Thanks to everyone who has bought photos and graphic designs from me this season. As I have probably explained before, I don't sell photos for a living nor will you find me canvasing the pits with a portfolio. I rarely even announce when I post my pics on the message boards anymore. Nevertheless you good folks are finding me and that's helping me to stay afloat for another season. When I can no longer afford to run up and down the road it will be time to cut back but amazingly I'm on a pace to go to more races this year than I ever have. Granted most of them are close to home but that's another cool thing this season is that I'm enjoying the local racing a lot this year. Anyways, thanks for seeking me out and asking for some photos, it's very much appreciated.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that some people are going a little overboard blowing their horns about their photos and websites? I dunno, maybe it's because I've kinda' been there and done that after having done this stuff since the winter of 1996/1997. I don't get excited about it as much anymore and quite frankly everybody's photos look pretty much the same as the next guy. Personally I think it's the graphics that sets some people's work apart from the others. There are a lot of people out there who can take photos but not very many can come up with a graphic design. I don't do a lot of that business but I'm capable of doing some nice designs whenever anyone wants something. Like I said, I keep a low profile and try to slide under the radar instead of being the first one to post "I just uploaded a gazillion photos from..." And the people who respond to every post complete with an array of graphics is getting a little tiring too. They might as well just post in huge letters "photos for sale, mine are the best, buy from me now!"
I'm content and thankful for the little bit that I'm doing and happy with my present work load. Two, three, maybe four requests per week is as much as I want to handle with the processors and the post office. And I didn't even have to toot my horn very loud to do it.
Due to the successful week I've been having with photos I might just be able to swing a trip to Deer Creek for the IRA. They're suggesting that rain is going to creep into our forecast for later this week so we'll have to see how that goes. Likewise I'll have to see if we can get clearance from the track to take photos. If it doesn't work out I'll head out to Cedar for the Late Models and Mods as their shows have been a lot of fun lately. I'm partial to Sprints and haven't seen any since the Kouba Memorial so I'm hoping Deer Creek works out for me so we'll see.
Well, I better get off the computer and spend some time with my granddaughter before it's time for bed. She's spending the night with us and I'm getting dirty looks for being on the computer since I got home from work.
Later!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!
"..........Mother Nature won once again Friday night as a line of heavy storms roared through. Saturday night found us once again at Cedar Lake Speedway. Paul Hipsag had a very scary rollover in his Late Model heat completely destroying his car. Fortunately he wasn't hurt. It was a dusty dirty night and hard to get good pictures. On hand this night right down there with the rest of us shutterbugs was none other than Dr. Dick Berggren who publishes "Speedway Illustrated" magazine and also is a pit road reporter for NASCAR races. He was there with his hat on backwards and taking pictures with rest of us. He's a heck of a guy. I would love to hear some of his stories. He's been at this a long time.
This weeks shot comes from a modified heat race. See you at the races.........."
.JPG)
This weeks shot comes from a modified heat race. See you at the races.........."
.JPG)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday, to cut the lawn or not to cut the lawn, that is the question...
It's almost 11am on a Saturday morning and I'm debating whether or not to cut the lawn. I think what I'll do is wait until Sunday afternoon this time. We're flexible here at the command center of gotomn.com central. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain..."
Wednesday night at Cedar Lake my flash batteries gave out after approximately 170 full power flashes. I use a Nikon SB800 with the Nikon external battery pack. The flash holds four AA's and the external power source an additional six AA's. Normally I will shoot a hundred or so outside the track shots without flash from various vantage points. On NASCAR night I needed to use flash quite a bit during the course of the entire evening. I took more than my usual number of test shots on NASCAR night and that uses additional power. Running out of flash power kind of caught me off guard and I didn't have any spare batteries. I use 15 minute rechargeable batteries and the ones I'm using are going on four years old so I'm going to have to replace them after the season. In the meantime I'm going to carry eight backup batteries in my camera bag. If I run out of primary flash power I can disconnect the external battery pack and put four of the backup batteries in the flash head. My recycle times would be a little slower if I have do to that but at least I'll have an additional 140 shots. Four batteries in the flash head supply the user with approximately 70 shots and I've got eight spares. In addition to that I'm going to make a change in my flash settings when using fill flash that should conserve some battery power. I'll be prepared next time so I don't miss any important shots. The batteries must be losing some of their ability to hold a charge. Actually, I'm glad that it happened because that way I got some advance warning that I need to be thinking about getting fresh batteries.
My backup plan will get me through the season then I'm going to take a look at all of my photo equipment to see what needs an upgrade. I'm working with a limited budget (just like racing) but am attempting to make one key purchase each off season. Last winter it was a new lens so this year it will include flash batteries and possibly several more items. I did an indoor photo shoot the other day for a friend who wrote a book and wanted some photos for the cover. We did the shoot in the Black Dog, a wine restaurant located in St. Paul's lower town artists quarters near the old Gillette factory. I did the shoot hand held with flash which isn't the preferred method for the pros. To do indoor work justice it's essential to have portable studio lighting along with umbrella diffusers and a good quality tripod. It's like racing, if you want to go fast you have to have the right kind of equipment. I try to use available light whenever possible but I would have needed a tripod to shoot without flash.
Solutions such as vibration reduction lenses and studio lighting come with a high price so a person would have to use them a lot to justify the expense. I would enjoy the challenge of doing indoor work of subjects other than racing. My dream job would be doing photo shoots and graphic designs full time from my home. I'll be 57 this fall so I've got a few years to go before I can retire and devote more time to my hobby. I'm using a photo processing service now that gives me a good price on 11x14's and have been doing some 4x6 driver cards as well as 8x10 and 11x14 standard photos and collages. The collages are pretty neat, especially when I've got a portrait shot as well as left and right side action shots. I got so darned busy during my vacation that I let the artwork slide for a couple of weeks. Each design I do is unique so it takes me longer to do them than if I was overlaying a previously designed border and text over the photos. You can tell when they do that because each design is the same but is used for different drivers. It's necessary to do that if a person sells large quantities but I only do a few custom designs each month.
Here are samples of a few 2008 graphics that I have done to date:
Wednesday night at Cedar Lake my flash batteries gave out after approximately 170 full power flashes. I use a Nikon SB800 with the Nikon external battery pack. The flash holds four AA's and the external power source an additional six AA's. Normally I will shoot a hundred or so outside the track shots without flash from various vantage points. On NASCAR night I needed to use flash quite a bit during the course of the entire evening. I took more than my usual number of test shots on NASCAR night and that uses additional power. Running out of flash power kind of caught me off guard and I didn't have any spare batteries. I use 15 minute rechargeable batteries and the ones I'm using are going on four years old so I'm going to have to replace them after the season. In the meantime I'm going to carry eight backup batteries in my camera bag. If I run out of primary flash power I can disconnect the external battery pack and put four of the backup batteries in the flash head. My recycle times would be a little slower if I have do to that but at least I'll have an additional 140 shots. Four batteries in the flash head supply the user with approximately 70 shots and I've got eight spares. In addition to that I'm going to make a change in my flash settings when using fill flash that should conserve some battery power. I'll be prepared next time so I don't miss any important shots. The batteries must be losing some of their ability to hold a charge. Actually, I'm glad that it happened because that way I got some advance warning that I need to be thinking about getting fresh batteries.
My backup plan will get me through the season then I'm going to take a look at all of my photo equipment to see what needs an upgrade. I'm working with a limited budget (just like racing) but am attempting to make one key purchase each off season. Last winter it was a new lens so this year it will include flash batteries and possibly several more items. I did an indoor photo shoot the other day for a friend who wrote a book and wanted some photos for the cover. We did the shoot in the Black Dog, a wine restaurant located in St. Paul's lower town artists quarters near the old Gillette factory. I did the shoot hand held with flash which isn't the preferred method for the pros. To do indoor work justice it's essential to have portable studio lighting along with umbrella diffusers and a good quality tripod. It's like racing, if you want to go fast you have to have the right kind of equipment. I try to use available light whenever possible but I would have needed a tripod to shoot without flash.
Solutions such as vibration reduction lenses and studio lighting come with a high price so a person would have to use them a lot to justify the expense. I would enjoy the challenge of doing indoor work of subjects other than racing. My dream job would be doing photo shoots and graphic designs full time from my home. I'll be 57 this fall so I've got a few years to go before I can retire and devote more time to my hobby. I'm using a photo processing service now that gives me a good price on 11x14's and have been doing some 4x6 driver cards as well as 8x10 and 11x14 standard photos and collages. The collages are pretty neat, especially when I've got a portrait shot as well as left and right side action shots. I got so darned busy during my vacation that I let the artwork slide for a couple of weeks. Each design I do is unique so it takes me longer to do them than if I was overlaying a previously designed border and text over the photos. You can tell when they do that because each design is the same but is used for different drivers. It's necessary to do that if a person sells large quantities but I only do a few custom designs each month.
Here are samples of a few 2008 graphics that I have done to date:
Friday, July 11, 2008
A few photos added to the 2008 driver gallery
I had the privilege of attending Cedar Lake's 2008 NASCAR night on July 9 and it was a great show. I caught up with a couple of Modified drivers that I hadn't seen before at Cedar Lake this season. Maybe you can help me ID who these guys are.
Thanks to Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader for stopping what they were doing for a moment so I could take these photos. Copies will be submitted to the Speedway and racing publications. We appreciate what you guys do to promote the sport for some of us fans who might not get an opportunity to go to Sprint Cup races very often.
So if you haven't checked out my 2008 driver gallery you better do that right now. What started out as a project to help put together a program for Cedar Lake Speedway's NASCAR night morphed into a personal project. I get to meet a lot of drivers each season so I thought I'd share that opportunity with everyone. I really do appreciate the cooperation of each and every driver who has agreed to have their photo taken.
If you haven't checked out the MDTR photo gallery for a while you might want to do that as well. I don't always announce when I post photos on the message boards because it gets a little redundant. People know where my site is located, they know I take photos and that I have a photo gallery on my site. I don't always have time to announce when I post photos but I'll try to do it once in a while. After all, it would be a waste of time to do all this web work if nobody ever saw it. So anyways, here-tis! as Schreier (an inside joke) would say.
People have been giving me sh*t lately about not getting a haircut for a while. I look at it this way, $20 per month x 12 months = $240 per year. $240 divided by $4 per gallon = 60 gallons. 25 miles per gallon x 60 = 1500 miles per year. 1500 miles is the equivalent of 23 round trips to the Cedar Lake Speedway which translates to a large part of my racing season. Any questions? What's more important, short hair or racing? H*ll, I came up in a time when if you didn't have hair down to your *ss you were looked on with suspicion. My heroes have always been cowboys, and rednecks
But seriously, I can be a sensitive guy and sniff flowers and sh*t like that. LOL
Anyways, where were I?
Oh yeah, Last week was my vacation week and I got so darned busy with photo work that I never got a chance to relax. I'm honored that some of you appreciate my style of photography and graphics but on the other hand I'm kinda lazy. When I get too many photo orders I kinda' get freaked out and curl into the fetal position for a while. Once I snap out of it and get busy doin' the orders, well, then it ain't so bad, I get caught up. Now I'm just about caught up to where I can catch a breath. And I do appreciate photo orders. Keeps me in race track hot dogs and Miller Lite. Gotta love that.
Scary storms came through here tonight (Friday night July 11, 2008). I helped the wife out on the deck to make sure the baby birds didn't get hurt and the toad living in the planter didn't drown. That was my "good earth" side, sorry Al but that's all you're getting from me. That's about the extent of my environmental awareness. Aside from that I just go with the flow.
Vinster's band played at Moondance Jam last night. That's a pretty prestigious gig to play on the same card as Sammy Hagar. I jammed with Vince, his dad, his friends and a guitar player that I know a few times. I knew right away when I hear him the first time that Vince was better than most of the drummers I had heard in my garage band or roadie days. I've been playing guitar since the mid 1960's, I'm not professional caliber but I know enough about music to know a good musician when I hear one. It's kind of like racing though, you can't really tell how good a race was when you're close to the action in the infield. Seeing the bigger picture in the stands is the only way to know how good it really was. Same thing with music, when you're trying to hit the right chords you're so focused on yourself you don't see the big picture. All I know for sure is that I was totally outclassed in those jam sessions and I knew they were a helluva lot better than me.
So I finally got a chance to get back on my blogging schedule. It took an entire week but I could see from the increased hits the blog is getting that more people are checking this blog out. It would be a shame to get some blogging momentum and not follow through on it.
Thanks to Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader for stopping what they were doing for a moment so I could take these photos. Copies will be submitted to the Speedway and racing publications. We appreciate what you guys do to promote the sport for some of us fans who might not get an opportunity to go to Sprint Cup races very often.
So if you haven't checked out my 2008 driver gallery you better do that right now. What started out as a project to help put together a program for Cedar Lake Speedway's NASCAR night morphed into a personal project. I get to meet a lot of drivers each season so I thought I'd share that opportunity with everyone. I really do appreciate the cooperation of each and every driver who has agreed to have their photo taken.
If you haven't checked out the MDTR photo gallery for a while you might want to do that as well. I don't always announce when I post photos on the message boards because it gets a little redundant. People know where my site is located, they know I take photos and that I have a photo gallery on my site. I don't always have time to announce when I post photos but I'll try to do it once in a while. After all, it would be a waste of time to do all this web work if nobody ever saw it. So anyways, here-tis! as Schreier (an inside joke) would say.
People have been giving me sh*t lately about not getting a haircut for a while. I look at it this way, $20 per month x 12 months = $240 per year. $240 divided by $4 per gallon = 60 gallons. 25 miles per gallon x 60 = 1500 miles per year. 1500 miles is the equivalent of 23 round trips to the Cedar Lake Speedway which translates to a large part of my racing season. Any questions? What's more important, short hair or racing? H*ll, I came up in a time when if you didn't have hair down to your *ss you were looked on with suspicion. My heroes have always been cowboys, and rednecks
But seriously, I can be a sensitive guy and sniff flowers and sh*t like that. LOL
Anyways, where were I?
Oh yeah, Last week was my vacation week and I got so darned busy with photo work that I never got a chance to relax. I'm honored that some of you appreciate my style of photography and graphics but on the other hand I'm kinda lazy. When I get too many photo orders I kinda' get freaked out and curl into the fetal position for a while. Once I snap out of it and get busy doin' the orders, well, then it ain't so bad, I get caught up. Now I'm just about caught up to where I can catch a breath. And I do appreciate photo orders. Keeps me in race track hot dogs and Miller Lite. Gotta love that.
Scary storms came through here tonight (Friday night July 11, 2008). I helped the wife out on the deck to make sure the baby birds didn't get hurt and the toad living in the planter didn't drown. That was my "good earth" side, sorry Al but that's all you're getting from me. That's about the extent of my environmental awareness. Aside from that I just go with the flow.
Vinster's band played at Moondance Jam last night. That's a pretty prestigious gig to play on the same card as Sammy Hagar. I jammed with Vince, his dad, his friends and a guitar player that I know a few times. I knew right away when I hear him the first time that Vince was better than most of the drummers I had heard in my garage band or roadie days. I've been playing guitar since the mid 1960's, I'm not professional caliber but I know enough about music to know a good musician when I hear one. It's kind of like racing though, you can't really tell how good a race was when you're close to the action in the infield. Seeing the bigger picture in the stands is the only way to know how good it really was. Same thing with music, when you're trying to hit the right chords you're so focused on yourself you don't see the big picture. All I know for sure is that I was totally outclassed in those jam sessions and I knew they were a helluva lot better than me.
So I finally got a chance to get back on my blogging schedule. It took an entire week but I could see from the increased hits the blog is getting that more people are checking this blog out. It would be a shame to get some blogging momentum and not follow through on it.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
repost of NAVY DAVY'S SHOTS OF THE WEEK!!!
"............what a great week it was! Starting last Saturday June 28 we were at Cedar Lake Speedway. Sunday we watched the World of Outlaw Sprint cars at Cedar Lake. We took Monday off then the tour started. Tuesday night we made the run to Superior Speedway and were treated to one of the best Late Model features we've seen in a long time. The forty lapper started with A.J. Diemel in the 25th starting spot. Most of the race was fought up front by Jeff Provenzino and Darrell Nelson. All race long Diemel kept pecking away passing cars like there was no tomorrow. Jeff drove a good race but he was lucky it was only 40 laps long. At the end he was right on Provenzino. The first shot is at the checkers.
Wednesday night found us at Tri-Oval Speedway near Fountain City WI for another "Dart Series Challenge" race. It was another good night. Half way through the show I burned my Cam flash out. That put me up in the stands for the rest of the night.
Thursday it was night one of the "Red Cedar Rumble" in Menomonie. They ran heats for the Late Models and a full show for the three support classes, Midwest Mods, SuperStocks, and the Red Cedar Pure Stocks. Again another fun night.
Friday and Saturday it was back to my regular haunt Kopellah Speedway for the two day 2nd annual "Star Spangled Spectacular". As usual it was two nights of typical Kopellah racing. Lots of side by side and three wide racing in all classes.
Saturday night was our special for the Midwest Mods put on by Tim Swanson and Natco Tranny's. There were also several co-sponsors who put bonus's up for all the classes. Ronnie Rihn took the Mid-Mod feature and 700.00.
All in all it was a great week to be on vacation. The second shot is typical of Kopellah. A three wide shot of Supers in their Saturday night feature.
It was also great to see everyone I met and talked to during this fun run. See you at the races................"
.JPG)
.JPG)
Wednesday night found us at Tri-Oval Speedway near Fountain City WI for another "Dart Series Challenge" race. It was another good night. Half way through the show I burned my Cam flash out. That put me up in the stands for the rest of the night.
Thursday it was night one of the "Red Cedar Rumble" in Menomonie. They ran heats for the Late Models and a full show for the three support classes, Midwest Mods, SuperStocks, and the Red Cedar Pure Stocks. Again another fun night.
Friday and Saturday it was back to my regular haunt Kopellah Speedway for the two day 2nd annual "Star Spangled Spectacular". As usual it was two nights of typical Kopellah racing. Lots of side by side and three wide racing in all classes.
Saturday night was our special for the Midwest Mods put on by Tim Swanson and Natco Tranny's. There were also several co-sponsors who put bonus's up for all the classes. Ronnie Rihn took the Mid-Mod feature and 700.00.
All in all it was a great week to be on vacation. The second shot is typical of Kopellah. A three wide shot of Supers in their Saturday night feature.
It was also great to see everyone I met and talked to during this fun run. See you at the races................"
.JPG)
.JPG)
Please bear with me for a few more days...
It's Sunday July 6 and I've been MIA here on the Blog for most of the week. This has been a huge week of vacation, races, photo editing, and running all over the d*mn place like a chicken with my head cut off.
After nine days I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow morning. I need the rest ;-)
I'll post a more comprehensive Blog entry as soon as I'm able.
The coming week will be another busy one. Wednesday night will be Nascar night at Cedar Lake. Midweek races when I don't have the following day off are always a mad scramble so that's liable to cut into the Blog posts as well. I've also got some special things to do this week in preparation for this coming Saturday at Cedar Lake.
Sometimes it's a lot of work being busy but I love being busy when it involves racing.
Congrats to Lee Grosz on his Kouba Memorial win last night and to Andy Jones on his MWM Feature win. And Dennis, tell your wife that I'm not gonna' get a haircut no matter what she says. LOL
In lieu of writing a long blog entry here are a few of my favorite shots from the past week.
Grandkids first race
Donnie Schatz on his way to CLS WoO win
Donnie Schatz victory lane celebration
Gallagher 150 foot Crane Drop
Lee Grosz winner of the Kouba Memorial
After nine days I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow morning. I need the rest ;-)
I'll post a more comprehensive Blog entry as soon as I'm able.
The coming week will be another busy one. Wednesday night will be Nascar night at Cedar Lake. Midweek races when I don't have the following day off are always a mad scramble so that's liable to cut into the Blog posts as well. I've also got some special things to do this week in preparation for this coming Saturday at Cedar Lake.
Sometimes it's a lot of work being busy but I love being busy when it involves racing.
Congrats to Lee Grosz on his Kouba Memorial win last night and to Andy Jones on his MWM Feature win. And Dennis, tell your wife that I'm not gonna' get a haircut no matter what she says. LOL
In lieu of writing a long blog entry here are a few of my favorite shots from the past week.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Tuesday, I'm having a relaxing vacation...
I even forgot what day it was until somebody reminded me it was Tuesday. You can't beat that.
Today I spent the entire day today trying to catch up with some photo projects. Check out the driver gallery that I put together today.
Tomorrow night I'm planning on going down to Kasson for the IMCA Sprints. I am also considering going to the Challenge Series race at Red Cedar if I can get credentials. Otherwise I'll just stay home on Thursday, get a fire going in the fire ring and have a few cold brews.
We'll just play it by ear and see what happens. As they say, "it's all good!"
Later,
Street Stock Stan
Today I spent the entire day today trying to catch up with some photo projects. Check out the driver gallery that I put together today.
Tomorrow night I'm planning on going down to Kasson for the IMCA Sprints. I am also considering going to the Challenge Series race at Red Cedar if I can get credentials. Otherwise I'll just stay home on Thursday, get a fire going in the fire ring and have a few cold brews.
We'll just play it by ear and see what happens. As they say, "it's all good!"
Later,
Street Stock Stan
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Sun shining in Forest Lake, showers south of the Metro and a huge mass up by the MN, ND, CN border...
The showers south of here aren't a concern but that big mass up on the MN/ND/CN border area is huge and rotating like a damn hurricane. The forecasts all call for 30% to 40% chance of precipitation for this afternoon and evening. It appears to be light and spotty so hopefully they won't prevent us from getting the races in. I guess worst case scenario is that 10 adults, three toddlers and a puppy will spend some bonding time under a 12x12 canopy.
I'm going to proceed as scheduled and watch the weather.
I'm going to proceed as scheduled and watch the weather.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, the rain comlplicates everybody's plans...
An observation made when a blob of rain three states wide was bearing down on every track in the upper Midwest. Who are these people who start posting on the boards looking for a track that isn't going to rain out? They post that they're going to drive long distances so they can attend a Friday night race somewhere.
I'm not knocking the more affordable classes of racing in our area so don't get that idea. Nevertheless, does it make sense to haul a $300 to win class of car hundreds of extra miles when your regular Friday track rains out? To take it a step further, what if you're a fan of these classes and your regular Friday track rains out? Are you going to hop in your car and drive hundreds of miles to find some track where the lineup is Mods, MWM, Supers, Streets and Pures? Me? I'd just find something else to do and stay home.
If it was something really special, say the USA Nationals for instance, you better believe that I'd be on the road regardless of the weather. When it's a race of that stature I'm going to do everything within my power to see a race and I'm going to wait out their rain date if necessary. On the other hand, I enjoy watching Mods, Midwest Mods, Supers and Streets but I can see those a couple nights a week every weekend all summer long. If I missed a night no big deal, I'd just do something else. Evidently some people take these entry classes or more affordable classes or whatever you want to call them way more seriously than I do.
And the posts on the message boards criticizing the tracks for canceling when they see severe storms bearing down on them. These people actually get angry at the tracks for canceling when it's obvious they're going to get hit. I don't get it. Don't they ever pickup a newspaper or fill their gas tanks? It ought to be pretty obvious why the tracks no longer wait it out like they used to. It's d*mn expensive just to get the cars to the race track anymore and the tracks are doing their racers a favor by not luring them out there only to pull the plug after everyone signs in. That way if there is another direction they can go where the weather is more favorable they have time to do so. Also, everyone saves travel expenses when a rainout is imminent anyways and can apply that towards the next week of racing. You can't fault any tracks for doing that, some of them are having a tough time this year and it wouldn't take much to upset the balance.
Now I'm going to say something that will make me look like a big hypocrite. Tomorrow night is the annual Firecracker at Cedar Lake. I have been waiting for my grandkids to get a little older so I could bring them out to their first race. Finally tomorrow was going to be that night that I've been looking forward to for three years and have been planning since early this year. I made a mistake, I looked forward to it too much, got my expectations too high, and now it looks like I could be disappointed. Earlier in the week (as has happened way too many times this year already) the weather for tomorrow looked like it was going to be ok. As each day passed the forecast for Saturday kept getting a little worse until now it's not looking too good. In addition to bringing the grandkids and all my kids and their spouses out there I bought a bunch of food and was going to host a cookout.
I was going to camp at CLS and have a good time with my racing buddies after the family left but if Saturday rains out I'm probably going to invite the family over to my house instead. If they race we'll be there, if we get rain sometime during the course of the evening I hope they'll still be able to shoot of the fireworks. Wow, I'm close to having a nervous breakdown worrying about the weather and how I'm going to accommodate my family. I can't even begin to imagine the stress involved promoting one of these tracks with the weather we've been having. There have even been two nights where the sirens went off during the races.
It has been a tough year and I'm sure that many of you have dealt with disappointments so I'll stop being a hypocrite and think of ways to deal with the circumstances. It's my job to show everyone a good time tomorrow whether it's at the track or here at the house.
I'm not knocking the more affordable classes of racing in our area so don't get that idea. Nevertheless, does it make sense to haul a $300 to win class of car hundreds of extra miles when your regular Friday track rains out? To take it a step further, what if you're a fan of these classes and your regular Friday track rains out? Are you going to hop in your car and drive hundreds of miles to find some track where the lineup is Mods, MWM, Supers, Streets and Pures? Me? I'd just find something else to do and stay home.
If it was something really special, say the USA Nationals for instance, you better believe that I'd be on the road regardless of the weather. When it's a race of that stature I'm going to do everything within my power to see a race and I'm going to wait out their rain date if necessary. On the other hand, I enjoy watching Mods, Midwest Mods, Supers and Streets but I can see those a couple nights a week every weekend all summer long. If I missed a night no big deal, I'd just do something else. Evidently some people take these entry classes or more affordable classes or whatever you want to call them way more seriously than I do.
And the posts on the message boards criticizing the tracks for canceling when they see severe storms bearing down on them. These people actually get angry at the tracks for canceling when it's obvious they're going to get hit. I don't get it. Don't they ever pickup a newspaper or fill their gas tanks? It ought to be pretty obvious why the tracks no longer wait it out like they used to. It's d*mn expensive just to get the cars to the race track anymore and the tracks are doing their racers a favor by not luring them out there only to pull the plug after everyone signs in. That way if there is another direction they can go where the weather is more favorable they have time to do so. Also, everyone saves travel expenses when a rainout is imminent anyways and can apply that towards the next week of racing. You can't fault any tracks for doing that, some of them are having a tough time this year and it wouldn't take much to upset the balance.
Now I'm going to say something that will make me look like a big hypocrite. Tomorrow night is the annual Firecracker at Cedar Lake. I have been waiting for my grandkids to get a little older so I could bring them out to their first race. Finally tomorrow was going to be that night that I've been looking forward to for three years and have been planning since early this year. I made a mistake, I looked forward to it too much, got my expectations too high, and now it looks like I could be disappointed. Earlier in the week (as has happened way too many times this year already) the weather for tomorrow looked like it was going to be ok. As each day passed the forecast for Saturday kept getting a little worse until now it's not looking too good. In addition to bringing the grandkids and all my kids and their spouses out there I bought a bunch of food and was going to host a cookout.
I was going to camp at CLS and have a good time with my racing buddies after the family left but if Saturday rains out I'm probably going to invite the family over to my house instead. If they race we'll be there, if we get rain sometime during the course of the evening I hope they'll still be able to shoot of the fireworks. Wow, I'm close to having a nervous breakdown worrying about the weather and how I'm going to accommodate my family. I can't even begin to imagine the stress involved promoting one of these tracks with the weather we've been having. There have even been two nights where the sirens went off during the races.
It has been a tough year and I'm sure that many of you have dealt with disappointments so I'll stop being a hypocrite and think of ways to deal with the circumstances. It's my job to show everyone a good time tomorrow whether it's at the track or here at the house.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, half way thorugh the week...
And half way to vacation week. I've been working on the camper and getting the garage organized this past week. We're going to be getting the roof done soon as well. It's been busy with all the additional things coming up so now it's time for me to take a week of vacation and relax.
Some of the dreaded "R" word has crept into the forecast for this coming weekend. Man, I sure hope Cedar Lake is able to get their show in without any of that @#%^ getting in the way. We'll be camping and I've got the whole family coming out so I want to show them a good time. For some of them it will be their first ever race. And all three grandkids will be out there at the same time, two have never seen a race and the grandson loves playing with cars and trucks. It's just a cool deal for me to be able to see that and I'm hoping the weather don't F it up on me. Of course as a hardcore racefan I'll be out there regardless but if the fam don't come I'll be giving away a gazillion hotdogs.
Who's going to win the Cedar Lake World of Outlaws show. Man, that's a tough call. I'd like to see Schatz take one at Cedar so he's the one I'm going to pull for. Two other drivers with local roots, Dollansky and Tatnell, have both won WoO races at CLS. I'd really like to see Whitney or Richert pull of a huge upset but I think the odds of that against the Outlaw cubic $$$ aren't very good. I've always felt that some of our guys could do well against them if they had the equipment and I'll always believe that. That used to be the case, Richert Sr., Bob Hopp and John Stevenson used to give those early Outlaws a good run for their money. At that time Kinser and Swindell were still baby faced kids and our guys held their own against them at North Starr and Knoxville. I feel pretty fortunate to have those kinds of Sprint Car roots up here and the opportunity to be around for it. It's been a fun deal to be able to watch this sport for so many years and to have seen so many changes during that time.
This Saturday I'll be at CLS for the Firecracker on Saturday. Last Friday I went to Kopellah and worked my butt off but I'm happy with the results. I followed along as they did driver introductions and learned a lot about doing that. It's really a challenge because you basically get one shot and you've got to hit it right the first time. I'm going to have to post a gallery of the headshots I've been doing this season as well. They're going to use them in a Cedar Lake Nascar night program and I'm honored to be able to help out with something like that. I've been going out there since around 1962, Cedar Lake is like hallowed ground to me so I don't mind helping out.
Looks like I'll be doing some more photo work for a couple of racing teams. I'm working on a special project to honor Tom Nesbitt. I was fortunate to catch some nice shots of Tom on June 7 including a nice portrait of him. Add to that the right and left side shots I got and I just had to do something special with them. I'm working on the artwork and when I'm done I'll have it printed in an 11x14 and give it to Tom. Hopefully I can catch up to Tom somewhere and give it to him in person. 50 years of racing, he deserves some special gifts in honor of a great career.
Some of the dreaded "R" word has crept into the forecast for this coming weekend. Man, I sure hope Cedar Lake is able to get their show in without any of that @#%^ getting in the way. We'll be camping and I've got the whole family coming out so I want to show them a good time. For some of them it will be their first ever race. And all three grandkids will be out there at the same time, two have never seen a race and the grandson loves playing with cars and trucks. It's just a cool deal for me to be able to see that and I'm hoping the weather don't F it up on me. Of course as a hardcore racefan I'll be out there regardless but if the fam don't come I'll be giving away a gazillion hotdogs.
Who's going to win the Cedar Lake World of Outlaws show. Man, that's a tough call. I'd like to see Schatz take one at Cedar so he's the one I'm going to pull for. Two other drivers with local roots, Dollansky and Tatnell, have both won WoO races at CLS. I'd really like to see Whitney or Richert pull of a huge upset but I think the odds of that against the Outlaw cubic $$$ aren't very good. I've always felt that some of our guys could do well against them if they had the equipment and I'll always believe that. That used to be the case, Richert Sr., Bob Hopp and John Stevenson used to give those early Outlaws a good run for their money. At that time Kinser and Swindell were still baby faced kids and our guys held their own against them at North Starr and Knoxville. I feel pretty fortunate to have those kinds of Sprint Car roots up here and the opportunity to be around for it. It's been a fun deal to be able to watch this sport for so many years and to have seen so many changes during that time.
This Saturday I'll be at CLS for the Firecracker on Saturday. Last Friday I went to Kopellah and worked my butt off but I'm happy with the results. I followed along as they did driver introductions and learned a lot about doing that. It's really a challenge because you basically get one shot and you've got to hit it right the first time. I'm going to have to post a gallery of the headshots I've been doing this season as well. They're going to use them in a Cedar Lake Nascar night program and I'm honored to be able to help out with something like that. I've been going out there since around 1962, Cedar Lake is like hallowed ground to me so I don't mind helping out.
Looks like I'll be doing some more photo work for a couple of racing teams. I'm working on a special project to honor Tom Nesbitt. I was fortunate to catch some nice shots of Tom on June 7 including a nice portrait of him. Add to that the right and left side shots I got and I just had to do something special with them. I'm working on the artwork and when I'm done I'll have it printed in an 11x14 and give it to Tom. Hopefully I can catch up to Tom somewhere and give it to him in person. 50 years of racing, he deserves some special gifts in honor of a great career.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday, working on the camper
I haven't checked in for a while so I thought I'd post something before I go out and work on the camper. It's nice outside and I've got some cold beer to make the job go better. I've got some patching to do on a couple seams and I've got to wash all the dishes and clean it out. Now mind you, when a guy cleans out a camper that no women ever stay in that basically means I'm going to shake the rug and give it the once over with a broom.
I'll have to inventory everything and make sure I've got charcoal and lighter fluid. Maybe split a little firewood, make a list of what I need and all that. I already greased the wheels and checked the tires. The only thing besides that will be to hook it up to the truck and make sure all the lights work. No reason they shouldn't, everything worked last fall and it's been stored in the garage. Oh yeah, I put the new tabs on it too.
Busy, busy. More to come as the week progresses.
See you at the Firecracker and World of Outlaws. If you're not going to CLS for those shows have fun at the race of your choice. As they say, it's all good...
I'll have to inventory everything and make sure I've got charcoal and lighter fluid. Maybe split a little firewood, make a list of what I need and all that. I already greased the wheels and checked the tires. The only thing besides that will be to hook it up to the truck and make sure all the lights work. No reason they shouldn't, everything worked last fall and it's been stored in the garage. Oh yeah, I put the new tabs on it too.
Busy, busy. More to come as the week progresses.
See you at the Firecracker and World of Outlaws. If you're not going to CLS for those shows have fun at the race of your choice. As they say, it's all good...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
NAVY DAVY'S SHOT OF THE WEEK!!!
.jpg)
............another exciting evening at Cedar Lake Saturday night. I couldn't make it to Kopellah Friday night because I had to work. By the time I weaseled my way out of there everything was over.
At Cedar Lake Saturday night they ran the double feature format once again. That format makes for some exciting side by side and three wide racing. Just what the doctor ordered for us photographers. Anywhere around the track was great. I know because I was all over the track throughout the night. This weeks shot comes from the preliminary Late Model feature-Mike Nutzmann, Jeff Keeney, and Bryan Wennen making it three wide through turns one and two. If Mother Nature permits next weekend should be a good one. Kopellah Friday night, Cedar Lake Saturday night, and The World of Outlaw Sprints Sunday night at Cedar Lake. See you at the races....................
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday update
I came up with something to finish off the Keeney graphic. Inside note, Jeff used to have a decal on his valve cover that said "evil inside." Hence the saying on the graphic.
Now I can go out and cut the lawn...
Now I can go out and cut the lawn...
Is it Friday morning already???
I took the day off work today to try and get a few things done around the house these next two days. It's only 7:30am so I'm going to pump down a few cups of coffee and wake myself up a little before I cut the grass. My wife is watching Les' daughter, has the rest of my grandkids, a couple of my daughters coming over along with our sister-in-law and her mom. It's going to be a zoo around here but I've got things to do in the garage so I can stay busy. You know how it is sometimes, you just get to a point where you're hell bent on taking a day off and not having to be at work. Nothing like sleeping in late and sitting out on a sunny deck with a your coffee on a beautiful 80 degree day. Ahhhh!!!!
Yesterday I had a nasty experience on my walk during lunch break. I was walking along the river on the path and a pigeon shit on my head. When one considers all the pigeons downtown it's a miracle that this is the first time I've been shit on in 20 years. For a minute there it felt like I was still in the office (sarcasm alert)! LOL
Anyways, a lady gave me a couple paper towels so I could wipe the bird shit out of my hair. So I'm walking the six blocks back up to the office and my lunch starts coming up in my throat like I'm gonna' puke or something. When I got back to the office I washed the area of hair that got dive bombed and obsessively washed my hands every half hour for the rest of the afternoon. When I got home I took a shower and washed my hair good. F'in pigeons a dirty gross nasty assed birds and I hate them even more than bushy tailed tree rats (squirrels). That's one of the nasty sides of nature for sure.
Tonight I'll be going to Kopellah for the second time this season. After my first trip there I made some photo adjustments and my pics are really coming along good this season. The two biggest adjustments I made were (1) to concentrate more on color balance by studying the light temperature chart and using a white balance filter and (2) purchasing a new lens that has a reputation for sharpness. The lens is a fixed focal length as compared to the zoom lens I had been using. Anybody want to buy a Nikon mount Tamron 28-105mm f2.8? That lens cost me over $800 new and I have never been happy with the image sharpness. I think it's a good lens for people who have the big Norman flashes because that lens needs a lot of light behind it to produce a good image. For those like me who shoot with a hotshoe the Tamron just doesn't fit my style. I'm probably going to list it on 20/20 in the for sale section and will give a good deal on it.
I'm not sure what my next photo purchase will be. Each year I try to make some kind of an equipment upgrade during the off season. I'm probably not going to buy a D300 anytime soon. In my mind it's a great camera but I've got two camera bodies, a D70 and a D70s, that will last me for years to come. If I was doing this for a living it would be another story but going out and spending $1800 on a new camera isn't, in my mind, a good long term investment for me. It wouldn't dramatically increase my skills or how many photos of mine they run in the magazines. By my way of thinking the best next purchase for me would be a new more powerful flash. Everybody likes the Normans but I prefer the top of the line Metz handle mount. It's got a guide number of around 250 (double the 125 of my SB800) and they've got a rep among wedding photographers as being trouble free. Before I make any camera purchases I've got to evaluate the rest of my needs around here.
Currently I'm running two vehicles, the ol' Ranger (93) and a 98 Olds Intrigue. I ride a vanpool to work and only drive the truck a couple miles a day so theoretically with 135,000 it could last a few more years. I just got some work done on it so as far as I know it's alright in that respect. It's got new tires, a fairly new exhaust and battery. But it ain't much to look at so I guess the biggest thing is the pride and vanity of driving something that looks nice. You know what I mean, the "big weenie" syndrome, "keep up with the Jones'" my stuff is nicer than your stuff. On the other hand I'll never forget what Tom Wilke used to say about his race cars "it ain't the chrome that make's em go" and my late father-in-law (who was a car repair shop owner) "you can buy a lot of gas for what it costs for a car payment." On the other hand, now that it's over 80 during the heat of the afternoon A/C and cruise would be nice. I'll be 57 this fall and at my age creature comforts do become a factor.
Here's a photo sample of Joseph Kouba at the Masters and some graphics samples. The Keeney graphic isn't finished and it's just practice and not for an order, I'm thinking it needs a little more but I'm not sure exactly what. I've been having my graphics creations pocessed as 11x14's for people and they really like them. A lot of the other photographers do "cookie cutter" stuff, the same event background for every photo, and go for quantity. Mine are all unique creations unlike anything else out there. I only do them one at a time by request so I like to design something unique that's going to look different than the next guy's.
Yesterday I had a nasty experience on my walk during lunch break. I was walking along the river on the path and a pigeon shit on my head. When one considers all the pigeons downtown it's a miracle that this is the first time I've been shit on in 20 years. For a minute there it felt like I was still in the office (sarcasm alert)! LOL
Anyways, a lady gave me a couple paper towels so I could wipe the bird shit out of my hair. So I'm walking the six blocks back up to the office and my lunch starts coming up in my throat like I'm gonna' puke or something. When I got back to the office I washed the area of hair that got dive bombed and obsessively washed my hands every half hour for the rest of the afternoon. When I got home I took a shower and washed my hair good. F'in pigeons a dirty gross nasty assed birds and I hate them even more than bushy tailed tree rats (squirrels). That's one of the nasty sides of nature for sure.
Tonight I'll be going to Kopellah for the second time this season. After my first trip there I made some photo adjustments and my pics are really coming along good this season. The two biggest adjustments I made were (1) to concentrate more on color balance by studying the light temperature chart and using a white balance filter and (2) purchasing a new lens that has a reputation for sharpness. The lens is a fixed focal length as compared to the zoom lens I had been using. Anybody want to buy a Nikon mount Tamron 28-105mm f2.8? That lens cost me over $800 new and I have never been happy with the image sharpness. I think it's a good lens for people who have the big Norman flashes because that lens needs a lot of light behind it to produce a good image. For those like me who shoot with a hotshoe the Tamron just doesn't fit my style. I'm probably going to list it on 20/20 in the for sale section and will give a good deal on it.
I'm not sure what my next photo purchase will be. Each year I try to make some kind of an equipment upgrade during the off season. I'm probably not going to buy a D300 anytime soon. In my mind it's a great camera but I've got two camera bodies, a D70 and a D70s, that will last me for years to come. If I was doing this for a living it would be another story but going out and spending $1800 on a new camera isn't, in my mind, a good long term investment for me. It wouldn't dramatically increase my skills or how many photos of mine they run in the magazines. By my way of thinking the best next purchase for me would be a new more powerful flash. Everybody likes the Normans but I prefer the top of the line Metz handle mount. It's got a guide number of around 250 (double the 125 of my SB800) and they've got a rep among wedding photographers as being trouble free. Before I make any camera purchases I've got to evaluate the rest of my needs around here.
Currently I'm running two vehicles, the ol' Ranger (93) and a 98 Olds Intrigue. I ride a vanpool to work and only drive the truck a couple miles a day so theoretically with 135,000 it could last a few more years. I just got some work done on it so as far as I know it's alright in that respect. It's got new tires, a fairly new exhaust and battery. But it ain't much to look at so I guess the biggest thing is the pride and vanity of driving something that looks nice. You know what I mean, the "big weenie" syndrome, "keep up with the Jones'" my stuff is nicer than your stuff. On the other hand I'll never forget what Tom Wilke used to say about his race cars "it ain't the chrome that make's em go" and my late father-in-law (who was a car repair shop owner) "you can buy a lot of gas for what it costs for a car payment." On the other hand, now that it's over 80 during the heat of the afternoon A/C and cruise would be nice. I'll be 57 this fall and at my age creature comforts do become a factor.
Here's a photo sample of Joseph Kouba at the Masters and some graphics samples. The Keeney graphic isn't finished and it's just practice and not for an order, I'm thinking it needs a little more but I'm not sure exactly what. I've been having my graphics creations pocessed as 11x14's for people and they really like them. A lot of the other photographers do "cookie cutter" stuff, the same event background for every photo, and go for quantity. Mine are all unique creations unlike anything else out there. I only do them one at a time by request so I like to design something unique that's going to look different than the next guy's.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday honey do project and working on photos...
I haven't had much time to post to the blog lately. Tonight I had to hookup a new dryer and when that project was done I had to work on photo editing. I see that the wife has finally gotten the new baseboard and folding closet doors stained. That means that I'll be piecing in baseboard and putting in the hardware for the closet doors this weekend. We lost a month of home maintenance to weather so the projects piled up and have all come due. On top of that I've got to take care of some storm damage during the coming weeks.
The photo editing will probably take another night. I've got plenty to say so I'll be back with some longer posts soon.
The photo editing will probably take another night. I've got plenty to say so I'll be back with some longer posts soon.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Navy Davy's shot of the week...(sent by Dave Trautmiller)
.jpg)
.........Old Ma Nature nailed us again at Cedar Lake Saturday night. Just as the IRA Sprint feature was coming to a close the storm sirens went off. Off to the west and south the skies were lighting up with an awesome display. The sprint feature got over and then the cold wet stuff started falling. That ended the show before the 50 lap WDRL Late Model feature was run. We can't seem to get a break this season. Up to that point it was a very good show. We had 44 Late Models and 31 410 Sprints in the pits. The Late Model feature was postponed until The USA NATIONALS at the end of July.
I was at my usual Friday night haunt known as Kopellah for their first show in three weeks. We had a decent car count and the racing was great once again. That little bullring never ceases to amaze me. In the Superstock feature it was two and three wide all race long. At one point it was three wide for the lead. Same thing in the Streetstock feature. The Modified feature was also a great battle.
This weeks shot comes from the Superstock feature as Ted Baxter, Dan Gullickson, and Cory Davis go three wide for the lead. See you at the races.......
Back from the Masters
I'm back from two days of camping at the Masters. The program was great with the only exception being that rain canceled the final WDRL Feature. Cedar Lake management made the decision to run that Feature in conjunction with the Masters. I didn't catch the details but you can find out more on the CLS website.
I've got photos to load, laundry to wash, a televised race to watch (if Michigan doesn't rain out today) and a bunch of other things to tend to. If I have time I will post again later today.
I've got photos to load, laundry to wash, a televised race to watch (if Michigan doesn't rain out today) and a bunch of other things to tend to. If I have time I will post again later today.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Impact of gas prices on racing...
Someone from one of the Minnesota Newspapers contacted me with some questions about the impact of high gas prices on racing. I decided to repost my reply here in the blog for you to check out. Specific names have been XXXX'd out to protect their identity:
"XXXX,
I seldom go to XXXX so I'm really not an authority on specifics there but I can give you a few of my personal observations.
As far as the fans go I don't think racing is any different than any other outdoor leisure activity. People are going to be more selective about their entertainment if their personal budget is tight. I think that would be true of trips to the cabin, fishing trips, shuttling around kids to sporting events or anything else that requires travel. In some cases people might not be traveling as far on vacation as they used to and are looking for something to do on a weekend so some of these sports might actually benefit from that. Overall being a fan of racing is just like any other activity and people will go to great lengths to enjoy their recreation.
In dirt racing there are different levels of competition. You've got the national touring organizations like the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars that criss cross the country and run 100 dates per season. They've got 18 wheelers, corporate sponsors and televised races on ESPN. Some of those teams have dropped off the tour or are only running when the tour comes close to their home base. Locally you've got the Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints that are pretty sophisticated race cars that teams have 10's of thousands of dollars invested in. They've got sponsors and deals on parts, chassis, motors and tires that help out so they're probably a little better off than the entry classes. For example, a guy who welds up a basic entry class like a pure stock in his garage might get a little help from the local bar or auto parts store but if he blows an engine he might be done for the year. In other words, the higher up in the pecking order you go the more likely the driver is going to have the resources to keep racing. Racing has never been cheap regardless of the gas prices.
Keep in mind too that divisions such as Sprint Cars, Late Models, Modifieds and Midgets on dirt all use methanol alcohol so they're not burning gas. Also, a typical race program on a 3/8 mile track consists of about 5 hot laps, a 10 lap Heat race, a few yellow flag laps and a 25-30 lap Feature . That's about 50-60 laps or 20 miles total on a typical night of racing. Even if a race car only got 3 mpg (not sure what their actual mileage is) they're not spending anywhere near as much to fuel their race car as their neighbor is spending to tow his fishing boat up north every weekend. XXXX doesn't have the facilities to host big national touring events so most of the drivers that race there probably live in the area. True, it costs more to tow a car than a fishing boat but they're not going that far.
Promoters are seeing their costs go up and they depend on a certain number of racers signing into the back gate and a crowd in the grandstand. Their cost of preparing the track, concessions and everything else associated with running an outdoor venue has gone up. They have probably lost more money on account of the weather this season than the increase in their operating costs. Many tracks have lost an entire month or more to rain, sleet, snow, cold and severe weather. The racing promoters aren't dealing with anything that concert promoters or any other outdoor entertainment hasn't had to deal with this season.
So far from what I have seen mostly at Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond, Wisconsin, the fields of cars have been good and they appear to have done pretty well at the gate. This weekend there is a three day special event with regional touring race teams from all over the Midwest racing there. It's looking like we could lose Thursday to rain but Friday and Saturday should be a go.
I'm not an authority on XXXX or XXXX. There is a guy up there...... I would suggest that you talk to him.... Also, you should attend a couple races and talk to the racers and promoters as they would be more in touch with the local situation. I live in Forest Lake and the tracks I attend are considered part of the Twin Cities market so it would be a different set of circumstances than XXX. Neither of the tracks you mentioned have big events like XXXX or XXXX do so they're dealing more with the lower budget local racers.
Hope this helps a little. I think all forms of entertainment will see their attendance down with the fuel and economy. Whether it's grandma and grandpa driving up from the farm in southern Minnesota to see the Twins, a company deciding if they can afford to renew their complimentary Vikings suite or a family from up north taking a trip to Valley Fair. Racing isn't the only leisure activity being affected by the fuel prices.
Stan Meissner"
"XXXX,
I seldom go to XXXX so I'm really not an authority on specifics there but I can give you a few of my personal observations.
As far as the fans go I don't think racing is any different than any other outdoor leisure activity. People are going to be more selective about their entertainment if their personal budget is tight. I think that would be true of trips to the cabin, fishing trips, shuttling around kids to sporting events or anything else that requires travel. In some cases people might not be traveling as far on vacation as they used to and are looking for something to do on a weekend so some of these sports might actually benefit from that. Overall being a fan of racing is just like any other activity and people will go to great lengths to enjoy their recreation.
In dirt racing there are different levels of competition. You've got the national touring organizations like the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars that criss cross the country and run 100 dates per season. They've got 18 wheelers, corporate sponsors and televised races on ESPN. Some of those teams have dropped off the tour or are only running when the tour comes close to their home base. Locally you've got the Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints that are pretty sophisticated race cars that teams have 10's of thousands of dollars invested in. They've got sponsors and deals on parts, chassis, motors and tires that help out so they're probably a little better off than the entry classes. For example, a guy who welds up a basic entry class like a pure stock in his garage might get a little help from the local bar or auto parts store but if he blows an engine he might be done for the year. In other words, the higher up in the pecking order you go the more likely the driver is going to have the resources to keep racing. Racing has never been cheap regardless of the gas prices.
Keep in mind too that divisions such as Sprint Cars, Late Models, Modifieds and Midgets on dirt all use methanol alcohol so they're not burning gas. Also, a typical race program on a 3/8 mile track consists of about 5 hot laps, a 10 lap Heat race, a few yellow flag laps and a 25-30 lap Feature . That's about 50-60 laps or 20 miles total on a typical night of racing. Even if a race car only got 3 mpg (not sure what their actual mileage is) they're not spending anywhere near as much to fuel their race car as their neighbor is spending to tow his fishing boat up north every weekend. XXXX doesn't have the facilities to host big national touring events so most of the drivers that race there probably live in the area. True, it costs more to tow a car than a fishing boat but they're not going that far.
Promoters are seeing their costs go up and they depend on a certain number of racers signing into the back gate and a crowd in the grandstand. Their cost of preparing the track, concessions and everything else associated with running an outdoor venue has gone up. They have probably lost more money on account of the weather this season than the increase in their operating costs. Many tracks have lost an entire month or more to rain, sleet, snow, cold and severe weather. The racing promoters aren't dealing with anything that concert promoters or any other outdoor entertainment hasn't had to deal with this season.
So far from what I have seen mostly at Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond, Wisconsin, the fields of cars have been good and they appear to have done pretty well at the gate. This weekend there is a three day special event with regional touring race teams from all over the Midwest racing there. It's looking like we could lose Thursday to rain but Friday and Saturday should be a go.
I'm not an authority on XXXX or XXXX. There is a guy up there...... I would suggest that you talk to him.... Also, you should attend a couple races and talk to the racers and promoters as they would be more in touch with the local situation. I live in Forest Lake and the tracks I attend are considered part of the Twin Cities market so it would be a different set of circumstances than XXX. Neither of the tracks you mentioned have big events like XXXX or XXXX do so they're dealing more with the lower budget local racers.
Hope this helps a little. I think all forms of entertainment will see their attendance down with the fuel and economy. Whether it's grandma and grandpa driving up from the farm in southern Minnesota to see the Twins, a company deciding if they can afford to renew their complimentary Vikings suite or a family from up north taking a trip to Valley Fair. Racing isn't the only leisure activity being affected by the fuel prices.
Stan Meissner"
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Cutting the lawn and getting the camper ready...
I don't think that I have to tell anyone what a difficult spring this has been. By this time of the the year I've usually got the yard in pretty good shape, a project or two underway and the camper ready to go. My yard is too big to cut on a week night and do a decent job. It takes about 3 hours to trim and do a good job mowing. After the hail knocked half the leafs off the trees I should be out there with the bagger but that's a good four hour job. Maybe I'm getting kind of old but I don't have the energy or desire to work on the yard all night from the time I get home until bedtime. Truth be told I'd like to live in a town house and not have to do any of this yard maintenance anymore. I spend a lot of computer time at night on the website, photo work and trying to get organized for the weekend. I'm not really a yard person or a gardener. Whatever happened to the kids nowadays? No kids are knock on the door offering to mow the grass for a few bucks. Don't they do that anymore? It's going to be a few years before the grandkids are old enough and I can hardly wait. Bottom line, I had a few cold ones in the fridge, one thing led to another and I ran out of steam shortly after supper. I'll get the yard done eventually.
I'm not prepared to Camp at Cedar Lake for the Masters. In addition to the camper not being ready the weather isn't looking very good for Thursday. Tonight on the news they predicted torrential rains of 3-5 inches in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin for Wednesday into Thursday. The forecasters were off last week and we never got any rain so I hope they're wrong. I have an appointment at the house on Friday morning so Thursday would have been out anyways and I have to be here. After that if the weather is favorable and I can get the camper ready I might pull it out there provided I can get a spot. If they manage to race on Thursday night I'll check into it. Otherwise I've got a few numbers for people at the track.
Actually, aside from not being able to enjoy the company of fellow race fans I don't mind sleeping in my own bed. Maybe I can hang around somebody's campfire after the races and shoot the breeze. We'll see how it goes.
There's a lot of uncertainty when the weather is a factor. At least everything is nice and green if there's no other advantage to living in what's beginning to feel like spoungeville.
I'm not prepared to Camp at Cedar Lake for the Masters. In addition to the camper not being ready the weather isn't looking very good for Thursday. Tonight on the news they predicted torrential rains of 3-5 inches in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin for Wednesday into Thursday. The forecasters were off last week and we never got any rain so I hope they're wrong. I have an appointment at the house on Friday morning so Thursday would have been out anyways and I have to be here. After that if the weather is favorable and I can get the camper ready I might pull it out there provided I can get a spot. If they manage to race on Thursday night I'll check into it. Otherwise I've got a few numbers for people at the track.
Actually, aside from not being able to enjoy the company of fellow race fans I don't mind sleeping in my own bed. Maybe I can hang around somebody's campfire after the races and shoot the breeze. We'll see how it goes.
There's a lot of uncertainty when the weather is a factor. At least everything is nice and green if there's no other advantage to living in what's beginning to feel like spoungeville.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Monday, Cedar Lake dodged the weather...
Amazing that they were able to get a complete show as well as make up Features in all divisions and a couple of Heats in one night. The rains that hit some area tracks spared Cedar Lake and allowed the program to take place. I for one was very happy to get a night of racing in the books.
Gas went over $4 today in a lot of places. I managed to fill the tank for $3.99 today but I'm sure that station will go up as well. I'm not going to go on a tirade about my personal values or anything like that. All you have to do if you want to see that is visit any message board and you'll find it. No, I'm not happy about it but what are ya' gonna' do. I just try to plan my travel accordingly and put the emphasis on traveling to the races on the weekends. So far so good.
I figured out a way to save $20 per month in gas money which in my vehicle comes to about 125 miles at the current price. I stopped getting haircuts. A cut was about $15 and the $5 tip came to $20 per month or about 5 gallons of gas at the current price. My Ranger gets around 25 miles per gallon so that comes to approximately 125 miles per month. Times that by an entire year and you've got $240 or about 1500 miles. 1500 miles divided by 64 miles round trip to the races at Cedar Lake comes to 23.4375 trips to the races. And all it's going to cost me is the price of a binder when my hair gets a little longer. I've got my priorities in order.
The Masters is coming up in a few days. I'm hoping for a good forecast but Thursday looks like it could be a little wet. It all depends on where, what time of the day/night, and how much precip we get. From what I'm seeing it's not a total wash but a scattered showers kind of a deal. The good luck from last Saturday night has to carry through the weekend.
Well, got a couple more hours of computer/photo work to do so I'll type to ya later.
Gas went over $4 today in a lot of places. I managed to fill the tank for $3.99 today but I'm sure that station will go up as well. I'm not going to go on a tirade about my personal values or anything like that. All you have to do if you want to see that is visit any message board and you'll find it. No, I'm not happy about it but what are ya' gonna' do. I just try to plan my travel accordingly and put the emphasis on traveling to the races on the weekends. So far so good.
I figured out a way to save $20 per month in gas money which in my vehicle comes to about 125 miles at the current price. I stopped getting haircuts. A cut was about $15 and the $5 tip came to $20 per month or about 5 gallons of gas at the current price. My Ranger gets around 25 miles per gallon so that comes to approximately 125 miles per month. Times that by an entire year and you've got $240 or about 1500 miles. 1500 miles divided by 64 miles round trip to the races at Cedar Lake comes to 23.4375 trips to the races. And all it's going to cost me is the price of a binder when my hair gets a little longer. I've got my priorities in order.
The Masters is coming up in a few days. I'm hoping for a good forecast but Thursday looks like it could be a little wet. It all depends on where, what time of the day/night, and how much precip we get. From what I'm seeing it's not a total wash but a scattered showers kind of a deal. The good luck from last Saturday night has to carry through the weekend.
Well, got a couple more hours of computer/photo work to do so I'll type to ya later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)