I didn't realize that it had been ten days since my last Notebook entry as that time period seemed to go by fast, especially for the off season when it seems like days go on forever as I map out my first potential races for the season. A successful business trip to Montana also made the time fly by as it was my first visit to Big Sky country and I hope to go back sometime this summer. Who knows, maybe even catch a dirt track race while enjoying the magnificent beauty of the state!
During my return trip I was tipped off to some news that was very tempting to share, but since it had not yet been confirmed I did not want to put it here on the Back Stretch. I do my best to NOT be a rumor mill, or someone who will put something out there just to be "first" with the news because more often than not that first look at something ends up changing in one form or another and that was the case with this tidbit. In fact, after a full week, it is not even resolved to a point where it can be reported and has even evolved back to a situation where it is not even that newsworthy. So how do you like that for a tease?
Bottom line, if you want rumors or other "gotcha" type scoops there are plenty of outlets around to find them other than the Back Stretch. I believe that the new term for it is "fake news"?
I could have scooped the announcement of the new promoters at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City as I knew a few days in advance of this well written introduction, but there was no reason to do so. While several will continue to look at this as a war between the USRA and IMCA, I stand by what I wrote here twenty days ago. This is the beginning of a trend where Fair boards are wanting to step back out of the business of promoting races, and the financial risks that go with them, and go back to leasing their facilities to promoters. It was no surprise that hometown boy Todd Staley presented the best proposal including a rules package that will allow each and every car that raced at the track in 2017 the opportunity to compete there again this year with minor changes at most. Of course the argument is that while no changes are needed to the IMCA cars to race, will they actually be competitive with a car running the actual USRA rules, or those rules with the restrictions required in the Modifieds. Well I guess that remains to be seen, but I want to remind those of you who will be paying close attention to this. If another driver beats your driver, it might not be because of the rules, it might be because that guy was a better driver or had a better prepared race car on that night.
I first found out that the Webster City track would be going to Staley while I was sitting in the Denver airport last Thursday. Shortly after that I saw the press release about the Sports Park Raceway in nearby Fort Dodge achieving their goal of becoming IMCA sanctioned. Coincidence? The timing of it, no, but from what I have seen through tracking their results in 2017 and the general buzz about the facility on social media I would say that Fort Dodge deserved to become an IMCA sanctioned facility after making that one of their goals last year. Congratulations to promoters Marty Pringle, Jason VanSickle and Dave Doughty.
Of course with Webster City having been a weekly track for IMCA Late Models, the change in promoter makes a change in rules (Staley will go with the SLMR rules originated by Joe Kosiski at I-80) and perhaps a ripple effect on other tracks that plan to have Late Models on the schedule at least part time in 2018. Fort Dodge ran the class unsanctioned weekly, or close to it, in 2017 but in their announcement last week there was no mention of the Late Model division. Some follow up questions on Facebook have the track answering that Late Models will not run weekly and that they are discussing when and what they will do with them. It will be interesting now to see what tracks like Marshalltown and Vinton will do in regard to the Late Model division as they now become the "western representation" of the IMCA sanctioning for the class with the Saturday night tracks that used to feed them, Independence and Webster City now going to the broader set of rules. Both had Deery Brothers Summer Series events on their schedules, June 5th at Marshalltown and June 28th at Vinton. History shows that the Deery schedule is released during the final days of January so it will be interesting to see if those two events are still included when the full schedule is released.
I guess my uninformed opinion would be this. If you make or keep your Late Model IMCA legal for 2018 it will give you the opportunity to race at all IMCA events plus any of the events that are staged under the SLMR or Farley Race Promotions rules package because after all, the advantage that those rules are touting is that your car will still be competitive with cars that have open motors, steel blocks, crates, etc. You can even run your car with some restrictions at Donnellson against the UMP Crates whereas if you do not make your Late Model where it can be IMCA legal, then you preclude yourself from any IMCA sanctioned races including the Deery Series events.
Anyway, I am sure that this has been a tumultuous off season at IMCA in regard to this division, but I must say that the whole thing intrigues me and, along with more MLRA and World of Outlaws shows in the state this year I am again excited when it comes to Late Model racing. Hope you are too!
Speaking of the World of Outlaws Late Models the tour has added yet another rookie-of-the-year hopeful in Georgia's Tyler Millwood. The 2017 Ultimate Southeast Series champion qualified well against stout competition at the Gateway Dirt Nationals, but then struggled during racing action. He will get a chance to kick things off in his home state on February 9th when the Outlaws open the season at Screven Motor Speedway. One driver that will not return to the tour on a full-time basis is Frank Heckenast Jr. who is still dealing with a concussion that he suffered last October.
Mega promoter Cody Somer made some big news again yesterday when he announced that Midgets would be added to the 2018 Gateway Dirt Nationals at the Dome in St. Louis. The press release stated that both the Midgets and the Modifieds would be on an invitation only basis for 2018 while the Late Model entries would be capped at 150. If I recall, it was about this time last year where it was announced that for the 2017 event Modified drivers would have to qualify through a series of designated events throughout that season. That never happened though as last month's Modified roster looked to be a list of whoever wanted to pay the Entry Fee and compete. It will be interesting to see how the invitation process works for 2018.
Florida/Georgia Speed Weeks action kicked off last night with the Modifieds taking center stage at East Bay Raceway as Wisconsin's Kevin "Buzzy" Adams scored the win over a field of 43 cars. Floridians Bryan Bernhardt and Mark Whitener joined Adams on the podium. If you are headed down that way you can pretty much go racing nearly every night through February 24th. Obviously that kind of schedule is very high on my list for my ten-year retirement plan.
I have noticed that there is one person on the forum boards who always seems to have a reason to be pessimistic about something. The "Debbie Downer of Racing" Is that you?
As I continue to build the Special Events schedule at Positively Racing I am amused by the tracks that will release a "Tentative Race Schedule" and state that a lot of things may change over the next few weeks. Really? It's January, why don't you just wait until all of those potential "changes" are nailed down and then release your schedule? That is why you see the disclaimer at the top because if a track makes a schedule change to their original release that we do not catch, well now whose fault is that?
The Monett Motor Speedway released their 2018 schedule this past week and much to the chagrin of many on Facebook it no longer includes weekly racing for Late Models and A-Modifieds. New owners took over the place in 2017 and obviously they found that the track could no longer support the purses for the two premier divisions so they are making a business decision that they feel will allow them to continue to put on races rather than just closing the place down. And in Missouri, where the tracks are fewer and farther between than they are here in our neck of the woods, I would hope that a real race fan would appreciate that. The new Cash Money Late Model Series will be there on opening night April 15th. Monett will host a showdown between the Southern Outlaw Late Model Series and the ULMA Late Models on May 27th and the MLRA Late Models will headline the 4-State Dirt Track Championships on September 2nd. As my Mother would often say, "Quit your bitching!"
Finally, after meeting many people whose lives were effected by kidney disease during my four year run as the director of the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure, it really warms my heart to see that racer Chris Luloff was finally able to get a kidney transplant this week. The surgery went well and Chris is now going through the process of getting his new kidney to adapt to his body. You can wish him well on the Facebook page A Kidney for Chris.
Have a great weekend, the month of January is nearly in the books and we can start dreaming about possibly making a road trip or two to an early season special.
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