There are a bunch of special events and Fair races going on tonight and while I cannot make it to any of them due to other commitments, I hope that you can and that Mother Nature treats each of them well.
Another week and another blogger trying to find one general reason for "what is wrong with racing". I admit it, I am just as guilty as I have done my fair share of the same thing as you will see if you work your way back through the Back Stretch archives. This particular missive goes for something that is plainly obvious, racing is expensive, using the old argument that the races of today pay essentially the same as they did decades ago. The difference with this one is that the writer is specifically talking about "big time" Late Model specials and so he does have some valid points. Those who want to use the "it pays the same now as it did in 1974 argument" for weekly racing are only looking at what the winner's share of the purse was. Due to better paybacks, including tow money, plus the proliferation of classes from one or two, to five, six or seven, today's "total" weekly purses are likely five times higher than they were in the "good old days" and I have written about that in more detail somewhere along the line. If I find it, I will link you back to it again.
Two things stuck out to me though as I read this article. One is that I feel that he is being a bit hard on promoters acting as though they are stuck in the past and not looking to bring new sponsors into the sport. "Sponsors are leaving NASCAR because it has become too expensive for them. Why isn’t someone from our sport going after them?" A couple of specific examples would have been nice, but my first thought was that if a sponsor that had been spending money in NASCAR and getting that type of exposure including live television and a nationwide audience would likely be a tough sell even for a national dirt late model series that draws what, four or five thousand people a race and really doesn't travel across the entire country. I think that dirt racing almost needs to look in the opposite direction taking that little business that is on the rise and showing them how our sport can help facilitate the process. Who will be the next Casey's General Stores? A sponsor that has continued to increase its support of our sport and one that we race fans in return, can also support their growth.
Call me repetitive, but the one line that I enjoyed the most though was this one. "I didn’t include heats because I can count on one hand the number of passes I’ve seen in heats in the last 4 years". I wonder why?
The author, 4m.net member ShawnStreet, concludes with "Creativity, or lack thereof, is killing our sport." Personally, I am waiting for a Dirt Late Model series to spring up that qualifies and then handicaps the starts to PROMOTE racing and even tie in the purse structure to how many cars a driver passed during the night. For example, win from the front row and you get $5,000, but win from the fifth row on back and you get $10,000. Perhaps I need to go find one of those sponsors leaving NASCAR and see how creative I can be?
The final stats on the 2014 UMP Summer Nationals. Of the twenty-eight races completed, twenty were won from the front row, seven from the second row and one from the third row. The 2014 Hell Tour champion Shannon Babb was the driver who made that stellar fifth to front run at the Farley Speedway after race-long leader, and front row starter, Billy Moyer blew a tire with nine laps remaining. I was there in person at three of the events and I watched the rest of them on video and I will say that some of those races where the winner started on the front row were still pretty darn good, especially the one at 34 Raceway where eventual winner Billy Moyer started on the pole, but slipped back to fourth on the opening lap. You do have to admit though that it is an interesting stat that 27 of 28 of the events were won by a driver who also won a heat race and, keep in mind, that the heat races were lined straight up by qualifying times. How do these stats compare to the other touring Late Model series? I don't know, but perhaps this Fall and Winter I will take the time to research as it will be need for my sponsorship proposal.
The argument from a week or two ago stating that negativity on the internet will eventually kill our sport at first got a lot of support on forums and through "shares" on Facebook before the tide slowly turned and several people started to say that it was essentially a bunch of bull****. If you clicked on the link that I just provided you will see that I too was a bit skeptical of how committed to this attitude the anonymous writer was going to be after revealing the attitude that he or she had toward promoters, race officials and the other drivers. I'll say it again, the internet is not the problem, it is only the facilitator for people who cannot take the time to consider the entire situation.
I have been amused though to watch just who is striking back at the theory that negativity on the internet is damaging the sport. You guessed it, the same people who have consistently used forums and Facebook to piss, moan and generally complain about some injustice that they feel had been done to them. Surprise, surprise.....
In my story from Knoxville on Saturday night I closed it out with something that one of the track's two new announcers said that was completely opposite of what has been done in the past. What I failed to do was to also provide some support to the two young men who are now handling the announcing duties at the famed Sprint Car facility, Kris Krug and Kyle Luetters. Being a new announcer at Knoxville is no easy task no matter how much experience you bring to the table and, when your partner is also "new" to the speedway, that just puts the spotlight on you even brighter. The last time this scenario played out at Knoxville was in 1998 when this ol' "taxi cab" announcer was paired up with Tony Bokhoven who had moved from pitside to the booth that year. We were no Jack Herwehe and Tim Trier, nor did we ever feel that we could be, and thank goodness there was no social media in those days where people could openly complain about our learning process. Kris and Kyle, keep up the good work and develop your own style, you are doing just fine! Just please don't ask people to stand up at the start of a race again. :)
How about that Truck Race at Eldora last night? Three and four-wide action, slidejobs, wall banging, on the track lead changes, what more could you want? As I was watching this though I had to wonder, how do the people who normally watch the trucks race feel about this? Are we just dirt track fans that are taking pride in the action that the surface can provide, or did the folks who like the standard pavement racing enjoy it as well? The drivers sure seem to love it which makes you wonder if NASCAR will next look into a similar event with perhaps the Nationwide Series?
And did you notice that it was Iowa's own Toby Kruse who handled the pre-race introductions trackside at Eldora? One of the best announcers you will find anywhere Toby does not take to the mic as often as he used to now that he is also a track owner and promoter.
Christopher Bell topped an impressive field of MOWA 410 Winged Sprint Cars as Illinois Sprint Speedweek kicked off in Highland last night. Bell is quickly becoming "the next Kyle Larson" and he just recently filed an entry to run for Rookie-of-the-Year honors at the 2014 FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores. A short track phenom who won the World of Outlaws show at the quarter-mile Jacksonville Speedway a month ago, it will be interesting to see how Bell adapts to the big half-mile at Knoxville.
Enjoy your racing weekend and hopefully it starts early tonight! Nothing for me this weekend, but I do believe that a Casey's pizza sounds good right now.....
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