The 2013 season concludes with the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial, plans for next season

Forgive me for not making a blog post since the end of July.  Things have been totally out of whack here on the home front.  We started a big home improvement project the last week of August and I replaced a computer and transitioned to the Linux OS this fall.  The home project is something we had been discussing for several years and we managed to squeak under the wire before interest rates went up so we had to jump on it while the weather was still nice.  I'm not really a huge post season specials fan once the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial is over anyways so I concluded the racing season after the Memorial to concentrate on the project.

Here are a few photos from the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial that I set aside back in August but never got around to posting.

Travis Whitney

Phillip Mock

Brooke Tatnell

Mark Meeks and Greg Parent interview Jerry Richert Jr.

The IRA Feature winner's trophy

Richert family pays tribute

Ricci Lepinski driving a replica of the Duce

Former employer pays tribute to a legend

IRA action

UMSS action

Chris Graf UMSS Feature winner & 2013 UMSS champion

Mark Dobmeier IRA Feature winner

The Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial race concluded an 11 event season which is the fewest shows I have attended in many years.  My original plan was to come in at closer to 20 shows but early season cancellations and our home improvement project cut my schedule in half.  It wasn't the best year I have had numbers wise but certainly some of the best racing I have seen in recent years.  The UMSS has upped the ante on Sprint Car racing in our region and totally changed the way I approach my racing schedule.  In the past fans in our area went through some lean years where we'd only get to see a handful of Sprint Car specials and we'd either travel to see Sprints or attend other types of racing.  Now we've got a situation where a person can attend Sprint Car races every weekend all summer long with a minimum of travel.  

Going into the 2014 season I've got some obstacles to overcome before I can finalize my schedule that include finishing the home improvements, replacing my camera body, learning a new OS and software.  In addition to those immediate concerns other interests and increased family responsibilities have cut into racing as well.  There is one other thing that has been cutting into my racing attendance the past few years but I haven't been willing to admit it until now.  I hate to even say it but here goes....I'm getting old.  I turned 62 in September and I'm starting to feel the physical effects of getting older a little more each year.  It's a subtle change, every year I lose another step and find it increasingly difficult to push myself out the door on a Friday night after a week of work.  There were a couple of times last season that I had to take a break in my van with the AC on because the heat was getting to me.  That didn't used to happen ten years ago. 

My home project included wood flooring, new baseboard and refinishing doors, trim and stair rails

I decided to make up two schedules for the 2014 season.  The first schedule consists of 20+ events and includes trips to Jackson, Knoxville, and Superior as well as big local events such as the Masters and USA Nationals.  That is my "wish list" schedule based on "singing for my supper" by contributing to publications, in other words business as usual.  The second schedule comes in at six races at my own expense and at this point in time that appears to be the version most likely to come to fruition.  I'd like to be in a circumstance where I could do more but that will have to wait a few years until I retire.  I will have to replace my camera body before I feel comfortable making a commitment to any publications and had planned to do so before the season begins.  I had my eyes on some refurbished Nikon models that are an upgrade from what I have but the ones I saw on Amazon that were priced within my budget all sold out during the holidays.  Hopefully in a couple months it will be a buyers market again and I'll be able to find the one I'm looking for.  

** Note that I found the link to the used cameras on Amazon and there are still plenty of deals to be found.  The problem wasn't that the used D200's were all sold out, they changed the link on the page so that I didn't see it.  There shouldn't be any problem finding a replacement camera body before the start of the 2014 season.  

My six year old Compaq computer crashed a couple of months ago so I was stuck without a PC.  I use my computer for photo editing, recording and mixing music, video editing, websites and word processing.  I could have gone out and bought a new computer but that would have been an expensive proposition.  After factoring in the computer and necessary security and productivity software upgrades I'd have been well over $1,000 and I'm making an effort to gain some ground on my debt over the next few years to prepare for retirement.  Fortunately a friend who salvages company computers at work came to my rescue with the offer a used Dell.  It's an office build with a smaller power supply that is not capable of running a video card for gaming but I was familiar with this model after having used one at work for several years and knew that they're reliable performers.  I opened it up and installed two larger hard drives, the media card reader and front USB ports from my failed computer, two more gigs of memory and a wireless keyboard and mouse.  I've got an OEM 3d graphics card specifically built for this computer but I haven't had time to tweak Linux so that it will work.  You see, this computer did not come with an operating system so my solution was to install the Ubuntu Studio version of Linux.  Several of my favorite programs only run on Windows so but I was able to run them on Linux through a compatibility layer program called Wine.

The Dell runs great and I'm very grateful to my anonymous donor for supplying me with a box that I could hot rod.  I'd like to be able to say that all is well with Stan's computer and it is in the sense that I've got everything working to my liking.  The only downside is that I was thrust into an entirely different way of approaching my work flow so my productivity is nowhere near where it needs to be for the coming racing season.  I have resolved most of the technical issues that come with configuring a Linux distribution to a specific computer but I'm still not up-to-speed with photo and website editing.  Recording and editing music are going extremely well and I'm getting the hang of video editing as well.  The photo and website editing will come with time as I'm still in the process of evaluating the various programs available to find the ones that best fit my needs.  Unlike Windows where the OS costs a couple hundred bucks and each program must be purchased separately Linux offers a repository of thousands of free open source programs for every application imaginable.  The challenge is finding the right programs and learning how they work.  To put it in perspective, think of me as a 100 words per minute typist who was suddenly forced to hunt and peck with two fingers on a totally different keyboard layout and you'll get an idea where I'm at.  I totally committed myself to Linux in part so that I can keep my expenses down but also as a way to challenge myself to learn new things.

I'm not sure what direction I want to take this blog and the gotomn.com website  going forward.  When I started the gotomn.com website in 1999 there weren't very many racing sites around.  Facebook, Twitter, streaming video and high speed internet had yet to be introduced.  In those days of dial up connections and x486 computers, 80 gig hard drives and 8mb of ram just waiting for photos to load was a chore.  Back then if I uploaded a couple dozen photos to my website it was a big deal.  Today photographers upload thousands of shots from every race that you can order online.  In 1999 having a racing message board on your website was a big deal that attracted thousands of visitors.  Today people carry around phones that can do 1000x more than those old x486 computers and the online world that existed when I got online is a distant memory.

I'm not anti progress and I understand that time marches on, especially with technology.  Today there are tons of racing sites as well as Facebook groups and the opportunity to follow just your favorite drivers on Twitter.  I spend plenty of time using social media to keep tabs on my favorite racers and to connect with friends and family.  One thing about these types of racing "media" that does bother me is some of the Facebook groups.  I made the mistake of posting one of my racing crash photos, I think it was Bill Wirth flipping at Cedar Lake as Andy Hunt's car sat sideways and one of the IRA officials looked on from his four wheeler.  The other day I saw a familiar looking photo posted on Facebook with a caption and a comparison to the original verified that it was my photo. The irritating thing was that there was no credit given or any mention of where they got the shot, in fact they claimed it as their own shot.  Now I know this was my fault for not thinking to put my name on it (I posted it several years ago before I made it a point to do that) but it illustrates why I feel like I do about these groups.  Racing webmasters used to have to learn how to do the html code so they could created their sites and pay for hosting so they could get it out on the web.  Today anyone can start a Facebook group without any programming knowledge or expense to get it online.  Most of us internet old timers would be sure to give the photographers credit for their work and didn't go around stealing photos and taking credit for them.  I understand that the internet has changed so I'll just say that some of the groups that don't give photo credits annoy me and leave it at that.  I have since gotten into the habit of putting a credit on my shots when I display them on social media sites.

Things are still pretty busy.  My son-in-law James Zimmerman recently released a book that is available on Amazon as well as brick and mortar book stores such as Barnes & Noble.  Jimmy has been doing television and radio interviews as well as book signings around the Twin Cities area.  My wife and I are mentioned prominently in the book and we attended one of his recent lectures and book signings.  Some of my racing friends might recall me talking about my youngest daughter Roberta and her fiance Jason living with us for a couple years.  They have since moved down to the Twin Cities where Jay was able to setup a practice space so he can pursue his love of music.  His band Via has been playing at some of the clubs around downtown Minneapolis including the Pour House and the Fine Line Music Cafe.  We have been trying to make it to as many of their gigs as possible.  Here's a clip of Via from the Fine Line.

Jay and I spent many hours sitting around the fire ring jamming while they were living with us.  As you might have guessed all this music has inspired me to get back into playing the guitar.  I have been playing on and off for about 45 years but I would leave it sit in the corner for months (years?) at a time without picking it up.  After floundering around at that pace for a couple decades I decided to take it more seriously so I picked up a few cheap electrics and hacked around on those for a few years.  Last spring I got sick of playing cheap junk so I popped for a Gibson SG 1967 reissue, one of only 400 built to the original 1967 specifications.  The minute you hear this guitar in rock mode with some distortion you'll recognize that vintage 60's psychedelic sound.  Of course it follows that I would get back into home studio recording, here's a brief sample of a mellow tune I was experimenting with.

Did I mention that my son Les is now part owner of a deep and wide 14' fishing boat with a 25 hp motor?  I used to fish just about every weekend year around so the idea of getting back out on the lake sounds inviting. 

Maybe you can understand a little more about where I'm coming from as far as the racing goes the past couple years.  It's not that I don't love racing, to the contrary, I still love racing and always will but I also love many other things.  I'm not getting any younger so I'm trying to enjoy as many of my interests as possible while I can.  I approach racing hands on, in other words I'd rather spend the night in the pits and infield taking photos than to sit in the stands.  Unfortunately things aren't getting any cheaper, the cameras are worn out and it looks like big oil will continue to jack gas up to $4 per gallon every summer.  I almost always attend races alone and that isn't going over as well since the grandkids came along.  I've been going to dirt track races for over 50 years so I think it's safe to say that I'll always have an interest in the sport.  I'm not one of those folks who's going to dedicate my existence to dirt track racing to the exclusion of everything else.  Yeah, I did that for quite a few years and did the racing media gig but that's a hard pace for a family man with many interests to maintain and hopefully we'll get another opportunity to ramp it back up to that level in the coming years.

Jason has been telling me that I should start a Reverbnation page so that I can share my tunes so I have been working on some new tunes.  The sample I shared above was recorded on my old PC and the tunes I'm doing on this new system sound much better.  Switching to Linux forced me to do some research on my recording software and I discovered some tweaks that improved the sound quality.  I'd like to think that my playing has improved but I'm old so maybe I'm just going deaf and can't hear my mistakes as well.  LOL

We'll see you at the races or maybe somewhere else for sure.  You never know where I'll show up. 

Two race weekend reduced to one and other random thoughts

It's been a while since I made my last blog post so I figured I'd make a quick one tonight.  It's been almost a week since I attended the Dan Grams Memorial UMSS race at Saint Croix Valley Raceway so I've had some time to digest what took place (and edit photos).  July 26 was pretty close to becoming a carbon copy of night one of the OWN but we caught a break and got the show in.  Not without a bit of discomfort though as at one point a heavy drizzle passed through along with brisk north winds making everyone wet and wondering what became of July.

The first cool thing that caught my eye on this night was this vintage looking Pure Stock.  Street rod enthusiasts must cringe when they see what could have been a sweet restoration banging fenders on a dirt track.  Personally I thought it was a cool throwback.  I'm not sure but it looks like it could have been a Ford or Mercury but I can't identify the year and model without the trim.  I almost want to guess late 60's Ford Fairlane or Falcon or something like that.  If anybody knows shoot me an email at mndirt@hotmail.com. 

Vintage looking Pure Stock

The next thing that caught my attention is how fast most of the UMSS drivers are getting to be and how smoothly their shows are running off.  If you were there that first year or two I think you'll agree that a few were suffering from lack of seat time (no fault of their own) but things are starting to come together nicely.  Several drivers fought it out with Davey Heskin late in the race and there was plenty of side by side action.

Jason Tostenson was in the hunt most of the night

Chris Graf is always fast and his car looks awesome

3 wide, Brandon Allen 77, Cody Hahn 23 and Brooke Tatnell 25

Rick Kobs was fast in the Feature until he jumped the cushion

Flyin' Ryan Olson WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature winner

Rob Caho Jr. UMSS Traditional Sprint Feature winner

Davey Heskin won the Dan Grams Memorial UMSS Feature race

Racing was pretty good and I'd type more but I'm going to have to cut this blog post short for the time being.  Some things have come up that have been keeping me very busy lately.  I'll make another post and fill in some of the details when I get a chance.  It's just busy non-racing stuff that has been keeping me on the go and will for a couple more months.  I'll get to a few more shows then we'll regroup again for next season. 

Four races and more

I'm sorry that I haven't posted a race report in a while.  I started out my fourth of July week of vacation with good intentions by attending three nights of racing but wasn't able to follow through on the recap for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost was a project to refurbish a shed that was showing the effects of 20 years of weather and Homecoming celebration vandalism.  I managed to get the shed looking like new but it took a good portion of my time that week.  In addition to that we spent a few days up at the lake home.  So sit back, grab a cold beverage and I'll get into a little bit of detail about my last few weeks.

On Friday June 28 I got up and did my normal Friday routine starting at 5am working all day and taking the bus home.  I picked up my camera equipment, changed into my mud shoes and headed to Saint Croix Valley for night one of the Open Wheel Nationals.  At this point I should explain that I really can't go into much detail about some of the races I attended.  You see, I picked up a new writing deal for a magazine and if it works out it should give my race attendance a boost.  I'm not going to give out any details about it until my contributions get published in the next issue.  When that happens I will provide more details and promote the new gig every chance I get.

The big news on Friday of the SCVR OWN was the weather.  Showers dotted the map from Canada all the way through Wisconsin.  The track got a shower in the late afternoon that delayed the show about an hour.  We got spit on on and off throughout the night and one shower produced about a half hour delay around 10 o'clock.  I'm not going to get into winners and stats for any of these events.  You can check out the UMSS and SCVR websites at http://www.umsprints.com/ and http://www.scvraceway.com/ respectively for more details.  The racing was great all weekend and Friday's crowd looked to be one of the best I've ever seen out there.  I don't know where everyone went on Saturday because the crowd was quite a bit smaller.  Usually with weather in the area the opposite would have been true, smaller crowd on preliminary night when rain is in the area and a bigger crowd for the grand finale on Saturday.  I suppose that Cedar Lake's Firecracker was probably responsible for pulling some of the crowd as were holiday family gatherings.  Whatever happened to those fans all I've got to say is that they missed a great night of racing on Saturday.

The news of the weekend was Scott Broty's crash in the makeup Feature.  Brooke Tatnell hand picked Lee Grosz to sub in the Nelson 14 and Lee won the early Feature.  Scotty Thiel snookered the field late in the Saturday Feature race to pull out a win.  Great racing and beautiful weather about sums up Saturday.  All were glad to hear that Scott Broty will recover without surgery or much down time.  Here are a couple shots of the action from the OWN.

Flyin Ryan on the inside of a three wide battle

Scott Broty racing in Friday make up Feature, probably one of the last shots of him before the crash

Next up on the Stan M fix the shed, fish from the dock, and see a bunch of races tour was the World of Outlaws at Cedar Lake.  The thing that stands out about this show is three flips and a bitch slap up side of the helmet all in the same race.  I would say that the bitch was the one doing the slapping in this case.  I talked to the other driver involved after he addressed the crowd on the front stretch and he pointed out that if the tables had been turned the reply probably would have been "sorry, no brakes" or something on that order.  Hey, the winner on the night isn't nick named "Slammy" for bumping into cars in the church parking lot.  Sprint Cars today are like rockets and it's actually pretty amazing that things like the Pittman flip don't happen on every lap. Nobody wrecks people on purpose including my friend who drives the 17b. 

It was a great night of racing with beautiful weather and some strong cars in attendance.  Tony Stewart didn't show up but that's the way things go sometimes.  I cover all of this in my WoO article so I'm going to defer to that and will let you know when and where to look for it.  Hopefully they'll post a cover on Facebook that I can share with you.

There were two personal thrills the evening of the Outlaws that made my season.  One was being able to take some more photos of the 71m, a car that I missed the first time around in the 90's before I started taking racing photos in earnest.  Second, the opportunity to see Rico Abreu race.  Rico races out of California and made his first ever appearance at Cedar Lake.  My son and I became fans at CLS, the guy can really wheel a Sprint Car and he's a cool dude.  Les and I started a Rico chant and maybe if we say it loud and often enough he'll show up again in September.  Here's a YouTube video of Rico's wing dive during a victory lane celebration.  Les and I loved the wing dive.  It looked like a stage dive at a metal concert.  The video clip is linked from YouTube so you can follow the link for credits.

Here are a couple shots I took at CLS of Rico and Joey Saldana in the Motter 71m.  My next goal is to get a shot of Kyle Larson.  Somebody invite Kyle to the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial, he seems to be showing up just about everywhere so you never know.  It doesn't hurt to ask.

Joey Saldana in the Motter 71m

Rico gettin' it on at Cedar Lake

The next thing up on my schedule was supposed to be the Night of Destruction at Cedar Lake.  We had been up at the lake home for several days by the morning of Saturday July 6 and we decided to pack up a day early and head home.  That meant I would have to drive home from Wisconsin and back track my route a few hours later but no big deal.  I have done that before.  Anyways I got to the track early as is my normal custom and walked around the pits taking photos.  I brought my camera gear down to the infield and went down there before hot laps to get setup.  There is a little table or platform or whatever you want to call it attached to the back of the victory lane structure where we photographers sometimes set our cameras.  I set my camera on that little table, it slants toward the ground but everybody sets their cameras on it.  Evidently the heavy coat of dust deposited a week earlier by the Outlaws acted like miniature ball bearings.  I was digging in my camera bag, turned to get my camera and it had fallen off the table onto the ground.

One of a handful of shots I took in the pits before hosing up my camera

I tried right away to take a test shot and it turned out overexposed, totally white with no detail.  I made sure all the settings were right but that didn't help.  Unfortunately I had to pack up and leave before the start of the program because I couldn't get it working again.  I apologize to the Cedar Lake Speedway and Track Rat Vinster for my screw up.  Anyways I brought it home, put it in my office, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down to watch the NASCAR race.  The next morning I thought I'd give it one more try so I pulled the battery out and put it back in and turned the camera on.  Checking the settings and metering it seemed to be registering properly but somehow the drop had caused the exposure compensation to go up to the highest setting.  I don't know how that could have happened but I wasn't sure if I could trust it so I decided to add a race to my schedule and went the Cedar Lake weekly show the following Saturday July 13.

The July 13 Cedar Lake weekly show felt comfortable like an old pair of jeans.  I used to go there just about every Saturday night all season during the Heyday of my Midwest Racing Connection days.  The camera held up all night and produced some decent shots.  Weather was beautiful and I got to spend some time visiting with Jamie Goff, Track Rat Vinster and Zimmy.  I don't see those guys much anymore so we got to hang out and enjoy some laughs.  

Winners included Rick Hanestad's son Buddy who won in the Hornets.  Dad didn't compete in his Late Model but he was present to join his son in victory lane.  A couple drivers that took some time off from racing came back to Cedar Lake to pick right back up where they left off.  Trent Follmer won in the NASCAR Modified division and Tim Borgeson won in the Pro Stocks.  Tim's number was 37b for years and now I see that he'd driving a 31b.  I'm not sure what that is about, they say a person loses a little each year as they age so maybe Tim lost some numbers.  Whatever the reason for the change it was great seeing him back in victory lane.  A.J. Diemel won in the Late Models against a field that included Brent Larson, Steve Laursen, John Kaanta, Pat Doar and Shane Clanton from the WoO Late Model series.  It was a great night of racing and the final checkers waved around 9:15.  When I got home around 10 Les and his wife Tina were hanging with Deb in the living room.  Les had some beers so Tina took the kids home and Les spent the night so we could hang in the man cave and bs for a couple hours. 

Jason Gross Modified

Pat Doar Late Model

Finally in this installment of the MDTR blog I'll take a minute to say a little bit about Jason's band Via.  Jay and my daughter Roberta and the kids spent a couple years living in our lower level up here in Forest Lake.  When I'd get home from the races Jay would have a fire going in my fire ring and a cold one waiting for me.  I'd get my acoustic guitar and join him around the fire ring and we'd play and sing until the beer ran out or my neighbors flashed their deck lights, whichever came first.  Anyways, Jason has moved onto bigger and better things than hanging around F'lake with Grampy.  His band Via is playing at the Pourhouse in downtown Minneapolis this Friday.  I understand that they will go on around 9 pm and I plan on being there.  Most of the folks reading this blog are probably here for the racing but if you want to hear some good rock and roll come on down this Friday.

Via at the Pourhouse Minneapolis Friday July 19

If you can't make it to this one they have another gig coming up on July 26 opening for the national touring act Smile Empty Soul at Hipp's Pub in Eau Claire.  Here's the poster for that one.

Via Eau Claire gig July 26

Here is a video sample from their first ever show a few months ago at the Cause in Minneapolis. The blogging software won't allow me to imbed this tune into the page so here's a link:

http://youtu.be/vLoPq9A5pBs

Well, that's going to about do it for now.  I'll try not to let so much time go by before my next post and I'll be sure to make an announcement when those articles hit the news stand.  Oh, and I'll be sure to let you know how that Via gig goes. 

Happy July!

Rain, car counts, the ugly side of racing, schedule adjustments and hanging out with the non-race-fans

Rain, car counts, the ugly side of racing, schedule adjustments and hanging out with the non-race-fans

by Stan Meissner
Forest Lake, Minnesota
June 23, 2013

Normally I would lead off my blog posts with photos of race cars (or Street Rods from Back to the 50's was the plan this weekend) but the weather has forced a change.  How wet is it?  The area where I live is mostly clay covered by six inches of black dirt.  Consequently, when we get heavy downpours walking through my yard is like walking across a giant sponge, boots on the ground produce a squish, squish, squishing sound.  In fact my back yard is so wet this weekend that a couple of ducks decided it was a great place to lounge around on Saturday afternoon.

Ducks in my back yard lake property

I haven't been to any races since the Cedar Lake Triple on May 25, mostly by design but the weather has nixed any notion of adding any last minute races.  I'm two and a half months behind on scheduled home projects on account of  the wet weather and it has been a struggle lately to find a day it isn't raining with no standing water so I can mow the lawn.  Fortunately looking at the advance outlook it appears that we'll settle into a more normal weather pattern by the end of next week.

Plans were to attend Back to the 50's but the weather dampened my enthusiasm

There have been some interesting developments in the racing world during the past few weeks. The ugly side of the sport came to the forefront with the recent passing of Jason Leffler in a winged Sprint and most recently Allan Simonsen in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  I did a quick scan of my photos to see if I could find any of Leffler but couldn't find any pics of Jason.  Leffler left behind a five year old son and Kasey Kahne is selling "Lefturn" hats in honor of Jason with the proceeds going to Jason's son Charlie.  I ordered my hat yesterday, here's the link to Kasey's site:  http://www.kaseykahne.com/

I'm not going to evaluate what happened from a safety or mechanical standpoint in any of these incidents, that is best left to the experts.  I don't have a need to know the details and I don't pretend to be an armchair crash investigator.  What did disappoint me was the way some of the NASCAR scribes threw Sprint Car racing under the bus.  A few wrote about dirt tracks not having the same safety features as NASCAR tracks and called for safer barriers on dirt tracks but that is akin to comparing apples to oranges.  Dirt track racers don't attain the speeds that Cup cars reach on the big paved tracks and safer barriers would be redundant on most dirt tracks, the majority of which are 1/4 and 3/8 mile in length.  Fact is that if safer barriers were mandated by insurance for dirt tracks I think a lot of them would have to shutter their gates as they're operating on a very thin margin and the expense would put them out of business.  The bottom line as pointed out by Tony Stewart, is that racing is dangerous and sometimes bad things happen.  This was borne out this weekend by the Allan Simonsen fatality at Le Mans. Certainly it would be assumed that Le Mans would incorporate the best safety technology available but the course was not spared from circumstance. In spite of their media members taking pot shots at Sprint Car racing NASCAR's top series is not immune to the potential for disaster, especially at places like Daytona where we saw the front half of a car including engine hurled into the grandstand side of the fence back in February.  I hope I never have the opportunity to say "I told you so" to those arrogant and uninformed NASCAR writers but their form of the sport will never be 100% safe either. It would be arrogant to suggest otherwise and I suspect their real motive is to try and divert attention away from NASCAR while these tragedies are fresh in people's minds.

Here are a couple dirt track incidents I caught with my  my camera at our local tracks.  In spite of these being high flyers the drivers walked away.  I have been fortunate to have never been in attendance at a race when a fatality occurred.  For the most part injuries have been rare and the safety equipment has done it's job. 

Never having witnessed a serious incident is significant because I have been attending dirt track races for a long time.  This photo by Brian Skedgel was taken at the Twin City Speedway in Blaine, Minnesota, in 1965.  When I look at this photo I see a lot of familiar cars and a very familiar scene looking off turn two towards where 35w and 85th Avenue are today.  I spent many nights at Twin City during my youth and it's very cool to see photos like this posted online.  These cars were called "Supermodifieds" and were mostly home built creations.  There wasn't much in the way of chassis builders or parts suppliers in those days so the cars were home built creations that began life as pre-WWII coupes.  They were cut and chopped down creations with open wheels similar to today's Sprint Cars.  In fact the end of the Supermodified era was likely hastened by the emergence of former Sprint Cars with roll cages covered with makeshift bodies.  The home built creations could no longer keep up with the lighter purpose built racers so that owners were forced to either get out of racing or keep up with the increasing costs of the evolving machines.

Twin City Speedway 1965, Brian Skedgel collection

The reason I'm bringing this history up is that I think it has some bearing on where we're finding ourselves today with the lower car counts.  For someone like me who's roots go back to those home built machines of the 1960's the word "industry" as applied to dirt track racing has always been a bit of an irritant.  I realize that time marches on and that racing had to follow the money in order to survive in our modern times.  Nevertheless, there was an innocence about the good ol' days and I think the racers got a lot of satisfaction out of drawing up a plan over the winter and building their own car.  That was the draw of racing for one of my late uncles who was a tool and die maker at American Hoist.  His sole attraction to racing was watching cars he designed and built perform well on the track. 

Today we see tracks struggling with low car counts all over the country.  People are quick to place the blame on rules, tires, sanctioning bodies, promoters and a host of other issues but they're ignoring the one common thread.  If a certain sanction, track or tire were responsible it stands to reason that it would be an isolated problem.  To the contrary, the central issue is that money is still tight, sponsors watch their money closer and many car owners have been forced out of the sport by the costs.  In one recent message board post I referred to a tipping point for fans where car counts dwindle to the point where fans will lose interest.  I've been watching results and a lot of tracks run six or seven classes with most divisions consisting of one or two Heats and a Feature.  This is in classes that used to boast huge car counts a few short years ago.  When I think of racing as an "industry" and hear those calling for cost cutting measures it's a bit of a dichotomy.  Customer cost cutting measures are not in the vocabulary of most businesses.  I don't offer a solution but I don't like the direction things are heading.

My plan next weekend is to kick start my racing season back into gear and attend three nights of racing in a row starting with the Open Wheel Nationals at Saint Croix Valley and culminating with the World of Outlaws at Cedar Lake.  What a great way to kickoff a week of vacation.  There are several home projects and possibly a night or two at the family lake home to be squeezed in as well.  

Great place to nap

My means to attend races have seen some ups and downs the past few seasons.  Fortunately I'm beginning to see a glimmer of daylight and plan on doing my best to attend the following events:

Open Wheel Nationals St. Croix Valley Raceway June 28-29

World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Cedar Lake Speedway June 30

Cedar Lake Night of Destruction July 6 

Thunder #4 Saint Croix Valley Raceway July 26

Cedar Lake Summer Sprint special (UMSS) July 27

Cedar Lake USA Nationals finale August3

Thunder #5 Saint Croix Valley Raceway August 17

Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial IRA Cedar Lake September 7

A couple of additional races I'd like to attend if everything works out are Jones Fleischer Memorial Challenge Series race at Ogilvie and the World of Outlaws at Deer Creek.  Those two events are tentative but I think there's a pretty good chance I'll be able to attend. 

Good equipment, a large budget, driving talent and a top notch crew are essential for success in racing.  Some say that you make your own luck and that preparation + determination = success or something along those lines.  Luck, the stars aligning and the Lord showing his favor are terms I have heard for to describe that elusive intangible fickle bitch we refer to as good luck.  Whatever it is some seem to have an abundance of it and others sometimes don't get their full ration.  One driver who is currently struggling to literally "stay on his feet" is Brooke Tatnell.  Brooke blew a transmission on the way to Knoxville (not sure but I think it must have been their family vehicle), hit a deer with their motor home on the way to Knoxville and most recently dropped a board on his foot and broke four toes.  Brooke is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday June 25.  This season, his 25th, started with high expectations with a weekly ride at Knoxville, his own car for nearby 410 races and some drives in the Nelson 14 at select 360 races.  I wish him and his family the best and hope that he gets well soon.  If anybody knows how to direct that fickle bitch called luck in Brooke's direction by all means please do so.

Recent rainouts have had one good effect in that they have allowed me to catch up a little on my racing budget.  Gas has dropped by $1 per gallon from it's recent spike and I have gotten past some of the things that were nipping pieces out of my budget for the past several years.  We're not completely out of the woods yet (and probably never will be) but I'm seeing a few more bucks left over at the end of the month so that's a good sign.  It's too little too late for any big schedule boost this season but it's enough to make things a little easier to deal with going forward.  Some things in life are cyclical and just have to play out.  If one chases racing long enough there will be highs and lows along the path. 

There are a couple big ticket items that are going to need updating during the coming year.  One is my computer which is still running XP.  Microsoft is providing critical update support for XP until April of 2014 at which time I'll have to migrate to a new OS.  The computer seems to be running good so I'm leaning towards purchasing an OEM copy of Windows 7 (supported until 2020) and upgrading the memory to the maximum allowed by my motherboard.  Also in the works will be a camera body upgrade to something a little more heavy duty.  I don't need a lot of fancy bells and whistles or HD video capability so I'll probably buy a used/refurbished body, something like a D200 or D300, whatever the best deal is.  I'm considering buying a new lens as well, something fast (f2.8) in the 70-200mm or 80-200mm range.  I need to start using my flash bracket again so I'll need to pickup another sync chord as well.  I'm into the photography for the long haul and I've gotten a lot of use out of both my D70 and D70s bodies so it's time to take it up a notch. 

There's not much to report in the music area right now.  I restrung my SG and adjusted the truss rod the other day so the action is great.  A few weeks ago I picked up an electronic keyboard and have been fooling around with online piano tutorials.  At the same time I purchased a glass slide and have been learning that technique as well.  For a long time there I was posting every song I created but I'm not doing that so much anymore while I sequester myself and get up-to-speed with these new additions.  It's tough to try and spend as much time playing music in the summer with so many other things going on.  I practice almost every day so there will be some new tunes one of these days.  I've got one with an AC/DC type groove that I'm playing around with in my practice sessions so that might be the next one I post.  

Well, that's going to do it for now.  See you at the races!

The CLS Triple Crown and other random thoughts...

Race Report from the Cedar Lake Triple Crown and my usual random thoughts

by Stan Meissner

June 3, 2013

Forest Lake, Minnesota

gotomn.com

Cedar Lake Speedway Triple Crown June 1, 2013

 

Cedar Lake Speedway results:  http://www.cedarlakespeedway.com/page/show/832626-2013-race-results

Gotomn.com photo gallery direct link to Triple Crown photos:  http://www.gotomn.com/Photos/2013%20photos/06012013_CLS-Triple/06012013_CLS-Triple.htm

Pat Doar #11

I'll admit that after spending Saturday May 25 at Cedar Lake covering photo duties on Pack the Track Night I left feeling some apprehension about their upcoming big event The Triple Crown.  The track crew had added some new dirt that along with the cool wet spring hadn't come in very well and produced some "bucking bronco" type racing.  Turn the calendar page to the following week and whatever they did worked because the Late Models went non-stop and the IRA Sprints only had one caution in their Features.  The track was still a little wavy in spots and they had to work it between races but it was a much improved surface.

I opened this blog post with a pit photo of Pat Doar's car at the Triple.  A few folks posting in one of the threads on the 20/20 message board were giving Pat a hard time for dropping off the WoO Late Model tour.  I don't know what goes through some people's heads but whether the reason for dropping off the tour was funding, family or whatever Pat was able to live the dream for a season.  There are some very talented drivers who once toured with the WoO Sprints racing locally so Pat's situation isn't unusual.  Brooke Tatnell right her in the Twin Cities area, Danny Lasoski, and Terry McCarl come to mind.  Every one of them can tell stories about how tough living on the road is and the amount of money it takes to run these tours with decent equipment.  None of those guys would fault Pat for giving it his best for over a year.  Personally I thought it was pretty cool that he was able to do it.  Money and sponsors don't come easy anymore and a lot of drivers have modified their dreams to fit their reality.  Nothing to be ashamed of, a lot of guys will never win a local Feature let alone live the dream.

Al Gilbertson 410 Sprint Car

The old saying goes something like "drive it like you stole it".  In the case of Al Gilbertson it might be more accurate to say "drive it like you stole the motor".  I don't know where Al and his dad Stan got the beans to put a 410 between the frame rails but so far I have seen Al's name listed in Knoxville, Husets, Elko World of Outlaws and CLS IRA action.  Actually I've seen him run twice so far this season, Elko and CLS, heard him mentioned on a Knoxville audio broadcast and saw his name in Husets live results.  Al has a lot of laps under his belt over the years but the past few seasons he hadn't been racing much.  It's cool to see these guys go from hardly racing and parking/selling their gear and sitting out for long stretches to a fairly ambitious schedule.

Scrappy aka Greg Nippoldt's #55 at the CLS Triple

Rick Hanestad's #71 at the CLS Triple

Shaun Kelley's #1k at the CLS Triple

Mike Nutzmann's #2 at the CLS Triple

Jeff Keeney's plain black #61 (number on fuel cell) at the CLS Triple

I posted a flood of photos of some of the drivers I have gotten to know during my time on the MRC Cedar Lake reporter beat.  I'm probably known more as the "Sprint Car guy" but this being my 15th season working with the racing publications it's always good to see familiar faces at CLS.  Most of the time I was hanging out at CLS Greg drove Supers but has since transitioned to a Late Model  The number is still #55 and the nickname is still Scrappy.  I work with Shaun's sister (one of our supervisors) and have known Mike Jr. and Shaun pretty much since the beginning of my reporter days.  Mike Nutzmann used to count the late photographer Navy "Davy" Trautmiller as a sponsor and of course his brother Jamie works for the track.  I had the opportunity a few years ago to take a Nutzmann family photo for an article that I believe appeared in Dirt Late Model.  I don't think I ever saw the finished product but I'm sure that I got some photos in that issue.  The Cedar Lake Speedway feels almost like a home away from home. 

Jeff Keeney lost his brother and pit crewman Dave last year just prior to the start of the season.  Those guys were inseparable, whenever you'd see one the other was usually close behind or alongside.  I always had a blast visiting with those guys and shared in a few unmentionable late night post race laughs.  I don't think it's any secret that Jeff had a rough time after we lost Dave but I'm seeing that old smile and enthusiasm coming back this year.  Jeff says that the lack of graphics is a tribute to Dave and I think Dave would have been proud of Jeff making the Triple Main Event and bringing the car home 16th and in one piece.  Jeff has always been a low budget racer getting the most out of what he's got to work with.  I remember a lot of nights at the weekly shows where they couldn't get out of the B Main so it was cool to see Jeff make the show.  The only problem that I see is that they probably won't let that plain car run at a certain area track but I don't think it would matter to Jeff.  I've still got the special edition Keeney #61 hat but I won't explain what that's all about, you'll have to do the research and find out for yourself.

Jeff Keeney's bare bones #61 looks fast so far this season

Mike Nutzmann finished 11th in the Triple Crown Feature

Another driver I used to watch on a weekly basis at Cedar Lake was Craig Thatcher.  Craig left and raced elsewhere for a while but has been running CLS pretty often the past couple of seasons.

Craig Thatcher at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

Jason Krohn #7k at the Cedar Lake Triple

Another driver in attendance at Cedar Lake was Jason Krohn in his 7k.  Jason has had a lot of success in the USMTS in recent years.  I used to watch Jason in an IMCA Stock Car before he made the switch to Modifieds.  I've got photos of the 7k IMCA Stock Car in front of the old covered grandstand at the Jackson Speedway.  The granstand has been replaced with a more modern aluminum structure and Jason has moved onto bigger and better things.

Travis Whitney at the CLS Triple

I got an opportunity to talk to Travis Whitney.  Travis is no longer fielding the family owned #9 and has spent the past few years in the DeWall #16.  Sprint fans who have made trips to Jackson are familiar with the name and number.  Travis and Bill Balog both ran away with their Heats and looked to be the drivers to beat on this night.

Marshall Fegers #f19

It was good to see Steve Fegers and his son Marshall at the Triple.  Steve's hair looked a little frostier and he might have let his belt loop out a notch but he was probably thinking the same thing about me.  My only regret is that I had to get back up to the lake home and the weather wasn't conducive to sharing a post race cold one.

Ron Jones #7

Ron Jones has stepped up the pace of his racing this year.  He has run some of the early season big shows that were able to get a step ahead of the weather.  I remember watching Ron in the winged Modifieds at CLS and have seen him at Princeton and Owatonna a few times.  They say that at one time Ron was one of the most successful Modified drivers in the country.  Aside from remembering that I saw him race I didn't pay close enough attention to Mods during his heyday so I let that opportunity slip away.  Hopefully I'll see him a few more times this season.

Scott Splittstoesser (2) runs inside of Ron Jones (7) at the CLS Triple

Modifieds go four wide at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

Steve Laursen at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

In the Sprint Cars I talked to Bill Balog before the races about his 2013 schedule.  Bill has run with the World of Outlaws, the IRA and even drove a Midget at Sun Prairie so far this season.  Balog got off to a slow start that he attributed to not getting a handle on the new Hoosiers.  Bill won an IRA Main event prior to the Triple Crown, won the Triple and backed it up the following night by beating out Brooke Tatnell at Eagle Valley.  Some of the fans were probably wondering where Brooke was seeing as he lives nearby in Forest Lake.  Tatnell is obligated to drive the #55 at the Knxville Raceway this season which presented one of those odd circumstances you sometimes see in racing.  Brooke could have ran his own car a half hour from home but had to make the 5:+ hour trek to Knoxville instead.  Knoxville had rained out the week before which enabled Tatnell to run his car with the UMSS at Rice Lake.  Brooke returned to run at Eagle Valley on Sunday night and gave Balog a run for his money.  Someone commented on one of the message boards after watching Bill run away with the Triple that a certain feature of his anatomy must be the size of coconuts.  I'm not going to speculate on that but in person Bill doesn't fit the stereotype of the intimidating Sprint Car driver with no smile and a steely gaze.  To the contrary, I find him to be one of the more friendly drivers and our conversations are likely to be as much about guitars as racing. 

Bill Balog at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

Jim Moughan Jr. races out of Springfield, Illinois, so there are likely closer Sprint Car tracks to his home but Jim has taken a liking to Cedar Lake and races there once or twice a year.  Moughan nabbed a second place podium finish at the Triple.

Jim Moughan Jr. at the Triple Crown

The IRA chose to forgo time trials on this night and drivers drew for starting position in the Heats.  As a result of scrapping time trials I was able to get some nice daylight shots with fill flash during the Heats.  This photo is of Russel Borland riding the high side during his Heat. 

Russell Borland at the Triple Crown

The Sprint Car Feature action was superb at the Triple Crown.  The Sprint Feature was slowed for one yellow when Al Gilbertson spun on lap five then ticked off 25 fast and furious laps non stop.  Here are a few shots from the Feature and a victory lane photo.

Phillip Mock (1m) inside of Al Gilbertson (97)

Three wide Sprints during the IRA Main Event

From 1993 through 1998 the Cedar Lake Speedway hosted WISSOTA 360 Sprints every Saturday night.  Two drivers getting a lot of ink during that time were touted as up and coming stars of the sport.  Travis once told me that they used to like to feature him and the other young driver in advertisements, with a "come out and see the young guns" sort of a spin.  That other driver was Donny Schatz who has gone on to have quite a bit of success.  Travis runs a reduced schedule in the DeWall #16 and along with Balog and Moughan was the class of the field at the Triple.  Here's a shot of Travis on the CLS frontstretch, a patch of dirt that he's very familiar with.

Travis Whitney racing to a podium finish at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

As a photographer there are several things I strive for in my victory lane shots.  One is the challenge of getting everyone to make eye contact.  When there are several photographers and the top three drivers or drivers are joined by family and crew in victory lane that can be difficult.  That's what I love about this victory lane shot, everyone made eye contact and smiled and some of my favorite Sprint Car drivers were the subject of the photo so in my book this one is a winner in more ways than one.

Top three Sprint finishers at the Cedar Lake Triple Crown

That's going to sum up my Cedar Lake Triple Crown race report.  Like I always say I'm not a stats guy so I provide links at the beginning of this article.

My racing attendance will resume with the Open Wheel Nationals at the Saint Croix Valley Raceway and the World of Outlaws at Cedar Lake.  In the meantime I'll be laying low in an effort to regroup so I can hit it again at the end of June.  There is a tentative day chasing Street Rods at Back to The 50's planned the third weekend of this month along with a CD release party for the band of a former basement dweller.

I'll be practicing slide guitar and brushing up on my electric keyboard playing as well.  I've been putting tunes together and posting them on my website for doo doo and giggles.  Here's an example of the kind of stuff I'm throwing together with a Gibson SG, a Dean Bass, and a Digitech multi effects pedal recorded directly through my sound card using the free program Audacity.  

http://gotomn.com/misc-temp/Slide%20to%20the%20end%20of%20the%20line.mp3

And here's a link to one of the songs by Jay's band Via.  I'll keep everyone posted when and where the CD release will take place.  http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_17272576  

Well, that's going to do it for the time being.  I will see you at the races in just a little under one month from now!