Chad Little takes the wheel of stock car initiative

Chad Little left the driver’s seat in 2002, but he still is living life in NASCAR’s fast lane.

The former Spokane resident, WSU and Gonzaga Law School graduate has recently taken a position with the sanctioning body and is part of a team working to take stock car racing across international boundaries.

His duty is to help establish a NASCAR Elite Touring Division in Mexico.

NASCAR wants to organize grass roots racing in both Mexico and Canada, Little said in a phone interview this week from Daytona where he was finalizing plans and proposals to get late-model racing up to speed south of the border.

Mexico currently has two oval tracks and four road courses, Little said.

“The following is phenomenal,” he said. “They average 6,000 people a race,” which is saying a lot for a country that’s new to stock car racing. NASCAR will test the waters with a Busch Series points race on March 6 in Mexico City.

One of the many challenges Little faces as the Desafio Corona series director is to bring tracks up to what he calls a “fan-friendly level” and to streamline rules so that cars are legal to race in the United States.

“NASCAR’s goal is to develop a true North American Tour champion,” Little said. That would involve other current series such as the elite Northwest, Midwest, Southwest and Southeast divisions.

The plan is to have the series up and running in 2006 and would involve Canadian drivers who currently compete in the CASCAR series. CASCAR and NASCAR have formed a partnership in Canada, Little said. While Mexico is not expected to be fully on board until the 2006 or 2007 season, the Canadian portion of the plan is on a faster track. “CASCAR is 10 years ahead (of Mexico) on the rules,” Little said.

Little knows quite a bit about how such a racing series comes together. It was some 20 years ago when he drove in the American Speed Association (ASA) West series, then a new regional late-model touring organization. ASA West would be the model for NASCAR’s Northwest Tour, now the NW Series.

The experience in the tour allowed Little to stair-step his way to the top of the stock racing world.

Little grew up in racing watching his dad, Chuck, compete across the Northwest in the 1960s and ‘70s. As an 18 year-old in 1981, he won the local late model title.

After experiencing tremendous success in the Winston West Series – he was the top rookie in 1986, and a champion in 1987 – Little bucked the long odds in getting to what was then Winston Cup in 1989, driving nine races for Junie Donlavey.

Over the next 13 years Little would run in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series. He was second in Busch points in 1995 and won six races. In 1998, Little had his best points finish ending up 15th in Winston standings in his first year with Jack Roush Racing.

Unfortunately, it was downhill from there as Little finished 23rd and 32nd in points and Rousch ultimately replaced Little with Kurt Busch in 2002. He left Winston Cup competition having 217 starts, but no wins in stock car racing’s major league.

Having spent the better part of a third of his 41 years driving some sort of racing machine, Little said “Driving is a blast. I miss it a lot.”

Little still gets his competition fix and he doesn’t have to travel across the country to do so. Right outside the door of his Charlotte, N.C.-area home is a 1/20th-mile clay track, complete with-10 degree banking, where Little and 7-year-old son, Jessie, drive quarter-midget cars.

The first two years out of racing Little said “were tough to be at the track.” But now, he said if business wasn’t calling and he weren’t flying home today, Little would be front and center at Daytona watching the race.

Said Little: “I hope I’m home in time to catch a little of it on TV.”