Maybe not an appropriate headline in today's society, but this is still the most common phrase when people hurt themselves with their own mistakes and that is what today's Back Stretch will be all about. We all make mistakes. The key is to learn from those mistakes and not to repeat them over and over again and I hate to say it, but I see several tracks and sanctioning bodies making mistakes that I sure hope they are learning from.
Take last night for example. What in the world was UMP thinking by scheduling a Summer Nationals race at a track that had not been raced on for seven years? In case you missed it, the Hell Tour returned to the Benton Speedway in southeast Missouri and following hot laps, and four cars attempting to qualify, UMP called the drivers back to their trailers and asked for the dry, rough track to be reworked. After about an hour UMP then pulled the sanction and the track proceeded with a $2,500-to-win event with about half of the twenty car field sticking around to compete. Did anybody even consider running a race or two at Benton prior to the Summer Nationals appearance? You know, something to work the bugs out?
The Summer Nationals actually did this two nights in a row as on Tuesday they ran at the Red Hill Speedway in Sumner, Illinois. Again it was the first time that the track had been raced on in 2022 and it was reported that it had been seventeen seasons since an event had been contested there. The Dirt On Dirt headline was "Tyler Erb Bounces to Hell Tour's $5,000 at Red Hill", don't you just love a journalist who can subtly tell you about the event with just one sentence? I guess that if they can get away with it one night, they thought that they could do it again the following night.
The sad part to me is that despite all of the challenges that so many of us are quick to point out that we are facing (tire shortages, high gas prices, too many events scheduled, etc., etc.) the 2022 Summer Nationals had been on quite a roll with now seven different winners and car counts averaging in the 30's until Red Hill's 24 and Benton's 20. Hopefully the Tour can regain momentum when they go to Brownstown, Illinois, tonight before taking on another track that has been reopened here in 2022. But at least there has already been four nights of racing held at the Paducah International Raceway prior to Friday's big show.
Usually when I talk about issues like this I don't name names in order to protect the innocent, however in this case I will because I know that they know that they booted it and I will be shocked if it happens again in 2023. Each year the volunteer staff at the Eldon Raceway are faced with the challenge of preparing a dirt track for a night of racing during the county fair AFTER an afternoon of harness racing takes place. Obviously there is a big difference in how the half-mile dirt track has to be for the horses in the afternoon and the horse power that night.
In 2021 they dumped too much water on the track and with so few vehicles to pack the surface the SLMR Late Model show did not get started until after 8:30 p.m. This year they repeated that mistake and combined with some questionable decision making on what to do with a piece of equipment that had ran out of gas on the back stretch and would not restart after the refill caused a delay until 9:05 before the Sprint Invaders show could start hot laps. The result was a Thursday night event that would wrap up at 1:20 a.m. on Friday morning and amazingly there was still some enthusiastic fans in the stands until the bitter end.
The evening did provide me with a first time experience though as after nearly two long hours of making laps around the track trying to roll it in, the driver of one pickup truck apparently had had enough of the driver of another pickup truck so he deliberately spun him out entering turn one. The two trucks then drove to the infield behind the judges stand and it looked like we were set for a true Jets versus Sharks rumble complete with a steel rod until track announcer Jeff Kropf and others bravely stepped in to calm the situation.
Anyway, as I said, I will be truly surprised if the same scenario plays out in 2023 at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon and I am also guessing that they will have more than one tow truck on hand as well.
Some promoters seem to be continually shooting themselves in the foot without even knowing it. Take the track that runs a mid-week show that would consistently be finished by 9:30 before adding another division that only produces six to nine cars a night and now getting done by 10:15 is an accomplishment. That makes a big difference to a race fan who is coming from over an hour away to watch.....or not.
Or a track that in the past would hot lap at 7:00 with racing at 7:30 and with over 100 cars in the pits would normally be done before 10:30. Now the track starts more than an hour earlier and with around 70 cars in the pits they still get over with at the same time. The reason? That hour of extra sunshine while racing on a dirt track makes a big difference and usually requires an extended intermission to rework the track for feature time. Not only does it effect the racing, but it dampens attendance as well.
Perhaps the biggest difference that I have seen over the last several years is the shift in how tracks and series do their lineup procedures. A track here in the Midwest recently reopened under a new driver/promoter who proudly posted on Facebook that last week's winner would no longer be required to start mid-pack for the feature in his or her next appearance and ended the post with "you're welcome!"
In the comments I said, "Good for you! Passing is overrated anyway" and while a couple of friends of mine like Pokey and Barry understood what I was saying, sadly I feel that the sarcasm went over most reader's heads, including that new promoter. I know that this fan has, and will stay home from some shows when he knows that the format is to "qualify and then start the fast guys in front". In fact, after watching several shows like that with a few of them included in my upcoming schedule, I will deliberately go find myself a weekly show at an IMCA sanctioned track just because of the average points inverts.
As I have always said, this sport is called "Racing", it is not called "Chasing".
With Chris now heading to Michigan to visit our daughter for the weekend, that opens up four straight nights of racing for me, something that I am really looking forward to after having only been to three shows in the month of June thus far. Tonight it is off to Stuart for the annual Ron Little Memorial and the finale of the Midwest Madness Tour which once again has been a big success. On Friday night I plan to return to Columbus Junction where the MLRA Late Models will be in action and then on Saturday the MLRA moves to 34 Raceway west of Burlington for the rescheduled Slocum 50. The $10,555 top prize makes the Slocum the highest paying Late Model race in the country on Saturday night! Then on Sunday I look forward to joining Bill Wright and Ryan Clark on the microphone at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the return of the Sprint Invaders.
It will be a busy holiday weekend of racing so make sure that you get out and support the sport at the track of your choosing and perhaps we will see you there on the Back Stretch!
