In my little four race tour last weekend I saw over 300 different race cars in competition, not too bad for the final weekend of September. Do you remember when that used to be all but the end of the racing season here in the upper Midwest? Not any more as promoters have figured out that the October weather is actually more predictable and cooperative than it is in April and we essentially have a full schedule of events not only throughout this month, but even into the first week of November now with the Turkey Trot being added at the CJ Raceway in Columbus Junction, Iowa. Another event that was added to the schedule this week is the two night Topless weekend promoted by the Darkside at the Farley Speedway on October 20th & 21st. If you are not seeing it now, the Webmistress will have it updated soon.
Verne Schumann was one of the first to try the October shows with his three race series on Sunday afternoons and then we jumped in with what was first known at The Millennium Grand Finale in 1999 and is now Shiverfest that is set once again this year for October 28th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. When I promoted the show with Terry and Jenni Hoenig for several years we always felt that one of its keys to success was the fact that it was the final show in the region, but that is no longer the case with events at Webster City, La Salle and Nevada among others on the same weekend. Hopefully the weather holds out and there are enough drivers who have not yet put their cars away for the season to make them all successful.
The proliferation of Pay Per View of short track events is a sore subject with me as regular visitors to the Back Stretch already know, but they are also leading to an irritating trend that I see in regard to announcers. Let me give you examples of "Announcer A" who is announcing to the fans in the stands and "Announcer B" who is more focused on the Pay Per View crowd watching online.
Qualifying - Announcer A does his best to say the driver's name and hometown at a point when it is as quiet as possible, and then tries to give the lap times at a time when a fan in the stands has the best chance to hear it. He uses any down time to summarize the qualifying order thus far. Announcer B can be heard online at all times so he does not consider when the driver's names or qualifying times can be heard by the fans in the stands and therefore many drivers are unknown at the end of qualifying to those fans.
Lineups - Announcer A does his best to give the race lineup, including car number, driver's name and hometown, prior to the cars coming on to the track and, if he doesn't get the lineup completed before they do hit the track, he waits until the cars are on the back stretch so that he can be heard. Announcer B waits until the cars are on the track so that the cameras are on them as he hustles through the lineup before the green flag waves.
During The Race - Announcer A says little if anything during green flag action because nobody in the stands can hear him anyway. During a caution though he let's the fans know how many laps are down and how many to go, he talks about sponsors and previews events that are coming up. Announcer B gives a dynamic "call" of the action throughout the green flag racing so when a caution waves he takes that time to relax a bit and not say much. Perhaps he talks about people who have indicated on Twitter that they are watching the broadcast or he promos the next broadcast of OnlineRacing.TV
End of Race - Announcer A waits until the noise dies down and then gives the names of the drivers finishing in the top four or five before asking for a round of applause for the winner. Announcer B reads off the finish as the drivers take the checkers, when nobody in the stands can hear him, and does not ask for any fan interaction for the winner unless of course he is the feature winner who is then being interviewed in victory lane.
Yes, Announcer A would suck for an online viewer, but at the end of the night if a fan in the stands wanted to know who every driver was and where they were from, they would go away satisfied with that information. I experienced an Announcer B this past weekend, one of the best in the business, but it sure seemed like he forgot about those of us in the stands who went home that night not knowing who several drivers were even though they had been on the track at least three times.
Promoters, if you have an Announcer B doing your online broadcast make sure that you also hire an Announcer A to take care of the fans who have committed to making the trip to your track and plunking down their hard earned cash to see your show in person. And Announcers if you are doing both the grandstand and the online feed, make sure that you combine the traits of both "A" and "B" so that everybody comes away happy. Thankfully the announcers that I hear around here on a regular basis lean more to the "A" side of things even if they are being piped into an online broadcast..
With the still busy schedule over the next five weekends the All Iowa Points continue to add up and there are divisions where the champion is not yet set in stone. Matt Ryan enjoys a sixteen-point lead over Justin Kay and Todd Cooney in the Late Models, that would be the equivalent of a "four possession advantage" in a football game so Ryan appears to be headed to his first-ever AIP title. Kelly Shryock has all but clinched his first Modified championship unless Clint Luellen goes on a nine race winning streak. It could be done, but he would have to do a lot of traveling and win them all. After being the runner-up to Tony Olson last year, Tyler Soppe has clinched the 2017 Limited Modified title as Austen Becerra tries to ride a current hot streak past Olson for second. Through October 1st Nathan Wood holds a 26-point lead over four-time defending champion Damon Murty in the Stock Cars with at least ten nights of racing still to be run. Only one point separates four-time champion Shannon Anderson from Chanse Hollatz, so the Hobby Stock race is definitely undecided unless both have put away their cars for the season. If so then Brandon Nielsen is still within striking distance if he hits the road a bit. In the Four Cylinders Nate Coopman's lead is now down to fifteen (through October 1st), or just three feature wins, over Barry Taft who still has as many as eight opportunities to race within an hour from his home in Argyle. In fact both Brandon Lambert and defending champion Kimberly Abbott are still capable of catching the two-time All Iowa Points Champion Coopman as well whom I would love to see travel down into this area for just one weekend to see how he would fare against the deep Sport Compact field.
The Sprint Car classes are all close, but their opportunities to race are slim to none the remainder of the season as Kerry Madsen (410's) and Jarrod Schneiderman (305's) are poised to win their first AIP championships and Clint Garner looks to add his third 360 title.
I have other commitments this weekend and the weather looks like it may be a challenge, but get out to a race if you can! I will look forward to getting out to the Back Stretch again soon!
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