NEWALTA relinquishes title sponsorship of Late Model Challenge Series

CALGARY, AB - Craig Ball, NEWALTA Late Model Challenge Series President, announced today that the Calgary-based industrial waste management and environmental services company, NEWALTA Corporation, will be relinquishing title sponsorship of the Series. Newalta became title sponsor in 2005.

"The Series would not be where it is today without the support of business partners like Newalta," said Ball.

"Newalta was with us at the local level, stepped it up when we had to go on tour and were rewarded for their efforts as the interest in the Series gained momentum in mid 2006 and exploded this year," he said.

The Series has seen unprecedented media and spectator interest and set records for car counts in seven of eight races at five of the venues that the tour visited this year. In July, the largest field of Super Late Model stock cars ever to grid in Western Canada staged the Mac's Border Challenge at Race City in Calgary.

The Calgary Herald newspaper called the growth "the most important development in regional stock car racing" in 15 years.

Ball continued, "The same thing (the title sponsor change) has been announced for all three of NASCAR's elite series this year. In Canada, CASCAR was rebranded and introduced a new entitlement sponsor."

"It is a period of exciting change and opportunity in oval racing in North America. We are extremely excited about our 2008 season."

While the 2008 schedule has yet to be announced, it is expected that the 2008 tour will open and close as it did in 2007 at  Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, SK.

The tentative schedule has the Series visiting all of the venues that were scheduled on the 2007 tour. Negotiations are under way with other regional paved oval tracks to replace the events lost by the closure of the Cranbrook, BC speedway.

On behalf of the drivers, teams, business partners and Super Late Model stock car racing fans, the Series office would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Newalta and all its employees for their support of Super Late Model racing in the West.

(h/t Rod Ormon / www.justturnleft.ca)