Cold sweaty palms and a knot in the pit of my stomach

No, I'm not sick but got a sinking feeling when thinking what a summer without much racing would be like. Let's just say that I got dangerously close to the edge but caught myself before I took the leap. No, I'm not upping my number of combined races/street rod shows to 25, 30, 40 or more as I had done in the past. The only way I could hope to attend that many races would be to take on a part time job all winter to save up for racing. Seeing as racing is something I do for fun I can't see any sense working all winter to fund my racing. Actually there's kind of a gray area where relaxation stops and work starts as far as my racing goes. Most people go to the races to sit back, enjoy some good food and drink, hang with friends and family and enjoy the action. I keep myself pretty busy at the track running around gathering information and taking photos for the next story. Hell, even if I wasn't writing for some publication I'd probably keep on doing that anyways. My hobbies have always been a lot of work whether it was the way I approached fishing or whatever. I'm just not one to sit and relax much on summer weekends.

Recent developments have made it clear that I can probably do about a dozen instead of the half dozen I was originally planning. I probably sound like I'm a step ahead of the poor house driving old cars and not being able to make as many races but that is not the case. I make a pretty good living but keep in mind that when one is dealing with non-race-fan family it's only fair that every dollar spent racing is matched with non racing activities. In other words, yeah, I can go racing, no problem with that but I have other things to tend to. Rabid race chasers think nothing of dropping $500 on their passion but a lot of people aren't able to do that for various reasons. Let's just say that I'm at a point where my racing has become more of a juggling act and leave it at that.

This October through December is the first time in five or six years that I didn't get a flurry of photo orders. Usually I sell the most photos of the entire year in this period leading up to the Holidays. This year I sold zero, zilch, zippo, nadda, nothing...not a single order. People are always complimenting my work, the papers and magazines use my photos on a regular basis and I have lost track of the number of websites and Facebook pages that they're displayed on. As a matter of fact just the other day someone reposted one of my sample pics and commented that I do a good job. So what has changed? More photographers competing for less business and racers spending less on pictures. There are some very aggressive salesmen who have gotten into racing photography during the past few seasons. I have always taken a laid back approach and been able to make enough to supplement my expenses by sitting back and waiting for people to contact me. That approach does not work anymore when you've got three photographers going from trailer to trailer at tracks they wouldn't even have bother with a few years ago. Add to that some of them even have helpers that make sales contacts in the pits and stands while they're shooting. My approach can't compete with that and the very word "competition" doesn't jibe with weekend relaxation. I've got a very busy day job that wears me out so I don't want my hobby to turn into a job. I'm not complaining mind you but I do miss that few hundred bucks I used to make every year at this time. I've been doing the racing media gig pretty much by myself for almost fifteen years and all of a sudden there's all this competition and aggressiveness. Hey man, I'm sixty years old, they can knock themselves out and fall over each other as far as I'm concerned. Not my idea of fun.

That's kind of the reason that the Street Rods have become so attractive to me. Last summer I went to Back to the 50's at the Fairgrounds and took hundreds of photos. With admission only $12, the Fairgrounds less than $25 miles and only a couple of big shows a year you can see where the cost comes in way less than racing. I had a great time and plan on doing both big shows at the Fair next year as well as some of the community car shows around the area. A lot of those shows like the weekly deal at North St. Paul are free so the costs are minimal as compared to racing. I think that a mix of car shows and racing will work fine and money will be much less of an issue.

I'm sure that a lot of you probably still don't get where I'm coming from so I'll put it another way. Each year after the holidays have passed I have to come up with a racing schedule and a workable budget before I can commit for the season to the publications. I appreciate how important it is for them to get a firm commitment so that they know how much space they're going to need and can set it up with the tracks. What happens a lot of times is that people think it would be cool to write for a racing publication. They imagine they'll get some recognition, maybe some perks like passes and that sort of thing so they agree to do it. One of the publishers has told me that it's very difficult to find people who hang in there for every issue and last the season. I know what's involved because I did it for thirteen years through neck surgery, weddings, the birth of six grandkids, car troubles, loss of loved ones and just about anything else you could imagine. Readers look at our mug shot in the paper and think that our life revolves around racing but nothing could be further from the truth.

So anyways, another simple principle is that I like for my word yes to mean yes. When I look at my budget in January I have to know that I can put in a full schedule and do them justice. Anyways, a little more on the competition that I alluded to. Take the Racing Connection for example. I first came in contact with MRC at the MOA back in 1999 when I picked up a copy at a Motorsports store. There was no dirt and no Sprint Car coverage so I contacted the publisher, we arranged a meeting and it was like an interview where I pretty much sold him on adding more dirt and Sprint Car coverage. Back in 1999 ATD was the only act in town and you couldn't have paid most people to write for MRC or "that asphalt paper" as they used to call it. I plugged along for years as the only exclusive dirt writer and I'd like to think that my contributions were instrumental in gaining acceptance among the dirt racers. I used to be self employed so whenever I do anything I "own it" or in other words approach is like it's my own. Anyways, things have changed, now MRC gets a lot of offers and that competition factor where others are coveting my gig. It's uncertain at this point what involvement I'll have going forward, maybe a more reduced role or maybe I won't be asked back in that capacity. Whatever happens I can be proud that of what I accomplished while I was with the paper and would like to continue to contribute on a more limited basis. It's got to fit their needs though. I still plan on doing a little for the magazine.

I have been giving it some thought and if nothing else works out I may start doing some event recaps with photos right here on this blog. Kind of an online column similar to what I was doing for MRC with photos, a story and some video clips. Who knows, maybe even some kind of podcast and tie it all in with gotomn. As I have explained my enjoyment comes from using the technology to communicate. I've got a lot of experience and it would be a shame not to share it in some small way. Nevertheless, there's a balancing act involved here. Doing all that work to promote the interests of tracks, series and sanctions would not come without a thank you in the form of hospitality. I'm adamant about that, some don't agree but hey, you're all free to do this. Go out and spend a few grand on camera and video equipment, a few hundred on web hosting, learn graphics, photo editing, writing, etc., put down your beer, crawl down out of the stands and show me now it's done. What's that? I must be crazy? Yeah, I thought that's what you'd say. LOL

Plans shaping up for 2012

I have had a few people ask me how I'm doing and wanting to know what's up lately so I thought I'd make a blog post.

In 2007 I went to 29 races, in 2008 I attended 38 races and in 2009 I set a personal record with 44. In 2010 I was down to 25 and in 2011 I came in at just 18, the lowest total since 2001 when I was hobbled due to a neck injury that required surgery at the end of the season.

There will be even fewer races in 2012 but more on that later. Doing racing media work is for all intents and purposes volunteer work, a lot like a non-paying second job that requires travel and weekly expense. Anybody who has volunteered for anything knows that a person needs to have a passion for it in order to devote their time, resources and energy to it. My enthusiasm level has waned during the past couple of years, no fault of the racing but due to personal circumstances. Going into 2012 I decided that it would make more sense to fit my racing schedule more closely to my circumstances than to take my frustration out on everyone and everything. In other words I had to make my mind up that I was going to let it go. Once I did that I started to get enthused about other things besides racing and it became easier to accept the fact that my circumstances wouldn't allow me to chase races for the first time in 15 years.

I was looking for something that didn't require so my travel and expense so I added some more guitars and 24 track recording software for my computer. It was a bit of an expense up front but doesn't come anywhere near the $50 to $100 per week I was spending chasing races for all those years in the long run. I'm not a great guitar player and I can't sing a note, in fact it could be debated whether I'm even a good guitar player but I enjoy it. My only goal playing and recording music is for the songs to be listenable and to improve a little with each new tune. If I think of it in those terms I will be a success. I have no desire to ever make money or play in a band and oddly enough that's what makes it so much fun. Money as they say is the root of all evil, add money to the equation and it can screw up a lot of formerly fun things. One needs to look no further than some of the miserable racers to realize that. Not that money is bad but I've got a day job that wears me out so I don't want my weekend relaxation to become an endless pursuit of financial gain.

So here's the plan for 2012. Keep the gotomn.com website up and running. I am paid up through next May and plan to stay online as long as possible. It costs me around $120 a year for the domain and hosting and that is all out of pocket. The site still gets a good number of visitors because of it's longevity (online since 1999) even though I'm not doing a lot with it right now. I am contemplating splitting it up into several interests where a person would enter a start page at gotomn.com and could go into the racing section, the street rod section and a couple other areas as well. Again, the site is unsponsored and there's no obligations to anybody so I can do anything I want to with it. I just turned 60 in September and have just under six years left to work. I find as I get older that my energy level for pushing stuff onto a website in my free time isn't as intense as it was at 45 when I first got into it. It's kind of interesting that I didn't even start this until I was 45 years old when you think about it. That's a long time in internet years.

Other plans for 2012 are to maybe do some limited work for the Midwest Racing Connection. I'm not sure how that's going to shake out for me or their needs though. I'm only planning on going to about six of my favorite races in 2012 and the incentive for doing racing media work and the only compensation is a media pass. Is it worth working on a column all summer just to get into a handful of races? I don't know, we'll see if we can work anything out and go from there. I just finished an article for Flat Out magazine and would like to continue to do some work for them as well. In addition to any racing I do I'd like to attend the two big Street Rod shows at the Fairgrounds, Back to the 50's and Car Craft Summer Nationals. Aside from those things I'll be doing some home projects and spending time with family. The idea is that I'd like to pick up the pace of the racing back up in a couple years after I get some things sorted out. We'll see if the sport allows me to lay low for a year or two due to personal circumstances or if I end up getting kicked to the curb and spit out never to return. I'd say that I've been pretty loyal and gave it everything I had but I'm afraid it could be one of those "what have you done for us lately" situations. I can't go back to sitting in the stands because I'd lose interest and get bored with it. Like a lot of people involved in racing I'm not a very good fan.

Well, I guess that kind of sums it up for me. I'm not going to announce this blog post on Facebook or the message boards. I'd feel presumptuous doing that. I'm just putting it out here and the good karma will lead those who are interested to this place.

Later, Stan

Thinking about getting back into the blog thangy!!!

Wow, my last post was about Daytona and it's rapidly closing in on the middle of November. Lately I have been typing a lot at work and playing a lot of guitar so there isn't a lot of motivation to post on the blog. The racing schedule is looking like it's going to be a lot smaller next season. It remains to be seen how that will affect my status with the tracks. I plan on doing some work for the magazines and I'd like to cover some of the online racing options as well. We'll see if that works out or I just might end up doing my own thing for a while. I'd like to be all things to all people but it costs money and takes a lot of time to chase the sport along with a lot of work doing the writing and photos. I'll be out there when I can and plan on doing more of the Street Rod stuff as well. If it wasn't such a daunting task to redesign the website I'd do something with that but it's going to have to wait.

Traditional websites like mine that just have photos, lines and a message board don't get much attention anymore. 15 years ago a person had to endure 14.4 phone modems, x486 computers and learn html in order to put up a website. Now in 2011 anybody can easily make a huge impact on the web using Facebook, Youtube and one of the photo hosting sites. I don't regret the time I spent working on computers and learning all that stuff back then but it's not of much value anymore aside from knowing a little more than the average person about building PC's, hosting, servers, and a bunch of that stuff. It's getting to the point where the only reason I'm keeping the site running is to host the trivia contest. We'll see if I can get motivated to do some blogging.

Thoughts about Daytona and other stuff

The Daytona 500 was fun to watch this year. Dave Blaney had a good run and would have probably had a top 10 had it not been for having to take evasive action to avoid a wreck. Dave was forced to cut through the infield resulting in the flying sod doing some damage to the car that resulted in leaking coolant and oil. They had to park it.

The Wood Bros 21 won the race with a driver by the name of Trevor Bayne taking the win in only his second Cup start. Immediately after the race my dirt track friends were congratulating Trevor and saying how great it was that the Wood Bros won. Quite frankly I have never paid that much attention to NASCAR racing to offer much of an opinion.

I've watched my share of Cup races for sure but I don't keep close track of the sport. Usually I'll watch their races up until our season starts and then only catch select events until our season concludes at which time I split my attention between football and the remaining Cup schedule. Not that it's bad racing, I'm just not much of a television fan of anything, racing or otherwise. Racing is something I do on a warm summer night, not something I watch on television.

Speaking of racing on television, what do you think of the Dirt Knights series? My wife was watching over my shoulder and she was pretty critical of it. I'm with her on that one, I never noticed how small of a niche sport dirt track racing is until I saw them hauling to tracks in the middle of nowhere and racing in front of half empty stands. The USMTS is decent racing but I think the biggest thing they've got going for them is the hype and media coverage. I think in that respect they really know how to do it right. On the other hand, a big old heavy dirt Modified will never get me as excited as a volatile high speed on the edge Sprint Car. Basically a Modified looks like a Late Model that they forgot to put the nose piece on. Heavy, wide, slower and not as exciting as Sprints. Good racing at times but certainly not worth all the hype and attention they seem to generate.

I'm off today for the Presidents Day holiday and already spent a couple hours moving snow. When it stops (another 1'-3" by 6pm) I'll have to go out there and clean it off again.

Not much else happening around here these days. I'm just trying to hang in there and save a little gas and hot dog money for the racing season. That might be a little more of a challenge this year with the predicted gas prices and more family obligations. I'll get to enough races to keep a column going and do some magazine work but it probably won't be a record year. Actually, I think my record years are going to be a thing of the past. I'll still be out there as much as possible but I've got a couple retirement parties and even a possible wedding in the family so there are things tugging at my time and resources.

I look around at the racing writers and photographers and I wonder how they all manage to check out on their non-racing family and friends all summer. One particular scribe I know of logged in 160 shows last season. You don't go to 160 nights of racing without skipping out on more than a few graduations, weddings and other functions. Some might conclude that I'm jealous for bringing this up. To the contrary, I have always felt that 25 races per season is plenty. I've got 22 penciled in that are more or less a sure thing and another half dozen that require travel and motels that are a question mark. We'll see if the money is there and make a decision as those races get closer. I've got a mighty nice fire ring in my back yard and a great family so I can take it or leave it as far as getting to every last race. I guess as a writer and photographer I shouldn't admit that but I'm just being honest. I get worn down by the frantically busy seasons, the late night drives, the long hours of writing and photo editing each week and everything else that I do during the racing season.

One cool thing about 2011 is that I found myself with an open spot in my schedule during the "Back to the 50's" car show at the State Fairgrounds. Cedar Lake replaced the IRA Sprints with the USMTS at this year's Masters. Seeing as I'm now considered a Sprint Car writer and photographer that left me without a reason to attend the event. Some have asked why I don't go out and watch some of these events as a fan. My answer is that I have obligations to fill on the Sprint Car side and I have to conserve my funds to cover those events. The pie doesn't have quite enough pieces to venture much outside my main gig.

I believe that I may have lost my enthusiasm for blogging

I guess the lack of posts during the past six months underscores that point. I've got a few too many things going here and I think I'm going to have to transition from blogging to podcasting in the coming months. The podcast will be on midwestracingtalk.com and I like that better than blogging for the simple reason that I don't have to type. I approach the websites as a seasonal deal and don't feel an overwhelming need to work on them during the winter so we'll get busy on them pretty soon.

Maybe I'll retain the blog and use it for announcements and that sort of thing.