1987 Southwest Tour Central

Just prior to the season opening Miller 100 at Saugus Speedway, it appeared as though Mike Chase's hopes of winning the 1987 series title were already over. Mere hours before the event, Chase's crew informed him that his car was not finished and that it would not be able to race. With the kind of competition that was in the NASCAR Southwest Series, it was almost certain that missing this event would dash any hopes Chase had of winning the 1987 title. Chase was informed to make the trek from his Bakersfield home to the speedway anyway. It might be possible that he could find a substitute ride for the race. It proved to be the right decision. Chase was able to score a third place finish in the first race en route to what would be a championship winning season.

1987 Southwest Tour champion, Mike Chase

In the series 17 races, Chase would notch five victories; twice at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, once at Shasta Speedway in Anderson on July 25, once at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield on September 19 and once at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon on October 3rd. Chase's closest competitor came in Roman Calczynski who for the second straight season was series runner-up. At one point, Calczynski held a 150 point advantage, but mechanical woes cost him valulable points during the season. Calczynski won four races during the season, the highlight coming at the Sonoma road course where he won the 7-Up 100.

Defending champ, Ron Esau was unable to defend his crown in 1987, but the veteran still had a song year winning at Shasta Speedway in May and maintaining consistency throughout the season. Colorado's Rick Carelli won three times during the season but only edged New Mexico's Jon Paques by three points for the rookie of the year title. Troy Beebe was fifth in the standings thanks to good consistent finishes all year long, while Paques was sixth. Paques wrote his name in the record books by becoming the youngest driver to sit on the pole for a race at Riverside International Raceway in the season finale.

Loran Kelley finished seventh in the standings notching two top 5s and eight top 10s. Eureka, California's Randy Olson finished third in rookie of the year standings along with eighth in the series standings, and was a regular top finisher with 5 top 5s and 11 top 10s. Keith Van Houten scored 5 top 10s in a ninth place points effort, while Kevin Riniker won the June 20 Vons 200 at Riverside en route to 10th in the standings. Dennis Dyer won the second race of the season held at Cajon for what would be his only series win. The same was true for Darryl Gardner who won the August 22nd Coors Light 100 at Silver State Raceway in Carson City, Nevada. NASCAR Winston Cup star Ken Schrader scored the win in the last race of the season, the Motorcraft/Trak Auto 300 for what would be Ford's first win in the series.

Chevrolet was the manufacturers' champion for the second straight year winning 16 of the 17 events. Other awards included the Oberg Performance Award given to Van Houten for averaging 27 positions gained per race during the season, and the Fisher Race Proven Fast time award which went to Beebe.