There are a few things that I wanted to comment on as we
come out of the holiday weekend of racing…..
In my entry from Saturday night’s action at 34 Raceway I
stated that IMCA Sport Mod driver Bobby Anders had become one of the best in
the division. Shortly after making that post I learned that Anders had been
suspended and fined by Quincy Raceways for triggering Chris Larson’s nasty
barrel-rolling accident there on Tuesday night. I was at that event as well and
while watching the incident unfold from the opposite corner of the facility, a
grandstand seat near turn one, it looked like something broke on Anders car
that caused him to drive straight up the track and into Larson. It was, after
all, the first lap of the first heat
race of the night and it was contact with a driver that he does not often race
against as Larson has run a sporadic schedule so far in 2013. After reviewing
video of the incident QR officials determined that the move was intentional and
made the decision to suspend Anders for the remainder of the season. It is the
second time that the track has taken action against the driver from Quincy as
he was suspended for one month back in 2011 after a run in with Steve Carlin in
the Hobby Stock division. I stand by my statement from the 34 Raceway blog as
Anders has quickly become one of the top Sport Mod drivers in the area, the
race results support that, but if IMCA also takes action Anders may be completely
on the sideline for the remainder of the year.
I predicted that there would be a story in Monday’s paper
with NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers complaining about restrictor-plate racing and I
chuckled as I opened up my Burlington Hawk Eye and found that I was right. I
have written about this in more detail before (hint: my way of encouraging you
to go back and read older entries of the Back Stretch) so I won’t rehash it all
again, but isn’t it amazing how they can race in tight formation just fine for
95% of the distance and then all of a sudden “the rules” cause all of this
havoc? And then somehow it becomes the fault of NASCAR and bloodthirsty fans.
Hmmmm, maybe you boys (and girl) should go back and watch how the Nationwide drivers
were able to actually finish their race Friday night without wadding up a bunch
of equipment. How did they pull off this amazing feat? Well, for one thing
nobody made any stupid banzai moves trying to get from tenth to ninth entering
the tri-oval and as one of those so-called "bloodthirsty" fans I was pretty impressed and pleased that there was not a
bunch of wreckage strewn across the infield just beyond the finish line. Sprint
Cup drivers need only to get in a room together and look at each other to find
what and who is to blame for what happens in the final laps at Daytona and
Talladega.
Perhaps the expectations for Farley’s After Market Nationals
were set too high as getting 56 Modifieds in for a two-night show smack dab in
the middle of the season while many other events are going on is pretty darn
impressive. All reports tell me that the racing was very entertaining to watch
as well so why is it that some people, especially those who were not able to
attend, are acting like the show was anything but a success? The fact that the
Sport Mod division drew only 27 cars for $5,000-to-win is getting the most
discussion and that may simply be explained by statistics. The next time
that you are at an IMCA track look at the cars in the Sport Mod division and
see what the proportion is that have “Crate” written on them compared to “Claim”. My
unofficial observations have that at about 3:1 so the number of drivers/cars
that could have participated in the Farley show is likely much lower than what some people have
assumed. I have also seen some internet forum posts basically saying that any
Sport Mod drivers who complain about payouts and did not show up for this event
should just shut up going forward. Really? If a Sport Mod driver is complaining
about the purse at his or her track I would think that the promoter would just
say “you drive a Sport Mod, here are the classes that you can race in for more
money.”
A popular argument is that drivers are racing for the same
money today that they were forty years ago and that is true if you only look at
what it pays to win. Pull out an old Hawkeye Racing News and you will see ads
for Late Model events that say “$700-to-win”, but then continue on and see that
it also proudly boasts a “$2,500 total purse”. Do the math and you will find that
this is an average of $95 for the other nineteen starters in a 20-car field.
Most tracks now pay the Late Models at least $100 just to start the feature. If
drivers in any division, Late Models, Sport Mods, etc., want to race for more
money than what is offered now then two things have to happen. One, the number
of fans attending has to increase and two the number of divisions need to be
reduced. That one class that is only drawing seven or eight cars, you do
realize that the feature winner is getting a check that is probably two or
three times what the starters in the premier class are getting? Second-place is
getting a nice check, third is doing better than most, etc., etc. My opinion
is, and always has been, if your track has five or more classes and averages 12
cars or less per class then you have one, two or maybe even three too many
classes. Race fans don't want to watch a second set of organized hot laps, otherwise called a "heat race", and then a 15 or 20 lap "feature" race with so few cars in it. Make some cuts at the end of this season, put up with four or five
people per discontinued division complaining about it for a few weeks, and then
welcome them back with open arms in 2014 when they make their way into one of the remaining
classes.
Enough stepping on toes for today, I am looking forward to
getting back into action this Tuesday night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series
returns to the West Liberty Raceway on Tuesday night then, after missing the
last couple of weeks, I look forward to returning to the Southern Iowa Speedway
on Wednesday night. Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
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