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
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