In my January 13 post where I talked about making some changes going into the 2013 season that are going to affect my ability to attend as many races have in the past I mentioned that I'd be posting in this blog. This is my first post about racing with that promise in mind and I hope you enjoy it. During the past 14 years of writing I got some positive feedback about my columns so I decided to continue writing about events I attend. Of course as a photographer who happens to do a little bit of video it didn't take long to decide what direction I was going to take this idea in. I'll continue to do a "column" of sorts in this blog on a regular basis with the added benefit over print publications of being able to add photos and video clips to illustrate my points. The intent of this blog is not to solicit photo or video sales, the quality of my videos isn't fit for sale but are for illustration purposes only. As always, all photos that I take will be added to the gotomn.com website photo gallery and select photos and clips will be displayed in this blog. If you see something you absolutely have to have I can make it available at the going rate. The main idea this season is to get back to the basics, have fun and maybe entertain and enlighten in the process. With that having been said let's get on with it!
On Saturday night January 19, 2013, I attended the fourth annual Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series Banquet at the Hampton Inn located in Arden Hills. This makes the fourth year in a row that I have attended the UMSS Banquet so I've been there for all of them. The first year the banquet took place at Pro Kart Indoors south of the Cities near 35w and Hwy 13. The Kart racing was a hit and I think everyone had a great time but, unfortunately, the venue was quickly outgrown. The next year we gathered at Running Aces which worked out great for me because it's just a couple miles down the road. Those first two years I took Banquet photos but I gave up that gig on account of not being able to commit to the entire UMSS season and all of their races.
Last year the banquet was held at the Mermaid over on Highway 10. I didn't take photos last year but attended as a writer representing the paper and covered it in my column. This year I bought a ticket and attended as a fan and Sprint Car enthusiast. At this point I should repeat the disclaimer that I am not representing any publications with this blog so don't hold my feet to the fire. I'm going to try to describe a few things I heard as I recall them but I did not bring a digital recorder or note pad so if I got some of the details wrong please forgive me. You can correct me via email or in person, I take no offense as I recognize that I don't always hear or have a great memory.
One thing that caught my attention was the combined JSTS/UMSS shows with backing from the Minnesota Mafia. One of the Mafia members addressed the crowd (forgive me for not catching his name) and talked about a series of races down in SW MN and NW IA. I gathered from his description that the Minnesota Mafia has several members involved and is giving back to Sprint Car racing much the same way as Fan's Fund does with the Late Models up in our area. I was a bit surprised that the UMSS is branching out that far but I guess when the opportunity presented itself to add cars, fans and interest to the series they jumped at it. When I was involved a few years ago if memory serves me the emphasis was more on keeping the series local to the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin but now they're seeing a need to travel a little more than they did in 2010.
Other items of interest that I picked up at the Banquet was that the high car count for the Traditonal Sprints was something like 14. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought they said that 17 cars are in the process of being built so that their number could likely double this season. The UMSS Traditional Sprints, especially on the Saint Croix Valley Raceway, are one of the coolest classes of race cars that have come along in many years. Take a walk through the pits and you'll see that these guys are fun, friendly and appear to be having a blast. With a family lake home five minutes from SCVR I plan on getting out there whenever possible.
The Micros were mentioned in conjunction with Cedar Lake Speedway's purchase of the former Sandbox Arena. There is going to be a weekend of Midget racing to kick things off out there then a weekend of Micro Sprint racing. Ron Bernhagen mentioned something about the CLS Arena hosting Micros every Saturday afternoon during the racing season. If that is the case the class is sure to grow if they are able to race both Friday night and Saturday afternoons.
Ron also mentioned another 4 or 5 cars joining the winged ranks. **MY OBSERVATION WARNING** and I hope nobody gets their undies in a bundle on account of me saying this. The UMSS winged cars have held their own, great in this day and age when other classes numbers are dwindling, but they haven't been growing much either. Seems like every year they lose a few and gain a few. The big thing about the winged cars is the cost of motors, tires, wangs and thangs. Dump a winged car and you just spent $1000 even if you don't hurt the chassis or motor. The class is doing well so don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, I'd just like to see more growth so they can catch up to some of the established classes (Mods, Lates, etc.). Joe Kouba mentioned the challenge of finding an affordable engine package. My take on that, it's probably not a good idea to deviate too far from what other 360 motor rules. Some of the UMSS guys want to go run Jackson or Knoxville or maybe some ASCS shows. If the UMSS motors get too far from what's standard in 360's across the country they'd put themselves on an island. It's good when the UMSS drivers can get out there and run in different places as it adds interest and fans. I think the sleeves, tire rule and that sort of thing is the way to keep going with the 360's. Let's face it, winged 360 and 410 Sprints are an expensive high profile type of racing not for the timid or faint of heart. Only big boys and big girls need apply.
Now for the videos I promised you. Forgive me for the shaky video, I was sitting in my chair and holding my pocket video camera over my head. I'll be using the tripod and monopod at the tracks so the quality will be better than this first night out. The winged division only consists of part 2, I had some issues with my editing software that I'll have to work through. Mostly like I said the videos will be to supplement the writing and aren't for sale.
First one is a clip from the Micro awards:
Next up is the Traditional Sprint Car awards presentation:
And finally this is part 2 of the UMSS winged 360 Sprint Car awards presentation:
Hopefully you enjoyed this post and it will be the first of many during the course of the 2013 racing season. How often I do these posts is going to be in proportion to how many races I am able to attend. I'll certainly make an effort to post at least every other week to parallel the frequency of the popular racing papers. In other words, I'll post enough to keep it interesting but not so much as to become a pain in the butt.
As I mentioned in my January 13 post I stepped down from writing a column on account of not being able to commit to the necessary number of races to do a print column justice. I've certainly got the time to attend more than the 6 races I set as a goal but probably not the funds unless of course I can get the support of some tracks. What I'm doing here is fun, I enjoy the creative process including the photos, video clips and writing. On the other hand I'm not sure how sustainable this will be now that I'm doing it on my own. We'll see what happens and hopefully six months from now things will come together where I'll be looking at 16 or 18 events. That would be great if that were to happen but my expectations this season are modest and not presuming on what happened in the past.
I value your comments and input about what I'm trying to do here. Please feel free to give me feedback about this blog. mndirt@hotmail.com
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
