Good Gawd these people never quit do they ?

What the hell is going on with these idiots anyways ?

Chris



Here is the article as it appeared on RacingWest News.



DAYTONA Beach, Florida - Racing Speed Associates, LLC today filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Louis R. Varney, Jr. and ASA Late Model Series, LLC seeking to invalidate and cancel the ASA Late Model Series trademark registration.

The lawsuit alleges Varney illegally acquired the trademark registration by claiming ownership; in fact Varney has only been granted a license from its owner to use the trademark.

Dennis Huth, Managing Member of Racing Speed Associates said, “This lawsuit was necessitated when Mr. Varney started a campaign of misinformation about Racing Speed Associates rights of ownership to the ASA Racing name and ASA family of trademarks by threatening track operators with lawsuits if they did business with us. It’s unfortunate but we were forced to take action in order to protect our name and business reputation.”

Racing Speed Associates acquired all of the rights to the ASA family of trademarks, including American Speed Association, ASA Racing and ASA Late Model Series earlier this year from American Speed Association, LLC who most people in the racing world know was the successor to the ASA Racing founder Rex Robbins.

“We twice warned Mr. Varney that he was overstepping his bounds with his campaign against our client,” stated William L. Niro, attorney for Racing Speed Associates. “We tried to avoid litigation but Mr. Varney, by ignoring our requests to stop his activities, left us no choice. You cannot permit a licensee of a trademark to claim ownership in the mark and then seek to use it against the legitimate business activities of the rightful owner of that mark.”

ASA Racing is a leading auto racing sanctioning body that is comprised of 27 short tracks around the United States under the ASA Member Track program, as well as a variety of regional and national touring series. For more information, call (386) 258-2221 or send an e-mail to info@asa-racing.com. For news and information from all the racetracks and tours involved in the ASA, visit www.ASA-Racing.com.

This is the response from Ron Varney, President of the ASA Late Model Series about this ridiculous lawsuit....


To: All ASA Late Model Teams and Members....
Subject: Response to ASA Lawsuit.
Date: Tuesday December 4, 2007

It is unfortunate that Mr. Huth decided to air his dirty laundry in public, which has made me respond in kind to his actions. We, the ASA Late Model Series, feel Mr. Huth’s Lawsuit is frivolous and without merit.

We fully expect to win in court and also counter sue Mr. Huth for damages caused by his reckless and slanderous allegations.

While this news maybe upsetting to some let me assure everyone that Mr. Huth and his associates cannot take our name (ASA Late Model Series) nor our business (ASA Late Model Series LLC) away from us.

We in fact, are pursuing facts related to Mr. Huth’s claims of ownership to all things ASA including the American Speed Association.

We plan to present evidence that will show Steve Dale never fulfilled his contract to purchase the American Speed Association from Rex Robbins and that several judgments have been placed against Steve Dale relating to such.

The ASA Late Model Series LLC was formed by Steve Dale and Ron Varney as a separate business and was not nor was ever a part of the American Speed Association.

So once again Mr. Huth’s claims of ownership of the trademark are without merit. Mr. Huth may have a bigger problem on his hands trying to defend his purchase of a company from Steve Dale that Mr. Dale never paid for.

If you should have any further questions or comments please feel to contact me personally.

Sincerely,

Ron Varney
President
ASA Late Model Series
Presented by GM Performance Parts

How very sad. A frivolous lawsuit that will make a few lawyers rich.

Thanks for posting that Wood.

Seems these people just wont go away.

Chris

Unfortunately you are right Chris! It's people like this that give the auto racing industry a bad name!

It's a sad thing to see. I was pissed when Ron sold to ASA but was happy when he regained ownership of ASALMS. This seems to be a very big mess right now. I remember saying something to the effect of Steve Dale was going to ruin ASA as we know it.......hmmmm, I wish I had an open bet on that back then!

I wish Ron all the luck in the world and I hope it goes his way.

I agree whole heartedly and wish Ron the best of luck.
Dave

I agree that most of these lawsuits hurt our sport, and more so when it involves individual Families, as it did the Hunyady's. Greed motivates the uncaring, and unknowing. Most of us would never consider such a selfish act.

But in this case Chris, I think this is just what the Varney Family and the ASALM Series needed. They have had to keep their mouths shut, and sit there and watch an illegal use of THEIR brand name, with their hands tied behind their back. Ron KNOWS he did everything he was legally supposed to do to maintain the name, and integrity of what we all know as ASA. All the while, Dale, Huth, and their group ILLEGALLY rode the coattails of Ron's success, and the tradition of the ASA Series, to try and further their own racing endeavors. Dale sold something to Huth that he didn't LEAGALLY own. Huth used this name that he never LEGALLY owned. Now all this can become public, and Ron can now proceed with this and the truth can come out, and maybe, just maybe, the ASA moniker can be used properly, and not prostituted out the way those two men have tried to do.

Lawsuits suck, no doubt about it. But hopefully, in this case, it can finally bring a means to an end!!!!!

I don't have the moxy for all of the legal aspects of this dispute, so I wil restrain myself on that. One thind that does get my attention that I have seen used often is the phrase "rode the coattails of Ron's success, and the tradition of the ASA Series" or words to that meaning. As regards the tradition part, I wonder if he ASA Midwest Tour (I will wash my mouth out with soap for saying that) may be more true to the tradition of the ASA than anything else in that the local shoe can run his SLM with the tour cars that come to his track, as I understand it. I have always liked that concept.

That concept is applied all over the country using the ASA Late Model Series concept.

Hawkeye Downs Speedway, I-70 Speedway, Madison International Speedway, Auto City Speedway, the Super Pro Series, the Mid-Atlantic Asphalt Racing Alliance, and several more I can't think of at the moment, with more tracks all over the country pattern their rules after the ASA Late Model Series and don't have to make any changes to run with us!

I sure would like to know who the financial backers of the Huth group?

Huth use to work for NASCAR, with the elite tour series.

Hope it all works out , If ASALM wins great they can keep the logo and go on with the series as is. BUT if loose then what ? Who is going to win no matter what ( The Attorney for Both Sides ) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ How long can this dragout ?

Motodad

I will apologize up front on this comment. I am sorry for saying this, but the one person I REALLY feel bad for is Rex Robbins. He was the man behind ASA and made late models a huge success as a traveling series. He labored for so many years, lost a ton of cash along the way, then made some, but his entire life was dedicated to the name ASA. He gave birth to it, he raised it as his own child and he made it one of the best short track series in the history of racing. He suffered, had many sleepless nights building the ASA brand, launched many Cup drivers careers and was a true ambassador of this sport.

Then one individual comes along and destroys his legacy. And he did it in one years time.

I really feel bad for Rex. I worked with him and Brian, had a lot of meetings with them, talked a lot on the phone and did some co op marketing with them and my heart goes out to Rex seeing this BS.

What a damn shame.

Chris

Wood, point taken. I guess my view is a bit narrow being here in south-central Michigan where the outlaw cars are so prevalent. I have seen some of the SuperPro cars at ASALM and vice-versa, as you note.

I couldn't agree with you more my brother, no need to apologize for that statement.

Let's pray this will get done quickly, and that Ron can try and restore some of the Rex Robbins magic that was the ASA Series.

Big Ed