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ISOC amped upEarlier this year
AmSnow broke the news of the collapse of WPSA and its national snocross circuit. Fortunately, ISOC stepped in and saved snocross. Without making ISOC out as a superhero, it plans a cool new format, more exciting races and tracks, a tighter program at each race and a more "average-racer-friendly" series.
A brief history of ISOC is in order. The original ISOC was started in 1992 by cross-country racer John Daniels and brought together several independent cross-country races under one sanctioning body. Daniels created an organization that had the racers best interest at heart and dubbed ISOC "The Racer's Circuit." Within 2 years ISOC had the biggest payouts in sled-history at the time. Daniels had an eye for involving clubs and communities in racing too. ISOC was sold in the late '90s and Daniels went to work on his trucking business. ISOC fizzled without his input and with the onset of snocross. But Daniels' dream of bringing sled racing to major markets was still alive.
This year, numerous people who raced or were race directors in ISOC in the 1990s approached Daniels about resurrecting ISOC as the new snocross circuit and voilà, ISOC is back.
We talked to ISOC's media man, Pat Bourgeouis, about the series. "There were lots of good things that WPSA did in promoting sled-racing to a larger audience, especially ESPN and X-games, but there's plenty to improve on. ISOC will have eight national stops, and for the first time has a title sponsor, Amsoil, that has signed a multi-year contract," Bourgeouis said. "We won't be changing the 3-day formats much for the races at Duluth, Canterbury and Valcourt, but the finals at all other events will be a Saturday evening show under the lights that will last 3 hours or less."
"This will make for a tighter, more exciting show for fans to watch and it will ease financial issues for the racers and make it easier on their travel schedules." So, the four Pro finals (stock, open, women's and vet) and two Semi-Pro finals will all be run Saturday night along with the accompanying LCQs. That means no more waiting around all weekend and wondering if you will ever see a Pro-race. Friday will be just a practice day, and Sunday will be the younger "support races." Bourgeouis also mentioned that race entry fees will hopefully be lower and racers will get more track time. Payouts will happen even at regional races.
"Sled-head 24/7" will be airing 10 race-specific TV spots covering the national tour as well. Finally, Slednecks and Monster Energy haved teamed up with ISOC to bring fans the "Monster Energy Slednecks Invasion Tour." The Saturday freestyle exhibition will take place at each national ISOC event and include big name riders such as Chris Burandt, Paul Thacker and others.
More info:
www.isocracing.com