A few thoughts from thirty thousand feet between Phoenix and St. Louis…..
Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were injured during the Missouri State Fair race on Sunday night in Sedalia in two separate incidents. First, 15-year-old driver Jordan Creason suffered serious injuries when his sprint car veered to the right, hit the guardrail and rolled. One report stated that the force of the impact moved the engine back significantly in the car. Creason was airlifted to an area hospital with head and neck injuries and hopefully he will achieve a full recovery. Within a half hour of that accident, the helicopter was needed again when a Street Stock type race car veered to the left on the front straightaway, jumped the inside guardrail and went through a chain link fence striking five people who were watching the races from the infield. Two were treated and released, two others suffered moderate injuries and one 57-year-old gentleman was seriously injured and was airlifted from the facility. The car was part of the “Battle of the Badges” promotional event where old police cars were made into race cars for the night and were driven by area police officers. Following these two tragic incidents, the remainder of the night was cancelled and refunds will be made to those that request them.
I went to this event last year and I would have likely been there again on Sunday night had I not been on my travel adventure. The Fair race always draws a large field of cars in three premier classes and a huge crowd packs the big amphitheater grandstand. It sounds like this year was even bigger than last as 49 Modifieds, 36 ASCS Warrior Region Sprint Cars and 25 MLRA Late Models were on hand in front of a near capacity crowd. Given the events of Sunday though, this annual event may not happen in 2013 and frankly it shouldn’t until improvements are made to the racing portion of the facility. Barry Johnson and I were in Sedalia a year or two ago for the season opener as they attempted to bring weekly racing back to Sedalia and during the feature Al Purkey had something break on his Late Model causing it to veer left off the front stretch just beyond the judges stand. His car jumped the hub rail as well and had it not hit a big light pole it too would have careened into the infield pit area where spectators and crews would have suddenly been at great risk. When I was at the fair race last August that was the first thing that I noticed as I climbed the steps of the grandstand, that the inside guardrail was still too low given the current configuration of the racing surface. There is no doubt now that this will change before the event returns to the 2013 State Fair schedule. I hope.
It seems like a lot of people have the opinion that weekly racing is dying out in our area, but is it really? Where I live in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, within a 90-mile drive I can go to a weekly race four nights a week. On a Friday night I have five tracks to choose from, and on Saturday I can pick from four. That means that eleven different race tracks are battling for the dollars that I budget for attending races each week. On the road trip that I just took to help Morgan move to California we were checking our Speedway Directory to see what tracks would have been on our route and it confirmed what I have known all along. We are spoiled here in Iowa and the areas near our borders. Many fans in states not that far away have to drive 90-miles or more just to get to the track that is closest to them and it is likely that they have only one race night to choose from, usually Saturday. Yes, we have some weekly shows that are struggling and a few that have been doing so for a couple of years now, somehow though we manage to maintain just about the same total of number of tracks in operation each year. Will that change in 2013? That remains to be seen, but until I am down to five or fewer choices each week I refuse to accept the premise that our sport is dying and instead I believe that it is need of some modification, perhaps involving some attrition, if it is to once again thrive. However, those tracks that have appeared to "struggle" the past couple years must not be doing as bad as some think as I know from direct experience that you don't keep running someplace if it is costing you money every week. Oh yes, and I can guarantee you that nobody who spends their Sunday nights in Vinton is going to tell you that weekly racing is dying!
We enjoyed our visit to the Salina Speedway in Kansas last week and we were impressed with the facilities of the Dodge City Raceway Park. We would love to catch a show there sometime, but it is a looooong way from home!
If you ever get out to southern California and can find the time to go to a race, the Perris Auto Speedway is a “must see” venue.
The gentleman in the seat in front of me is reading the USA Today and a headline reads “Obama Spending Exceeds Fundraising”. Huh.....
Brandon Savage has taken on the promotional duties at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the remainder of the season where their special events include the Steve Kirchner Memorial Modified Smackdown on Saturday September 15th and “Shiverfest” on October 13th. The Sprint Invaders Season Championship that was originally scheduled for Lee County on September 29th has been moved to 34 Raceway in Burlington. We’ll get that updated as soon as possible on the Specials Calendar at Positively Racing where you can go to put together your own end-of-season itinerary.
The Peterson Memorial is scheduled for Saturday September 8th at the Eldon Raceway.
We were fortunate enough to be able to attend all eight nights of racing at the Knoxville Raceway during the 360 Nationals and the annual Knoxville Nationals. It sounds funny to say it given that Shane Stewart won his third straight 360 crown and Donny Schatz took his sixth Nationals in the past seven years, but the increased parity of the near 100 car fields that each event draws makes the racing more intense, unpredictable and entertaining each year. The calendar is already circled for next August!
Season championships are on the docket for the next two weekends for most tracks before we head into the end-of-year Specials season. Here’s hoping for good racing weather in September and October that will allow all tracks to hit a home run with their special(s) and carry that momentum into the offseason. I am going to try to make as many as I can before the snow flies and I hope that you share that same goal. We’ll see you on the Back Stretch!
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