These people are insane and I'll tell you why I think that!!!

Saturday: Snow likely, mainly before 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 38. West wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

The above forecast is for Proctor, Minnesota, this Saturday. The following forecast is for Fountain City, Wisconsin: Saturday: A chance of rain and snow before 1pm, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. South wind 6 to 13 mph becoming west. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

The reason I posted these two forecasts is that both towns have something in common, they're hosting races this weekend. Proctor will feature Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Mods and Pure Stocks. Fountain City is playing host to Mini Mods, Street Stocks, B Mods, 600 Mods, Super Stocks, Modifieds, Hornets and the Northern Vintage Cars. Have fun guys...I'm staying home.

I'm not knocking the racing, I love racing, so this is only my opinion but when is enough enough? If one of these tracks was hosting a big extravaganza the likes of the Knoxville Sprint Car Nationals or the World 100 Late Model race that close to home, yeah I'd tough it out because that would be SPECIAL!!! As a photographer, writer, and appreciator (is that a word?) of dirt track racing I would be there for something SPECIAL. The same old, same old shows that we see week in and week out (forgive me my friends who participate in the weekly classes) are not IMHO special enough for me to freeze my ass off.

This observation does not apply to anything prior to the weekend of October 9-10 or the Fall Classic which in my opinion is a SPECIAL show that fell victim to bad weather. The rest of these shows (not sure about Proctoberfest because I have never paid attention to that one) are imitators that popped up after they saw the successs of the first Fall Classic shows at Alex. Unfortunately what was once a weekend reserved exclusively for the Fall Classic and Princeton National has become glutted with lesser shows that are having the effect of watering down the original late fall races. There ought to be a law but that's promoting, if the guy 150 miles away makes a buck by damn I'm either gonna' make a buck too or water his show down in the process. Personally I think greed will water down and ruin a good thing to the point where none of them will make a buck but that's just my opinion.

I have done a lot of thinking about the late fall post season shows that take place after the 100's and came to the conclusion that these new shows that have piggy backed on the success of the original Fall Classic are not so much about the fans as they are about the participants. Sure there will be some fans, maybe more of them than a cold baby like me can fathom, but no way in a gazillion years will the stands fill up on a weekend like this. When I read posts about these races on the local message boards and see the enthusiasm it gets lost on me and I can't wrap my mind around it. To some extent I can understand this zeal for the sport but in my mind there comes a point where we have to hang it up for the year. I reached that point earlier than some and later than others. A lot of people only attend racing in the summer when the weather is nice, I know because I did that for a lot of years myself. A good rule of thumb to follow might be that when there is a chance you might be driving your hauler through ice and snow it just might be a sign that the racing season has come to an end. That's my take on this whole deal.

Like I said, these late fall specials are more about being an orgy of back gate promoting than an actual show for paying fans in the stands. I'll cherish the memory of the last race I attended, the Jackson Fall Classic, where I wore a T-Shirt until the sun went down then donned a sweatshirt for the remainder of the evening. Sorels and snowmobile suits be damned, that ain't my idea of racing. Not to come off like a total cold baby because I do own a pair of Sorels, a snowmobile suit and a pair-a-choppers, I just don't associate those things with dirt track racing. I used to wear that garb ice fishing but now it stays in the closet and only comes out for special occasions like when I'm running the snow blower.

I'm sure not everyone will agree with what I'm writing and some will probably feel anger and could get downright hostile about it. One's opinion about such things are more often than not shaped by (a) age and (b) their outlook about racing. Age comes into play in the sense that with each passing year the cold bothers a body more and more. You can't go by some of these old geezer racing writers that tracks roll out the red carpet for and put up in a heated booth. Those guys are more out of touch with the average Joe than a Washington politician and probably forgot what it's like to set their ass in the stands years ago. No, you've got to check in with the old dogs who are still down in the wind, dust, rain, snow and sleet carrying a camera and running around all night. No pampering for these guys, we're right down there with the track officials, tow truck driver and in some cases where they pit in the infield the mechanics and drivers. So age is a relative thing and can be influenced by what one does during the five or six hours racing is taking place. If they're some pampered type sitting in a heated booth then they're probably going to be out of touch. If they're kickin' and a gougin' out in the weather then they're in touch and know the score. The older ones that know what's going on aren't going to lie, they'll tell it like it is and mean it when they say cold weather sucks.

Part b pertains to your outlook on racing. I turned 58 a few weeks ago and more than ever I'm getting to be a "specials only snob." What I mean by that is if I go for example to see the IRA and Midwest Mods or Supers are running with them fine, I'll take photos and give them my full attention. I know a lot of the drivers and people involved in all types of racing, they're great people and they love what they're doing. They're the backbone of the sport and dirt track racing needs them in order to survive. Nevertheless, I have come to a crossroads in my racing interests and starting with the 2010 season I no longer plan on chasing weekly racing. I have become a specials only snob and I'm not talking Pure Stock or Hornet specials, I'm talking IRA, WDRL, WoO, USMTS, the Fireman's Nationals, Elko Dirt Week, anything that offers a minimum of entry classes and one or more of the top notch touring groups. My thinking on this matter is shaped by two things, time and money. I don't make a cent for covering racing in my column and I sell so few photos that chasing a bunch of weekly shows is no longer a wise investment of my time and resources.

This is not an appeal for weekly racers to buy my photos so I'll cover their racing in exchange for their business. I'm simply saying that there isn't enough money or beautiful days in the summer for me to spend them watching certain types of racing. If I were a paying fan I'd be going to World of Outlaws Sprint Car races, IRA races, Badger Midgets, Jackson, and Knoxville, maybe a few Late Model and USMTS specials and that's about it. The fewer classes to sit through before the objects of my affection take to the track the better. The only times I would see other types of racing would be as a support class to the Sprint Cars. After carefully thinking things over at the end of the 2009 season I came to the realization "what the #@&# am I doing wasting my time on something I don't particularly care for? Again, it's not that I don't appreciate all types of dirt track racing, it's that I can't follow it all without going broke in the process so I will follow my favorites and leave the rest to someone else. There's too much racing for me to do it all.

Anyways, as you can see I don't really understand all these late fall specials that have popped up in recent years. I'm not crazy about attending racing in 38 degree temps with 50-70% snow in the forecast. That's how I feel about it. What about you?

My season comes to an abrupt end...

I had planned on attending the Badger State Nationals at Cedar Lake on Friday October 2nd and Saturday October 3rd but the rain has nixed my plans. There are other specials coming up during the next week or maybe even two weeks but I'm not sure. It seems like every time I check the message boards some track has made another last minute addition and is running one more invitational. I can't go by the schedules, I had to say enough is enough and hang up my camera bag for the season. I know for a fact that there are races yet to be run in Alexandria, Proctor and Ogilvie but I'm worn out and need to give it a break.

My last race of the season was a Sprint Car race on the big half mile down at Jackson. What better way to close out the season than to attend one final Sprint Car race? That's going to be a tough act to follow and I don't want to muck it up by filling my head with a lap and spin Midwest Modified that takes a half hour to get the first lap in. I want to keep that final Sprint Car race fresh in my mind.

A lot happened this season so there is a lot to sort through to figure out what went right and what I can change for next year. This season I went to way too many races for my budget to handle and I have to make some adjustments on that prior to next season. As it turns out I attended 44 races this season, it would have been 46 if this weekend had not rained out and over 50 if several other rain outs and a dry pond had not interfered. 45-50 is too many, 25 would be a more comfortable total. The problem is that I have taken on so many tasks these past few seasons that the number of races has gotten out of hand. This season I was listed as a track photographer which obligated me to a bunch more weekly shows and a series photographer which filled up almost every Friday night. I can't do that anymore, something has to give.

Seeing as I have to cut my total number of races down the question was "what am I going to cut?" After giving it some thought the solution was simple. Next year I'm going to put the emphasis on Sprint Car racing. Being a track and series photographer is in name only and only comes with more obligations including rushing home after each race to send photos to the publications. I'm hardly selling anything and I'm not being paid for the extra work so there's no reason for me to continue doing all that extra work up and above what the other photographers are doing.

I'll attend Sprint Car races in 2010 and will also give some PR to whatever other classes are running with the Sprints. I'll still see plenty of racing that way and I don't think those Stock Car guys will miss me. The Sprint Car people seem to appreciate the coverage I give them and thank me, the Stock Car guys apparently take it for granted because they get a lot of coverage here in the upper Midwest. I have friends in all the classes of racing and I'll miss seeing them on a regular basis but I just got to a point where I can't do it all anymore. I have run the idea past Dan Plan of the Racing Connection and he understands and agrees to me covering Sprints. It has to be fun and if I'm out there feeling like I'd rather be somewhere else but I feel obligated by some track or series that's not fun.

I'm not sure how the tracks will receive this news. Some have grown accustomed to me covering all classes and have depended on me to send them victory lane photos and be there on a regular basis. There are some that have come up with attendance requirements and I won't be able to meet those anymore. We'll see how that goes. I'd be everything to everybody if I could afford it but it ought to tip people off when I'm hauling around $3000 of camera equipment in a $1000 car that I'm doing my best to hang on. If I was retired and had unlimited funds I could go around doing volunteer work but I'm to the point where I need to limit the photography.

In other news I'm pretty close to starting my own interview site similar what I was doing with dirtcast.com. If you haven't noticed, I'm no longer doing interviews on dirtcast.com or racemn.com. I learned a lot working with XR and I wish them all the success in the world but working on those sites was no longer a good fit for my personal circumstances. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm low key and like to take things at my own pace. Those sites are a business and anyone contributing to them has to meet a quota of a certain amount of interviews. I like putting the racing on the back burner from October through December then I pick it up again when the trivia contest gets underway. When I can walk away from racing for a few months I feel refreshed and ready to get into it again. Thanks to Barry and his staff from XR for all the encouragement and training they gave me. The experience helped me to get the confidence I needed to do the interviews.

My plan is to start an interview site that will concentrate on tracks around the Twin Cities and surrounding area with the emphasis on local racing. The site will include sections for both dirt and asphalt interviews as well as a weekly racing talk show with me as host and Dan Plan as the co-host. I'm not doing this to compete with other racing interview sites but I'm doing it because I think there is a niche for something like this that focuses on our local racing. That was one of the things about dirtcast, I felt like my local coverage was overshadowed by the national emphasis of that site. Also, I would go to Kopellah and shoot the breeze with Buzzy Adams for example then a couple days later hear him in a dirtcast interview conducted by someone 1,000 miles from Wisconsin who had never seen Buzzy race. I felt like there was a disconnect and that I could have given the interview a more personal touch. This way with Dan and I doing a local interview site the communication will be much better and there won't be the potential for that type of crossover.

I'm not going to be concerned about competing with any other site or about market share nor will I feel the need to sling around corporate buzzwords. No team building exercises, or group hugs for the staff, just some no bullshit local racing interviews done to the best of our ability. All the interviews I have done to date were my personal choices and lined up via my contacts so there shouldn't be much difference in the type of content. We're not sure at this point about sponsors or backing for this endeavor. We'll see if we generate any interest and how well we can keep up the pace. Even though my personal race attendance will have an emphasis on Sprint Car racing I still plan to interview drivers from the other classes of racing in our area. I've got the contacts and phone numbers, quiet a few of the drivers know of me, so we'll do alright on a limited local basis. That's not to say for example that if the World of Outlaws are coming through the area we won't interview one of the Outlaw drivers. We'll be open to that but for the most part on a week in week out basis we'll be putting all the emphasis on our local racing. I think the interview site and a reduced role as far as actually attending as many races will be a good fit for me next season.

There will be more to come as I work out the details.