Two longtime racing officials and friends from South Carolina have combined to launch the Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series, a Super Late Model circuit set to debut next season with schedule of about 20 races in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Aiken, S.C.'s Travis Scott leads an ownership group and has tapped Woodruff, S.C.'s Kelley Carlton of KELCAR Motorsports to serve as general manager of a tour boasting "responsible scheduling, sensible travel and purses from $5,000- to $10,000-to-win." A minimum point fund of $30,000 is planned with more details to be announced.

Scott and Carlton originally worked together on the Southern All Star Racing Series and continued for 14 seasons in KELCAR-officiated events. The fire chief at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Scott currently works in racing as director of race day operations for the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series and Carlton, the Newberry County EMS paramedic supervisor, recently stepped down as director of the Ultimate Southeast Super Late Model Series.

Saying he believes the series will be an "excellent product" for racers and fans, the 32-year-old Scott said that "we feel we have a good understanding of what the needs are of our region. I believe we have a great team assembled and we are eager to build partnerships with our host tracks for highly efficient and entertaining shows."

The 53-year-old Carlton, who has worked as a racing official more than 30 years, looks forward to continuing his longtime connections with Scott.

“As I start to look at winding down my career this was really a great opportunity to be able to work with Travis who has really been like a son to me since he was 15," Carlton said. "He and I think a lot alike and have the same goals for our racing events. I am looking forward to building this program and being able to hand it off to Travis down the road.”

The series plans to release a tentative schedule in December at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Indianapolis, Ind. The series plans for many events to stream live on HunttheFront.TV.