Monday, July 8, 2013

A Few Things To Discuss Today.....


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!

No comments: