The Back Stretch Has Been Shut Down......In Print That Is

After thirty-one years, the "Back Stretch" will no longer appear in print in Hawkeye Racing News. Two weeks ago I received a letter along with my new HRN Press Card for 2010, an interesting letter in that it started out basically saying that promoters will be less likely to accept your Press Card due to more restrictive media policies. And then later it stated that "this publication will have first access to the material submitted to us and that we will not see it published in another publication, or posted on a website, prior to publication in our pages."

As a contributing columnist to HRN for thirty-one years my "compensation" has been the opportunity to use the Press Card to get into the races for free and, for the most part, it has worked nicely over the years. It is actually the promoters who are compensating the columnist by not asking for the fee that would otherwise be paid for a pit pass or a grandstand ticket and in return that columnist writes something that publicizes the track and its drivers. The publication then uses that column that has been contributed to the paper for content that it then hopes to sell advertising space around and that people will pay money for to subscribe to. It is a nice arrangement for the publication as the only real cost of having the contributing columnist is the postage to send out that Press Card once a year and the time that it takes for the editor to make a credentials request to a track promoter.

I knew who was really "paying" me for my efforts, so a few years ago when we were told that we needed to limit our columns to a length of 750 to 1,000 words I had a dilemma. There are some weeks where I only go to one race, so in that case I still felt that I was giving a track a fair write-up even with the restricted length of the column. But there were also weeks where I would be lucky enough to attend two, three, four or even five nights of racing and in those instances it was impossible to really say much in 200 or 250 words about each night. I was cheating the promoters out of the coverage that they deserved and that is one of the primary reasons that Barry and I came up with the concept of Positively Racing. To be able to write what we wanted to and how much we wanted to about each event, and of course to provide that coverage in a more timely manner.

I’m not bitter, I completely understand the stance being taken by HRN. If the editor of the paper takes the time to arrange press credentials for an upcoming event, and I gain access to that event as a representative of HRN then yes, the paper does deserve to have the first opportunity to publish my thoughts on that event. In 2009, the first year of this website by the way, I attended 59 nights of racing. Of those 59 nights I used my HRN Press Card nine times to gain access to the event. On those other fifty nights I was either admitted to the event due to my relationship with the promoter through my other past racing activities (announcing, the NKF Tour, the old radio show, promoting, etc.) or I bought a ticket just like the other race fans who were there. With work and family I can’t always predict where and when I will be going a week or two in advance, the amount of time needed for the editor to request credentials. So instead of guessing and putting people through the paces to make arrangements that I might not be able to keep I would instead just buy a ticket, but I would still "contribute" a column to HRN.

After receiving this letter and knowing how few times I actually used my HRN Press Card in 2009, I sent the following thoughts and questions to the editor of HRN via e-mail. "My question is this, if I either obtain credentials in the name of PositivelyRacing.com or just purchase a ticket, do you still want me to contribute a column that would in essence be a shortened/edited version of what will have already appeared on our website? I understand the concern about old news, but isn’t that the same case with every race story and set of results that you run? I still have several people who tell me that they read my column in Hawkeye Racing News, people who either have no access to the internet or who do not want to take the time to look around the web to find everything that is pulled together into one newspaper that arrives in their mailbox once a week. It is your decision. If you do not want my old news any more, I will be disappointed but I would completely understand."

His response never really did directly answer the question about whether or not they would want my column if I did not use HRN credentials, but the tone of the response pretty much told me how he felt. During the heart of the season, in just its first year, PositivelyRacing averaged just under 6,000 unique visitors a month. The last time I saw the annual disclosure from HRN, the number of subscribers was somewhat less than that. Some of you who read this here are also subscribers to Hawkeye Racing News and I encourage you to continue to subscribe to what I truly believe is the best regional racing publication out there. For you, yes, the printed version of the "Back Stretch" is old news. But I firmly believe that a majority of the HRN readers do not come to this site before that paper hits their mailbox and I am thinking that at least two or three of those readers will be disappointed that my column will no longer be in there. After thirty-one years, this is not how I wanted my relationship with Hawkeye Racing News to end. If somebody asks you "hey, whatever happened to Jeff Broeg? I don’t see his columns in the Hawkeye anymore." Could you do me a favor and let them know where they can now find me? Thanks!

The sun is shining this morning and it is a big weekend of racing coming up here in the tri-state region! I will make a run down to Donnellson early this afternoon for the annual Lee County Speedway car show and I will try to put a few pictures up here when I get back to town. Then tonight I am looking for a record car count as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models kicks off its 2010 season with the "Slocum 50" at 34 Raceway in West Burlington. For details and the schedule for tonight’s event you can click on the ad on the home page of http://www.positivelyracing.com/ or visit the track’s website by clicking on the 34 Raceway logo to the left of this page. The Deery series then moves down to the quarter-mile bullring in Quincy on Sunday night and once again the Late Model car count should be strong. For details click on the Quincy Raceways logo on the left. We hope to see you out and about this weekend!

The early standings in the All Iowa and the All Missouri points are up on the "Points" page at PositivelyRacing.com. Start following the progress of your favorite drivers now through the end of the season!

Be Positive, Support the Sport!