Mid-December and we have several race tracks that are looking for promoters for next season. This is not good folks! Bloomfield, Eldon, Webster City, East Moline and possibly Tipton as well could end up sitting idle in 2010 unless somebody comes forward and says “yeah, I’d like to try that”.
Eldon held only two events in 2009 and so far it looks like a special or two might be the only offering on the Super Half-Mile again twenty ten, but what would only make things worse for drivers and fans in that area is if Bloomfield does not race. And, as it stands right now, that looks like what will be the situation. I must say though that I am very proud of how race committee member Steve Park and prospective promoter Chris Eggers handled the situation when they could not come to an agreement for next year. The news broke on the Bloomfield Speedway forum page at http://www.heartlandmotorsports.com/ and within a few hours an anonymous poster made the blanket statement “I'm sure one of the differences was that Chris wanted to do everything in his power to make the track better and the Fairboard/Race Committee didn't want to make that effort.” Park then did a nice job of explaining the situation that the Davis County Fairgrounds are used for much more than just auto racing and Eggers followed that up in a classy manner confirming the situation and stating that there were no hard feelings. The reality is that the Fairboard must protect those events that generate good money for them at less risk and the racing, if any, must work around those events. Makes sense to me, but it is just too bad that this great little racetrack will not likely run weekly in 2010 and with Eldon less than thirty miles to the northeast also quiet, it will be a huge void for racing in the southern section of Iowa.
It is good news that the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, will be back up and running again weekly in 2010 under the direction of first-time promoter Wayne Messamaker, however as I expected his efforts are already being compromised a bit by a tug of war over what type of rules to go with, USRA or IMCA, “Outlaw” Hobby or 9-to-1 Hobby. The guy is in a no win situation because this track sits right smack dab in the middle of an area where in one direction drivers have been running USRA and in another direction they have been running IMCA and the same goes with the Hobby Stocks. He must choose one or the other in each case and once the choice is made the other side must step away and say “good luck”, otherwise you will be scratching off another racing possibility in this area real quick. And to me, this scenario is exactly what has become wrong with our level of racing over the past several years. It wasn’t that long ago where a guy racing a Modified could pretty much pull it anywhere and race, and be competitive, in the Modified division whether it was IMCA sanctioned or not. The same could be said for most of the other divisions as well, but in the last ten years we have taken our standard classes of Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks and have turned them into Open Late Models, Spec Motor/IMCA Late Models, Crate Late Models, UMP/USRA Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, B-Modifieds, SportMods, USRA Stock Cars, IMCA Stock Cars, “Outlaw” Hobby Stocks and 9:1 Hobby Stocks. Yes, there is some opportunity that a driver in one of these new “divisions” can race “up” a class (a Crate Late Model can go run an open Late Model show), though not as competitively as they would like, but for many drivers the opportunity to run another show (such as taking your UMP Modified to an IMCA show) is not an option. This sucks! And I feel that it is having more of a negative effect on the sport than many are willing to admit.
I thought that Al Uhrhammer was signed on for another year as the promoter at the Hamilton County Speedway, but that does not appear to be the case and the track is now in need of an interested party. The fact that the town’s largest employer is closing down its operation soon is not the type of news that will spur a great deal of interest from a prospective promoter. Many thought that Toby Kruse would be the heir apparent at Webster City when Uhrhammer stepped aside, but unless Toby is just still in the negotiation process with the fairboard, that might not be the case. Pair this with the uncertain future at the Quad City Raceway in East Moline and the folks in Vinton have to be scratching their heads in regard to their Late Model division. The IMCA Late Models have been solid the past several years, but if two of their weekly tracks either don’t open, or do not run Late Models in 2010 it will be a major blow to the division. There is a lot of speculation right now that the Simmons Promotions tracks (Farley, West Liberty and Dubuque) would be interested in sanctioning IMCA Late Models next year, but I have not seen or heard anything that would tell me that this is anything more than speculation. Look for Keith and the crew at SPI to make an announcement one way or the other very soon.
Al & Kathy Dlouhy have been promoting the quarter-mile oval in Tipton the past few years and I assumed that would continue into 2010. So it was a bit of a surprise when Kathy responded to a post this past week on the Iowa Dirt Racing forum at www.iowastockcars.com that it was not a certainty that they would be coming back to promote the track in 2010. It didn’t take long for supporters to get a new thread going encouraging the two to return.
I hate seeing a once vibrant racetrack go dormant so hopefully all of these tracks will be back in action and enjoying success in 2010.
Closing out with a a quip or two on college football, I’m pretty sure that my third favourite team will continue to be whoever is playing Notre Dame next year despite the firing of over-hyped-super-cocky coach Charlie Weis. I kind of like Brian Kelly and he has proven that he can build a program quickly, most recently at Cincinnati, but until the golden domers stop getting their own television contract and special commitments from the BCS (if you want an automatic bid join, and win, a conference) I will continue to root against them. Next October will present a unique situation when the The University of Tulsa will be both my second and third favorite college football team on the same day as they play at Notre Dame.
If you enjoy college football and have a good sense of humor you need to check out all fourteen offerings at www.postgametailgate.com.
Just in case I don’t find something to write about in the next two weeks, have a very Merry Christmas!!!
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