My thoughts on a few racing things...

I needed an action photo so I picked this Gen X one of I-94. Unrelated to this particular blog.

I was going to cover I-94 EMR Speedway on Thursday. The focus was going to be on the Midwest modifieds and street stocks since they were local and most people reading this blog are from this area, but of course, the World of Outlaw Late Models would get covered, too. Unfortunately the rain spoiled those hopes, a tough break for I-94, which has had rotten luck with weather with that event.

So, I had some things on my end I want to get off my chest. Keep in mind this is written from a fan’s perspective; I’ve been a fan since I was five years old. 

I want to tackle the social media criticism debate that is arising more and more.  I want to say, for the record, that personal, hateful, sexist or racist comments have no place in this process. I’ve seen some officials called some nasty names on Facebook over the years, and that’s wrong.  That stuff doesn’t belong there and if tracks want to ban drivers or fans who use that type of language or talk from their facilities, I have no problem with that, honestly.

However…

I also do not like when tracks (or sanctioning bodies) do not want to hear any criticism at all.  Fans, drivers and pit crews pay every week to attend a racing program. If they are spending money, they have a right to offer opinions on anything from track prep to concession prices to how long the show runs. Going on Facebook and saying someone is disappointed in the condition of a track is not a personal attack, it’s an opinion and it’s not personally attacking one individual. If I go on Facebook and say the hamburger I bought wasn’t cooked in the middle, I am not attacking the concession people personally.  Or the price of a pop at the concessions.

Now, if I go on Facebook and call a flagman a dumbass or say the people running Track A are incompetent morons --- that is not the way to conduct business. I probably wouldn’t be allowed to get a media pit pass from that track anymore.  I have tried hard on here not to personally attack drivers or tracks on here; I know I’ve probably messed up from time to time.. Do I mention things I see nightly? Of course.  But that’s how I see things, and most of the time my opinion is geared toward the racing anyway. If a 20-lap feature lasts 60 minutes because of a ton of cautions and taking forever to get the cars lined up, you are damn right I am going to say something.

What’s lacking between promoters and drivers/fans is constructive dialogue. Where both sides listen to the other and find some common ground to improve things. There are plenty of things in racing to be fixed. There are a few promoters refuse to listen to any complaints at all; I think some of that is just plain arrogance.  There are also some folks in racing who bitch about everything at a racetrack to anyone who will listen, and in some cases, it’s about nonsensical stuff that isn’t worth getting worked up about.  Constructive criticism is a good thing. That’s how things get better.

And now…

Racing shows that run too long on a regular basis are hurting the crowds. There are other reasons fans aren’t coming out like they once did, but you can’t tell me 4-5 weekly racing programs don’t drive people away, especially families with young kids. No way my 5 and 8 year old make it through that.

There are some legitimate reasons for a show to run long – a bad crash that requires a cleanup or ambulance, a medical emergency, a rain delay, power outage. I don’t complain about those. I don’t like long delays but in those cases I understand them, they are beyond the tracks’ control.

What I get annoyed at is taking five minutes between every heat race. Or taking 10 pace laps before throwing the green for the feature. Or taking 2-3 minutes to line up six cars in a heat race. All those type of delays are avoidable, and if you clean those up, you might take 20-30 minutes off of your program.  And for those that say people run to the concession stand during down times, that may be true in some cases, but most people are checking their phone, I’ve found.

Bottom line is most tracks run too many classes for a regular, weekly show, and when that happens, your shows are going to run long.

While I’m on the subject of too many classes….

When tracks are adding a new class, it’s all about affordability, which I get. Cost for racing is out of control and they are always searching for the class that is affordable AND will produce decent car counts.

But something else to consider: is the class you are adding something fans want to watch or would enjoy watching? Or would pay to come back next week to see? I would say in a majority of the cases, in many of the new classes, I would say no.

Just a thought when tracks are looking to add (another) new class…

One of the things I like about doing the blog is covering different types of tracks. Viking Speedway’s half mile is vastly different than Casino’s ¼-mile bullring, for example. It’s a vastly different kind of racing.  I would not do well covering the same track every week. In a 150-mile radius of Fargo we have a lot of different size and shape tracks which produce all kinds of racing.

I mentioned this in a Facebook post but I fully understand tracks cancelling because of the heat. There were a couple of tracks that raced last weekend, and I understood why: they had some tours coming to town and also have had some events canceled because of weather.  It’s a tough call; heat indexes of 105 degrees that feel like a sauna are not pleasant for anybody to sit through on a race night. I did that twice last weekend, and I admire the guys who raced the FastLane or DRC Street Stock Tour that did it 3-4 nights in a row.

I am really hoping the weather dries out for the next few weeks in our area so we can get a lot of racing in.  I don’t know of any track around that hasn’t had at least one rainout. Rainouts are costly, too.

OK, enough of my thoughts.