue in order to provide racers and fans with a predictable, safe event environment. When NHRA or IHRA (or NSCA or PRO or any number of touring sanctioning bodies, for that matter), arrive at a track they run the race essentially the same way each time. Everyone knows which class precedes the next; everyone knows the water box/burnout procedure; everyone knows the top-end routine because the same method is applied regardless of the name on the front gate. That simply wasn’t always the case with ORSCA last season and it invited unnecessary confusion and controversy. It would help immensely, for instance, if ORSCA traveled with its own official starter to each race, a move I understand that Fenn has wisely adopted for this year.