Yard work, 40% this afternoon and 30% tonight, Friday night tracks cancel

Saturday morning, 8:34am, checking my email and the message boards, getting ready to do some yard work. Yard work...not my favorite thing, I have been doing it most of my life so you'd think I'd be better at it. At 14 years old I was spending my summers working at a truck farm (1966/1967). After two years of that I spent another two years at the North Oaks Country Club (1968 and 1969) until I left for the Navy. My first job in transportation was working in the traffic department of the Northrup King (seed) Company. With all that gardening and horticulture experience you'd think that today my yard would be the nicest on the block. Wrong!!!

My yard doesn't look very nice for two reasons. Number one is that it takes a tremendous time commitment to have a nice yard. You have to be out there working on it every night. I don't care to do that. Reason number two, it's also a financial commitment. One needs to (a) spend a lot of money on weed killer, fertilizer and landscaping or (b) get a company like Chemlawn to come in and spray your yard. I'd rather put my money in my gas tank than dump it in my yard just so I can keep up with the neighbors.

Nevertheless, I'm going to get busy by 9am trimming, cutting and organizing. I've got a couple bags of leafs for the compost, the usual stuff. It doesn't look bad when it's freshly cut but a close examination would reveal that it could still use a lot of work. I'd rather go racing. Maybe when I retire I'll spend more time in the yard and get it looking better. Then I'll have time to make bird feeders out of coffee cans and have the little propellers in my garden. All that usual stuff that old people do in their yards.

The plan is for Cedar Lake's weekly show tonight. I see the "R" chance is still around, 40% this afternoon and 30% tonight. I better make sure that I bring a trash bag to cover my camera if I get caught in the rain. That's pretty much routine all summer. Rain hits, cover the camera quick, scoop up the lawn chair and camera bag and run for cover. I hope that doesn't happen tonight. I want to get some right side shots using available light and that isn't possible when there's too much cloud cover. Also tonight I've got to try and get some more "head shots" for the track so they can use them in their advertising. I'm trying to get all the Late Model and Modified drivers and I'm about half done. Some drivers have made it a bit of a challenge but I won't get sucked into the local racing politics. All I'm trying to do here is help the track out a little. If anybody doesn't want to cooperate I'll have to use my 300mm zoom lens from a distance and catch them when they're not looking. LOL There's more than one way to get a picture.

I wasn't planning on going to the races last night and was surprised when Dan Plan called and said all the Friday tracks were canceling. It hadn't rained a drop all day and even though it was showing up on the radar the tracks usually try to get the show in anyways. I think if it had been a big traveling series some of them would have raced but tracks will probably be quick to cancel with the high fuel prices. Even if the cars show up they still need a certain number of people in the stands and with these high prices people aren't going to spend their money to attend an obvious rainout. I think the days of hustling to get a weekly show in before the rain hits are pretty much going to be a thing of the past. The margin isn't that good for these tracks on weekly shows anymore, break even or even lose money. It costs money to prepare the track, employees have to be paid, concessions have to be stocked. That's why they're pulling the plug earlier than they used to.

So I hope things go well tonight. Better get busy out in that yard.

Just checking in on Thursday...

Hey, just checking in to see how everyone is going this fine Thursday. It looks like it's going to get wet tonight but from what I hear the rain chance tapers off tomorrow through the weekend. Maybe we'll get a full weekend of racing in.

I've got some cook graphics ideas going so I'm going to sign off now so I can jot them down before I forget. I'll have more to say tomorrow through the weekend as well as some new racing photos.

Later,

Stan

Photo & Graphics projects, CLS to July, slow start so far...

I've been kind of busy with graphics projects the past couple of weeks. Here's a sneak peek at a low resolution sample:



This one should look nice in a frame at 11"x14" and I am confident that Mike will be happy with the results. The place where I have them processed does a beautiful job but it's more expensive than a lot of places so that cuts the profit margin. Fortunately I have picked up my speed to the point where I can kick out a design pretty quickly. Most of all I enjoy the artistic aspect of taking the photos and coming up with the designs then figuring out how to make my rough sketch a reality. It's more fun than sitting around watching television at night.

I was looking at my racing schedule and realized that I'm going to be at the Cedar Lake Speedway for every show through the World of Outlaws Sprints in July. The Saturday following the WoO I'm planning on heading up to Brainerd for the Kouba Memorial. I understand that the Princeton National has been changed to a one day event and that the WoO will be in Brainerd that Friday. I already took that day of vacation and will have to figure out how I'm going to handle this. At these gas prices it might make sense to stay somewhere up that way on Friday night. We'll figure that out as the time gets closer.

This season has gotten off to a slow start with all the rainouts. Even some of the nights we've been able to go racing the weather has been a factor before, during or after the show. Last Saturday at Cedar Lake I tore my camera down on the tailgate of my pickup, packed it away and by the time I got to County Road CC and H it was pouring rain. If the rains had come five minutes earlier I'd have been caught with my camera and lenses laying on my tailgate. That was a close call.

Well, time to get going and do some relaxing before bedtime.

Stan Meissner

Tired and sore, taking it easy...posting photos

Man, am I ever tired and sore tonight from bailing out the sump hole the other day. I guess it must have caught up with me after using muscles I haven't used for a while. My back is bad under normal circumstances so being on my knees bent over in an awkward position for four hours with few breaks took it's toll. When I'd try to stand up it would take five minutes to fully straighten my back. After two nights on my feet at the races I'd have probably been sore anyways so bailing the water just added to it. It's not much fun getting old but I guess it's not so bad in some ways. I think a person gets a different perspective on a lot of things and ain't in such a big hurry to do things as they used to be.

One of those things is being in a rush to be the first to upload my event photos and announce it on the boards. I have been doing this website thing since before the internet was very popular and caught on with the masses. I've been at it since late 1996 but it really didn't start to catch on as a racing site until 1997 and 1998. In fact, by 1999 it started getting so many hits that it outgrew my personal homepage bandwidth allotment and I had to get a domain and hosting account. The other day I found one of my first ever action photos, a shot from around 1969 taken at CLS. There were no fences, no crash walls, no grandstand and tiered parking all the way around the track. I just walked from the pits up to the track in the area off turn two where the cars enter with an old point and shoot. This is the result:



I was hanging around the Wilke pit area on this night and felt like taking some photos. Now I wish that I had taken more but at that time I hadn't started to take my photography seriously.

My dad took and developed his own photos as a hobby so I guess you could say I've been around it all my life. Here's a photo of me checking out a camera, I'd guess it was taken sometime in 1952:



My dad wasn't really what you'd call a racing photographer but he would take a few photos from the stands and some pit shots after the races. Here's one my dad took at the old Rex Speedway. Evidently this car went through the fence so he ran down from the stands and snapped a photo.



Here's one of his photos of Jerry Lepinski on the front stretch at Twin City Speedway in 1964 waiting to be pushed off:



Unfortunately, my dad passed away in 1965, the year after this photo was taken. I never had the opportunity to discuss photography and racing or share a beer with him as two adults. That's a bummer, it leaves an empty spot in your life. I'm a little envious of my racing buddies who get to go out to the tracks with their fathers. On the other hand I have gone to a lot of races with my son so that's cool. Even one of my granddaughters, Les' girl Lucy, got to go to her first race this past weekend. I'm going to drag them all out there for the annual Firecracker so hopefully the weather will cooperate and it will be a memorable occasion. That night I'll probably be taking more pictures in the stands than down on the track.

Anyways, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, I remember now. I was going to say that I'm not in a big rush to post my photos and am not going to go on the various boards and blow my own horn. You know, "I posted 3,578 photos from last night on my website." People know where my site is and they know I take pictures so when they see me at the track they'll check out my site. If I sell a couple by word of mouth that's cool but not necessary. If I do then I'll have a little extra gas, beer and hot dog money. But if I don't sell anything, well, it's no big deal.

So anyways, I'm not going to go blowing my horn on the message boards that I posted pictures whenever I go to a race. Like I mentioned, I started doing this site back in 1996 so I've been at it for a dozen years now. I was 44 when I started gotomn in 1996 so I was already what a lot of today's racing fans would consider old. Today I'm 56, going on 57 this fall and have pretty much taken the website, media work and photography further than a hobby should be allowed to go. I've pretty much exceeded my wildest expectations with this sport without really even trying. So now I'm winding down a little and trying to taking it easy. Oh, I'm not about to quit anytime soon but what I meant is that I'm just not pushing to increase my work load or take on new opportunities anymore. Maybe when I retire and have more time I'll work a little harder at this but not now while I'm still working. I like things just the way they are right now. Keep a low profile, have fun and enjoy myself.

I wanted to take it easy tonight but this post turned into a little more work than I anticipated. Looks like I had a little more ambition than I thought I did. So now I'm going to take it easy.

Sunday takes an unexpected turn...

My plan for Sunday May 25 was to go to Kasson for the USMTS. The weather forecast had suggested possible thunderstorms so I kept an eye on the weather throughout the day. The forecast for Kasson showed a 70% chance of storms including possible severe weather. At 2pm I decided to order a pizza and spend the evening watching NASCAR on television. Our pizza delivery coincided with tornado sirens and a storm that produced high winds and marble sized hail. The power went out around the time the green flag flew at Charlotte and we ended up eating pizza in the basement. When the storm subsided I went out to see if any of the neighbors knew how long the power would be out. That's when I found out about the Hugo tornado that occurred just north of my son's house. My son and his family were spending the weekend with my daughter-in-law's family in Deer Park, Wisconsin, so we knew they weren't in any physical danger. A few cell phone calls revealed that his house in Hugo did not sustain any significant damage. A few people I know live in the area that was hardest hit and I'm still waiting to find out how they fared. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who was affected by this tragedy.

As it turns out the Kasson USMTS race was not rained out but I'm not second guessing my decision to stay home. The power outage lasted from 4pm Sunday until approximately 3am Monday. Anybody who has a sump pump knows what happens when you get a downpour and the power gets knocked out. Let me put it this way, my Navy bucket brigade training came in real handy. If I had gone to the races my wife wouldn't have been able to handle it by herself and I'd be ripping up basement carpet today. Instead of watching the Coca Cola 600 I sat in the dark and listed to “The Dark Side of the Moon” on my MP3 player.

Two out of three ain't bad...

Two nights of racing out of three ain't bad. I opted not to go down to Kasson today for two reasons. Number one is that there are supposed to be storms starting around 4pm and they upped the probability to 70%. Second, I went on the Kasson website to find out what the start time is and stumbled across their media policy. They have restrictions on photographers and I don't know if my publisher made it clear that I would be taking photos. I'd sure hate to spend the gas money to drive down there only to be denied access to the infield when I get there. Their website says media members are required to present two examples of their contributions to publications. I have a couple bundles of MRC I was going to bring down there but that's only one publication, not two. If it was Late Models or Sprints I could provide samples of my contributions to Dirt Late Model and Flat Out but I don't contribute Mod photos to any other publication besides MRC. There's a chance some of my Kopellah photos might be published in the next issue of All The Dirt but I just sent them yesterday so that won't do any good.

Kind of ironic that my website is called "Minnesota Dirt Track Racing" but only Wisconsin tracks let me do my photo thing. Too bad it worked out this way because I really like USMTS and was looking forward to seeing them. I have a hunch weather will be a factor tonight anyways.

Last night I had a great time at Cedar Lake. Speaking of Mods, Dave Cain drove a great Feature race last night. Congratulations to Dave.



My son Les and daughter-in-law Tina brought my oldest granddaughter Lucy to her first race last night. That was cool to see them out there. They'll be back for the Firecracker.



Well, I guess it's time to get back to watching the Indy 500. I don't sit and watch televised racing from start to finish. I like to pause the DVR and do other things and stop by the recliner once in a while to catch up with the action. I buzz the commercials and long stretches of green flag runs. I'm not much of a TV watcher.

I've got writing and photo deadlines but I'll probably post a blog entry again on Monday.

Later and happy Memorial weekend to everyone.

Stan Meissner

Navy Davy's shot of the week sent by Dave Trautmiller

".......a great night of racing at Cedar Lake once again. It was a new format, they had qualyfying features the the main events. Made for some wild side by side and three widw action throughout the night. Congrats to Shawn Kammerud who got his first CLS win in the streeters. This weeks shot is from the Modified qualyfying feature. It was like this most of the night in all classes, See you at the races..............."

One down, two to go

One race in the books for this weekend, two to go. Last night I had the opportunity to go to Kopellah and watch some racing. The night started out a little on the dusty side, I think the sun took us all by surprise, but a quick watering brought things around real nice. I love watching racing there but find that it's a little tricky shooting photos because of the way the shadows affect the lighting. You setup the camera for one spot and it's overexposed, pan a couple car lengths to your right and you're underexposed. Not to mention that setting the white balance always gives me fits in those conditions. Definitely a challenge but there are some good photo ops there. I always enjoy going to Kopellah. I know, I'm a bit of a hypocrite saying I wasn't going to a lot of weekly racing and now I'm going to concentrate on it until the middle of July. Things change, I'm flexible.

Tonight will be the first CLS double Features night. Rains are supposed to hold off until after 1am and with this format the show should go pretty quick. I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow will be USMTS at Kasson weather permitting. There's a 50% chance of storms, some could be severe, etc, etc, etc. I was looking forward to that trip but don't know if I want to risk the gas money. We'll keep an eye on the radar and internet boards and make a decision tomorrow afternoon.

Not much more to say right now. Scrambling to get ready after uploading Kopellah pics and working in the yard for a few hours.

More later.

O'Doul's Tour ends abruptly, is anybody reading this blog?, open up comments field...

My O'Doul's Racing Tour 2008 came to an abrupt end the other day. No, I don't mean that I'm not going racing this year but the "official sponsor" is back to Miller Lite. Yeah, I know, my wife laughed at how briefly that lasted too. That's the good thing about not making it official, it was a personal conviction that worked out pretty good for a few months. I probably shouldn't have even said anything because I knew it wasn't going to last indefinitely. I've got a lot of driving to do late at night now that the racing season is here and that keeps me honest. I only enjoy beverages when I'm staying overnight.

Does anybody read this blog? I'm seeing about ten visits per day so probably not many but I like jotting my thoughts down. It's not a big deal how many hits it does or doesn't get. This is just a journal about what's on my mind and a place to post some thoughts during the season. Sometimes it will be more personal, other times it will be all about the racing.

I'm thinking about opening up the comments field so people can reply to these posts. I did that for a while in the past but got a lot of spam so I shut that function down. I'm ready to open it back up again.

Thinking about doing a monthly video blog entry so we'll see how that goes. Sometimes I have good ideas like the podcast I was doing but either don't feel like I've got the content it needs or can't find the time. As far as creating the actual podcast or videos that part of it has never been a problem.

We'll see how it goes. This has been a busy year so far.

Vanpool mess, babysitting, gas price increase, Kopellah, CLS, Kasson

My day got off to a rocky start. We were all sitting at the park & ride waiting for our vanpool and we found out the van tires had been slashed. No van today so I had to drive at the last minute. Fortunately I had enough gas and the correct change for parking. I only drive two miles a day to the park & ride so a lot of times I'll have less than a quarter tank until the weekend comes. There are a lot of days when I've only got a couple bucks in my pocket. I park at a $1.50 per day lot that has a kiosk where you drop your money so I need correct change. The alternative is the $6 per day ramp where I can pay on the way out so I save $4.50 by having the correct change.

I stopped at the credit union and picked up some cash because I might have to drive again this week. I needed some money for the three race weekend I've got planned this Friday through Sunday night anyways. I don't carry a cash card, the wife usually has the checkbook and I'm very conservative about how I use my credit card. Hey, I was raised by depression era grandparents and it left a lasting impression on me. Some would say cheap but I prefer the word wise. Anybody who grew up in an era when credit was harder to come by saw this meltdown coming. I'm feeling the pinch like everyone else but the racing season is my priority and when that's over we'll see where we're at.

Gas jumped to $3.859 today and oil shot up to $133 per barrel. I read where a lot of Wall Street people who were involved in other types of markets have gravitated to commodity speculating. I'll be the first to defend our free enterprise economic system but traditionally governments have had to step in and regulate. The reason for regulation is to prevent exactly the kind of greed we see permeating the market today. Energy is going to be an issue from now on and it's going to have an effect on grass roots racing.

I decided on Kopellah, Cedar Lake and Kasson for this weekend. Kopellah is always a fun place to go. They don't get the most cars, huge crowds or thousands of fans but it's a fun track. Everyone is friendly and it's a more relaxed atmosphere than the bigger tracks/events. Matter of fact, that's what I like about Kopellah. It's the kind of place where you say you're going to the dirt track, not the "facility or venue." You go to the races at Kopellah, not to an "event." It's a down to earth, laid back grit in your teeth dirt track racing the way it should be.

Cedar Lake has their first double Features night of the season. After reading the releases it appears more like a qualifying Heat race like they have at the Masters and USA Nationals than an actual Feature. From what I read I think the word "Feature" isn't really an accurate description of the first races of the evening. It's more like a big event format and the first race amounts to more of a long Heat than an actual Feature. I think it might be a good way to move the show along and make a night at the races more attractive to families. There were a lot of contrary posts about it on the internet boards but they haven't even given it a chance to see how it works. A lot of these racers have the idea that everything has to be done the same way at all the tracks. How dare a track try something different must be their thinking on this. It sounds better to me every time I look over the format so we'll see how it goes.

Sunday night I'll be going to the USMTS at Kasson. I haven't been down there since a 360 Sprint Car special some years back. I'm thinking it was maybe the first or second year I wrote for MRC so that would make it 1999 or 2000, somewhere in there. I remember it being a neat little track and the USMTS is always good so I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for tonight. I have to baby sit a 2 year old and a puppy for a couple hours.

Tuesday, weekend plans coming together

It's looking like I'll be going to Kopellah on Friday, Cedar Lake on Saturday and Kasson for the USMTS on Sunday. Not much time to post again tonight but I'll get on here and do that asap.

Monday and in a rush...

Not much time to type tonight. It was a busy weekend and I have to run somewhere tonight. I've got a lot of thoughts but no time to jot them down tonight. Maybe when I get home from my errands I'll have time to edit this post and add more to it.

Camera gear problem. Sensor scope kit I ordered last winter off eBay. Vac worked for a minute than failed. Sent it back to seller, got a replacement and set the kit away for three months. Went to use it today, same thing, worked for a minute and now the blower motor is dead. No recourse, already past return policy warranty. Still can use the magnifier and swabs but the vac would come in handy. Sent a nasty email to manufacturer about their vac motors.

Got to run.

Navy Davy's shot of the week sent by Dave Trautmiller

".........Old Ma Nature finally gave us a weekend where we could go racing. She let us know she was around though. At Kopellah Friday night we had about an hour or so rain delay before it cleared off and at Cedar Lake Saturday night we had a few pop up showers but they didn't hurt anything. Racing was great both nights. The Midwest Mod feature at Kopellah Friday night was one of the best I've seen so far this young season. I couldn't count how many times the lead changed. Frank Soucek got his first ever feature win. He's been so close so many times, I was happy to see him get one.
Cedar Lake Saturday night was a very fun night that featured some outstanding racing. Joey Jensen and Dave Cain battling for the Modified feature was excellent. Jensen got the win. The Late Model feature was spectacular. Brent Larson and Rick Egersdorf fought for this one all race long. It was that way all through the field. Side by side, three wide at points. Being my first Late Model race of the year I couldn't ask for more. Brent Larson got the win. Add in the School Bus races and that made for a great night at Cedar. There was carnage all over the track after the bus race was over. At least four bus's ended up on their side. Add in a car with a camper trailing behind and another bus dragging a boat it looked like a tornado passed through by the time it was over. New Richmond finally dethroned Osceola,Osceola had won the past three years.
This weeks shot is a three wide shot during the heats. See you at the races........"

Great night of racing at Cedar Lake

Stan Meissner photo Brent Larson May 17, 2008, Cedar Lake Late Model Feature winner

Cedar Lake finally got their opener in and what a great night of racing it was. Two and three wide action was the theme of the evening from the drop of the green for the first Heat until the final lap of the Late Model Feature. Winners were Devin Neske in the Street Stocks, Joey Jensen in the Mods and Brent Larson in the Late Models.

I'll admit to being discouraged by all the negativity directed towards Cedar Lake by what now appears to have been a small minority. From what I saw last night I have no reason to think that this won't be an outstanding season. Perhaps a few disgruntled individuals might have decided to go elsewhere but others have stepped right in to take their place. A quick scan of weekend results proves to me that the old adage, location, location, location still applies to racing. Cedar Lake is just minutes from millions of people who live in the Twin Cities metro which translates to more racers and potential sponsors than outlying tracks. Also, I think they're in a good position to draw people who are forgoing vacations or trips to the cabin and looking for something to do on the weekends. Sure there are going to be nights where weather keeps the crowd down or competing special events result in a few cars not being there but overall I think they're in a good location.

There's nothing like a fun weekend of racing to cheer a person up.

By Stan Meissner

Saturday, USAC La Crosse 27mpg, Looks like a go for CLS...

Stan Meissner photo, USAC Midgets, May 16, 2008

Saturday morning May 17. I went to the La Crosse Fairgrounds half mile last night for my first visit to the track and my first pavement race in quite a few years. The Ranger did it's job and I got a good report when I checked the mileage, 27mpg on the way down. I suspect the trip back might have been more in the 24.5 mpg range like I normally get because I pushed it and it was rainy/breezy. My brother-in-law did a tuneup on it a few months ago and I kept the speed at 65mph on the way down. It seems to have a low gear in it and the 4 cylinder is underpowered. I kept the windows rolled most of the way up and used the vent to reduce drag and keep my tires inflated properly. Overall I am pleased with the result.

It's after 10am and I'm charging my batteries for tonight's trip to CLS. The weather looks good although a chance of the dreaded "R" word has creeped into the forecast. Last night the start of the Midget Feature was briefly delayed by a light shower but they were able to run the entire race after a brief delay. The rains finally did come with about 10 laps to go in the Mid American Stock Car Feature. Overall it was a good show at a nice facility. It took me 2:35 to drive home to Forest Lake with a quick stop at the rest area just before Rochester.

I broke down my camera during the rain delay and decided not to shoot the Features. There were other photographers in and I was kind of out of my element at an unfamiliar place so it wasn't essential that I shoot the entire program. When the race was over I tried to get the Ranger out of the infield so I could beat the caravan of USAC haulers but I didn't quite make it. Consequently, I had to sit there half way up the banking and watch about 30 tractor trailer rigs go by. That was kind of interesting, the fuel has got to be tough on these guys. The crowd wasn't as good as it could have been, probably because it's Stock Car country and this was the first Midget show in decades. I hear reports that all of racing is suffering from short fields and soft crowds but haven't personally experienced that yet.

Like I said in a recent blog entry, I have never put up big numbers. I think the most shows I did in a season was about 40 one year. Normally it's more in the 25-30 range and in spite of the high fuel costs I'll be able to do that again this year. I estimated $4 per gallon when I wrote my schedule so as long as we stay around that range I'll be able to get all the shows in. We lost a month of the season but that didn't save much money, I spent what would have been my racing budget taking family out to dinner and doing other things.

I got a 100% commitment for the Cedar Lake Firecracker, nine adults and three grandkids. I'm looking forward to it.

By Stan Meissner

Well, better get busy with that lawn so I can go to CLS.

Thursday, getting ready for La Crosse, controversy on the "40"...

I'm getting ready for La Crosse tomorrow and will be taking off work a couple hours early to head down there. The usual stuff, charge all the batteries and make sure I've got everything I'll need. I don't want to forget anything because it's the opposite direction so I can't swing by the house on the way like I do when I'm heading to a track up north.

I'm about to make some personal comments. This is not the opinion of the Midwest Racing Connection or the Cedar Lake Speedway. Anybody who surfs the websites and is familiar with 20/20 knows all the controversy over on that board. It has gotten so bad that I won't post there anymore unless it's racing related information about an upcoming show.

Cedar Lake was the victim of an unfortunate incident involving a sponsor pulling out at the last minute during the awards banquet. More specifically I understand that it was a DTRA points fund sponsor that didn't come through at the last minute. The whole thing escalated into a fiasco on the 20/20 board and was allowed by the board's moderators to get way out of hand. Cedar is under the microscope because they dared to be different and made some changes that were unpopular here in this area that is dominated by the monopoly that I will refer to as the "big W." Again, I won't go into the details other than to say the situation on that board is out of control and is a detriment to racing.

My opinion is that given the circumstances I think Cedar Lake should take a serious look at transitioning away from the classes run by the "big W" for their weekly racing. Perhaps a more affordable Late Model (and I understand they're doing this with some unique motor rules), a limited Sprint Car class, Pure Stocks, Ford Focus Midgets, even Legends Cars on dirt would be an option. This transition couldn't be done overnight but over a period of several seasons. I think the "big W" business model of towing a $300 to win Super Stock 300 miles just to chase national points is outdated. I think the strength of each individual track is going to be the competitors who live nearby if they are committed to a weekly show. Cedar still has the advantage of a great facility (better than anything nearby), huge special events and a large population center. Racers are fickle, give it a little time and some of these other tracks will screw up and guys will get angry about that. In spite of the chatter on 20/20 we won't really know what the fields are going to look like until this Saturday night. The Shawano Rumble is this weekend but only a few of the better funded teams travel to the invitationals. Many drivers (and this is true of all tracks) only run at their home track. This is where the addition of some classes unique to CLS might be a good idea.

Some tracks around the country have taken the emphasis off the weekly racing and run special events. This might be another option for them, specials with groups like WDRL, IRA, USMTS, WoO, Badger Midgets, USAC, big open shows like the USA Nationals. Novelty events like the School Bus night, NASCAR nights, that sort of thing. Have a band after the races and they've got the camping, make a weekend out of it. Of course it's always easy to be an armchair promoter and think of ways to risk somebody else's money. It's going to be a tough market this year and I think we'll see that when things get up and running in earnest. CLS has been under the microscope but people are edgy and it won't take much for these other tracks to upset them.

A little more on 20/20. It's just a hobby board, not a business and the website is not maintained by the person who runs the board. All revenue and advertising rights to go Delphi, it's simply a subscription service that anybody can join much like Myspace or Facebook only in this case it's a discussion forum. So who appointed them as the final authority on racing in the upper Midwest and a place that can in effect make or break a track or series? Furthermore, what fan of auto racing would allow the slander and attacks that we see directed towards tracks or types of racing that do not fit their personal preferences?

Some might think that as someone who has their own board that I'm saying this because I'm jealous of 20/20's success. If anyone thinks that they're missing the point. I have no desire whatsoever to be everything to everyone from eastern Wisconsin to Montana. I've got better things to do with my time than baby sitting something that big. I think when it grows to the point where you can't manage it changes need to be made to get the thing under control.

Operating a board the way it should be run requires frequent moderation and responsible decisions that are going to benefit all of racing. No responsible racing board should allow a sanction, series or their favorite track blind them to what's being said on the board. A board with that much success should have a team of moderators committed to the betterment of the sport and not to a personal agenda. In other words, the "big W" shouldn't be allowed to get so big that it blocks your view and you can't see slanderous posts. Too busy? I'm sorry but you built it, they came and now it's your responsibility to manage it properly.

So that's my opinion. If you're going to set yourself up as the "go to" discussion forum for dirt track racing in the upper Midwest then manage it in a responsible unbiased manner.

So that's my opinion.

By Stan Meissner

Wednesday May 14, busy place tonight

Not much time to type, just jotting a few things down while checking email. I've got to get out in the yard and see if it's still soggy. If not I can pick up some sticks so I'll be able to cut it on Saturday between races. Yard maintenance is a hassle when one is attempting to go to races. You can tell our yards from the neighbors who spend all weekend pruning theirs. Weeds, dandelions, and the grass is half way to our knees most of the summer.

I listened to another installment of the dirtnation podcast today. They said that Billy Moyer dropped off whatever touring groups he was following to run closer to home. I'm sure we'll see him up here because we're located within his part of the country. Nevertheless, this is getting to be a disturbing trend but it's easy to understand why these owners can't keep up with the fuel bills. Same thing happening in the WoO Sprints and a lot of problems with the weather.

People in racing sure use the word "awesome" a lot. It's probably the most overused word in the racer's vocabulary. Everything is awesome but it can't all be that awesome can it? I'll try not to follow the crowd and reserve my use of the word for special occasions. If I can restrain myself and do that it would be....well, for lack of a better word...AWESOME!!!

I could say a lot but not much else on my mind except getting outside for a while. Somebody told me that 37 USAC Midgets were preregistered for La Crosse. That would be an AWESOME show. Dang, there I go again...

See ya!

By Stan Meissner

Tuesday May 13...I can't do it all, Deb's Doula services

Tuesday May 13 and the preliminary forecast for Friday night at La Crosse calls for 20% chance of showers during the day, high of 67 and a mostly cloudy night with a low of 46. I'll take the chance of driving to a race track at 20% provided that it doesn't go up much. La Crosse is a paved track so I'm thinking that a few sprinkles during the day isn't an issue. So far it's looking like a go but I'll have my cell phone with me so I can change course if necessary.

Saturday calls for a slight chance of showers during the day with a high of 62, mostly cloudy Saturday night and a low of 42. Do you think they'll finally get one in the books at Cedar Lake? I sure hope so. I'm planning on being there if they are able to race. I don't have as many weekly shows on my schedule as some years as I'm trying to get to more Sprint races. If I can afford the gas I'll chase them down to Arlington and Jackson whenever possible. I grew up watching open wheel cars on the half mile at Twin City so I've got a soft spot for that type of racing. I'll still be getting out to CLS for all the specials and a few weekly shows. The whole family will be my guest for the Firecracker so we're looking forward to that as well.

I see they are adding a Thursday night race at CLS. I went to the WoO Sprints and got up for work the next morning many times. I've done that a couple times for the Nascar nights as well. I've got a 5:15 wakeup call and my vanpool leaves too early to be getting home that late. If I add any races and have to do accounting work on a minimum of sleep it's going to have to be something big. No offense to CLS as I understand they have to do this but it doesn't work for me at this time.

Support your local racing, I hear that theme a lot on the 40. I'm a Sprint Car fan surrounded by Late Models, Modifieds, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks and Street Stocks from eastern Wisconsin all the way to Montana. Those classes are fun to watch but I'm not going to lose sleep to support something I'm not passionate about. Besides, you know how hostile the local fans are about the few Sprint shows we have around here. If they had their way there wouldn't be any Sprint Car dates so they certainly aren't doing anything to support MY FAVORITE RACING. I should lose sleep, pay extra for gas and parking to support THEIR FAVORITE RACING when all they can do is badmouth mine? I think not. If I happen to catch the support classes at a special I'll enjoy them but I have no desire to follow all types of racing.

I can't can't be everything to everyone, it's just not practical for me anymore. Don't get me wrong, they're all good people and they enjoy what they're doing but let somebody who eats, sleeps and breathes Mods and Super Stocks support the Thursday shows. I'll save my vacation time and money for the stuff I enjoy like the USAC Midgets at La Crosse this Friday. Some of the other papers have a bunch of writers but I'm the only exclusive dirt writer for MRC. Obviously I can't do it all and I wouldn't even want to try. Writing about something I'm not passionate about is akin to having to work a part time job after I've been at the office all day. It ain't happening.

My wife is a Doula. For those of you who aren't familiar with it she's a birthing coach. She's certified and has a client who is overdue so she's waiting for the call. I'll be posting more information about her services on my website. She works primarily here around Forest Lake and the surrounding communities. She's very good at it so if you know anyone who's looking for a Doula Debbie is the one you want.

By Stan Meissner

Monday, thoughts turn to racing...

Ah, finally some racing. Nothing lifts the mood like seeing a great Sprint Car race. I have seen a lot of races and I know a good one when I see it. Jackson was one of the good ones. The one thing that really impressed me was Brooke Tatnell's drive and determination. You could sure see why he's a champion and the work ethic he brings to the entire team. I had no idea how stout the Olsen #34, formerly the yellow #18 driven last year by Tony Hargrave was. Tony had some good runs in the car and has a lot of experience but you can't compare a weekend racer to a WoO driver and Australian Sprint Car champion. Not only did Brooke hustle the car on the track but he took the lead in thrashing on the car during a red flag. They had to make repairs to the fence which gave the team time to replace the entire front axle assembly but they still had to hustle. It was so fun to watch that I wanted to put my camera down and run for wrenches to help the cause.

Here's my picture of the day:



Left to right, me, Lyric "the Beebes" Peterson, Owen "Owenowski" Zimmerman, Debbie "the non-race-fan wife" Meissner and Lucia "Loose Eye" Meissner.

I've got a commitment from three of my four kids and their spouses to join us at Cedar Lake for the Firecracker. We're still waiting to hear from Owenowski's parents then all three of the grandkids will be there. My oldest daughter, Owen's mom, and her husband are environmentalists but she used to wear a Sammy Swindell shirt when she was a kid so I have a hunch she'll be there. It should be a fun night, the grandkids hear me talking about races and see them on television but I'm sure they can't visualize what it's like. And the fireworks going off right in front of them, I'm sure they'll think that's pretty awesome.

I'm mulling over whether to go to the Red Cedar Rumble or the WDRL race with Sprints at Spencer in July. If Jon McCorkell is successful in adding a Thursday night Sprint race at Jackson that will be the clincher. The tough part will probably be finding a place to spend the night. That's too far to pull my camper with the old Ranger. Getting a motel room would be the way to go but if I end up traveling alone it's going to be pricey. Let's see, I'd have to stay down there Thursday and Friday night, drive to Brainerd on Saturday and I could drive home from North Central after the races. The problem is that the Ranger doesn't have air or cruise so if it's 95-100 degrees that will take the wind right out of my sails. I'll be exhausted by the time I get to the tracks. The old truck seems to run alright but it's exhausting to drive when it's that hot, especially if there's a headwind. It's an underpowered 4 cylinder with a 5 speed and you really have to keep your foot in the gas when it's windy. Pulling a camper any further than 50 miles would be out of the question with that thing. Used to be a time I would suck it up and do it but I'm gonna' be 60 years old in a few years and I don't have that kind of stamina anymore. We'll just see what happens and decide from there. Maybe the wife won't need the Olds that weekend. It would be easier to drive than the truck and gets better mileage but I'll have a hard time wrestling it away from her.

I'm up to three races for the season. To a lot of people that isn't much but I looked at the last few years and that's about what I've usually got in by this time of the year. Early in the season I only go to the opener and a couple of Sprint specials until the weather warms up a little bit more. I've never felt a need to put up big numbers of races for the season anyways. I don't have anything to prove, I just do as much or little as I feel like doing. Some years more, some years a little less.

I like the Sprints and open motor Late Model shows but don't go to that much weekly racing. This Friday it's USAC Midgets on pavement so my first four races of the year will be three Midget races and one Sprint race. This has been so fun that I'm adjusting my schedule to add more of the type of races that I enjoy. I'm getting where I prefer a specials schedule over weekly racing. There is usually a special every week somewhere nearby or something going on that's a little bit different than the steady diet of same old same old classes. I'd get bored if my lunch bucket held peanut butter sandwiches every day for 25 years. Same with my racing, 25 years of every track running the lame old lineup of limited Late Models, Supers, Streets, Mods and now Midwest Mods gets, for lack of a better term...boring. I need to step back and take a break from the politics and monotonous lineups.

By Stan Meissner

Sunday and almost all is well...

I say almost because Cedar Lake where I was planning on going and all the rest of the Saturday night tracks fell victim to rain. You've got to feel bad for these tracks that are getting beat up by this lousy weather pattern. It seems too like every time I pickup a paper or watch news I'm seeing where people are being injured or killed by severe storms and tornadoes. You'd think it would have to mellow out pretty soon.

The good news is that a bunch of frustrated fans finally got to see some racing on Friday night. Myself included, it was my first outdoor race of the season. Hopefully I won't have to go another month and a half until the next one.

I got the chance to try out my new lens for the first time outdoors. Jackson is a tough track to shoot with the black dirt but I thought the night stuff turned out great. The nice thing about this lens is that it's got outstanding sharpness and it was my goal to improve that aspect of my work this season. Besides the sharper lens I made a resolve to not post unless the photo has good clarity. Quality over quantity, even if I only get 25 good shots I want them to be the best that they can be.

Here's a sample from last Friday night, click on the image for a larger version:



You will probably notice as the season progresses that I am not posting to the message boards announcing my photos after each event. It's getting to where (and I have been guilty of this too) the boards are cluttered with people promoting photos and products rather than sharing information. I need to back off and decided to only post racing related news and information on the message boards.

I find that by using the blog I can get my thoughts across without getting into the time wasting p*ssing matches about every non-racing subject imaginable. Like I said, I realize that I have been guilty of this in the past so that's why I'm making an effort to limit my participation on the message boards. If I can get people into the habit of checking this blog periodically they'll know what races I've been to and when I'm putting up pictures. Primarily my photography is geared towards the publications and I'm not out there competing for sales. If someone wants a photo there is contact information on the gallery and I'm going to charge the going rate just like everyone else.

My personal thought for the day after witnessing one of the best Sprint Car races I've seen in a long time at Jackson. Sprint Car racing, especially on a big fast half mile, is an extreme sport and it should be marketed that way. I think maybe we should branch out from the traditional way the sport is presented and target the young kids that enjoy extreme action sports. It puzzles me how any young person could like the entry Stock Car classes more than Sprints. Maybe it's because that's the type of racing they're involved in, I don't know. I suppose lives out in the middle of nowhere and never sees anything else...

Anyways, I'll never figure that out so no sense trying.

Next weekend I plan on heading down to La Crosse for the Midgets on the big half mile paved track. They tell me that it's closer to a 5/8 and Midgets on a track like that are twitchy and downright scary at times. USAC pavement Midgets is the series where guys like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and JJ Yeley got noticed.

Have a good one. I'll post some more during the week.

By Stan Meissner

Taking inventory on Wednesday

The non-race-fan family sure has been working on me so far this spring. Tell me, how am I supposed to go to the races on a Saturday afternoon when these two are hanging on my leg begging me to stay?



I haven't figured that one out yet. I'm going to try to get the wife, kids and grandkids out to Cedar Lake for the Firecracker. Probably the only way I'm gonna' be able to do that is pay everybody's admission and gas to and from the track. If that's what it takes it will be worth every penny of it. My three grandkids have never been to a race and they'll love those fireworks. With any kind of luck that crazy guy will run an old junker into a motorhome. The kids would love that.

I listened to the lastest Dirtnation podcast today. I like that show. A recurring theme seems to be cars not traveling if there's too high of a percent of rain but I didn't hear how the crowds were. It's going to be a challenging year. I plan on writing about that a little in my next MRC column but I don't want to dwell on it. After all, racing is recreation, it's what we do to escape the challenges life throws at us. Negative thoughts ought to be off limits at the track.

Today I found out that I got two more photos in Dirt Late Model. I'm curious to see which ones they used. I'll have to send them some more when racing gets underway. I'd like to add some open motor Late Model races to my schedule. I'm looking at that WDRL show in Spencer but it's the same time as the Red Cedar Rumble. That's much closer to home but the Sprints will be on the card at Spencer and Jackson is considering adding a show the night before. I'm on vacation that week and Saturday is the Kouba Memorial. Depending on the travel cost I could possibly make three nights in a row. The way this coming Saturday is shaping up I might end up not spending as much as I had planned. Weather might be a factor again this weekend. I'm set to go at Knoxville but their rain chance is 50% so if they cancel we'll head back home and make another attempt at the Cedar Lake opener.

I've got some planning to do on my schedule. Deer Creek has become a possibility for a couple shows as well. I'll have to dig out the ol' rubber nose and glasses disguise if I go there after I caused a stir.

My goal is to post business only on the message boards. You know, announce photos and articles, post specific information about races. I really have to make an effort to do that.

I'm tired of typing so I'll post another day.

Turmoil on Tuesday

Not much to say tonight. My hands are wiped out from typing all day at work. I'm going to kick back and relax for a couple hours before it's time for bed. Tomorrow I might be too busy to blog if the yard dries out enough to walk in it. If it's still wet you'll probably see a post.

Thursday night I have to do some laundry, get the camera ready and pack for Friday and Saturday. If at all possible I'll get on here for a while later in the evening.

I don't have a laptop computer so I won't be doing any blogging while traveling. It's nice to step away from the computer for a few days. Sunday I'll have some writing and photo processing to do so you might not hear much from me for a few days.

Kind of a turmoil Tuesday because I had to do some damage control after putting my foot in my mouth. Happens all the time, I never learn...

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday. It looks like we're going to get some more wet stuff tomorrow but the rest of this week should be alright. A chance of rain is starting to show up for Friday and Saturday but it's too early to give a percentage. This is the week I plan on traveling with GRP to Jackson and Knoxville so I hope the weather holds out. I'll be watching the situation closely and we'll adjust our plans accordingly. We could do anything from going further to staying local depending on what happens.

In my last couple of posts I mentioned some tracks but neglected to include Cedar Lake. That's because I consider CLS my home track and I'm not traveling when I go there. They have always treated me great out there, both the previous and current owners. I wasn't leaving them out and certainly appreciate everything they have done.

I'm hoping Jackson can get their show in. I had a great time at their August all Sprints show last year. I can't remember the exact car count but there were plenty of 360's, 305's and IMCA cars to put on a good show. There was controversy, thrills, and a spill (more like a frontstretch gillhooley sp?) that Chris Graf got the worst of. I'm expecting some familiar drivers to show up and maybe even a few Knoxville cars.

Our plan B in case of the dreaded R word would be to hi tail it down to 34 Raceway in West Burlington for the IRA. There will be a lot of wet stuff during the middle of the week down in that area so we'll keep an eye on all the possibilities.

Knoxville is on tap for Saturday. I'm not going to allow myself to get too pumped because they're already showing a 40% chance. That's scary because it's the only destination I checked that already shows a percentage for the weekend. It's too early for any prediction on the timing so I'm hoping the current forecast will become more favorable as the week goes on instead of the opposite. At least I don't see any mention of a rush of cold air coming in again.

Another option would be to use the day of vacation Friday to get some projects done around the house and head out to Kopellah or Princeton. Then I'd hope that the Cedar Lake opener finally happens on Saturday in spite of the "R word" that's creeping into the forecast.

No matter what our plans are let's all hope for the best.

Message boards, my downfall. I'm going to make an effort to not post on the boards. I don't get offended by the name calling or what people say to me or about me but I'm getting tired of wasting so much time on them. Especially 20/20, it's a great board but I can't restrain myself from mouthing off. Those who know me know that I'm quiet bordering on shy but I let it all hang out on the 40. In the past I used to do too much "Miller surfing" which is never a good idea. I would get in a mood where I'd go on there and stir things up on purpose just to get a kick. Then they'd take a shot at me and I'd get pissed and start defending myself. A few days later I'd get one of those notices that someone answered me and they'd be all riled up. I'd look at what I said and think "I said that? No wonder they're mad." And when some other hard head opinionated person like me would try to convince me how wrong I was, forget it, I wouldn't back down.

So I'm trying to stay off the boards except for racing business only. No LOL, no trying to be funny, no sparring with the jokesters like Zimmy and HoosiersUP. Opinions change with time but I'm still being beat up about things I said six or eight years ago that I've long since forgotten and probably changed my opinion on.

And it's going pretty good so far. I haven't posted on 20/20 in a half hour...

Sunshine makes a world of difference...

Alright, before we go any further I'll admit it. Sometimes I can be a cranky ol' grouch. This weather has made everybody a little testy so I don't feel all alone.

I'll stand by what I said about my last trip to Deer Creek but it was most likely a misunderstanding. Someone associated with the track suggested that I give it another try for the June IRA show. I thanked him but I'm still skeptical and rightfully so. We jumped through all the hoops last time and had a problem so I'm not sure if I want to make the 300 mile round trip and try it again. I don't have any special plans that night but it's going to depend on how the budget looks next month. I've got time to think about it. My comments were not directed towards the management because I never met them that night. I read all these comments about how they rolled out the red carpet, put people up in the booths, etc., but I never met anybody with the exception of a few track workers down in the infield. I wasn't welcomed, didn't meet anybody associated with the track and had a bad experience at the gate. That's what I'll remember about the place.

The track that I was most impressed with last season was Rice Lake. I only get over there every once in a while but the owner introduced himself to me, they let me park my car in the pit area and everyone was really nice. As far as the tracks I seldom get to Rice Lake, Brainerd, Jackson, and Kopellah are a few that have been fun. There are several others including Arlington, Proctor and North Central that I haven't had a problem with.

I've always had problems at Alexandria and decided not to go back there. Princeton was good but now they've got a new promoter so we'll have to start all over again. Superior has been difficult as well. It used to be pretty good for me ten years ago and I had a good experience the year they were DTRA but other than that I've had a lot of problems. You know, the usual stuff, we get setup during the week then when I get there they say my name isn't listed. I'm starting to think that maybe people have a hard time with my last name. A lot of times they'll put my name down wrong so it's spelled different and the people at the gate can't find it. Maybe I should change my name to John Doe, Jim Smith or something they'll get right over the phone.

Oh well, I guess that's my lot in life, it's an uphill battle but we'll hang in there.

I got into a discussion about Al Gore and the environment on 20/20. I simply mentioned that I read a lot and am interested in science, astronomy and those kinds of subjects and brought up a couple thought provoking subjects. Somebody actually got PO'd and called me a "tree hugger" if you can imagine that. Do these people actually believe that an environmentalists would have a racing website, write for a racing paper and post on 20/20? What did they do in high school science class, refuse to read assigned books and accuse the instructor of being a tree hugger? Sounds like some of these people have an aversion to education if you ask me. I enjoy learning and try to keep an open mind about a wide variety of subjects. What bad thing could possibly happen to me on account of that? What am I gonna' recycle too much to be considered a racing fan or something? Unreal!!! I can't believe the way some people think.

My wife found out and chewed me out. She says I need to get off the message boards and get a life. As usual she's right.

And with that I'll see you soon. This week we'll talk about the racing, specifically Jackson and Knoxville. I really need to get on some more fun topics.

Saturday random rainout thoughts...

Cedar Lake ended up canceling their show today. There aren't any other tracks I could attend on this short of a notice. I had already made a decision not to stand out in the 30mph northwest wind and near freezing temps forecasted for CLS. The rain and cancellation sealed the deal.

In spite of my decision when I saw a post that Deer Creek would still be racing I felt a twinge of responsibility to make the trip down there to gather content for my "Inside Dirt" column in the Midwest Racing Conneciton. I had to remind myself of my Deer Creek experience a couple of years ago. Rob Hahn was still the publisher of MRC and he had a deal to distribute papers at the track so the management had to know about my column. Earlier that week Rob had set me up as a call in guest on Chris Hawkey's show on KFAN so I mentioned the Deer Creek races on the air. In addition to that Rob had called in advance and notified the Deer Creek management that I would be attending the IRA Sprint Car/USMTS race on behalf of MRC. When I got to the track and tried to sign in at the pit gate they gave me an awful hassle and it appeared that they weren't even going to let me in. What was happening didn't make any sense, the track distributed MRC in the concession stand, I gave Deer Creek PR on the radio, Rob had given advance notification and they're still not going to allow me a media pass? Screw the Deer Creek Speedway, I'll never go there again. All I had heard was how great the management was then this guy at the pit gate treats me for lack of a better word, like shit.

That's one of the things that irritates me about Wissota tracks. I know a couple photographers who have ATD cards and they could have shown up that same day at Deer Creek with no advance notice and gotten in. Some have admitted to me that during the course of the season ATD might only use one or two of their photos but they're getting in free several times per week all year. I have sent ATD a few pics and even did a race summary one time so I think I could say that I have contributed more as an outsider than some of their contributors. I have been writing my MRC column for ten years, contributed countless photos to papers and magazines, done radio and television and I can't get into a Wissota track without making special arrangements. I even know of one photographer who printed up some cards on his computer, showed up at the gate at several tracks and told them that he shoots for my gotomn.com website and they let him in. I didn't endorse his actions and didn't even know about it until afterwards. As a matter of fact I believe that one of those tracks might have been Deer Creek but I don't remember for sure. Go figure, I have never used my own website for credentials but somebody else does and they get in. I really appreciate it when tracks recognize my contributions to our local racing but very few do.

People get jealous of writers and photographers and think it's all fun and games but it's actually a lot of work. Anybody who has had to meet writing deadlines knows that it's not easy and there are a lot of nights where it feels more like a part time job. The racing media work commitment is a big one and all the more so with increased fuel costs. Tracks are getting publicity whenever any writer shows up at their facility regardless of whether it's the "official paper" or some other publication. I'm sure that when the weather improves my outlook will change but lately I haven't been anticipating the season. Nobody told me that grandkids would drop by on Saturday afternoon and tug at my heart strings when I was on my way out the door. Things come up in life that make some seasons more difficult than others. This is shaping up to be one of those more difficult years.

Not that a $25 pit pass is going to break me but that's the deal with the publications for all writers and photographers. They get us in and we'll work our asses off for them, they don't and it makes it more difficult to meet our obligations to them. It's as simple as that. If anyone thinks that their favorite ATD writers and photographers are paying to get into Wissota tracks they're living in a dream world. These guys obligate themselves to ATD or other publications and they couldn't do it if they didn't get some compensation. They don't get paid for their articles and pics, they don't get a mileage allowance, their pass is their only compensation. I get in a bind with the cancellations because I have no plan B to fall back on. Tracks seem to want a weekly commitment and I can't give them that.

So I wonder who's going to win that Richmond race tonight? When I stop and think about it what's more fun, sitting in my recliner watching Richmond in HD with surround sound or spending $75 in gas not knowing if DC will honor my MRC pass and standing out in a brutal wind chill? Not to mention the dozens of additional cars that are going to show up and drag the show out so I wouldn't get home until 2 or 3 am when I've got company coming over tomorrow. So I think I got the better end of this deal. There is only so much misery I'd be willing to put myself through to watch a gazillion Supers and B Mods.

Thursday Doc appt

I had my five month follow up at the Humphrey Center this afternoon. They tested and scanned me last fall, removed a couple of lumps, and never were able to give a diagnosis. The doctor says it's not skin Lymphoma but beyond that he's not sure. Anyways, he says to come back in September and we'll probably go to every six months after that. Ever seen that show "Mystery Diagnosis" on the Health Channel? That's me, a mystery, but I've got a green flag for the racing season so that's good.

I'm still looking at ideas for a new logo and page design. Haven't come up with a plan yet so I'm taking my time. I'll see if I can think of some new directions I want to take the website but nothing definite in that area yet either.

Why am I calling this my O'Doul's Tour 2008? Because I want to. Seriously, I got tired of beer for the buzz but I still like the flavor. O'Doul's Amber has a good taste so that's my "beer" of choice. I don't miss it. Maybe I just got too old, I don't know. So the name O'Doul's Tour 2008 sends the message that I'm going to take live a little more serious.

I'm looking forward to next weekend's trip to Knoxville. I've got a writing deadline on Sunday the 11th so I hope we are successful in lining up credentials for the trip. If not I've got a work around in mind. We'll get the driver comments we need for The Racing Connection.

Did you see the articles in the SI Nascar section about the downturn in attendance due to fuel prices. Here's the article. I think that's a precursor as to how the short track season is going to shape up once it starts getting underway. You won't see much of an effect at first because we lost a month of the season so not many have spent anything yet. I'm not wealthy but I've got a pretty good income, more than a lot of people, but I've always been careful about running up debt. That's from being raised by my Depression Era grandparents. I thought they were oppressive as a teenager but they taught me some valuable lessons that our credit happy society would belittle as "cheap" but they knew how to get by.

I've got a lot more to say but I'm going to save it for later. My back has been aching due to the weather change so I'm going to do some heating pad time on the recliner with a book I've been reading.

Take care and stay dry.

Stan