Okay, so first let's talk a little basketball. For all of you Iowa fans who are wondering what in the world is happening to the Hawkeyes, you are probably not one of those fans who watched Division II Augustana South Dakota beat the Hawks on a last second shot back on November 6th. Now granted Augustana has gone on to post a 26-2 record and will likely be one of the top seeds in the D2 National Tourney, but it was still a Division II team coming into Carver Hawkeye and looking like the better team. I was there, I saw it, so I have been amazed at just how well the Hawks have played up until the last three weeks and it has become quite obvious that during that run we were outplaying our expectations. Now that our bench players are again playing like bench players and Uthoff and Jok (a combined 9 for 27 from the field at Ohio State Sunday) are showing that they are human perhaps we are now seeing the true level that this team lands?
If you weren't there on November 6th, you just think that the Hawks are in a slump. I do hope that you are right and that I am wrong.
Dirt Late Model racing did have a couple of touring events going on this weekend with the Southern Nationals Bonus Series at 411 Speedway in Tennessee on Saturday and a Southern All Star doubleheader at Cochran Speedway in Georgia on Saturday and Sunday. At 411 Cory Hedgecock started on the pole and went the entire distance to take the win while at Cochran second-starting Brandon Overton passed pole-sitter Casey Roberts to win on Saturday while Roberts went flag-to-flag from the pole to win on Sunday. I watched video from all three events and they were even more boring than you might have imagined from that description. As an announcer, do you really have to credit M.C. Hammer for using the line "It's Hammertime off turn four" as the field takes the green? Maybe it's an ASCAP thing or something, but I digress.
It should not come to a surprise that there would be little action for the lead given the straight up qualifying procedures used by both of these southern series, an area of the country where the word "invert" is not even in the vocabulary of race officials, but it follows a Speed Weeks where the statistics were similar.
Using the stats compiled by the fine folks at Dirt On Dirt in the 18 Super Late Model feature events held in Georgia and Florida the average number of lead changes was 0.888. Only one feature had more than one lead change and amazingly that came during the day race at Golden Isles when there were three lead changes. The average starting spot of the 18 winners was 3.9 and if you throw out the thrilling charge from 14th by Josh Richards at Volusia on February 19th that average drops to 3.3. Eight of the winners started from the front row while six of the winners started fourth on the grid. Draw your own conclusions, but you have to admit that it is fun to be able to slip out to an IMCA weekly show once in awhile where the fastest guys don't get to start up front.
Todd Staley's United States Modified Touring Series had a big weekend with more than 65 cars signing in each night at the Ark-La-Tex Speedway for a tripleheader that found Stormy Scott, Ryan Gustin and Jake Gallardo in victory lane. The caravan of Modifieds next heads to the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore for another three race weekend.
If you were thinking about heading to Springfield, Missouri, for the B-Mod Nationals this weekend, don't. The event was cancelled because they did not receive the minimum of 100 entries required to proceed with the event.
In last week's Notebook I talked about some of the interesting items that I found while compiling the Special Events schedule for Positively Racing and one that I missed until today was the fact that there are two county fairs claiming to have the Sprint Invaders scheduled for Thursday July 14th. While the Davis County Fair and the Bloomfield Speedway lists the Invaders for that night, the latest release of the series schedule shows the winged 360's at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton.
The season opener for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be Saturday April 2nd at 34 Raceway in Burlington and my announcing partner Bill Wright will have to handle that one without me as Christine and I will be attending a wedding that weekend. It will take me out of play for all of the IMCA Frostbuster events as well.
The month of March begins tomorrow and racing season will soon again be here in the Midwest!
Monday, February 29, 2016
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Thursday Notebook: February 25, 2016
After two weeks of dirt racing to watch from Arizona in January followed by the feast of Speed Weeks video to devour over the past three weeks, this coming weekend will seem like a let down. But as the calendar turns to March it means that the racing action is getting closer and closer to us here in the Midwest and it won't be long until a reasonable road trip will find us in the stands to watch that first race of the year live and in person.
Don't you love that feeling of going to your first race of the season? The excitement, the anticipation as you make the drive? Last year when I opened my season in Beatrice, Nebraska, the six hour drive to get there seemed to fly by knowing that the unusually warm temperatures would produce an amazing field of cars. And the next day, after taking in that full night of great racing action, that same drive took and felt every bit like a six hour trip but it was soooooo worth it!
Yes, I already have my first race of 2016 under my belt, but it was a "surprise" opportunity with only a 15-mile trip, lengthened of course by Tampa's rush hour traffic, so hopefully it will not take away that thrill of my first true road trip that I hope to make sometime in March. But just where will that be? If you too are asking that question make sure that you check out the Calendar page at Positively Racing as the latest update now lists 1,124 special events at tracks in our coverage area of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Amazing as it is already that list will continue to grow as there are still several tracks and even a few series that have not yet released their 2016 schedule. Plus, just after I sent the update to Webmistress Sue I realized that I had failed to include the Gateway Dirt Nationals in December. It will be anchored at the bottom of the list on the next update, unless of course someone decides to schedule a race on Christmas weekend.
There is no doubt that compiling these schedules helps me get through the winter months and I am amazed in just the past couple of years how early some tracks and series put out their schedules. I literally could have started this process in mid-October last year before the racing season was even over in Iowa and Missouri, but I instead waited until after Thanksgiving to get started on the 2016 project. Of course these early releases are more likely to have changes to them as time goes by and as we actually get within a month or two of the opener and unless there is some sort of announcement beyond the track's website or Facebook page I am probably not going to catch it. And that is why we have that disclaimer at the top reminding you that you should ALWAYS confirm a date with the track before making the actual trip.
Going through this process does allow me to catch some news that I might not otherwise.
Yesterday it was announced that Wagner Speedway in South Dakota will not be running a weekly schedule this year, but will announce a few special events dates in the near future.
Lebanon Midway Speedway in Missouri is changing nights from Friday to Sunday in 2016 and hopefully that will improve its car counts that have dwindled over the past few years.
The St. Croix Speedway in Wisconsin is also making the move from Friday nights to Sundays in 2016 and they just hired the hard working Chris Stepan as the General Manager. Stepan flags at KRA Speedway in Willmar, Minnesota, on Thursday nights, is the General Manager at the Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, on Friday nights, is the announcer at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday nights, announces special events in Arizona, Florida and likely other venues during the Northland's off season and even promotes some special events of his own from time to time. Remind you any of Toby Kruse? I have never met Chris, but I have definitely enjoyed his mic work both online and in person.
Spring Lake Speedway in Unity, Wisconsin, announced at its banquet last Saturday that the track will be NASCAR sanctioned in 2016.
The Eagle Valley Speedway in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, has announced that they will now race on Thursday nights with a schedule still pending.
The Thunder City Speedway in Doniphan, Missouri, has been a bit of a mystery. Built a couple of years ago likely to fill the void of the Malden Speedway closing down the track had a website that was never updated with information and I was eventually able to find results on their Facebook page. Checking to see if they were still in operation I noticed a post dated December 31st stating that not only will they be reopening in 2016, but that the track will be relocated! So there you go, this guy has built not just one, but two different race tracks in less than five years. Guess we will see how things play out.
In more southeast Missouri news, or lack thereof, the USCS Sprint Car schedule for 2016 has not one but two two-day shows listed for the Poplar Bluff Speedway. The problem is that from all sources that I can or cannot locate on the net it would appear that the speedway that closed its doors after the 2014 season remains closed. Guess we will find out for sure on March 18th and 19th when that first show is supposed to take place. Well now, let me take that back. As I checked out the forum board at Mid South Racing it looks like the USCS has edited out the four dates for Poplar Buff, but apparently have not yet made the change on their website.
Closer to home the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders recently announced their 2016 schedule that includes a June 17th date at the Eldon Raceway. However, I was soon after contacted by someone close to the fair board at Eldon who told me that the date had not yet been confirmed as the Invaders were just one of the grandstand entertainment options being considered for that Friday night of the Wapello County Fair. Here's hoping that it gets confirmed as it has been a long time since I have seen Sprint Cars on the big half-mile in Eldon.
One other date on that original Sprint Invaders schedule has been changed though as instead of running on Thursday night at the Dubuque County Fair, the Invaders will join the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds on Tuesday night. I was thrilled with this change for a couple of reasons. One is that it will be great to have the Sprinters return to Dubuque and to do so sharing the stage with what should be a great field of IMCA Modifieds, and two is that I would not have been able to be at the fair on Thursday night as we will be heading to Atlanta to attend a wedding that weekend. I love the Dubuque Speedway and wish that it was about an hour closer to home.....
While searching the Mid South Racing forum for information on the status of Poplar Bluff I stumbled across this gem on page two of a thread that had the results from last weekend's Winter special at the Northeast Arkansas Speedway. Now as you read this I want to make sure that you notice how this is from an AWP who is obviously biased because one of his or her favorites was perhaps roughed up a bit and, because of that, makes a blanket statement predicting the demise of the speedway.
KCracing says: "Judgement calls? Everything I seen the last two nights, judgement calls were not needed. If your going to put on a show like this you have to have rules and follow them. This clearly was not the case here. Multiple occasions of "rough" driving that deserved the black flag. How many cautions can a race have before something changes! NEA will not last ran like this ...poor management"
To which NEA Promoter responds: "Thank you for your evaluation... We broke every record in the books for 25 years and had a 95% approval rating. This track has come along way in less than a year and continues to grow. We improve each week with only 23 weeks under our belt so to judge us... thats ok. I look at it as a way to address our issues and move forward. The statement of we won't last long, take exception to, based on a bump and grind to move to the front you say this will close us down .... todays racers need to Grow a set and quit thinking they can't get a nudge or quarter panel damage because they run the groove and are slower than others. I raced when racing was racing and we had very few CRY Babies...why because we were men. I never said anything ever about a competitor cheating I said "I need to get faster". Today its drama like a white trash Momma in racing. Sorry we disagree because "I've got a set"
The cheering from the fans and the ton of positive posts and face to face attaboys seem to say differently.... Glass half full or glass half empty perspective I suppose.
This is my last post other than information about a race in this or any other forum because I can't handle people who want to be promoters or car divers that think they know it all. If those people know it bale off in it and get some. If you know me I'm a hard nosed Bastard that loves my track, fans and drivers, I've got a set......and will fight for our track. I see posts about everyone of us in the MidSouth that have tracks....worse than watching All My Children. I prefer being blasted face to face than over a keyboard. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful advice, We'll see you in the dirt."
Okay, so I will admit that I cleaned up some of his grammar and spelling errors that were probably made because he was pissed off while he was typing his response, but Mr. Promoter I salute you! And for all of you forum jockeys who think that you are helping the sport by sounding off on a forum his most important statement was one of his last ones. If you really want to accomplish something, then address it face to face. Oh yeah, and I still refuse to watch The Chew since it took the place of All My Children a few years ago! Is Erica Kane still on in Arkansas???
Earlier in the day I came across a thread on 4m titled "Do Social Media Policies Help or Hurt?" and I immediately cringed since one of the last blogs on this topic eventually led one person to conclude that I am the reason for the downfall of racing. The responses on the thread indicated that once again somebody was trying to make the point that nothing bad should be said about a race track, but after reading this blog by Kristin Swartzlander it was obvious that was not the case. Perhaps some of those AWP's should have actually taken the time to read it before defending their right to bitch?
First of all, at the risk of being sexist, reading through the rest of the materials on Ms. Swartzlander's site it is obvious that she is knowledgeable and has the talent to provide great insight to promoters and race teams who are in need of her services. The pictures that she has included are there for a reason and the entire package is a powerful combination in this male dominated sport.
When I first heard that some tracks were putting forth policies that would allow them to take action against those who were making negative comments about them on social media I defended their rights to do so stating that it was no different than any other business who has a sign posted that they have the right to refuse to do business with any customer that they feel is disruptive to that business. After all, the primary chant from people when a rule like this is set forth is that it is taking away their right to free speech. No, you still have the right to say whatever you want, but as always someone else has the right to take action against you if what you have to say is damaging or inflammatory.
The premise of Ms. Swartzlander's blog though, and one that I totally agree with, is that having this policy is not a good image for the track.
"It tells customers, and potential future customers, that we don’t care what they think. That we’re not open to improving. That if they want to give us their money, that’s fine, but they’re going to take what we give them in exchange for it and like it. Or don’t come back.
Or, if you dare to complain about it, you won’t even be allowed to come back even if you wanted to."
As I have stated before, the big difference between eight years ago and now is that most of the people who are doing the complaining on social media are doing so on Facebook or Twitter where usually they are identifiable, no longer Anonymous Weasel Posters. In most cases this should give the reader the background that is needed to determine how much stock to put into the complaints that are being made. Plus, it gives a track promoter the opportunity to deal with it as needed.
As in the example above with the promoter in Arkansas, and with every other promoter out there, they would prefer to handle issues directly rather than being bashed on social media so in this day and age if the person making the negative comments, whether it is a driver or a fan, is actually still coming to the track what would happen if the promoter came up to that person, politely introduced himself and asked if they could have a conversation about how to improve the situation? Hopefully that would be considered a welcomed opportunity, but I'm not so sure that it would.
Swartzlander concedes that there are still going to be AWP's out there and agrees with me about the long term effect.
I agree that ‘bashing’ on social media isn’t good for the sport. But there’s a huge difference between ‘bashing’ and constructive criticism.
There will always be people who bash – with or without any sense of reason. You can’t escape that. But if you’re building an open line of communication with your fans, you’ll find that even when you make mistakes, you’ll have more supporters standing up for you than customers turned away by a basher’s sentiments.
And a post by Highside Hustler25 sums it up as well as anybody by stating
"Nothing wrong with constructive criticism. It's good for the sport and the fans.
Biased and non factual accusations are what's wrong with social media. Too many temperamental hotheads with a chip on their shoulder. It's too easy for someone to jump on the internet and spread bold untruths without having to be held accountable."
If only I had written that!!
Rather than having policies stating what penalties might be set forth due to negative comments on social media I believe that tracks should instead have incentives for drivers who make positive posts and statements that help to promote the track and if any of you promoters are interested, stop me the next time that I visit your facility and ask me about my ideas. I am not as bright and attractive, but I will share my thoughts for free.
Don't you love that feeling of going to your first race of the season? The excitement, the anticipation as you make the drive? Last year when I opened my season in Beatrice, Nebraska, the six hour drive to get there seemed to fly by knowing that the unusually warm temperatures would produce an amazing field of cars. And the next day, after taking in that full night of great racing action, that same drive took and felt every bit like a six hour trip but it was soooooo worth it!
Yes, I already have my first race of 2016 under my belt, but it was a "surprise" opportunity with only a 15-mile trip, lengthened of course by Tampa's rush hour traffic, so hopefully it will not take away that thrill of my first true road trip that I hope to make sometime in March. But just where will that be? If you too are asking that question make sure that you check out the Calendar page at Positively Racing as the latest update now lists 1,124 special events at tracks in our coverage area of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Amazing as it is already that list will continue to grow as there are still several tracks and even a few series that have not yet released their 2016 schedule. Plus, just after I sent the update to Webmistress Sue I realized that I had failed to include the Gateway Dirt Nationals in December. It will be anchored at the bottom of the list on the next update, unless of course someone decides to schedule a race on Christmas weekend.
There is no doubt that compiling these schedules helps me get through the winter months and I am amazed in just the past couple of years how early some tracks and series put out their schedules. I literally could have started this process in mid-October last year before the racing season was even over in Iowa and Missouri, but I instead waited until after Thanksgiving to get started on the 2016 project. Of course these early releases are more likely to have changes to them as time goes by and as we actually get within a month or two of the opener and unless there is some sort of announcement beyond the track's website or Facebook page I am probably not going to catch it. And that is why we have that disclaimer at the top reminding you that you should ALWAYS confirm a date with the track before making the actual trip.
Going through this process does allow me to catch some news that I might not otherwise.
Yesterday it was announced that Wagner Speedway in South Dakota will not be running a weekly schedule this year, but will announce a few special events dates in the near future.
Lebanon Midway Speedway in Missouri is changing nights from Friday to Sunday in 2016 and hopefully that will improve its car counts that have dwindled over the past few years.
The St. Croix Speedway in Wisconsin is also making the move from Friday nights to Sundays in 2016 and they just hired the hard working Chris Stepan as the General Manager. Stepan flags at KRA Speedway in Willmar, Minnesota, on Thursday nights, is the General Manager at the Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, on Friday nights, is the announcer at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday nights, announces special events in Arizona, Florida and likely other venues during the Northland's off season and even promotes some special events of his own from time to time. Remind you any of Toby Kruse? I have never met Chris, but I have definitely enjoyed his mic work both online and in person.
Spring Lake Speedway in Unity, Wisconsin, announced at its banquet last Saturday that the track will be NASCAR sanctioned in 2016.
The Eagle Valley Speedway in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, has announced that they will now race on Thursday nights with a schedule still pending.
The Thunder City Speedway in Doniphan, Missouri, has been a bit of a mystery. Built a couple of years ago likely to fill the void of the Malden Speedway closing down the track had a website that was never updated with information and I was eventually able to find results on their Facebook page. Checking to see if they were still in operation I noticed a post dated December 31st stating that not only will they be reopening in 2016, but that the track will be relocated! So there you go, this guy has built not just one, but two different race tracks in less than five years. Guess we will see how things play out.
In more southeast Missouri news, or lack thereof, the USCS Sprint Car schedule for 2016 has not one but two two-day shows listed for the Poplar Bluff Speedway. The problem is that from all sources that I can or cannot locate on the net it would appear that the speedway that closed its doors after the 2014 season remains closed. Guess we will find out for sure on March 18th and 19th when that first show is supposed to take place. Well now, let me take that back. As I checked out the forum board at Mid South Racing it looks like the USCS has edited out the four dates for Poplar Buff, but apparently have not yet made the change on their website.
Closer to home the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders recently announced their 2016 schedule that includes a June 17th date at the Eldon Raceway. However, I was soon after contacted by someone close to the fair board at Eldon who told me that the date had not yet been confirmed as the Invaders were just one of the grandstand entertainment options being considered for that Friday night of the Wapello County Fair. Here's hoping that it gets confirmed as it has been a long time since I have seen Sprint Cars on the big half-mile in Eldon.
One other date on that original Sprint Invaders schedule has been changed though as instead of running on Thursday night at the Dubuque County Fair, the Invaders will join the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds on Tuesday night. I was thrilled with this change for a couple of reasons. One is that it will be great to have the Sprinters return to Dubuque and to do so sharing the stage with what should be a great field of IMCA Modifieds, and two is that I would not have been able to be at the fair on Thursday night as we will be heading to Atlanta to attend a wedding that weekend. I love the Dubuque Speedway and wish that it was about an hour closer to home.....
While searching the Mid South Racing forum for information on the status of Poplar Bluff I stumbled across this gem on page two of a thread that had the results from last weekend's Winter special at the Northeast Arkansas Speedway. Now as you read this I want to make sure that you notice how this is from an AWP who is obviously biased because one of his or her favorites was perhaps roughed up a bit and, because of that, makes a blanket statement predicting the demise of the speedway.
KCracing says: "Judgement calls? Everything I seen the last two nights, judgement calls were not needed. If your going to put on a show like this you have to have rules and follow them. This clearly was not the case here. Multiple occasions of "rough" driving that deserved the black flag. How many cautions can a race have before something changes! NEA will not last ran like this ...poor management"
To which NEA Promoter responds: "Thank you for your evaluation... We broke every record in the books for 25 years and had a 95% approval rating. This track has come along way in less than a year and continues to grow. We improve each week with only 23 weeks under our belt so to judge us... thats ok. I look at it as a way to address our issues and move forward. The statement of we won't last long, take exception to, based on a bump and grind to move to the front you say this will close us down .... todays racers need to Grow a set and quit thinking they can't get a nudge or quarter panel damage because they run the groove and are slower than others. I raced when racing was racing and we had very few CRY Babies...why because we were men. I never said anything ever about a competitor cheating I said "I need to get faster". Today its drama like a white trash Momma in racing. Sorry we disagree because "I've got a set"
The cheering from the fans and the ton of positive posts and face to face attaboys seem to say differently.... Glass half full or glass half empty perspective I suppose.
This is my last post other than information about a race in this or any other forum because I can't handle people who want to be promoters or car divers that think they know it all. If those people know it bale off in it and get some. If you know me I'm a hard nosed Bastard that loves my track, fans and drivers, I've got a set......and will fight for our track. I see posts about everyone of us in the MidSouth that have tracks....worse than watching All My Children. I prefer being blasted face to face than over a keyboard. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful advice, We'll see you in the dirt."
Okay, so I will admit that I cleaned up some of his grammar and spelling errors that were probably made because he was pissed off while he was typing his response, but Mr. Promoter I salute you! And for all of you forum jockeys who think that you are helping the sport by sounding off on a forum his most important statement was one of his last ones. If you really want to accomplish something, then address it face to face. Oh yeah, and I still refuse to watch The Chew since it took the place of All My Children a few years ago! Is Erica Kane still on in Arkansas???
Earlier in the day I came across a thread on 4m titled "Do Social Media Policies Help or Hurt?" and I immediately cringed since one of the last blogs on this topic eventually led one person to conclude that I am the reason for the downfall of racing. The responses on the thread indicated that once again somebody was trying to make the point that nothing bad should be said about a race track, but after reading this blog by Kristin Swartzlander it was obvious that was not the case. Perhaps some of those AWP's should have actually taken the time to read it before defending their right to bitch?
First of all, at the risk of being sexist, reading through the rest of the materials on Ms. Swartzlander's site it is obvious that she is knowledgeable and has the talent to provide great insight to promoters and race teams who are in need of her services. The pictures that she has included are there for a reason and the entire package is a powerful combination in this male dominated sport.
When I first heard that some tracks were putting forth policies that would allow them to take action against those who were making negative comments about them on social media I defended their rights to do so stating that it was no different than any other business who has a sign posted that they have the right to refuse to do business with any customer that they feel is disruptive to that business. After all, the primary chant from people when a rule like this is set forth is that it is taking away their right to free speech. No, you still have the right to say whatever you want, but as always someone else has the right to take action against you if what you have to say is damaging or inflammatory.
The premise of Ms. Swartzlander's blog though, and one that I totally agree with, is that having this policy is not a good image for the track.
"It tells customers, and potential future customers, that we don’t care what they think. That we’re not open to improving. That if they want to give us their money, that’s fine, but they’re going to take what we give them in exchange for it and like it. Or don’t come back.
Or, if you dare to complain about it, you won’t even be allowed to come back even if you wanted to."
As I have stated before, the big difference between eight years ago and now is that most of the people who are doing the complaining on social media are doing so on Facebook or Twitter where usually they are identifiable, no longer Anonymous Weasel Posters. In most cases this should give the reader the background that is needed to determine how much stock to put into the complaints that are being made. Plus, it gives a track promoter the opportunity to deal with it as needed.
As in the example above with the promoter in Arkansas, and with every other promoter out there, they would prefer to handle issues directly rather than being bashed on social media so in this day and age if the person making the negative comments, whether it is a driver or a fan, is actually still coming to the track what would happen if the promoter came up to that person, politely introduced himself and asked if they could have a conversation about how to improve the situation? Hopefully that would be considered a welcomed opportunity, but I'm not so sure that it would.
Swartzlander concedes that there are still going to be AWP's out there and agrees with me about the long term effect.
I agree that ‘bashing’ on social media isn’t good for the sport. But there’s a huge difference between ‘bashing’ and constructive criticism.
There will always be people who bash – with or without any sense of reason. You can’t escape that. But if you’re building an open line of communication with your fans, you’ll find that even when you make mistakes, you’ll have more supporters standing up for you than customers turned away by a basher’s sentiments.
And a post by Highside Hustler25 sums it up as well as anybody by stating
"Nothing wrong with constructive criticism. It's good for the sport and the fans.
Biased and non factual accusations are what's wrong with social media. Too many temperamental hotheads with a chip on their shoulder. It's too easy for someone to jump on the internet and spread bold untruths without having to be held accountable."
If only I had written that!!
Rather than having policies stating what penalties might be set forth due to negative comments on social media I believe that tracks should instead have incentives for drivers who make positive posts and statements that help to promote the track and if any of you promoters are interested, stop me the next time that I visit your facility and ask me about my ideas. I am not as bright and attractive, but I will share my thoughts for free.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
The Answer Is "Yes"
In the last entry of the Back Stretch I asked the question "Will Davenport and Richards Dominate Again This Week?" Given how both had performed over the previous ten days, that was a pretty safe question and while Billy Moyer Jr. and Scott Bloomquist have both found victory lane this week it is still Josh Richards and Jonathan Davenport who are making the headlines. Especially Richards!
After a ho hum seventh-place showing on Monday, the night that young Moyer took the win with his Hall of Fame father turning the wrenches, Richards has been phenomenal with a flag-to-flag win on Tuesday night, a fourth-place finish behind Bloomquist, Davenport and McDowell on Wednesday night, and another green to checkers win on Thursday. Then last night, in perhaps one of the best feature races of the 2106 Speed Weeks, The Rocket Man came from fourteenth to pass Davenport with just four laps remaining to take his seventh feature win on the young season and he has collected nearly $80,000 in purse money thus far. It is very safe to say that Josh has returned to form after taking nearly a full year off two years back as he recovered from nerve issues in his hands.
Even though he hasn't added to his win total, yet, Jonathan Davenport has had a very solid week as well. He took the night off on Monday and then came back with four straight top three finishes including two runner-up positions and you can bet that he is hungry to close out the week tonight with a win. I will be surprised if it is not one of the two in victory lane following the $10,000-to-win finale.
The updated Back Stretch National Late Model Points are at the bottom and if you keep in mind that Davenport came into Speed Weeks with 19 points that he had scored in Tucson it shows that coming into tonight Richards has been the King of the Georgia and Florida schedule. That could change tonight though.
On Thursday night I fell asleep as the Sprint Cup cars raced in a 22-car single-file line for more than twenty straight laps during the second Duel, but last night the Trucks had me on the edge of my lounge chair the entire distance as they raced two and three-wide nearly every green flag lap. My heart skipped a beat as I saw one of our young graduates from the Sprint Car ranks Christopher Bell go for a wild ride just past the white flag as I counted nine hard barrel rolls on the Daytona pavement. Fortunately the kid from Oklahoma climbed out of the mangled mess under his own power and it was actually his last push before being turned sideways that vaulted Johnny Sauter to the win in his first ride with the GMS team.
Rico Abreu looked good in his Daytona debut, but when he tried to use some strategy by pitting under green just before the new "caution clock" expired he was caught speeding as he entered pit lane and had to serve a stop and go penalty putting him in the back of the pack. It wasn't even close as Abreu blew past several other trucks entering the pits and I chuckled to myself knowing that the last thing that Rico would be thinking about in a racing vehicle would be a speed limit! Stuck in the back of the draft Abreu was later caught up in the multi-truck accident that developed ahead of him with seven laps remaining.
No surprise that the Racin' Boys this morning are again predicting that Rico will get a win this season, and that Christopher Bell will be a championship contender thus taking the pressure off of Kyle Larson whom they have been predicting a win for over the past two years. I get it, we love our dirt track guys!
The Xfinity and Sprint Cup drivers now have a tough act to follow from a racing standpoint and here's hoping that they can both avoid the big crashes that we saw in the final laps.
Jason Sides and Terry McCarl have been the first two winners of the King of the 360's show at East Bay while Bryan Clauson and Robert Ballou have been the USAC Sprint Car winners at Bubba's.
Iowan's Zack VanderBeek and Ryan Gustin have been the winners on the first two nights with the United States Modified Touring Series at Heart O' Texas Speedway in Waco so if you pair that with McCarl's triumph the Hawkeye state has been well represented this week. Add to that a solid showing by Decorah's Tyler Bruening at Volusia where he won a heat race and finished 11th on Wednesday night.
Of course the big news this week was the announcement that the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis will be the site for an indoor race featuring Late Models and Modifieds on December 16th and 17th. My initial reaction was "no way", but by the next morning I had went ahead and reserved a hotel room downtown. There are so many questions and concerns, especially following the promotional group's last event this past December in Indianapolis, but curiosity has the best of me for now, While the car count and crowd for that indoor midget race in Indy may have been large, the press release for the Gateway Indoor Nationals is the first time that I have heard anybody describe it as a "success". Hopefully they have used that as a learning experience.
After a ho hum seventh-place showing on Monday, the night that young Moyer took the win with his Hall of Fame father turning the wrenches, Richards has been phenomenal with a flag-to-flag win on Tuesday night, a fourth-place finish behind Bloomquist, Davenport and McDowell on Wednesday night, and another green to checkers win on Thursday. Then last night, in perhaps one of the best feature races of the 2106 Speed Weeks, The Rocket Man came from fourteenth to pass Davenport with just four laps remaining to take his seventh feature win on the young season and he has collected nearly $80,000 in purse money thus far. It is very safe to say that Josh has returned to form after taking nearly a full year off two years back as he recovered from nerve issues in his hands.
Even though he hasn't added to his win total, yet, Jonathan Davenport has had a very solid week as well. He took the night off on Monday and then came back with four straight top three finishes including two runner-up positions and you can bet that he is hungry to close out the week tonight with a win. I will be surprised if it is not one of the two in victory lane following the $10,000-to-win finale.
The updated Back Stretch National Late Model Points are at the bottom and if you keep in mind that Davenport came into Speed Weeks with 19 points that he had scored in Tucson it shows that coming into tonight Richards has been the King of the Georgia and Florida schedule. That could change tonight though.
On Thursday night I fell asleep as the Sprint Cup cars raced in a 22-car single-file line for more than twenty straight laps during the second Duel, but last night the Trucks had me on the edge of my lounge chair the entire distance as they raced two and three-wide nearly every green flag lap. My heart skipped a beat as I saw one of our young graduates from the Sprint Car ranks Christopher Bell go for a wild ride just past the white flag as I counted nine hard barrel rolls on the Daytona pavement. Fortunately the kid from Oklahoma climbed out of the mangled mess under his own power and it was actually his last push before being turned sideways that vaulted Johnny Sauter to the win in his first ride with the GMS team.
Rico Abreu looked good in his Daytona debut, but when he tried to use some strategy by pitting under green just before the new "caution clock" expired he was caught speeding as he entered pit lane and had to serve a stop and go penalty putting him in the back of the pack. It wasn't even close as Abreu blew past several other trucks entering the pits and I chuckled to myself knowing that the last thing that Rico would be thinking about in a racing vehicle would be a speed limit! Stuck in the back of the draft Abreu was later caught up in the multi-truck accident that developed ahead of him with seven laps remaining.
No surprise that the Racin' Boys this morning are again predicting that Rico will get a win this season, and that Christopher Bell will be a championship contender thus taking the pressure off of Kyle Larson whom they have been predicting a win for over the past two years. I get it, we love our dirt track guys!
The Xfinity and Sprint Cup drivers now have a tough act to follow from a racing standpoint and here's hoping that they can both avoid the big crashes that we saw in the final laps.
Jason Sides and Terry McCarl have been the first two winners of the King of the 360's show at East Bay while Bryan Clauson and Robert Ballou have been the USAC Sprint Car winners at Bubba's.
Iowan's Zack VanderBeek and Ryan Gustin have been the winners on the first two nights with the United States Modified Touring Series at Heart O' Texas Speedway in Waco so if you pair that with McCarl's triumph the Hawkeye state has been well represented this week. Add to that a solid showing by Decorah's Tyler Bruening at Volusia where he won a heat race and finished 11th on Wednesday night.
Of course the big news this week was the announcement that the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis will be the site for an indoor race featuring Late Models and Modifieds on December 16th and 17th. My initial reaction was "no way", but by the next morning I had went ahead and reserved a hotel room downtown. There are so many questions and concerns, especially following the promotional group's last event this past December in Indianapolis, but curiosity has the best of me for now, While the car count and crowd for that indoor midget race in Indy may have been large, the press release for the Gateway Indoor Nationals is the first time that I have heard anybody describe it as a "success". Hopefully they have used that as a learning experience.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Will Davenport and Richards Dominate Again This Week?
When Shane Clanton won five Late Model features, including four of the last five, at the Georgia/Flordia Speed Weeks in 2015 we all felt that it was a very dominating performance, especially coming from a driver who had been through a sub par season the year before. Now, as we head into the final week of racing in the Sunshine State both Josh Richards and Jonathan Davenport already have four wins each and expectations are that both drivers will add at least one more to that total over the next six nights and that is even with Davenport planning to sit out the first two.
I had the chance to watch Davenport in person Friday night and he just looks faster than everybody else. And while I doubt that this is the case, it seemed like he toyed with Scott Bloomquist peeking to the inside twice before just driving around him on the outside a few laps later. Watching the highlights from Sunday night's show at Bubba Raceway showed that same level of domination as Superman faded back to eighth early on only to march his way right back to the front and win going away. Josh Richards has been able to beat him head-to-head though and that is why it was a bit of a surprise when Kid Rocket did not score a win when he broke away from Davenport and ran with the World of Outlaws at Screven this past weekend.
When one driver becomes dominant at a track, or in a series, you could probably argue that it has a negative effect on car counts and that might be one explanation for the difference between the Lucas Oil Series and the World of Outlaws when they ran head-to-head this past weekend. The Lucas series had 35 both Friday and Saturday at East Bay while the Outlaw car count was at 46 both nights at Screven. Perhaps more of a surprise was the car count at Bubba's place Sunday night when 26 signed in for the standalone Lucas show and that included WoO regulars Richards, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Jordan Yaggy. There is no doubt that the talent level is high on the Lucas roster with Davenport, Bloomquist, Lanigan, Sheppard, O'Neal, Owens, Pearson, McCreadie, Carrier, Francis, Erb and Landers, but will that result in lower car counts in 2016? Those who appreciate Quality over Quantity will not be concerned. Plus, if they get a few more surprise winners like Mason Zeigler's $12,000 triumph in the East Bay finale that should keep the regional talent interested.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars closed out a three day run at Volusia with Brad Sweet winning two features and leaving Florida as the points leader. Defending dominator Donny Schatz was the other winner, but a couple of bad nights has him back in the 7th position in the points standings for now. Of course in front of him are three drivers in Greg Hodnett, Dale Blaney and Sammy Swindell who will not run the entire schedule.
The UMP Modifieds have been running with the Sprint Cars at Volusia and on Saturday and Sunday the large field was split in order to qualify for tonight's Gator Championship. Burlington, Iowa's Dugan Thye finished 14th in Saturday's A-Main and he will be set to do battle again on this Monday night. This is the second year in a row that the young driver has taken his IMCA legal car to race against the big boys and the son of former NKF Tour Modified champion Darin Thye is gaining valuable experience that he hopes to put to good use when the Midwest season opens in two months.
On the pavement at New Smyrna Speedway Steven Wallace and Ty Majeski have been the class of the Super Late Model field the first two nights finishing one-two with Wallace winning Friday and Majeski on Saturday. And at the big track Kevin Thomas Jr. rallied nicely after an early spin to miss a big crash to finish seventh in the ARCA race.
And finally familiar names found their way into victory lane this past weekend as the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) kicked off its Winter Speedweeks at the Shady Oaks Speedway in Texas. Rodney Sanders, Ryan Gustin and defending champion Jason Hughes split the tripleheader and the Modified stars will race three more times in Texas this week at the Heart O' Texas Speedway.
Following are the updated Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model points through Valentine's Day
I had the chance to watch Davenport in person Friday night and he just looks faster than everybody else. And while I doubt that this is the case, it seemed like he toyed with Scott Bloomquist peeking to the inside twice before just driving around him on the outside a few laps later. Watching the highlights from Sunday night's show at Bubba Raceway showed that same level of domination as Superman faded back to eighth early on only to march his way right back to the front and win going away. Josh Richards has been able to beat him head-to-head though and that is why it was a bit of a surprise when Kid Rocket did not score a win when he broke away from Davenport and ran with the World of Outlaws at Screven this past weekend.
When one driver becomes dominant at a track, or in a series, you could probably argue that it has a negative effect on car counts and that might be one explanation for the difference between the Lucas Oil Series and the World of Outlaws when they ran head-to-head this past weekend. The Lucas series had 35 both Friday and Saturday at East Bay while the Outlaw car count was at 46 both nights at Screven. Perhaps more of a surprise was the car count at Bubba's place Sunday night when 26 signed in for the standalone Lucas show and that included WoO regulars Richards, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Jordan Yaggy. There is no doubt that the talent level is high on the Lucas roster with Davenport, Bloomquist, Lanigan, Sheppard, O'Neal, Owens, Pearson, McCreadie, Carrier, Francis, Erb and Landers, but will that result in lower car counts in 2016? Those who appreciate Quality over Quantity will not be concerned. Plus, if they get a few more surprise winners like Mason Zeigler's $12,000 triumph in the East Bay finale that should keep the regional talent interested.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars closed out a three day run at Volusia with Brad Sweet winning two features and leaving Florida as the points leader. Defending dominator Donny Schatz was the other winner, but a couple of bad nights has him back in the 7th position in the points standings for now. Of course in front of him are three drivers in Greg Hodnett, Dale Blaney and Sammy Swindell who will not run the entire schedule.
The UMP Modifieds have been running with the Sprint Cars at Volusia and on Saturday and Sunday the large field was split in order to qualify for tonight's Gator Championship. Burlington, Iowa's Dugan Thye finished 14th in Saturday's A-Main and he will be set to do battle again on this Monday night. This is the second year in a row that the young driver has taken his IMCA legal car to race against the big boys and the son of former NKF Tour Modified champion Darin Thye is gaining valuable experience that he hopes to put to good use when the Midwest season opens in two months.
On the pavement at New Smyrna Speedway Steven Wallace and Ty Majeski have been the class of the Super Late Model field the first two nights finishing one-two with Wallace winning Friday and Majeski on Saturday. And at the big track Kevin Thomas Jr. rallied nicely after an early spin to miss a big crash to finish seventh in the ARCA race.
And finally familiar names found their way into victory lane this past weekend as the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) kicked off its Winter Speedweeks at the Shady Oaks Speedway in Texas. Rodney Sanders, Ryan Gustin and defending champion Jason Hughes split the tripleheader and the Modified stars will race three more times in Texas this week at the Heart O' Texas Speedway.
Following are the updated Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model points through Valentine's Day
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