Opportunity knocks, schedule shaping up nicely...

A couple of opportunities have presented themselves that will allow me to attend more races this coming season.  As you recall, I made some changes that resulted in the loss of some long standing opportunities and I wasn't sure what my options were going to be.  The changes as I explained were my decision as I wanted to reduce my total number of races to a more manageable level but I had to make some tough decisions in the process.  The intent of the change was to trim my number of races down from the 30 and 40 range to a more manageable number and hopefully work out some deals so I could come in around 18-20.  I set my sights at a modest 6-8 initially not knowing what to expect.  These latest developments allowed me to up that number to 16.  Hopefully the opportunity will present itself so that I can boost that number up into the 18-20 range.  I trust that when the season begins and people see what I'm doing with this blog the opportunities will follow.  If not there are plenty of free Street Rod shows each weekend to fill some of the empty spots so there shouldn't be any problem gathering content for this blog.   

One of the benefits of blogging is that it will allow me to use more photos and video clips in my articles.

I'm going to go through what I have for a schedule so far and give a brief explanation about some of the  events and why I like them.  We'll throw in some photos to illustrate my points and after I'm done covering the schedule I'll tell you about a few races that are still on my wish list.  After that I'll post a few random thoughts so kick back, grab a cold one (or a hot one) and check it out.

Stan's Tentative 2013 Racing Schedule
Fri Apr  26 SCVR thunder #1 umss (w)
Sat May 11 SCVR bullring bast #1                                        
Fri  May 24 SCVR thunder #2 umss (w) Tabor Memorial
Fri May  31 IRA SCVR thunder #3                                                
Sat Jun 1 CLS triple IRA                                                         
Fri-Sun Jun 21-23 Back to 50's Fgnds                                  
Fri  Jun 28 SCVR open wheel nats #1                                
Sat Jun 29 SCVR #2 umss (w) both nights                                
Sun Jun 30 CLS WoO                                                                
Fri Jul  12 SCVR traditional 40 (non-wing)                                 
Fri Jul  26 SCVR thunder #4 umss (w)                                  
Sat  Aug 3 or 10? CLS USA Natl's finale                            
Fri Aug 17 SCVR thunder #5 umss (w) Kouba                         
Fri Aug 30 SCVR bullring blast #2 LM, A Mod, Trad, MWM    
Sat Sep 7 CLS JR Mem                                                             
Sat Sep 14 SCVR crash tastic smash-o-rama spectating w/grandkids

The first race on my schedule will be Saint Croix Valley's first "Thunder in the Valley" race of  five total on the season (I will be attending all five).  As you can see these races feature winged Sprints, four are UMSS and one is an IRA race.  Bullring racing is some of the best around and SCVR's unique configuration provides exciting action in all classes.

Kevin Nickle (10) takes a look at the outside lane as Brad Barickman (34) and Joseph Kouba (55) battle for position at a 2010 UMSS race.

Bill Balog won the first ever IRA race at SCVR.  Bill scored a 360 win at the track before the UMSS was formed.

Another event on my schedule at SCVR is the Traditional 40.  In my opinion the UMSS Traditional Sprints are the best new addition to come to our area in decades.  These cars are fun to watch anywhere they run but I find that I prefer them on short tracks without a lot of banking.  SCVR is perfectly suited to these cars and the Traditional 40 is their night to shine.  

Traditional Sprints at SCVR circa 2012.  The Traditional 40 is their night to shine.

Next up on the schedule will be the Cedar Lake Triple.  The way it's look so far this will be one of the few opportunities I'll have to watch the Late Models this coming season.  At the time of this writing I've got two nights of Late Model racing on my schedule at CLS, the Triple and the final night of the USA Nationals and the two Bullring Blast shows at SCVR.  If the opportunity presents itself any shows that I add to make it up into the 18-20 range will be at CLS. 

Jimmy Mars at Cedar Lake 2012.

Attending the Bullring Blasts will allow me to see some of the cars and drivers I don't normally get to watch.

One of the can't miss events I have been attending in recent years is the Back to the 50's weekend at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.  Street Rods and Rat Rods are fun to use in graphics like the one shown below.  I like to take a day of vacation on the Friday of Back to the 50's and spend the whole day taking photos.  I have found that one of the best ways to get unobstructed shots is to stand by the edge of the street and shoot them as they drive by.  I usually get up early and drive down to one of the park and ride lots and take the fee shuttle bus to the Fairgrounds.  It's a long day and I cover a lot of ground but it has become one of my favorite events of the entire year.
 

 Street Rods produce some great shots for graphis.  Back to the 50's has become one of my favorite events of the year.

One of four nights spent at the Cedar Lake Speedway will be for their annual World of Outlaws race.  So far I've only got four nights planned at CLS quite frankly on account of the cost of going there now that I'll no longer be on anybody's media list but I have only missed a few of their WoO races dating back to the beginning.  I think I missed a year or two at the very beginning and one time when they tried to get the show in until after midnight before finally getting rained out and rescheduling to Tuesday.  

The CLS WoO race is always a good one.

  

In addition to their World of Outlaws race I plan on attending the final night of the USA Nationals and the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial IRA/Knoxville Challenge.  These four events are my personal can't miss CLS races.  These four races are my best bets for getting some good photos and video clips to share with you on this blog.  

The field lines up for the USA Nationals finale at the Cedar Lake Speedway

Jerry Richert Sr. at Cedar Lake during a 1980's World of Outlaws race.  This was one of my early attempts at action photography and one of my most prized photos.  I stuck the lens of my old film camera through a hole in the fence to get this shot.

A couple events have fallen by the wayside on account of no longer being associated with a publication that can arrange access for certain events.  Elko is one of the places I love to shoot, there's always plenty of action as you can see from this photo and the Outlaws will be making an appearance there in May.  Unfortunately it isn't just the cost of a pit pass but it's one of the few tracks where paying to get in will not guarantee access to the infield.  I'll have to see how things are going when May rolls around.  Maybe I'll go down there and sit in the stands and catch a few photos of hot laps and time trials and some video clips.  I could do some neat pit shots as well so we'll see.  It's a matter of principle for me to put most of my emphasis on tracks that extend hospitality in appreciation for the PR and allow full access to take photos.  I have to get the most bang for my buck so that's going to affect where and how often I attend races.  One night of Elko WoO racing without a break at the gate will cost upwards of $75 and I can do three nights elsewhere for that same amount of money.  I have to get the most out of what I have available and spend smart this season.
 

Elko offers plenty of high flying action so it's on my wish list.

This might sound a bit weird to hard core racing fans but one of the events I have enjoyed shooting is the Cedar Lake School Bus night.  Usually some of the grandkids will come out for this one and the place is packed full of kids.  School Bus night is another one of the casualties of my schedule change.  It's a fun event to shoot but I've got to opt for getting the most bang out of my buck.  SCVR has one of their Bullring Blasts on the same night as the buses so that is where I'll be this time around.  The grandkids and my son will most likely be at CLS while I'm up at SCVR.  The Meissner family has 'em covered!  
 

  Cedar Lake's School Bus night is always a fun deal.  The kids love this event but the hard core race fans tend to shy away from it.  I think sometimes we have to yield to the kids and put their fun ahead of our own.

Two more shows on my wish list are the Badger Midgets and the Micro Sprints at the Cedar Lake Arena.  We'll just have to see what happens and take it from there. Jackson, Knoxville, Grand Forks and Sun Prairie are places I'd like to get back to as well.  Unfortunately those tracks have been a bit of a stretch the past few seasons on account of the gas and motel expense.  My son Les and talked it over and we want to try and get out on the road this summer to see something besides the local tracks. 
 

Aside from the local racing there are a few other things I have been working on.  I'm playing around with a 3d background program and brushing up on how to use the software.  I've got some song ideas that I have been working on as well but I'm waiting to upgrade to a better guitar before I add the leads.  That's still a couple months out and I'm very excited about the direction the music is going in.  Admittedly I'm an old blues rock player with 60's roots and my stuff all has a distinct sound but it's getting much better within the confines of what I like to do and what I am capable of.  In other words, my music sucks a little less than it did a couple of years ago.  Like I tell people, I'm not good enough to make any money at anything but manage to do well enough that I don't want to quit. 

Playing around with 3d graphics.

That's going to about wrap up this post.  See you all soon and we'll talk about Florida racing and the coming season.

GRP Trivia Contest & Part 1 of UMSS 360 Sprint awards posted

It's that time of the year again.  Time to wave the green flag on the annual GRP Dirt Track Racing Trivia Contest.  This year the Trivia Contest will start this evening Friday January 25 and run for the entire week until midnight of Friday February 1st.  GRP has pared down the contest to two divisions, the Sprint Cars and Late Models (with a few Supers and Mods sprinkled in among the Late Models for good measure).

Tonight will mark the 14th running of the GRP Trivia Contest at the Mythical MDTR Speedway which if one stops and thinks about it has out lasted several real events.  Since the Trivia Contest began it's run we have seen events like the Princeton National, the NCS WoO Sprint Race, and CLS's Badger (can't recall the full title of that one) come and go.  There have probably been many others but those were the few that I could recall off the top of my head.  Several tracks that have produced memorable nights of racing and much of our contest material have also come and gone.  Places like Grove Creek, Fox Ridge and Owatonna are now silent but they live on in the GRP Trivia Contest. 

I first met GRP and Track Rate Vinster at an NCRA 410 Sprint Car race at the Arlington Raceway on June 2nd, 1999.  I was going through some of my pit photos from that event recently and found the Forbrook 5 (beats me who was in it at that time), the Trop Arctic 66 (I believe that Brooke Tatnell ran his own 7 that night and I don't remember who proceeded him in the 66 car) and several others that are no longer around.  One that I noted in my stack of photos was the Comp USA sponsored car.  CompUSA stores, the NCRA and probably that car carrying the CompUSA sponsorship are no longer around.  The thing I remember most about that night was Greg Bakker about tearing down the front stretch fence, scaring the daylights out of the flagman (glad it wasn't the Mythical MDTR Speedway or it would have been me he ###ing my jeans) and nearly making the leap over the fence.  Since then Vinster and GRP have become life long friends so it was one of the best nights of racing I have ever experienced.  Good shows are a dime a dozen, we see many of those each season.  Life long friends are priceless.

 Greg Bakker's 11x prior to the start of the races on June 2, 1999

Several people have contacted me via email and Facebook asking when I was going to get the first half of the UMSS Sprint Car (w-360) awards presentation posted.  First I want to thank everyone who has given me feedback about my Banquet blog post.  I didn't know what to expect when I came up with the idea to put these posts out there.  If my print column ever got any feedback I never heard about it so I have never felt very confident about my writing (my insecurity motivates me).  I often wondered all those years if anybody actually paid attention or if I was simply indulging my own writer's fantasy.  You see, I became a huge fan of writers and photographers during the days of Open Wheel magazine.  I used to read articles by guys like John Sawyer and Dick Berggren and romanticize what it would be like to be able to communicate my passion to others through photos and the printed word.  I have since found out that the reality of what it's like to actually do the writing falls somewhat short of what I envisioned paging through those magazines.  Hanging around the infield of a dirt track isn't exactly a chick magnet or fast track to fame and fortune.  You've got to love it and by the way, don't quit your day job.

Actually I had the opportunity to not only meet Dick Berggren but to spend a night in the infield with him.  It wasn't hard to tell that Mr. Berggren is a regular guy like the rest of us, old sweatshirt, hat on backwards fumbling around with a camera in a dusty old infield.  His down-to-earth easy going attitude and enthusiasm for everything on wheels was an eye opener in a lot of ways.  I think it's safe to say that if Dick Berggren had never become a publisher, writer, or NASCAR television reporter he'd be hanging around some dirt track hawking 8x10's.  The most important lesson that I took away from that night was that no matter what status a writer/photographer might reach a dusty infield, porta johns and hot dogs are humbling equalizers.

 No matter what status a racing writer/photographer attains they're still down-to-earth fans of the sport.

By popular demand, UMSS Sprint Car awards part 1

Well, here's the UMSS Banquet video I promised you.  This is going to about wrap it up for this week's blog post.  Check back later this evening and watch the MDTR and 20/20 message boards and my Facebook posts for the start of the contest.  I estimate that the green flag is going to drop around 10pm.

See you at the Mythical MDTR Speedway!

The UMSS Banquet and other random thoughts (with video clips)

In my January 13 post where I talked about making some changes going into the 2013 season that are going to affect my ability to attend as many races have in the past I mentioned that I'd be posting in this blog.  This is my first post about racing with that promise in mind and I hope you enjoy it.  During the past 14 years of writing I got some positive feedback about my columns so I decided to continue writing about events I attend.  Of course as a photographer who happens to do a little bit of video it didn't take long to decide what direction I was going to take this idea in.  I'll continue to do a "column" of sorts in this blog on a regular basis with the added benefit over print publications of being able to add photos and video clips to illustrate my points.  The intent of this blog is not to solicit photo or video sales, the quality of my videos isn't fit for sale but are for illustration purposes only.  As always, all photos that I take will be added to the gotomn.com website photo gallery and select photos and clips will be displayed in this blog.  If you see something you absolutely have to have I can make it available at the going rate.  The main idea this season is to get back to the basics, have fun and maybe entertain and enlighten in the process.  With that having been said let's get on with it!

On Saturday night January 19, 2013, I attended the fourth annual Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series Banquet at the Hampton Inn located in Arden Hills.  This makes the fourth year in a row that I have attended the UMSS Banquet so I've been there for all of them.  The first year the banquet took place at Pro Kart Indoors south of the Cities near 35w and Hwy 13.  The Kart racing was a hit and I think everyone had a great time but, unfortunately, the venue was quickly outgrown.  The next year we gathered at Running Aces which worked out great for me because it's just a couple miles down the road.  Those first two years I took Banquet photos but I gave up that gig on account of not being able to commit to the entire UMSS season and all of their races.

Last year the banquet was held at the Mermaid over on Highway 10.  I didn't take photos last year but attended as a writer representing the paper and covered it in my column.  This year I bought a ticket and attended as a fan and Sprint Car enthusiast.  At this point I should repeat the disclaimer that I am not representing any publications with this blog so don't hold my feet to the fire.  I'm going to try to describe a few things I heard as I recall them but I did not bring a digital recorder or note pad so if I got some of the details wrong please forgive me.  You can correct me via email or in person, I take no offense as I recognize that I don't always hear or have a great memory.

One thing that caught my attention was the combined JSTS/UMSS shows with backing from the Minnesota Mafia.  One of the Mafia members addressed the crowd (forgive me for not catching his name) and talked about a series of races down in SW MN and NW IA.  I gathered from his description that the Minnesota Mafia has several members involved and is giving back to Sprint Car racing much the same way as Fan's Fund does with the Late Models up in our area.  I was a bit surprised that the UMSS is branching out that far but I guess when the opportunity presented itself to add cars, fans and interest to the series they jumped at it.  When I was involved a few years ago if memory serves me the emphasis was more on keeping the series local to the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin but now they're seeing a need to travel a little more than they did in 2010.

Other items of interest that I picked up at the Banquet was that the high car count for the Traditonal Sprints was something like 14.  Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought they said that 17 cars are in the process of being built so that their number could likely double this season.  The UMSS Traditional Sprints, especially on the Saint Croix Valley Raceway, are one of the coolest classes of race cars that have come along in many years.  Take a walk through the pits and you'll see that these guys are fun, friendly and appear to be having a blast.  With a family lake home five minutes from SCVR I plan on getting out there whenever possible.  

The Micros were mentioned in conjunction with Cedar Lake Speedway's purchase of the former Sandbox Arena.  There is going to be a weekend of Midget racing to kick things off out there then a weekend of Micro Sprint racing.  Ron Bernhagen mentioned something about the CLS Arena hosting Micros every Saturday afternoon during the racing season.  If that is the case the class is sure to grow if they are able to race both Friday night and Saturday afternoons.  

Ron also mentioned another 4 or 5 cars joining the winged ranks.  **MY OBSERVATION WARNING** and I hope nobody gets their undies in a bundle on account of me saying this.  The UMSS winged cars have held their own, great in this day and age when other classes numbers are dwindling, but they haven't been growing much either.  Seems like every year they lose a few and gain a few.  The big thing about the winged cars is the cost of motors, tires, wangs and thangs.  Dump a winged car and you just spent $1000 even if you don't hurt the chassis or motor.  The class is doing well so don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, I'd just like to see more growth so they can catch up to some of the established classes (Mods, Lates, etc.).  Joe Kouba mentioned the challenge of finding an affordable engine package.  My take on that, it's probably not a good idea to deviate too far from what other 360 motor rules.  Some of the UMSS guys want to go run Jackson or Knoxville or maybe some ASCS shows.  If the UMSS motors get too far from what's standard in 360's across the country they'd put themselves on an island.  It's good when the UMSS drivers can get out there and run in different places as it adds interest and fans.  I think the sleeves, tire rule and that sort of thing is the way to keep going with the 360's.  Let's face it, winged 360 and 410 Sprints are an expensive high profile type of racing not for the timid or faint of heart.  Only big boys and big girls need apply.

Now for the videos I promised you.  Forgive me for the shaky video, I was sitting in my chair and holding my pocket video camera over my head.  I'll be using the tripod and monopod at the tracks so the quality will be better than this first night out.  The winged division only consists of part 2, I had some issues with my editing software that I'll have to work through.  Mostly like I said the videos will be to supplement the writing and aren't for sale. 

First one is a clip from the Micro awards:

Next up is the Traditional Sprint Car awards presentation:

And finally this is part 2 of the UMSS winged 360 Sprint Car awards presentation:

 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post and it will be the first of many during the course of the 2013 racing season.  How often I do these posts is going to be in proportion to how many races I am able to attend.  I'll certainly make an effort to post at least every other week to parallel the frequency of the popular racing papers.  In other words, I'll post enough to keep it interesting but not so much as to become a pain in the butt.  

As I mentioned in my January 13 post I stepped down from writing a column on account of not being able to commit to the necessary number of races to do a print column justice.  I've certainly got the time to attend more than the 6 races I set as a goal but probably not the funds unless of course I can get the support of some tracks.  What I'm doing here is fun, I enjoy the creative process including the photos, video clips and writing.  On the other hand I'm not sure how sustainable this will be now that I'm doing it on my own.  We'll see what happens and hopefully six months from now things will come together where I'll be looking at 16 or 18 events.  That would be great if that were to happen but my expectations this season are modest and not presuming on what happened in the past.

I value your comments and input about what I'm trying to do here.  Please feel free to give me feedback about this blog.   mndirt@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Time to dust off the blog and do some writing...

After a 14 year run starting with Minnesota's Racing Connection and now known as the Midwest Racing Connection I recently came to a crossroads.  The confluence of looming camera upgrades and coming up with sufficient funds to cover both the photo gear purchases and the coming racing season proved to be two much for my 2013 budget.  Oh, I could have limped along and kept writing attending a minimum of races but I didn't think that would be fair to MRC to hold my spot if they were only going to be getting a reduced effort.  They need somebody younger with a pocket full of money who thinks dirt track racing is the best thing next to sliced bread so my stepping aside will allow them to find someone who fits that criteria.  A dirt track writer's "payment" for the work they do for the publications is free access to the races in the form of a media pass.  Consequently, the more races one attends as a representative of the publication the more "pay" one receives.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the disconnect in that logic, more races cost more money for gas, meals, and motels in effect making media passes a smaller piece of the big picture when one adds everything else up.  Don't get me wrong, they certainly did help me to get to enough shows to fulfill my obligations but when one is attending a couple dozen more races than they would have if they were doing it on their own dime the savings becomes a wash.  I had an offer to put together a reduced schedule and contribute a photo essay using pics from my archives.  That didn't make sense to me, not only would I be out of touch with what I was attempting to write about but what would be my incentive?  The business model for racing papers presumes on volunteers who are so into racing that there isn't anyplace they'd rather be than at a dirt track.  Any advertising sold goes entirely to the publications and is no benefit to the writers or photographers aside from the media passes.  In other words, if the publication's volunteers work hard and do a good job the publication becomes more successful and garners more advertiser support for the publisher.  I didn't have a problem with that business model when I was in my 40's and 50's all hot to trot to chase races but my outlook changed when I got north of 60.

After weighing all my options and taking into consideration that I was feeling burnt out on the gig after 14 seasons not to mention that I had no idea how to come up with the money needed to make a commitment I decided to resign from writing the column.  This left me in a unique situation in that I'll be paying for pit passes for the first time since 1999.  My math went something like this.  I consider an adequate number of races to do the column justice and keep my finger on the pulse of the sport at around 30.  On average figuring gas and meals attending races at even the closets tracks costs around $25 per night with the media passes.  30 races on a media pass x $25 per night for gas and hot dogs comes to $750 on the season.  That's just a ballpark number based on two tracks that are less than 45 minutes from home.  I figured that I could pay at the gate to attend 6 of my favorite big shows for less than it would cost to attend 30 races for publication and in the process free up 24 weekend nights to do other things besides racing.  Even the most expensive pit pass at say a WoO race or USA Nationals would be about $40, add on the $20 for gas and food and I'm at around $60.  A half a dozen of my favorite shows x $60 comes to approximately $360 with no deadlines or obligations.  That 6 shows isn't etched in stone and might vary according to circumstances or future developments.  I'll discuss an idea I have been mulling around in my head at the end of this article.  If you're a racer or involved in a racing team make sure you check out the last item I talk about in this blog post.

I just paid to have the gotomn.com website renewed for another year.  The domain costs approximately $36 per year, it was registered through my old ISP in the pre GoDaddy days so I'm paying 4x today's going rate but it's easier to manage that way.  My hosting space costs approximately $100 per year so when all is said and done I've got about $140 per year tied up in the website.  My wife has a site that piggy backs on my account too so we're going to leave the sites up and running indefinitely.  The first thing you'll see on the site since I abandoned my MRC reporter status will be the annual GRP Trivia Contest and I'm looking forward to having a part in that.  I did purchase a ticket to the UMSS banquet so that's my plan next weekend to attend the banquet.

So I'm going into the 2013 racing season with no writing gig, no obligations and more website space than I know what to do with.  I've got this blog, I've still got two camera bodies in working order that with a little care should tide me over until I can upgrade.  I still like taking photos of race cars and attending races, I'm just not interested in doing it every damn weekend all summer long and sitting here all day on Sunday sending out photos and dealing with writers block trying to beat a deadline.  Another thing about writing that I never liked is having to sugar coat things because I'm the recipient of a media pass.  I have been to plenty of shows that sucked big time but I had to restrain myself when I wrote about them so as not to cause problems for the publications I was representing or risk losing my media pass for saying the wrong thing.  Now that I'm paying my way I can skip the weekly shows I attended for the papers that were a drain on my budget and just hit my favorite specials.  My son Les and I like to take a couple of road trips to see some different tracks so that option will be open to me now that I don't have to worry about a media pass.  A little background, I always stuck to the principle that if the papers were asking me to fulfill my writing and photo obligations they had to keep up their end of the bargain and get me into the track.  All of my arrangements were always made through the papers and not my doing.  Now with that out of the way I can go anywhere I want and write anything I want as much or as little as I want without any obligations.  I don't have to play nice, if something sucks I'll take off the kid gloves and say so.

I'll still take photos but I doubt that I'll spend the entire night in the infield.  I'll buy a pit pass and shoot hot laps, time trials if applicable and probably some Heat race action before heading to the stands.  I'll have the option of seeing some Features from the stands and taking shots like the one below.  I might run down and shoot Victory Lane if I feel like it but I can take it or leave it.  Some nights I might feel like spending the whole night shooting, others I won't.  It will depend on the weather, dust conditions, how exciting the Feature looks like it's going to be and how ambitious I am on any given day.

Most photographers seem to only be in it for one thing, the money.  Oh, I'm sure they enjoy the sport and like to watch some racing but bottom line, they're out there to hawk event photos and hero cards.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing because somebody has to do it but I got stuck in the rut of spending the entire night taking pics from the infield without the benefit of the sales.  I could have gone in a different direction and pushed the sales end of it but that's a lot like the writing, too much work for a lazy guy like me.

I enjoy getting to the tracks early and taking pit photos like this one so that is something I'll continue to do when I attend a race.  Most of the photographers who are in it for the money would balk at doing something like this but I consider it an essential part of the racing experience.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

This shot is of Shannon Babb taken at the Gopher 50 back in 2001 when it was still being held at Owatonna.  The Late Models lined up in the infield for their qualifying runs and the drivers got of their cars and was a pretty casual setting.  I struck up a conversation with Babb and when it came time for him to get in his car I asked if I could take a pic.  Needless to say this kind of experience is one of the things I will always treasure about having been involved in the sport.  You don't get this kind of interaction with the competitors when you're sitting up in the stands.  I have been a Shannon Babb fan ever since this day and this type of experience has happened many times over during the past 14 seasons.

So here are my plans for my website and what you can expect to see on there going into the 2013 season.  I think the first thing you're going to notice is that I'll be a happier more relaxed person and I think that I'll enjoy the races more and you'll notice it in my posts.  I don't handle obligations and expectations during my days off very well and truth be told I came to resent all the work these past few years.  Give me a summer full of fun nights at the track with a little beer drinking and travel to some new places and I expect that I'll get some of the passion back.  Give me a summer full of obligations and "Stan could you do this and Stan could you do that" freebee volunteer demands and I think most people would agree that isn't a fun way to spend their weekends.  I won't bill my 2013 racing season as a "tour" because I think that's presumptuous but I expect to have a fun time doing what I enjoy at my own pace.  Which shows I attend is going to depend on photo access now that I don't represent any publications (with the exception of Flat Out but more on that later).  So far I've got the following shows and events on my schedule:   WoO Elko (tentative), CLS WoO, final night of the USA Nationals, the Triple and the Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial.  SCVR the Kouba Memorial and their IRA race and the Back to the 50's car show.  I'm not much of a bleacher creature, I'd lose interest if I had to spend all my time in the stands so I have to do something to document what I'm seeing.  I have said many times that I don't do this to draw attention to myself or as a reason for boasting.  I'm a hobbyist with a variety of interests.  I created my website as an outlet for my creativity and the racing just kind of caught on and took off back in the late 90's.  I'm not good enough at any of this stuff to make much of a living at it but it would be a waste of time doing any of these hobbies if I kept them in my closet and nobody ever saw this stuff. Some of you will like it, some of you won't but regardless of what you think I can't help myself.  I have to put it out there.

I mentioned photo access and that is going to be a big deal.  Some tracks don't seem to care and pretty much anybody who shells out money for a pit pass can bring a camera down to the infield and take some shots.  As illustrated by the 15 car CLS night shot posted above I could still do a decent job documenting races from the stands if necessary.  The single car shot of the #59 was also taken from the stands at Elko which offers some nice angles for a brief time before sundown.  If a person has the right lenses, a stout flash, and knows what they're doing they can get magazine quality photos from the stands at just about any track.  I know my angles pretty good so I wouldn't have a problem getting shots from different angles.  Actually I really enjoy taking these "think outside the box" type of shots.  It challenges my imagination and skills more than standing down in the middle of the track banging side shots all night.

Since we're on the subject of the gotomn.com site I'll give you some stats and a little background on what I'd like to accomplish with it.  As mentioned, I'll post photo galleries and do some writing in this blog.  In it's heyday the site got around 30,000 hits per month during the season but on account of my lack of promotion in recent years and sites like Facebook and Twitter pulling web traffic that number is now more like 12,000 per month.  In spite of the drop in hits the amount of traffic visting my site still brings up an interesting point.  I have never gotten a media pass based on my website but I never could think of a good reason why I shouldn't.  The advantage of my site is name recognition, people have had gotomn.com bookmarked since 1999 and name recognition is something that's hard for new sites to capture.  What promoter wouldn't salivate at the prospect of 12,000 people in the stands?  To take it a step further, I'll bet that the 12,000 people checking out my site is probably more than the circulation of some of the publications I have contributed to.  I once heard some numbers floated around in the 5,000 to 6,000 range for one of the papers.  In other words, the tracks allowed me a pass based on my contributions to papers that have a circulation less than the 30,000 people visiting my website.  I'm not lobbying for media passes, just saying that today's electronic media is capable of reaching a larger world wide following than any localized print publication.  Anyways, I won't chase media passes anymore but if a track ever offered to let me in on the basis of my website I'd be a fool to turn them down but that won't ever happen. It would be nice to find a way to up my number of races from 6 to 12 or even 18 but I draw the line at taking on a part time job nights and weekends to fund my racing interests. 

So what can I offer to you on this blog?  Well, I think it's already apparent that I can take a decent photo.  There are a few other things that I can add to the blog in addition to photos when the mood hits me.  For example I can do graphic designs when I put my mind to it.  I never chased the Hero Card business but I think my graphics are adequate considering what I have to work with.  

The thing that would take my graphics to the next level is unfortunately prevented by the same obstacle that has tied my hands behind my back in just about everything I have ever done.  A lack of money to purchase the necessary resources to make my work easier and better.  Let me make this clear, I have no desire to chase graphics business but every now and then I get the bug to design something.  The above example is something I put together a couple years ago.  What I mean by money elevating my graphics is that the guys (and gals) who do the cards purchase graphics CDs with skins, flames, fonts, etc., made specifically for that purpose.  I can't afford the CD's, the cost around $300 and the CDs are specialized so that one might have flames, another backgrounds, etc., so that a person might has to buy three or four of them.  When I do the designs I'm kind of like someone who cooks a simple meal from scratch, first I have to design the flames before I can even begin to use them on a graphic.  Doing graphics from scratch is time consuming and graphics sales are all about putting a large amount of work out as fast as possible.  Another thing they use is the industry standard Adobe Photoshop but that program retails for over $1,000 so I use low priced substitutes because that's all I can afford.  I like doing graphics for fun so one of the things I might occasionally do is computer wallpaper that incorporate my photos and graphics.  

I enjoy car shows and that will be something else I'll feature on this blog.  On a typical weekend a person could attend several car shows, many of them close to home and free of charge.  I plan on taking advantage of that opportunity more often.

As a former catapult crewman on the USS Franklin D Roosevelt 1972 Med cruise I enjoy aviation and have a keen interest in Navy jets from the Vietnam era.  I would like to shoot some air shows with my 500mm lens so that's on my list as well.

Most of you probably don't realize this but I enjoy cartooning but don't have the time to devote to it.  I've got a Wacom tablet connected to my computer and created this icon with it.  That's something I haven't had time to pursue on account of being so busy with racing.  Maybe we'll do something with that as well.

My daughter Jennifer inherited my eye for drawing which I in turn got from my grandpa on my dad's side.  Here's an example one of Jen's pencil drawings that she did back in the early 90's.  Jen and I need to plan some time to make some photo trips so that we can compare notes on our artwork.  Jen is a blogger and you if you visit her blog her design, writing and photography skills jump out at you.  Her blog can be found at:  http://www.zimmerscope.com/

Here's a sample of a flower pic I took.  I love taking flower shots with a fast lens so I can get the blur in the background and the subject tack sharp.  Jen and I need to get out on some photo trips where we drive around looking for neat subjects to photograph.  A trip to the Como Park Conservatory would be fun.

Another thing I'm interested in pursuing more is video.  Not as a business but I've got a video camera that shoots in HD and would make for some nice clips to post on this blog.  Follow this link to see an example of the resolution, sound and color balance that my camera is capable of:  http://youtu.be/1125peRFc9k

One more interest I should mention before we move onto talking a little more about racing is music.  I played electric guitar in a garage band in the late 60's then switched to acoustic for about forty years and a couple years ago got back into the electric.  I was way behind the curve on lead guitar and timing but am finally starting to get up-to-speed on lead guitar.  It's a work in progress but certainly something I'd like to pursue more now that I've got a little more time on my hands.  Here's something I put together yesterday.  I played all of the parts on the bass, rhythm and lead guitars.  The drum track is the only instrument I didn't play, that was taken from the drum machine in my multi effects pedal.  http://www.gotomn.com/misc-temp/Sack%20the%20Pack%20SF%202013.mp3

Don't laugh at my tunes.  It's harder than you think.  After practicing the electric for a couple of years I have a lot more respect for musicians.  I've got my eye on a new guitar which should improve my playing.  Right now I'm playing used cheapo guitars so I want to upgrade this spring.  That's one of the things I had been putting on the back burner so I could chase races but now it's time to upgrade.

So to wrap up this post I'll recap my plans for the season.  Take photos, take some video clips, write about the events I attend in this blog.  Do a little work with my website including the links and the history section.  Have fun.  I should probably make it clear that I have not burned any bridges with the Midwest Racing Connection or Flat Out magazine.  You might still see an occasional photo of mine in MRC and who knows, in a few years I might be getting down on my knees begging to get my writing gig back.  I have floated a few ideas for articles to Flat Out so who knows, I might still be doing an occasional story for them.  At this point I'd say that anything I do will probably be more in the history category than current racing. 

Finally I want to present an idea that I have been entertaining for several years.   This idea could specifically benefit racing teams who want to obtain content for sponsors and websites.  As we have discussed already my skill set includes photography, writing, video, graphics, and podcasting.  You might recall that I did interviews for Dirtcast and my own site that was called Midwest Racing Talk.  Specifically I was doing the UMSS show for the 2010 season so that's why I mentioned podcasting.  My idea is to combine these skills to produce media content for racing teams.  Basically how it would work is that I would attend a night of racing and follow your racing team kind of like an "imbedded reporter".  In other words I would concentrate my efforts on taking action photos and video clips of your car, package it up with whatever type of story or captions you want and you could use it as you see fit on your team's website and Facebook page.  It's a long racing season so that might be a way for me to add a few races and come in closer to a dozen.  There are plenty of photographers, writers and video guys out there but they focus on all of the competitors whereas I would concentrate specifically on your racing team.  Imagine getting a CD of every photo and video I took of your car including pit shots and on track action along with a writeup and interview clips to use as you please.  It seems like a neat idea and I will be free to do something like that so I'm going to keep thinking about it and see what I can come up with.

See you at the races!

Racing starts this Friday

Racing starts at the Cedar Lake Speedway this Friday and Saturday. I'm on for Friday but don't think I'll be able to make it Saturday. This is my first blog post since last December. I'll make an effort to post more.

Cold sweaty palms and a knot in the pit of my stomach

No, I'm not sick but got a sinking feeling when thinking what a summer without much racing would be like. Let's just say that I got dangerously close to the edge but caught myself before I took the leap. No, I'm not upping my number of combined races/street rod shows to 25, 30, 40 or more as I had done in the past. The only way I could hope to attend that many races would be to take on a part time job all winter to save up for racing. Seeing as racing is something I do for fun I can't see any sense working all winter to fund my racing. Actually there's kind of a gray area where relaxation stops and work starts as far as my racing goes. Most people go to the races to sit back, enjoy some good food and drink, hang with friends and family and enjoy the action. I keep myself pretty busy at the track running around gathering information and taking photos for the next story. Hell, even if I wasn't writing for some publication I'd probably keep on doing that anyways. My hobbies have always been a lot of work whether it was the way I approached fishing or whatever. I'm just not one to sit and relax much on summer weekends.

Recent developments have made it clear that I can probably do about a dozen instead of the half dozen I was originally planning. I probably sound like I'm a step ahead of the poor house driving old cars and not being able to make as many races but that is not the case. I make a pretty good living but keep in mind that when one is dealing with non-race-fan family it's only fair that every dollar spent racing is matched with non racing activities. In other words, yeah, I can go racing, no problem with that but I have other things to tend to. Rabid race chasers think nothing of dropping $500 on their passion but a lot of people aren't able to do that for various reasons. Let's just say that I'm at a point where my racing has become more of a juggling act and leave it at that.

This October through December is the first time in five or six years that I didn't get a flurry of photo orders. Usually I sell the most photos of the entire year in this period leading up to the Holidays. This year I sold zero, zilch, zippo, nadda, nothing...not a single order. People are always complimenting my work, the papers and magazines use my photos on a regular basis and I have lost track of the number of websites and Facebook pages that they're displayed on. As a matter of fact just the other day someone reposted one of my sample pics and commented that I do a good job. So what has changed? More photographers competing for less business and racers spending less on pictures. There are some very aggressive salesmen who have gotten into racing photography during the past few seasons. I have always taken a laid back approach and been able to make enough to supplement my expenses by sitting back and waiting for people to contact me. That approach does not work anymore when you've got three photographers going from trailer to trailer at tracks they wouldn't even have bother with a few years ago. Add to that some of them even have helpers that make sales contacts in the pits and stands while they're shooting. My approach can't compete with that and the very word "competition" doesn't jibe with weekend relaxation. I've got a very busy day job that wears me out so I don't want my hobby to turn into a job. I'm not complaining mind you but I do miss that few hundred bucks I used to make every year at this time. I've been doing the racing media gig pretty much by myself for almost fifteen years and all of a sudden there's all this competition and aggressiveness. Hey man, I'm sixty years old, they can knock themselves out and fall over each other as far as I'm concerned. Not my idea of fun.

That's kind of the reason that the Street Rods have become so attractive to me. Last summer I went to Back to the 50's at the Fairgrounds and took hundreds of photos. With admission only $12, the Fairgrounds less than $25 miles and only a couple of big shows a year you can see where the cost comes in way less than racing. I had a great time and plan on doing both big shows at the Fair next year as well as some of the community car shows around the area. A lot of those shows like the weekly deal at North St. Paul are free so the costs are minimal as compared to racing. I think that a mix of car shows and racing will work fine and money will be much less of an issue.

I'm sure that a lot of you probably still don't get where I'm coming from so I'll put it another way. Each year after the holidays have passed I have to come up with a racing schedule and a workable budget before I can commit for the season to the publications. I appreciate how important it is for them to get a firm commitment so that they know how much space they're going to need and can set it up with the tracks. What happens a lot of times is that people think it would be cool to write for a racing publication. They imagine they'll get some recognition, maybe some perks like passes and that sort of thing so they agree to do it. One of the publishers has told me that it's very difficult to find people who hang in there for every issue and last the season. I know what's involved because I did it for thirteen years through neck surgery, weddings, the birth of six grandkids, car troubles, loss of loved ones and just about anything else you could imagine. Readers look at our mug shot in the paper and think that our life revolves around racing but nothing could be further from the truth.

So anyways, another simple principle is that I like for my word yes to mean yes. When I look at my budget in January I have to know that I can put in a full schedule and do them justice. Anyways, a little more on the competition that I alluded to. Take the Racing Connection for example. I first came in contact with MRC at the MOA back in 1999 when I picked up a copy at a Motorsports store. There was no dirt and no Sprint Car coverage so I contacted the publisher, we arranged a meeting and it was like an interview where I pretty much sold him on adding more dirt and Sprint Car coverage. Back in 1999 ATD was the only act in town and you couldn't have paid most people to write for MRC or "that asphalt paper" as they used to call it. I plugged along for years as the only exclusive dirt writer and I'd like to think that my contributions were instrumental in gaining acceptance among the dirt racers. I used to be self employed so whenever I do anything I "own it" or in other words approach is like it's my own. Anyways, things have changed, now MRC gets a lot of offers and that competition factor where others are coveting my gig. It's uncertain at this point what involvement I'll have going forward, maybe a more reduced role or maybe I won't be asked back in that capacity. Whatever happens I can be proud that of what I accomplished while I was with the paper and would like to continue to contribute on a more limited basis. It's got to fit their needs though. I still plan on doing a little for the magazine.

I have been giving it some thought and if nothing else works out I may start doing some event recaps with photos right here on this blog. Kind of an online column similar to what I was doing for MRC with photos, a story and some video clips. Who knows, maybe even some kind of podcast and tie it all in with gotomn. As I have explained my enjoyment comes from using the technology to communicate. I've got a lot of experience and it would be a shame not to share it in some small way. Nevertheless, there's a balancing act involved here. Doing all that work to promote the interests of tracks, series and sanctions would not come without a thank you in the form of hospitality. I'm adamant about that, some don't agree but hey, you're all free to do this. Go out and spend a few grand on camera and video equipment, a few hundred on web hosting, learn graphics, photo editing, writing, etc., put down your beer, crawl down out of the stands and show me now it's done. What's that? I must be crazy? Yeah, I thought that's what you'd say. LOL

Plans shaping up for 2012

I have had a few people ask me how I'm doing and wanting to know what's up lately so I thought I'd make a blog post.

In 2007 I went to 29 races, in 2008 I attended 38 races and in 2009 I set a personal record with 44. In 2010 I was down to 25 and in 2011 I came in at just 18, the lowest total since 2001 when I was hobbled due to a neck injury that required surgery at the end of the season.

There will be even fewer races in 2012 but more on that later. Doing racing media work is for all intents and purposes volunteer work, a lot like a non-paying second job that requires travel and weekly expense. Anybody who has volunteered for anything knows that a person needs to have a passion for it in order to devote their time, resources and energy to it. My enthusiasm level has waned during the past couple of years, no fault of the racing but due to personal circumstances. Going into 2012 I decided that it would make more sense to fit my racing schedule more closely to my circumstances than to take my frustration out on everyone and everything. In other words I had to make my mind up that I was going to let it go. Once I did that I started to get enthused about other things besides racing and it became easier to accept the fact that my circumstances wouldn't allow me to chase races for the first time in 15 years.

I was looking for something that didn't require so my travel and expense so I added some more guitars and 24 track recording software for my computer. It was a bit of an expense up front but doesn't come anywhere near the $50 to $100 per week I was spending chasing races for all those years in the long run. I'm not a great guitar player and I can't sing a note, in fact it could be debated whether I'm even a good guitar player but I enjoy it. My only goal playing and recording music is for the songs to be listenable and to improve a little with each new tune. If I think of it in those terms I will be a success. I have no desire to ever make money or play in a band and oddly enough that's what makes it so much fun. Money as they say is the root of all evil, add money to the equation and it can screw up a lot of formerly fun things. One needs to look no further than some of the miserable racers to realize that. Not that money is bad but I've got a day job that wears me out so I don't want my weekend relaxation to become an endless pursuit of financial gain.

So here's the plan for 2012. Keep the gotomn.com website up and running. I am paid up through next May and plan to stay online as long as possible. It costs me around $120 a year for the domain and hosting and that is all out of pocket. The site still gets a good number of visitors because of it's longevity (online since 1999) even though I'm not doing a lot with it right now. I am contemplating splitting it up into several interests where a person would enter a start page at gotomn.com and could go into the racing section, the street rod section and a couple other areas as well. Again, the site is unsponsored and there's no obligations to anybody so I can do anything I want to with it. I just turned 60 in September and have just under six years left to work. I find as I get older that my energy level for pushing stuff onto a website in my free time isn't as intense as it was at 45 when I first got into it. It's kind of interesting that I didn't even start this until I was 45 years old when you think about it. That's a long time in internet years.

Other plans for 2012 are to maybe do some limited work for the Midwest Racing Connection. I'm not sure how that's going to shake out for me or their needs though. I'm only planning on going to about six of my favorite races in 2012 and the incentive for doing racing media work and the only compensation is a media pass. Is it worth working on a column all summer just to get into a handful of races? I don't know, we'll see if we can work anything out and go from there. I just finished an article for Flat Out magazine and would like to continue to do some work for them as well. In addition to any racing I do I'd like to attend the two big Street Rod shows at the Fairgrounds, Back to the 50's and Car Craft Summer Nationals. Aside from those things I'll be doing some home projects and spending time with family. The idea is that I'd like to pick up the pace of the racing back up in a couple years after I get some things sorted out. We'll see if the sport allows me to lay low for a year or two due to personal circumstances or if I end up getting kicked to the curb and spit out never to return. I'd say that I've been pretty loyal and gave it everything I had but I'm afraid it could be one of those "what have you done for us lately" situations. I can't go back to sitting in the stands because I'd lose interest and get bored with it. Like a lot of people involved in racing I'm not a very good fan.

Well, I guess that kind of sums it up for me. I'm not going to announce this blog post on Facebook or the message boards. I'd feel presumptuous doing that. I'm just putting it out here and the good karma will lead those who are interested to this place.

Later, Stan

Thinking about getting back into the blog thangy!!!

Wow, my last post was about Daytona and it's rapidly closing in on the middle of November. Lately I have been typing a lot at work and playing a lot of guitar so there isn't a lot of motivation to post on the blog. The racing schedule is looking like it's going to be a lot smaller next season. It remains to be seen how that will affect my status with the tracks. I plan on doing some work for the magazines and I'd like to cover some of the online racing options as well. We'll see if that works out or I just might end up doing my own thing for a while. I'd like to be all things to all people but it costs money and takes a lot of time to chase the sport along with a lot of work doing the writing and photos. I'll be out there when I can and plan on doing more of the Street Rod stuff as well. If it wasn't such a daunting task to redesign the website I'd do something with that but it's going to have to wait.

Traditional websites like mine that just have photos, lines and a message board don't get much attention anymore. 15 years ago a person had to endure 14.4 phone modems, x486 computers and learn html in order to put up a website. Now in 2011 anybody can easily make a huge impact on the web using Facebook, Youtube and one of the photo hosting sites. I don't regret the time I spent working on computers and learning all that stuff back then but it's not of much value anymore aside from knowing a little more than the average person about building PC's, hosting, servers, and a bunch of that stuff. It's getting to the point where the only reason I'm keeping the site running is to host the trivia contest. We'll see if I can get motivated to do some blogging.

Thoughts about Daytona and other stuff

The Daytona 500 was fun to watch this year. Dave Blaney had a good run and would have probably had a top 10 had it not been for having to take evasive action to avoid a wreck. Dave was forced to cut through the infield resulting in the flying sod doing some damage to the car that resulted in leaking coolant and oil. They had to park it.

The Wood Bros 21 won the race with a driver by the name of Trevor Bayne taking the win in only his second Cup start. Immediately after the race my dirt track friends were congratulating Trevor and saying how great it was that the Wood Bros won. Quite frankly I have never paid that much attention to NASCAR racing to offer much of an opinion.

I've watched my share of Cup races for sure but I don't keep close track of the sport. Usually I'll watch their races up until our season starts and then only catch select events until our season concludes at which time I split my attention between football and the remaining Cup schedule. Not that it's bad racing, I'm just not much of a television fan of anything, racing or otherwise. Racing is something I do on a warm summer night, not something I watch on television.

Speaking of racing on television, what do you think of the Dirt Knights series? My wife was watching over my shoulder and she was pretty critical of it. I'm with her on that one, I never noticed how small of a niche sport dirt track racing is until I saw them hauling to tracks in the middle of nowhere and racing in front of half empty stands. The USMTS is decent racing but I think the biggest thing they've got going for them is the hype and media coverage. I think in that respect they really know how to do it right. On the other hand, a big old heavy dirt Modified will never get me as excited as a volatile high speed on the edge Sprint Car. Basically a Modified looks like a Late Model that they forgot to put the nose piece on. Heavy, wide, slower and not as exciting as Sprints. Good racing at times but certainly not worth all the hype and attention they seem to generate.

I'm off today for the Presidents Day holiday and already spent a couple hours moving snow. When it stops (another 1'-3" by 6pm) I'll have to go out there and clean it off again.

Not much else happening around here these days. I'm just trying to hang in there and save a little gas and hot dog money for the racing season. That might be a little more of a challenge this year with the predicted gas prices and more family obligations. I'll get to enough races to keep a column going and do some magazine work but it probably won't be a record year. Actually, I think my record years are going to be a thing of the past. I'll still be out there as much as possible but I've got a couple retirement parties and even a possible wedding in the family so there are things tugging at my time and resources.

I look around at the racing writers and photographers and I wonder how they all manage to check out on their non-racing family and friends all summer. One particular scribe I know of logged in 160 shows last season. You don't go to 160 nights of racing without skipping out on more than a few graduations, weddings and other functions. Some might conclude that I'm jealous for bringing this up. To the contrary, I have always felt that 25 races per season is plenty. I've got 22 penciled in that are more or less a sure thing and another half dozen that require travel and motels that are a question mark. We'll see if the money is there and make a decision as those races get closer. I've got a mighty nice fire ring in my back yard and a great family so I can take it or leave it as far as getting to every last race. I guess as a writer and photographer I shouldn't admit that but I'm just being honest. I get worn down by the frantically busy seasons, the late night drives, the long hours of writing and photo editing each week and everything else that I do during the racing season.

One cool thing about 2011 is that I found myself with an open spot in my schedule during the "Back to the 50's" car show at the State Fairgrounds. Cedar Lake replaced the IRA Sprints with the USMTS at this year's Masters. Seeing as I'm now considered a Sprint Car writer and photographer that left me without a reason to attend the event. Some have asked why I don't go out and watch some of these events as a fan. My answer is that I have obligations to fill on the Sprint Car side and I have to conserve my funds to cover those events. The pie doesn't have quite enough pieces to venture much outside my main gig.

I believe that I may have lost my enthusiasm for blogging

I guess the lack of posts during the past six months underscores that point. I've got a few too many things going here and I think I'm going to have to transition from blogging to podcasting in the coming months. The podcast will be on midwestracingtalk.com and I like that better than blogging for the simple reason that I don't have to type. I approach the websites as a seasonal deal and don't feel an overwhelming need to work on them during the winter so we'll get busy on them pretty soon.

Maybe I'll retain the blog and use it for announcements and that sort of thing.

A few milestones, a new direction and more ideas

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. That's what happens when I go racing two nights almost every weekend all summer. I like racing, actually you could probably say that I love it to some extent, but there are other things going on in my life that are starting to cut into my racing time. That's no problem, I can still do my websites and some work for the publications on more of a part time basis.

I don't have anything to prove and the younger guys would be happy to step in and fill the void. I've got plenty of web ideas that don't require so much travel and chasing races. I'm not monetizing this thing anyways so that would work. I can do a lot from right here in my man cave. Stay tuned, I'll be doing some fun things with the graphics and audio.

Just checking in on the blog

This is the MDTR blog, in other words it began life as a part of my racing website gotomn.com aka Minnesota Dirt Track Racing hence the acronym MDTR. I'm thinking about expanding the site to include some other interests besides racing after this season. Next year I'm going to have to make further cuts in my racing schedule so I'm thinking of some options to keep the site interesting. The racing will remain on the gotomn.com site as will midwestracingtalk.com. I probably won't be going racing every weekend like I have been for the past 14 years. Stay tuned, whatever I decide to do will be good stuff. That's always been my goal, to have fun.

I have been a little bit lazy with the blog

There has been a lot going on lately. No, I haven't been to a race yet but I'm scheduled to start next weekend. Can't type long, got to finish staining the deck but I'll like to tinker with the guitar and recording software for a while. More to come later, didn't want anybody to think I forgot about blogging.