heathlawsonphotos.com

A new southwestern Missouri-based tour for Super Late Models on Monday announced plans for a 14-race season among six tracks in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas with $3,000-to-win feature events.

Former regional Late Model standout Jesse Stovall of Billings, Mo., who has long hinted at his desire to launch a tour, aims to give regional racers an avenue to compete in the open-competition Late Model division with the new United Late Model Racing Association.

“It’s been a dream of mine to build a series that is aimed for the racer and the racetracks and that’s what we are going to try to do,” said the 44-year-old Stovall (pictured), a former Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association and MARS Series champion who hasn't competed in the division since 2023.

“This series is 100 percent designed for the racer and the racetrack, to fill a void and give racers a chance to run open Late Models in our area of the country.”

The series is scheduled to open April 25 at Monett (Mo.) Speedway, which hosts a series-high five events, while two races apiece are scheduled at Legit Speedway Park in West Plains, Mo., Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kan., North Central Arkansas Speedway in Flippin, Ark., and Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Speedway and a single event at Salina (Okla.) Highbanks Speedway.

Stovall, among the winningest drivers in MLRA and MARS history, said the new ULRA circuit's rules closely hew to those for the now-shuttered MLRA tour with a focus on using hard-compound tires to cut costs. ULRA plans to employ combined hot laps-time trials followed by heat races, consolation races and main events.

The complete purse for the tour's 20-car starting field is $14,300 with $3,000 to the winner and $400 for drivers finishing 9th-20th.

Stovall, who leads track prep and serves in an advisory role at the Monett oval, or his former crew chief Tony Rogers will administrate events and handle technical inspection. Find more series details at ulraracing.com.

Stovall competed last year in the modified and super stock divisions but hasn't won a Super Late Model race since 2021. His racing career was curtailed by the aftereffects of a concussion suffered in a 2017 practice crash at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb.

Correction: Fixes series plans 20-car feature field, not 26-car starting field and amends purse to match.