Tuesday Notebook: April 21, 2015

"Shocking" is the description that I have seen used the most in regard to yesterday's announcement by Billy Moyer Jr. that he will take an indefinite leave from the sport of Dirt Late Model racing to focus on his personal life. To me it wasn't that big of a surprise and there have been numerous 27-year-olds, or that approximate age range, who have stepped away from racing over the years for the same reason. But when you share the same name of a Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer who is still out on the road and winning big races then it gets a lot more media coverage than it probably should.

Either way I wish the young Moyer nothing but the best and I am sure that he knows that if he should ever want to go racing again in the future that Late Model fans would be happy to welcome him back. "First Birky, then Brady and now Billy" is another common line that people are using as they want to question the future of Dirt Late Model racing. Sorry, I'm not buying into that.

One of the things that I like to do from time to time is to review the statistics on the number of hits that each of my blog posts get to see what types of races or other info draws the most readership. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to cover several big events each year such as the Knoxville Nationals, the Slocum 50, the Harris Clash and others, but more often than not it is the story on just a good ol' night of weekly racing action that gets the most hits and that is the case with my story on last Wednesday night's action at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. In just six days it has risen to number four on the most viewed post list since the Back Stretch went online back in 2008. It still trails Ryan Gustin's USMTS win at Tipton in 2013, the Combined All Iowa Late Model Points: 1967 through 1990, and Shannon Anderson's climb to the top of the All Iowa Points Hobby Stock List from 2000 through 2014 though. Of course linking all four will just allow them to pull further ahead from the rest of the pack.

CFL Lineman and IMCA Driver Brendon LaBatte - Barry Johnson photo

One of the reasons that I attribute to the readership of the Osky story is the grass root interest that there is in IMCA weekly racing and that is backed up by this story where IMCA is setting a new record this year with the number of sanctions that they have accumulated. The thing that I love about IMCA is that you can go to a special event like I did in Beatrice, or with the Frostbusters, and see drivers pull in from literally all over the place because they know that their car will meet the rules at that event. That's why a guy who plays in the Canadian Football League can pull his Stock Car all the way down from Saskatchewan and not have to worry about the track rules. You wouldn't see him pulling to a track where the "Factory Stocks" are actually running Late Model tires or where the "Street Stocks" more resemble the old Pro Stocks from years gone by.

A few years back I took a client of mine to the Wayne County Speedway in Ohio because she wanted to experience her first ever dirt track race after hearing me talk about them for several years. While she was a trooper even I wanted to leave early as it was one of the dustiest nights that I have ever experienced at a dirt track and I told her that sometimes the weather conditions (sunny, hot, windy) just make it impossible to keep the dust from flying and that we would have to try it again some other time. Good thing I didn't try to take her again this past weekend as you can see from this video where Parker Price-Miller scored the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car win. The young driver from Kokomo, Indiana, scored his first career 410 winged Sprint Car victory the week before at Fremont, Ohio, and now sits third in the current All Stars point standings.

Love or hate him, it was great to have Scott Bloomquist at 34 Raceway on Saturday night and even though he had to use a provisional to start the race and then retired early after an accident it was so cool to seem him carry a Brent Slocum High Five Forever decal on his car. The photo below has been circulating on Facebook this week, so given my renewed appreciation of the Dirt Late Model legend I had to include it here.

Rain played havoc with a lot of venues on Saturday night with some getting rained out before a car ever saw the race track while others were able to get partial shows in before the rain. It no longer amazes me, but it still troubles me to see the absolute crap that is spewed on social media by people who feel that they were somehow "wronged" by the track, the weatherman or somebody who made their evening turn out worse than what they deserved. Gone are the days where you have to call a track phone and hope that you don't just keep getting a busy signal because the weather is threatening and the poor girl in the office would rather have the phone off the hook than to tell somebody that the races are still on (because technically at that point they still are) even though it has just started raining. If you can bitch on social media, you obviously have access to a computer, so check the radar yourself, make your own decision and then take responsibility for your decision. Anybody who went to Knoxville, West Liberty, Independence, Deer Creek, etc., etc. could have done this just the same as those of us who went to 34 Raceway in Burlington did. And for those of you who wonder why a track just didn't cancel early based upon the forecast of a 70% chance of rain even before a drop of rain actually fell, just look no further than that spectacular event at 34 Raceway that nobody would have been able to enjoy if the track would have pulled the plug based upon an unfavorable weather forecast.

We are seeing more and more events being cancelled early due to weather forecasts and I have no problem with doing that. It saves the drivers and fans from making the trip and will often keep a promoter from taking a significant loss if the weather keeps people away. However, if the track does go ahead and hold the event, and you go to it knowing that it could very well rain, and that things don't always go exactly to plan when a race is threatened by rain, then please don't show your narcissism by later complaining about your inconvenience on Facebook. Thank you :)

For the first time since mid-March I have a race week coming up where I don't have one or more specific events on my calendar that I absolutely know that I am going to attend. So I am going to sit back, see what Mrs, Broeg has planned, watch the weather and then perhaps decide at the last minute if and where I will go racing. And the same scenario exists next week as well. Make sure that you get out to the track of your choice and perhaps I will see you there!

		The "Back Stretch"
		Winged 410 Sprint Points	Through 4/18
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Donny Schatz	Minot ND	52
2	.	Paul McMahan	Nashville TN	46
3	.	Shane Stewart	Bixby OK	44
4	.	Joey Saldana	Brownsburg IN	34
5	.	Brad Sweet	Grass Valley CA	31
6	.	Kerry Madsen	Knoxville IA	28
7	.	Danny Lasoski	Dover MO	27
8	.	Daryn Pittman	Owasso OK	23
9	.	Greg Hodnett	Thomasville PA	22
10	.	Terry McCarl	Altoona IA	17
11	.	Brian Brown	Grain Valley MO	16
12	.	Rico Abreu	Rutherford CA	14
13	.	Jason Sides	Bartlett TN	13
14	.	Steve Kinser	Bloomington IN	12
15	.	David Gravel	Watertown CT	11
16	.	Stevie Smith	Broken Arrow OK	11
17	.	Dale Blaney	Fowler OH	10
18	.	Danny Dietrich	Gettysburg PA	10
19	.	Tim Kaeding	San Jose CA	10
20	.	Aaron Reutzel	Clute TX	8
21	.	Brian Monteith	Phoenixville PA	8
22	.	Craig Dollansky	Elk River MN	8
23	.	Lucas Wolfe	Mechanicsburg PA	8
24	.	Tanner Thorson	Minden NV	7
25	.	Jimmy Stinson	Vandalia OH	6
26	.	Kyle Hirst	Sacramento CA	6
27	.	Kyle Larson	Elk Grove CA	6
28	.	Parker Price-Miller	Kokomo IN	6
29	.	Ryan Smith	Kunkletown PA	6
30	.	Tommy Worley Jr.	Bismarck MO	6

		The "Back Stretch"
		Dirt Late Model Points	Through 4/18
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Shane Clanton	Locust Grove GA	50
2	.	Scott Bloomquist	Mooresburg TN	38
3	.	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	36
4	.	Jimmy Owens	Newport TN	35
5	.	Billy Moyer	Batesville AR	34
6	.	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville GA	33
7	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	33
8	.	Randy Weaver	Crossville TN	25
9	.	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood IL	22
10	.	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin IL	22
11	.	Earl Pearson Jr.	Jacksonville FL	22
12	.	Casey Roberts	Toccoa GA	21
13	.	Donald McIntosh	Dawsonville GA	18
14	.	Jared Landers	Batesville AR	18
15	.	Steve Casebolt	Richmond IN	17
16	.	Chris Simpson	Marion IA	16
17	.	Frank Heckenast Jr.	Orland Park IL	15
18	.	Don O'Neal	Martinsville IN	14
19	.	Riley Hickman	Ooletwah TN	13
20	.	Tim McCreadie	Watertown NY	13
21	.	Brandon Overton	Appling GA	12
22	.	Billy Ogle Jr.	Knoxville TN	11
23	.	Dale McDowell	Chickamauga GA	11
24	.	Mark Whitener	Middleburg FL	11
25	.	Chub Frank	Sugar Grove PA	10
26	.	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville IL	10
27	.	Devin Moran	Dresden OH	10
28	.	Eddie Carrier Jr.	Salt Rock WV	10
29	.	Morgan Bagley	Longview TX	10
30	.	Ray Cook	Brasstown NC	10