Believe it or not the 2014 outdoor racing season got
underway this past weekend with the annual running of the Ice Bowl at the
Talladega Short Track with the checkered flag waving just before the Polar
Vortex blasted Alabama. I love the Ice Bowl having attended four or five times
in the past. I love the uniqueness of the off-season event and especially the
folks that put it on as it was a great way for this “Yankee” to go see a lot of
names that I usually only read about. And back then, about fifteen or twenty
years ago, drivers from up this way would even make the trip down when IMCA
Modifieds and Stock Cars were also on the card.
It has been ten years now since the last time I went to the
Ice Bowl and after the watching the “highlights” online the past several years
I hate to say it, but I am not very motivated to go back. Yes, it still draws
more than 200 cars for the weekend including more than 150 across the three
different Late Model divisions, Super, Limited and Crate. And yes, I believe
that most of the same great people are involved in presenting the show, but in
order for me to make the long trip once again I have to feel like I am going to
see some actual “racing” and the format, at least in the Super Late Models, is
just not conducive to that.
The field was split into four groups for qualifying and the
drivers were then lined up straight up by time for the four heat races. Then
the feature was lined up based upon where the drivers finished their heat
races. So Eric Cooley set quick time in group one and then ran away with his
heat race and William Thomas, the fastest qualifier in group two, won the
second heat race and started on the outside of the front row in the feature.
Cooley raced to the lead in the 50-lap main event with Thomas chasing until lap
44 when Tim Roszell drove Cooley into the wall protecting the infield on the
front stretch rather than being lapped.
Officials allowed Cooley to repair his damaged nose piece as
much as possible and then rightfully put him back at the point for the restart
where he first pulled away from Thomas. But as the laps wound down Thomas
closed the gap and on the final circuit Cooley pushed high exiting turn four
and Thomas zipped by to steal the win. Some may walk away from this and say
that it was a great race, but take away the last turn pass and it would have
been another Super Late Model chase around a one-grooved dirt track. Yes, this
may sound a little harsh to the Ice Bowl, but I am using this as only the
latest example of how this type of format is going to continue to erode the fan
base, especially when it is broadcast out over the internet for all to see.
A lot of fans want to blame this scenario on track
conditions. Not me. Even on a perfectly prepared dirt track when you have
qualifying nearly all of the drivers will use the same line around the race
track. Then, when you start the fastest guys up front for the heat races, once
again you have the majority of the drivers all running the same line. So what
happens? You end up with a one-groove racetrack for the feature. What happens
when you draw, or heaven forbid actually do some inverted starts for the heat
races? Some of the faster guys have to use other lines around the track to make
their way to the front resulting in a wider, more usable surface leading to
two, three or maybe more grooves come feature time. Sounds simple doesn’t it?
So why doesn’t every event qualify and invert, or just draw for starting
positions? Because “the drivers don’t want to”, or at least that’s what a
promoter or series organizer will tell you.
But let’s be smart about this, it is the fast drivers, the
outspoken ones who feel this way. I have to believe that if given the
opportunity to vote in a completely anonymous manner the majority would be for
some kind of race procedure that includes some sort of handicapping of the
lineups whether by actual (inversion) or random (by draw). In April of 2013 two
tracks in our area hosted back-to-back nights of Open Late Model racing with
one using a draw and passing points format and the other using the group
qualifying method. I was told that one “star” driver actually called the
promoters of each event to ask in advance of the qualifying format and that he
told the track that was using the passing points system that he would not attend
because of it. They used it anyway and the winning driver came from the twelfth
starting position and at least three drivers advanced as many as ten positions
during the main event that was run on a track that was wide and racy…..perhaps
due to the fact that drivers had to use more than one line during the heat
race?
The next night, the same driver that had won the night
before, was the fastest qualifier in group one, started the first heat from the
pole and won it to start on the pole of the main event that he then led
flag-to-flag. The driver who started second finished second, the third starter
finished third, the hard charger of the night came from ninth to fourth while
the fifth-place driver finished where he had started. Was the track poorly
prepared? No, and in fact the crew had done an amazing job of getting the place
in shape to race after heavy rains earlier in the week. It’s just that
preliminary competition, and how the track is used during it, plays such a big
role in how the track will be come feature time and this format does not help
that process at all.
So what can be done to make the racers (at least the
outspoken fast guys) happy and produce a track surface that is going to allow
for some two and three wide action at feature time? I would suggest using a
modified version of the point system that is used at the Knoxville Late Model
Nationals. Something that would reward drivers well for qualifying, but would
still make them do some racing during the heat in order to widen out the race
track and……oh yes, to give the fans a show! Go ahead and split the field into
groups so that you don’t have the factor of a track slowing down in qualifying
from the first car out until the last car out. Within each group the fastest
qualifier earns 50 points, second earns 48, third 46, etc. Invert six in each
heat race with the winner earning 20 points, 19 for second, 18 for third, etc.
Then line up the top point earners from all groups straight up by points for
the main event. This way your fastest qualifiers are still virtually guaranteed
of making the A-Main unless they drop out of the heat, but now they have to
race a bit to make sure that they start ahead of the fast qualifiers from the
other groups in the main event. And, by only inverting six, it should take away
the arrogant argument that drivers who can’t control their cars and cause
problems are going to start in front of them, even though some of the “fast”
guys who would make that argument are often involved in skirmishes of their own
doing.
The benefit? Some actual passing during the heat races that
will likely lead to a better racetrack and more passing during the feature!
This way when your event is seen live, or even the next day on the computer
screen of anybody who feels like pulling it up they might think “yah, I want to
go to that show next year and fill one of those empty seats.” Seats that were
not empty ten years ago.
So why harp on this again today? Perhaps to make this a
personal plea to Jeff & Amy Laue at 34 Raceway and the folks behind the Slocum
50. The MARS/ALMS/CBC race at 34 drew 43 Late Models for $4,000-to-win using a
passing point format last year and the racing was spectacular. This year it
will be run as the Slocum 50 on April 19th paying $10,555-to-win and
you can bet that there will be some “name” drivers checking in to see what the
qualifying format will be and lobbying for the “I’m fast, start me up front”
method. Don’t let them sway you with
threats of not appearing if you do not give in. The purse is solid and the
event is being held in honor of a driver who loved competition. Brent was a
Racer, not a Chaser……
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