Speaking of feedback, you can leave comments about my blog posts on this blog, in fact I encourage you to do so. In addition to leaving feedback here on the blog you can email me at mndirt@hotmail.com with comments, questions, feedback or whatever is on your mind. Your feedback positive (or negative if you think I've got it coming) is greatly appreciated.
I am not a NASCAR authority and in fact admit to only being a casual fan of pavement Stock Car racing. Mostly I tune into NASCAR to follow the progress of the drivers who got their start on the dirt. My casual interest in NASCAR dates back to when I was a kid and my dad used to follow NASCAR racing. NASCAR television coverage dates back to at least 1960 but the first flag to flag race coverage did not take place until 1979. I remember watching those early race segments with him but the details are fuzzy now that over 50 years have passed.
My wife and I got hooked up to cable back in 1985 when we were living in Saint Paul and have had either satellite or cable ever since. I was a fan of the old Speed Thunder broadcasts and watched quite a bit of NASCAR in those days while we were busy raising a young family. During my tenure as a racing reporter and photographer I got some up close and personal exposure to NASCAR and some of the top level drivers. I even had the opportunity to interview a couple of NASCAR drivers back in 2003 so as you can see it's impossible to be working around the dirt tracks and not get some exposure to NASCAR stars.
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| Up close and personal with Dale Earnhardt Jr. We were so close during this press conference that I had to back up to get Dale in the shot. Now that's close. |
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| Another close encounter with a NASCAR driver in 2006 |
Racing fans live for the rush of being up close to the action, but nobody wants to be a part of the action. Unless you're living in a cave you know that Kyle Larson got into a huge wreck during the last lap of the Daytona Nationwide race and parts of his car ended up in the stands. As of Friday reports are that two fans are still hospitalized and one issued a statement thanking the other fans for coming to his aid and stating that he would not be alive if it were not for their actions. A day or so after the accident reports said that some of the injured fans were talking to lawyers about a possible lawsuit and message boards lit up condemning them. As I pointed out in a couple of the threads, I'll reserve judgment without having all of the facts. Some fans suggested that these were frivolous suits due to scratches and bruises and that any fans involved should be banned from all race tracks for life. My observation is that anytime the EMT's spend well over an hour stabilizing the injured before moving them that tells you the injuries are more serious than scratches and bruises. If you saw the images of Larson's tire, wheel and brake assembly that made it up to the ninth row it's easy to imagine it doing more damage than scratches and bruises. How will the accident affect their quality of life going forward, are there going to be long term health problems requiring surgeries? Was there disfigurement involved? Will their injuries affect their ability to make a living? This situation will no doubt play out behind the scenes and most likely drag on for several years. I'm not going to pass judgement on the deal but I hope that everyone is treated fairly and things work out for the best for all involved.
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| I took this shot in 2005 at Kansas Speedway. Fans like being close to the action but nobody wants to be a part of it. |
NASCAR has some issues to resolve on the two Super Speedways. Most articles I'm reading suggest that the accident was made more severe by the car hitting a crossover gate and that the tire went through, not over the fence. These are incidental details with the big question still being, "can these cars compromise the integrity of the catch fence?" Based on what I have observed the answer is yes they can under certain circumstances. Accidents could be replicated over and over and are going to produce different results every time. Most of the time the results are going to be predictable but just like in football an ugly bounce can produce unexpected results. One time when I was around 10 years old I went out to Cedar Lake with my dad and the Wilke clan. We were sitting on the backstretch near where the pit grandstand and concession are located today. I remember there being a spot where there was little or no fencing and a berm around the track. There was a big tree up close to the track and races used to go very late out there, often until one or two in the morning. I got tired and leaned up against the tree and fell asleep. During one of the Jalopy races a car lost a wheel and tire. The tire climbed the bank, flew up in the air, and bounced off the tree inches from my head and rolled back onto the track. If that tire had hit me I probably wouldn't be here today. Fortunately tracks are much safer today but anytime you're dealing with that much speed and the possibility of crashes and mechanical failure the unexpected can happen. Today when I'm down in the infield I follow the advice of a fellow photographer and "go for the protection". You'll see me hang back during the Features and concentrate on wide angle shots with that in mind.
The other big topic down in Florida was Danica starting on the front row and leading the race. Man, there sure seems to be a lot of Danica haters judging by posts on the message boards and Facebook. It seems to me that a lot of NASCAR fans are totally ignoring her accomplishments in Indy Car racing. True, she wasn't a dominant driver in Indy Cars but she led the Indy 500 and finished 3rd in that race, led Daytona and finished 8th and won an Indy Car race in Japan. In addition to her accomplishments on the track. There are two things that Danica brings to the sport that admittedly exceed her on track success to date. One is sponsor dollars, Danica is a sponsor magnet and she brings money to the race teams she is associated with. Second, according to one article I read the 2013 Daytona 500 boasted a 30% increase in viewers. Danica draws viewers to the sport and more specifically female viewers. To put things in perspective, my wife watched some of the Daytona 500 to see how Danica was doing and I don't think she has ever paid attention to a NASCAR race. I think that pretty much says it all. Danica is good for the sport, she is a good driver, she brings money and generates interest. She'll have some good runs and maybe some not so good runs. Will she make the chase or win a race this season? That remains to be seen but every driver in the field has up and down weeks and seasons. She is a good driver who will do good things for the sport and she deserves to be there.
I listened to some of the dirt track racing from Florida but I'll admit to not paying very close attention. Unlike NASCAR where I can watch unlimited television coverage as part of my cable lineup dirt track racing broadcasts during the past few years have been pretty much exclusively an online viewing experience. There are a host of PPV internet video feeds to choose from but none of them offer ease of operation with my current TV setup. Either I watch racing in my office on a 17" monitor or on my wife's clunky old laptop. We have high speed internet and have two HDTV's that we can get online with. The older one accesses the internet through a Nintendo Wii and the newer one through an internet capable Blue Ray player. The picture is good through the Wii and superb through the Blue Ray. Unfortunately none of these PPV racing internet broadcasts have seen fit to offer streaming through those devices and likely never will on account of the expense of licensing for those devices. The alternative would be to purchase a new laptop with an HDMI output and stream the laptop through the television. I'm not going to buy a new $600 laptop to watch dirt track racing on television a couple nights a year. By my way of thinking dirt track racing is something to be experienced on a nice summer evening out in the fresh air with friends and family. Dirt track racing is a total sensory experience, not something I think of sitting on the couch and watching on television. Not to mention the charges I'd run up on my credit card every weekend watching streaming races. I'm trying to pay those charges down, not increase them. Like I said, this is just my way of thinking based on my personal preferences and TV setup but I will admit to having paid to watch the Prelude on HBO. If something like that was available all the time I might watch a few more televised dirt track races.
As far as Florida results go I check the box scores the next day on the racing news sites and watch highlight clips on YouTube. I don't get too excited about the Florida season openers, especially with a series like the World of Outlaws where they race 100 times per season. We know who the fast guys are going to be from year to year and Florida isn't always indicative of who's going to win the title. For somebody like me who thinks of racing as a hands on experience Florida is mostly out of sight, out of mind.
Our local season is kicking off in less than a week with Cedar Lake's Sasquatch Indoor Midget Nationals. I had the privilege of taking photos both nights at Cedar Lake's last indoor Midget race back in 2008 at what was then known as the Sandbox Arena. It is my understanding that more seating has been added to the newly christened Cedar Lake arena and they have beefed up the ventilation. Aside from the problems with air quality back in 2008 the racing was awesome. One Heat race I remember in particular was one of the best Midget races I have ever seen. If the racing is anything like that this should be a great show and I give it two thumbs up. Unfortunately I will miss this event. It's going to be tough to sit this one out because I would like nothing better than to be a part of local racing history. I wish CLS a safe and successful debut of their newly remodeled facility.
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| Dave Darland at the Sandbox 2008. Action will be close and exciting at the CLS Arena and I encourage local racing fans to attend. |
I'm still making adjustments to my 2013 schedule and I'm looking for a deal so that I can add a few more Saturday night dates. Whenever I attend a race I plan on writing about it here in the blog, illustrating the article with photos and video clips and making all of the photos available to the track. True, this isn't a high profile website as far as racing sites go but I'm approaching this season on the assumption that if my writing and photography got me a 14 year gig with a racing paper and the opportunity to write full feature length articles for a magazine I must have been doing something right. There are a couple of possibilities but I want to cover some races here on the blog first so I have something to point to as an example. If nothing pans out with the Saturday night racing I'll probably dig a little deeper into the Street Rod schedules and attend a few more of those shows. I've got a few Saturday night races that I don't want to miss at any cost but I haven't figured out how I'm going to approach a pay to work situation. I'll have to get my hands on some phone numbers and make a few calls to see where things stand. I've got a lot of years invested in covering racing so now we're going to put my track record to the test and see if all that work and expense was appreciated.
I had to sign up for two single days of vacation to complete my 2013 preferences on the roster so I chose Friday April 19, the night of the Jackson Spring Sprint Car special and Friday August 2nd, the Friday of the USA Nationals. Jackson would cost around $70 in gas and another $70 for a motel (too old for those all night drives) and April will be upon us soon so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make that one. The USA Nationals comes with a big price tag as well depending on my status so we'll have to see how things look when August rolls around.
I want to thank Jim Morrison with Hawkeye Racing News for accepting my offer to contribute photos on a reduced schedule. I'll be sending exclusive photos with captions to Hawkeye from all of the races that I attend. Likewise thanks to GRP Motorsports and Ron Bernhagen of the Saint Croix Valley Raceway for helping to make my limited 2013 racing schedule possible. Without your assistance I would not be able to continue to do this. I mentioned something in a previous post about shooting for race teams but haven't given that idea much thought since then. We'll see how things work out and plan from there. Wish me luck, it looks like I'm going to need it.
See you in April!!!
