Wondering on Wednesday

If we rain out this weekend my outdoor opener will end up being two nights of Sprint Car racing on the half miles at Jackson next Friday and Knoxville next Saturday night. Whoda thunk that the first four nights of racing I'd see this season might end up being Midgets and Sprints? Considering that I live less than an hour from three tracks with weekly lineups consisting of Late Models, Mods, Midwest Mods, Supers, Streets, Pures, and Hornets that's pretty amazing.

In the meantime I've used the extra down time to get some remodeling projects wrapped up around the house. The wife says that I've been chasing races for ten summers and let too many of the projects slide. She's right. I'd like to take a year off to get some of the work that's piling up done and am seriously thinking about doing that next season. I'd still get to a half dozen of my favorite races but what I mean by taking the year off is using most of my vacation for projects instead of racing.

Actually, I'm enjoying the time with the family so much that I might have to cut out all but the open wheel racing and a few of the open motor Late Model shows. It took a slap in the face by Mother Nature to remind me how much I love Midgets and Sprints. I kind of go through the motions with some of the entry class racing but look forward to and get excited about Midgets, Sprints, open Late Models and even the USMTS. Not that all the other racing isn't entertaining but I can't do it all. With prices going up like they are my travel dollar is stretched thin just like everyone else. We'll see how it goes after a month or so and go from there.

I've been thinking about branching out with the website anyways because the way I see it it's going to be more expensive to do this every year going forward. Part of my hobby is computers, graphics and photography which can be applied towards other areas besides racing. So if I can find something else that fits these interests and doesn't require the extensive weekly commitment and travel I'd be willing to add other subjects to my website. So far I haven't thought of anything that I have that kind of passion for that I'd want to spend time working on it.

The website has been kind of like a roller coaster ride. What I mean by that is ten or twelve years ago on the way up the hill everything was new and exciting. I didn't know what I'd see when I got to the top of the hill. Meeting big name drivers, doing some television, doing radio interviews, getting surprise email from big names, offers from promoters to visit their tracks, sponsorship offers, all of those things happened on the way up. Then I got to the top of the hill as it were and the past few years has been the fun part if you ask me. Even though those opportunities stopped coming I'm cool with it because I never asked for any of that stuff to happen. In fact it was so flattering that it probably wasn't a good thing because I might have started to think I was something that I really wasn't. In other words, it inflated my ego and that's not good.

I like where I'm at now. The website still gets a good amount of hits, I still can enjoy the photography and writing without nearly as much pressure. I found out that the more opportunities come along the more pressure there is to maintain that level of success. Actually, I use the term success in a relative term. Success can mean a lot of different things to different people. To some having the best racing website in the country might be success. To others it might be getting the most ad revenue or using their site to gain fame as a media personality. In my case I was simply having fun and it kind of sucked me in deeper than I ever could imagine.

Enough about me and the website though. That isn't what anyone really wants to hear so I think I've beat that dead horse more than enough.

Did any of you hear Steve Kinser's dirtnation interview? Steve really seemed concerned about the costs of traveling with a series like the WoO. He even hinted that he's not adequately funded to do it should the costs go up much more and will have to evaluate his situation at the end of the year. That's big when the biggest name in Sprint Car racing has to back off from touring. Actually if you stop and think about it Scott Bloomquist, the Late Model equivalent to Steve, has been doing that for several years. In Scott's case he's trying to build his chassis business and is hitting the bigger shows. The two top names in their respective divisions and the travel is getting to be a burden.

My opinion is that Ted Johnson's 1978 nationwide traveling series that was established is an outdated business model. According to one website that tracks these stats gasoline averaged .65 cents per gallon in 1978 and it's currently close to $3.50 with diesel much higher. Criss crossing the country 100 nights per year is no longer a good business plan, especially when one considers that the inefficiency of the WoO schedule is based on 30 year old traditional booking dates. You know what I mean, Knoxville typically falls here, here and here on the schedule, the west coast swings are tied to this and that event. Back to the traditional eastern races, back down south, back west, east, midwest, etc., etc. From an efficiency standpoint their entire schedule should be rewritten and I think that's coming. It's a catch 22, if the sanction and purse goes up the gate has to increase for already strapped fans and that's going to further hurt the bottom line. If the racers cut back from 100 to 50 races then they can't afford their payments on those huge motorhomes.

Remember North Starr Speedway 1978? Steve Kinser and Jerry Richert Sr. engage in a heated battle with Kinser just barely taking the win from the veteran. Others that ran good against the WoO back then included Bob Hopp and John Stevenson. There was more equal equipment and the local guy could show up with his car on an open trailer and run wheel to wheel with Kinser and Swindell. Turn the clock ahead 30 years, the big names pull in with 18 wheelers but the few locals who are willing to even try to run against the WoO still have a little old trailer behind a pickup. It's obvious that we've got a problem.

The WoO need that local support but the day is coming when the only ones who can afford to own these cars are a few Nascar drivers. I'm not predicting doom and gloom but just like our way of life and the things we do for leisure this sport is also at a crossroads. If the biggest name in Sprint Car racing ends up having to park it at the end of the year then maybe it's finally time for a cost saving rules summit. After all, it ain't the cost of the car that makes this a fun sport.

What do you think?

Comments and cat calls to Stan Meissner
mndirt@hotmail.com

Tuesday thoughts

Welcome to my Tuesday April 29 ramblings. This blog isn't an official deal, it's just a place to jot down my personal thoughts. Consequently, it's not going to be a rah, rah, thing like a column or magazine article. It's just me exposing my thoughts to the world. You'll see everything from my glass half full side when things aren't going so well to my when all is well with the world posts. Right now having lost a month of racing and a lousy weekend forecast it's going to be glass half full. In fact it might even border on an empty glass.

I noticed tonight while riding home in the vanpool that gas went up about a dime since yesterday. I'm not going to b*tch about high gas prices, place blame or try to solve the worlds problems. I'm not an expert about how much oil is left in the earth's crust but I depend on it just like everybody else. My CI is a pretty low number, only 10 cylinders between my car and truck, one in the mower and one in the snowblower. Oh yeah, I've got a weed whacker that probably uses about 1/2 gallon per summer. That's it. I ride a vanpool to work and don't do a lot of driving because I only put about two miles per day on my truck. I'll be walking to the Park & Ride when the the path is no longer too muddy to walk. To put it in perspective, I change oil every 3,000 miles on my truck. I think it must have been mid November that I changed the oil and have only put about 1,000 miles on it since then. When I lived in the Cities I used to take the MTC bus to work so I've always been conservative when it comes to fuel consumption. Yeah, even at my pace it hurts but probably not as much as if I was driving 150 miles per day in a 4x4. My way ain't for everybody but it has worked for me for the past 25 years.

This weather has been getting me down. Not only have I not gotten spring fever but I'm not anticipating the racing season. Some of my friends have made the same comment (unsolicited by me) that they're feeling the same way this year. I'm sure it's the weather and rising travel expense. I suspect some of the enthusiasm will return when the weather improves. Who would have thought way back at the end of March standing in the infield as the Sandbox Arena that I wouldn't be seeing another race until May. I'm planning on the CLS opener this weekend but the weather isn't looking very good. Next week I'm planning on going to Jackson and Knoxville for two nights of Sprint Car racing. I'm working on credentials for the IRA so we can cover them in MRC. Got to remember to call Jackson early next week. I have a hunch things are going to suddenly get busy.

I'm working on rebuilding the gotomn.com website. Change the colors and the logo and tweak things a little. Nothing major, it just hasn't had a new graphics job for a few years. It's a slow process so I'm not sure when I'll be ready to unveil it but there won't be any earth shattering changes. I don't spend much time on it now that I've got the news feeds on there. Just upload a few photos and add a history article from time to time. I just uploaded the latest 2008 version of GRP's History project so you might want to check that one when you get a chance. I've got some contributed photos from Brian Skedgel to add too.

Well, that's going to do it for today.

I better start using this blog once in a while...

I haven't been using this blog enough to justify having it so I'm going to make an effort to jot a few thoughts down as often as possible.

Today is the 28th of April and with only a couple of days left this month the gotomn website has registered 11,243 "uniques." In other words, every time someone logs onto gotomn for the first time during the month they are considered a Unique visitor. This stat differs from hits (or page visits) which are total visits to the website for the month including return visits by the same individuals. Total hits so far this month are 16,606. Not that it really matters because my website doesn't have any advertising and I don't make any revenue for page visits but it's good to know that somebody is visiting the site. If they weren't then it wouldn't be worth my time and resources to continue doing it. It reminds me of the old joke if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it did it make any noise. So for gotomn.com is still making a little noise after over ten years online. LOL

Yeah, you heard me, gotomn.com has been online for ten years since I got that domain. Actually, I created my first website sometime in late 1996 as a personal homepage and it morphed into what it is now. Not that gotomn.com is really all that much in the overall scheme of racing websites. The ones still around that were online way back when I started mine are all sponsored commercial deals. There aren't many left that are basically hobby pages but I still enjoy fooling around with this stuff so I'll hang in there.

I'm listening to Steve Kinser on Dirtnation as I type. Usually I download and listen on my MP3 but I wanted to listen to Steve live. He's always an interesting interview with a wealth of experience. I've kinda come full circle and become more of a Kinser fan lately. He's pretty close in age to me, a family man, a grandparent and still trying to fit that King of the Outlaws image. He was just talking about the increased costs of travel, parts and fuel and it sounds like the Outlaws deal is getting be a tough way to make a living. As a fellow mid 50's grandpa I know how tough it must be playing this young man's game at an age where a guy wants to grab the remote and a beer and crawl into the recliner at the end of the day.

Man, I hope we get some decent weather this weekend. The advance forecast isn't looking the greatest but we'll just keep an eye on it and hope for the best. I refuse to take what seems to be an obligatory shot at Al Gore whenever it's cold and rainy. Is it just me or is anybody else sick of reading 50 posts blasting Gore everytime it rains? I'm not an Al defender, just want to read the facts and not the BS.

Well, not much more to say tonight. We'll see if we can make a habit of this and keep the blog going. It's Monday night and I'm tired. I think when the Kinser interview is done I'm gonna shut down, grab the remote, a glass of ice water and enjoy some recliner time. ;-)

Later,
Stan

NAVYDAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

"........0 for April at most of our tracks. Mother Nature won again. Saturday morning I woke up to a white ground. Seems like this winter will never end. As we enter May some one will get a show in. It's gettin' mighty old. Not one track around the area ran this weekend. Let's hope May is better. This weeks shot comes from Princeton April 18. See ya at the races.................."

No racing April 19, stayed home and practiced graphics

And came up with this design. Not racing but I thought it looked alright.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

........I finally got to see some outdoor live racing Friday night. My original plan was to head for Tri-Oval Speedway in Fountain City. Once again Mother Nature put the kibosh on that plan. Looking at the weather and radar I checked on Princeton Speedway and decided it was worth a try to go there. Fortunately the closer I got the better it looked. We were right on the edge of the clouds and racing got underway on time. Turned out to be a pretty good show. There were 91 cars in the pits. Andy Jones had em covered in the Midwest Mod feature, Curt Myer looked really strong in the Superstock feature, and Dale Mathison took the Modified feature race. Gessell Jr won in the streeters. It was good to be back. My plan for Saturday was Cedar Lake but once again Mother Nature stepped in and nixed that plan. This weeks shot of course comes from Princeton during the Mid-West Mod feature. See You at the races..................

Had to make a tough decision...

To stay home instead of spending six hours with a camera strap hanging around my neck in this cold damp weather. If I went racing I would have spent all day Sunday on the heating pad. See you all next week.

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

.........the weather makes one wonder if we're entering a new ice age. We've had it all this weekend. Snow, rain, thunder, etc. If the weather improves we may see some racing this upcoming weekend but I have my doubts. The moisture we're getting though goes a long way toward ending the dry periods we had last summer. Maybe we've just been spoiled by all these easy winters we've had. Regardless I'm ready for some racing.
This weeks shot comes from my one and only visit to Superior last summer. See you at the races..........

NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!

".........saw my first robin's this week, that must mean Spring is near. Also noted eagles are building or revamping their nests. Unless you live in Northern Minnesota where a foot or more of snow fell last night it looks Springlike around here. I'm still wondering though if the tracks namely Red Cedar and Cedar Lake will open.
This weeks shot comes from Kopellah as the streeters race in typical fashion at the "St. Croix Secret". Hopefully see ya soon at the races..........."

April Midwest Racing Connection online

The April edition of Midwest Racing Connection online is now available. Click on the link for the current issue for the pdf version.