Back for Year #9

My dad suggested I start this blog in 2017. He said you go to the races anyway; you keep track of the results…why not write about it. So I gave it a try.

In his final years, his lung disease prevented him from going to the track in person, so I provided texts of the races I went to to keep him connected a little bit.  He never got to see the blog grow, unfortunately, as he died on Sept. 2017. Not many nights happen in racing when I don’t think of him, as my devotion and love for the sport started with him taking me to the races frequently as a kid.

I never thought I would make it to year nine. Thanks to the Lord for good health (for myself and my family) and thousands of miles for safe travels.

This blog is written from a fan’s perspective and features my opinion in several cases. I try to be fair in what I see on the track, but I am not perfect or ever have claimed to be. I do make mistakes.

I will be announcing several new sponsors in the weeks ahead. One change this year you will notice, there are no racetrack sponsors. I decided not to pursue them this year. I appreciate their financial support in the past, but I also think it eliminates the appearance that I am going to take the side of the tracks all the time (which I didn’t, but I don’t even want the perception of it)., I like the freedom it gives me to visit different tracks. The one thing I do commit to this summer is covering the Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour as often as I can as they return as a presenting sponsor.

I am not in the business of constantly bashing tracks or sanctioning bodies – I don’t want to go down that road – however, I will call out things I think need improving from both. In my opinion as a fan for more than four decades, there are some things in racing that need improvement. My pet peeve is shows that run way too long, in some cases because of a total lack of urgency in how a track operates. Although I won’t call this out early in the year as there are always hiccups at the start of the season if we get to the end of June and I am sitting through 4–5-hour shows, chances are you won’t see me write race reports from that track very often, if at all. All of our time is valuable.

I hope to write more editorials this year, and I hope to even have a few guest bloggers. Maybe I’ll do another guest submission for the Father’s Day, which was popular years ago.

I thank people for the support and reading of this blog.  There are many faithful readers and sponsors that I am truly humbled to have.

My view on some things…

--I think tracks and promoters of special events such list their entire purse on the web, not just money to win. This includes money for all finishing positions in A mains and B mains and tow money.  Often, the focus is on how much a race is to win --- but remember one driver takes home the trophy. I think this would be a good service for drivers to know this up front.

--I think sanctioning bodies should be more transparent about how much sponsor money comes in, how much is collected in licensing and nightly sanction fees – and how that money is spent. I have no problem with sanctioning bodies paying full-time employees good salaries and benefits, but I think knowing where the rest of the money goes, especially when tracks and drivers pay a good deal of money to them yearly, would provide much needed transparency.

--I think tracks should aim to have their regular weekly shows done in 3-3 1/2 hours – or less. The 4-5  hour shows on a regular basis drive away fans.  Now, there are legit reasons shows run long – weather delay, a huge or serious crash that takes time to clean up, a medical emergency requiring emergency personnel, a power outage, for example. Taking 5 minutes between heat races, or taking 10 minutes to re-line up cars during a feature, are things that can be corrected.

--Every track should have a meet the drivers night where kids can get photos from drivers, and pictures next to them and their cars. It’s how kids get interested in eventually racing themselves.

--The black flag needs to be used for rough driving more, not less. For some tracks it is a mere decoration.  I am not talking about a little rubbing where a few sparks fly, that’s racing. I am talking about when one driver drives through another, or slides someone into a wall or off the track. There is a difference.

---Tracks with walls surrounding the whole track have more debris cautions than others. I don’t have hard evidence to support this, it just seems that way to me.

--Weather apps cause more trouble than they are worth. I have seen apps say there’s a 5 percent chance of rain only to see storms hit a little after race time; I have also seen where there is a 90 percent chance of rain at 7 p.m. and the sun is shining. All these apps do when they are wrong, which is frequently, is make a mess – tracks cancel sometimes when they should race and vice versa, and it some fans and drivers stay home if the weather forecast is bleak.

---A good announcer is worth paying a good deal of money each night. I have done this job, and one thing I learned by watching and listening to the legend Ron Krog is the first and foremost thing to do is pronounce the names and hometowns of the drivers correctly. Not all announcers do this.

--There are too many classes. I am not going to harp on this but I have been consistent in the years of doing this blog is we have too many classes in racing, and too many that do not interest fans. It’s time to pare down some classes, frankly. Which ones, well that would be another blog…

--There are many good things about racing, starting with the people. A very large majority of the people involved in racing are good folks; you see this a lot of times when another driver or driver’s family are facing challenges. Yes, there are a handful of folks who are bad apples, but I am learning, slowly, not to let racing be defined by those individuals.