2010 Thoughts, Pt. II

- Longtime sprint car owner/sponsor Ivan Tracy floated the idea of a limited, 'bare-bones' 360(ish) wingless sprint class, with the idea of complementing existing racing and keeping costs low to promoters and teams. It was promoted in the spirit of the creation of the original "Modified" sprint at Midwest Speedway in the 1980's. For more on the birth of the 360 Sprint, visit Ryan Tunks' Midwest Speedway Preservation Society website.

As nice as it may seem, I'll borrow from the words of the late firearms Guru, Marine Colonel and Historian Jeff Cooper: it's an "ingenious solution to a non-existent problem." Cooper was not talking about racing but rather semi-automatic pistol development, feeling that there was no need for complex modifications of an existing design when with proper use, and mindset, the existing design worked just fine.

But I see the development of yet another class as the same thing. Here's why:

- I don't see any pent-up demand for limited, limited wingless sprint car racing. There have been plenty of calls across the grandstands, pits and message boards for wingless sprint cars but they have all centered on the "real deal:" wingless 410 racing as you see at I-80 each August, and across the Midwest on the USAC trail. The 2007 experiment of wingless 360 racing at Eagle was certainly a 'no harm, no foul' deal, but nobody seemed to care there were no shows in 2008 save for a less than noteworthy WDRL support show. Remember, when the 360's started at Midwest, there was no real sprint racing on a weekly basis. Most of the Nebraska crews were running Knoxville regularly. This filled a niche, and if you've read any of Bob Mays' books, a hole in the SE Nebraska racing community, where sprints/supermodifieds were not just popular, but a part of local culture.

- Again, while it's not designed to compete with the winged 360 class, why wouldn't it? I still feel that these sub-classes draw from the "upper" class, creating mediocre fields in both and experience shows this especially in late models and modifieds. Why, with sprint counts being at a 10-year low, would we want to fracture the class now?

By the way - 305's anyone?

The silence is deafening.

Look, I recognize costs are escalating in 360 racing. A top of the line 360 motor can run as much as a top of the line 410 motor did ten years ago. I get it. But this isn't the solution.

- To that point: If as Ivan said, there are cars sitting idle, why can't they be raced now? Really, since Gambler brought out the downtube car in the late 80's how much has the sprint car really changed? Why, couldn't one get one of these frames and start adding to it? If the car is too old, why race it now under any rules? I don't know how many times I have to say this, but why do people confuse "affordable" with "being able to afford the point champ's equipment?" I have tremendous respect for a guy like Josh LaPage, who, scrounged, scrimped and put a car on the track and ran it against "the big boys." Yeah, he's still green and finding his way, but damn...racing around here could use more of him. This is going to come off as confrontational and maybe it is, especially if the question isn't being answered honestly: how much of the effort to contain cost is a true concern about saving money and how much of it is really just an effort to bring costs to a level where once top ten teams can NOW afford to be able to outspend/outequip everyone else? I'm dead serious about that. Maybe it's my cynical nature, but I rarely believe this is a campaign for the greater good but instead to lower the bar and make the good "great."

- To THAT point: the existent problem in my opinion is not so much money, it's that the field isn't being replenished. In the 80's and 90's the typical path was often race mini sprints at Waverly or Hastings, then get in the big car at Midwest and Eagle. I'm going to miss a TON of names, but here's a few: Divis, Boston, Lowery, Alley, Dover, etc., etc., etc. I'm not even CLOSE to naming half. But you get the point. But consider, especially in the case of Billy Alley and Jack Dover. They didn't stick around long. Enough time to get the feel of the bigger car and then moving on to potentially greener pastures. Before that, the upgrade generally meant they became the permanent veterans of the local field. But in this age of making the big time before 25, most talent doesn't see weekly racing as a long term goal. Many are looking to become the professional racer, not a weekend warrior. Contrary to the time after Jeff Gordon, the dirt track was an acceptable settling point as it was for many names. Champ cars, sprint cars, midgets were perfectly fine ways to "race to live." In a MotorSport magazine (the BEST racing magazine out there) article, Mario Andretti recalls his dirt car days with fondness, even racing them as late as 1974, where he won the USAC championship - five years AFTER his Indy 500 victory, three years after winning the '71 South African Grand Prix for Ferrari, and only one year before departing full time to Formula One!  But it's not that way anymore, and the success of dirt track stars in NASCAR has made it arguably worse for dirt track racing as its stars depart quickly, which in turn, leaves fields smaller and smaller as veterans retire. (Sound familiar, local sprint fans?)

The thing is, I don't see the "farm system" of the 80's and 90's coming back. So for that, we head to the "Everything old is new again" department

- I believe with about 70% certainty that given the economy we'll see the 360 class go the way of the Super Late Models at I-80. While I have NOTHING to back this up, my gut says that most of the sprint races future teams will compete in will be run under the ASCS banner at regional tracks, with - like the SLMR series, several stops at the old "home" track. But, I believe that ASCS purses have to go up (particularly at the back end), and instead of the state fair races of old, there are more big money shows like the $5000 to win Nebraska Cup and $2000 to win 9/11 Tribute at Butler County mixed in. My other feeling is that supply and demand will take over, with less of a supply of sprint races, demand increases with potentially bigger crowds (and bigger front gate takes to build up the purse).

- I forsee, like the late models have been for quite some time, the growth of the 'semi-professional' racer: the person or teams not necessarily racing to eat - but can make time to essentially race at will, at least locally. I'm thinking currently of Billy Alley, Chad Humston, Ryan Roberts and Jack Dover as examples, but many race teams can do that already. Look at how many modified teams hit 2, 3 nights a week regularly? It's not out of the question for many of the race teams out there. If not a personal career, one could certainly make a decent "racing career" as a so-called regional outlaw.

- And as much as I used to say that the ASCS regional series was irrelevant with Eagle's strong show back in the early 2000's (and I still think I was right then), I think the times have changed such that the regional series is the future, with the increase in number of shows rumored for 2010. I believe it so much, that I'm hitching my wagon to that and will devote most of my time to it next year. And before anyone I debated with in the early 2000's says "I told you so," take it easy. You had nothing to back it up and the reason I think this has more to do with the Bear-Stearns collapse or closer to home the collapse of local 410 racing than your insight. I could say Nebraska will win the Big XII this year, and if I lucked into being right, that doesn't entitle me to a place on ESPN, OK?

Having just spent the last page discounting the wingless idea, I'm not writing it off completely.

Part III - coming soon.