One sentence wisdom

On having more and more classes:

Eventually people get tired of paying for a Ball Park frank when all they
get is a cocktail weenie in a hoagie bun.  

JMS May 1

SLMR Late Models will make their first appearance for the 2010 JMS Season
this Weekend on MAY 1!

Regular Racing Program will also be racing: NASCAR Late Models, Modifieds,
B-Modifieds, Stock Cars and 4 Cylinders! Don't miss this exciting show!

Front Gate Opens at 5:00

Hot Laps at 6:00
The Races Start at 7:00 pm
Junction Motor Speedway Season Opener

Admission $12.00 Adults and $4.00 Children ages 6-12
5 and under are free in the stands.

Pits

$25 for Non- NASCAR Crew
$20 For all NASCAR Drivers and NASCAR Crew Members
$50 For all SLMR Drivers

ALL drivers will have to purchase a license to race in all 5 of these
classes. This is mandatory for 2010 JMS rules.

See everybody this weekend, we look forward for a nice evening and great
racing!

National Speed Sport News interview with ASCS's Emmett Hahn

Pretty good Q&A with the founder of the ASCS sprint series, and pertinent to
any of the sprint fans in this area.

http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/node.php?tag=9&id=3437

 

"Show Me" Some New ASCS Midwest Territory This Weekend...

 
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (April 26, 2010) – The American Sprint Car
Series Midwest Region breaks some new ground this coming weekend with a pair
of events in the "Show Me" State of Missouri.
 
On Friday night, the series takes to Warrensburg's semi-banked, 3/8-mile
Central Missouri Speedway dirt oval.  Then on Saturday night, it's off to
"The Diamond of Dirt Tracks", the Lucas Oil Speedway 3/8-mile dirt track in
Wheatland.
 
The events at both Central Missouri Speedway and Lucas Oil Speedway will be
held in conjunction with the Missouri-based Winged Outlaw Warriors.
 
The ASCS Midwest Region kicked off its sixth season of competition just a
couple of weeks ago with a pair of young guns reaching victory lane at
Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway on April 16-17.
 
Twenty-one year-old Dustin Morgan of Tulsa, OK, bested a 34-car field in the
ASCS Midwest opener at I-80 on April 16, with 20-year-old Springfield, NE,
native Jack Dover delivering veteran car owner Gary Swenson a triumph the
following night.
 
Dover, among the top Lucas Oil ASCS National title contenders, is one of the
five past ASCS Midwest champions.  Dover captured his title in 2008, with
other past champions including Billy Alley (2005), Toby Chapman (2006),
Natalie Sather (2007) and Jason Danley (2009).
 
Dover escaped the opening weekend of ASCS Midwest action atop the point
charts with a 28-point edge over Giltner, Nebraska's Chad Humston, who
scored three series wins last year.
 
Aurora, Nebraska's Ryan Roberts is third in points, with Morgan and Gregg
Bakker of Sioux Falls, SD, rounding out the current top five.  The balance
of the current top ten in ASCS Midwest points includes two-time ASCS
Northern Plains champion Lee Grosz (Harwood, ND), Robby Wolfgang (Sioux
Falls, SD), Ryan Bickett (Ramona, SD), Billy Alley (Lincoln, NE) and Lou
Kennedy, Jr. (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
 
The Winged Outlaw Warrior forces will be lead into the weekend by four-time
series champion Randy Martin of California, MO, and defending champion Josh
Fisher of Smithton, MO.  Sedalia's Jonathan Cornell is out to the early WOW
lead over Martin, Eric Todd, Fisher and Dustin Barks.
 
Friday's card at Central Missouri Speedway marks the first Sprint Car event
atop the Warrensburg dirt track since 2005, while Saturday's action will be
the first ASCS Regional tilt in Wheatland.
 
Friday's action at Central Missouri fires off at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday's
card at Lucas Oil Speedway going green at 7:05 p.m.
 
Central Missouri Speedway is located in Warrensburg, MO, 3.5 miles north of
US 50 on SR 13 at the junction of CR V.  For more information, contact the
track at 660-747-2166.
 
Lucas Oil Speedway is located in Wheatland, MO, 0.2 miles south of US 54 on
SR 83.  For more information, contact the track at 417-282-5984.
 
The ASCS Midwest Region is slated for 23 nights of competition in 2010 at
ten different tracks throughout Nebraska and the surrounding areas of
Missouri, South Dakota and Iowa. 
 
In its 19th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing, the American Sprint Car
Series brings the best of Sprint Car racing to approximately 100 different
tracks throughout 30 states and Canada.  Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint
Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of eleven different
Regions throughout the nation.
 
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available
at www.ascsracing.com

Cancellations

Both Butler County and Beatrice canceled their programs tonight due to the
weather.

The "Showdown at Uptown" car show and get together scheduled for tonight at
the Uptown Saloon in Greenwood has been rescheduled for May 21st.

The Pace Lap, April 22, 2010

(a continuation, if you will)

-As you may have already noticed, there's a slight change on the site. I've gone with Google's Blogspot hosting service for the short term. The changes I want to make may take more time than the May 1 deadline I had going now. Everything should be pretty transparent.

- I've railed on about too many support classes. An idea I first rolled my eyes at started to grow on me, as evidenced by this thread on dirtdrivers.com: starting the "featured class" A feature at a set time.

By the way: user "kmart" has a valid question.

I think starting a set time of 10 or 10:30 PM could have some issues, if heats or B's run long. But, I would propose this: the Featured Class A feature runs 1 hour after intermission. That's enough time. If they made the A, they have that and MORE to get any repairs or changes taken care of. As for B feature cars, it's always been a pressure cooker, it's part of the game. If there's no B, then 1 hour after intermission is enough.

With that in mind, are some promoters willing to establish a pecking order of importance? Some places have really made a point to act like all classes are the same, sadly, it's often by degrading the "feature class" as being whiny, expensive, disloyal, etc. And, are promoters willing to watch potential customers leave at the end of the "main event?" It's a tough balance.

The fact is, the support classes aren't inferior to a featured class, it's just that they play a different role. But I'm still not sure some egos could handle that distinction either.

- "April showers bring May flowers." Why do people bitch about rainouts in April? What do you expect?

- Chris Moses of OvalOperations.com proposes that it's time for Knoxville to end 410 weekly racing. I agree. They let go of wingless and life went on, so the whole "that's the way they've done it" argument doesn't hold. Will it bring more crowd? Probably not, unless perhaps the ticket price is lowered too. But will it cut expenses? Significantly.

This blog has moved - but you have to do nothing!

There's nothing you have to change, unless you subscribed to the posts in a newsreader. I've set the domain "www.heartlandracenews.com" to redirect to the .blogspot.com address...so all your bookmarks should be the same. The photos (for now) will still be at the same address. The only change you'll notice is in the address bar when the page loads up.

This is a temporary move to hosting with Google since the way I was doing this was not going to be supported by Blogger after May 1.


This blog is now located at http://heartlandracenews.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://heartlandracenews.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Updates

Going to make some changes today. We'll see what happens.

Photos from April 16 & 17

Gallery of I-80 Photos are up from the ASCS Sprint show this weekend.

I-80 April 16, 2010

I-80 April 17, 2010

The Pace Lap April 19, 2010

One of the things I said I was going to do was move away from just posting results which you've already seen and give my take on the action. So here goes.

Last week I went to the annual ASCS season opener at I-80 Speedway. Friday night had a five-class-fest with Sprints, NASCAR Late Models (limited, if you insist), SportMods, Pro-Ams and Compacts. Saturday had a top-tier triple-bill with Super Late Models as well as Sprints and IMCA Modifieds. Hobby Stocks rounded out the field.

Some people complain about so many classes (I'll get into that later), but the fact is, if people want fewer classes in the pits - there needs to be more fans at the front gate. It's a catch-22; but I think we're at the time when the status quo needs to be shaken up. There needs to be different ways to get the fans in. Back gate money is the easy route, more cars = more $. Sometimes, I'm not sure the promoter even cares about the front gate. For them, it's gravy or at worst, a necessary evil.

So maybe we just get used to this kind of racing with piles of classes, running late and that's just part of the game. Kind of like a SCCA sports car event. Die hards will sit through what they like, go to the parking lot or BS when what they don't care about is running. We are already on that road.

But, I've heard about tracks where the weekly admission is not the 8-10 bucks at the gate, but 10-15 bucks per car, and make the money at the concession/beer stand. Plus, hey...carpooling's good for the environment! (Ugh).

That said, I think many promoters realize that the fan's time is limited. I could hear the urgency in Ed Kosiski's voice over the radio Friday and Saturday night. I like what they did with the Modified feature on Saturday: 5 yellows allowed, and the 6th ended the race.

In a Talledega Nights moment, the A feature Saturday was cut short when race leader Dylan Smith was taken out by Johnny Saathoff (that's what it was, intentionally or not). Smith was put to the back (I agree, the yellow technically was for him) as was Saathoff (I agree, he caused the incident) and third-place Mike Densberger was awarded the win (also agree). 

Let me touch on that Mod feature for a second. On the surface it looked like Saathoff took Smith out. I saw Johnny doing the same thing to race leader Jay Noteboom at the Spring Nationals in Beatrice. It seemed to an untrained eye like mine that he was sliding the bumper up under the car, and thus...disrupting the leader on the corner exit. Maybe that isn't what's going on and I rarely comment on driving because I haven't been there.

Yes, I passed up Densberger's victory celebration to head over to Smith's trailer where Saathoff rushed over after the race and the two had a civil talk about it...unlike Friday's fight in the sprints and the previous week's punchout in the Pro-Ams. So, whatever happened, there's more than meets the eye and we have to be careful to judge. I wasn't the only one as a small crowd gathered at Smith's pit, but the upcoming race drowned out the conversation and it soon became apparent no big kerfuffle was going to come out of this. 

In the end, it appeared to be one of those "racing deals."

All I can say was I was really impressed with how Dylan composed himself after the race, behavior fitting a National Champion and mirroring what others have said. Racing needs all the Dylan Smith's they can get.

Also in the "they had that race covered until..." department, Friday's ASCS show had Billy Alley well in front until a broken hub ended his night. Dustin Morgan made the trip up from Oklahoma, where he inherited the lead and the win. Saturday night wasn't so kind as an early wreck ended his quest for a sweep.

When Jack Dover starts on the front row of a 360 race, you'll have to give me pretty good odds to pick against him. Lou Kennedy Jr, Clint Garner and Chad Humston tried, but the "Gas Man" stayed up top, kept cruisin' and took the win for Gary Swenson. Word in the pits was that there was a debate in the trailer whether or not a new tire would go on the right rear for the feature. I forgot to see who won that debate, but whatever choice must've been right! 

The shows still were pretty good. The crowd on Saturday seemed good, filling the stands up to 2/3 capacity (the west grandstands were still closed after storm damage). Car counts in the mid 30's were just fine in my book. And, it was a solid field both nights.

By the way, I really like the pit food at I-80. Being a "foodie," (and yes, one who is a fan of Tony Bourdain and Alton Brown), the grilled hot dogs are good stuff in the pits - not the usual boiled gray parts in a tube. The cheeseburgers are pretty good too. Real grilling over a fire...and what I think are Rotella buns are a significant cut above. I still like Eagle's chicken poppers, but the balance of pit grub power has shifted to the north.

Looking ahead to my next race. I don't think the Friday Warrensburg, MO ASCS trip is on tap...or a good idea for peace at the home! But, I plan on the season opener at Eagle for sure. There have been some questions that keep coming up, most of which is car count. How many sprints, how many sport mods? This leads to, "how long you think this is going to take" and "will 30 extra minutes be enough?"

Time will tell on both counts. For the Icebreaker, 14 of the 25 cars that ran were not Eagle regulars. Three took off to Wichita for greener pastures in the NCRA race, where Trevor Grossenbacher picked up third place and the $1000 check to go with it.

$1000 is A feature winner money at Eagle.

Granted, some cars weren't ready. Some stayed home since it wasn't a point night. But, will they break 20 on a regular basis? You can say whatever you want and spin it however you want, but it IS a major storyline in the SE Nebraska racing world. And, given that Eagle was one of the focal points for 360 Sprints in general, the downturn in the class is a big deal.

Rumor has it 60 Sport Mods are pre-registered at Eagle. That said, I don't think it cost anything (or very little) to pre-register by a certain date. I remember plenty of pre-registrations in the days when I managed that and there were usually a lot more registrations than cars on a weekly basis. I'm curious as to the mod count. The Beatrice/Eagle combined fund helped car counts, but the competition was intense, and tempers sometimes flared. I noticed that as some guys got out of the point hunt, they went to other tracks. We'll see what happens this year.

Staci Stava picked up her first Modified win at Junction Motor Speedway. If she's been to Eagle, I can't remember. Granted, Eagle isn't the be-all and end-all for modifieds, though it was Nebraska's first IMCA Mod track. I'd like to see her mix it up on the short track. But that said, the whole "woman" driver thing...a driver is a driver in my book. Shirley Muldowney proved that years ago. I don't know why female drivers seem to be such a novelty anymore. They deserve more respect than that.

So ends my Alan Alda moment (look it up, kids).

But if you brought a hermaphrodite to the track? That would be news.

I'll have some more thoughts. Come back in a day or two.

ASCS Midwest Regional Update 2010 - April 19, 2010

Rounds #3 & #4 are coming!

Friday April 30th
Central Missouri Speedway
Warrensburg, MO * Pits open 4:30 * Racing 7:30

Saturday May 1st
Lucas Oil Speedway
Wheatland, MO * Pits Open 4:00 * Racing 7:05

Both events are co-sanctioned with WOW Sprints.

ASCS Midwest Region points both days
2 separate shows - $1500 to win each night

ASCS Midwest Payout (each night)
$1500 - 1000 - 700 - 600 - 500 - 400 - 350 - 300 - 275 - 250
$250 thru 20th.

RR Tire - ASCS Spec Hoosier (16" Medium or Hard) - LR & fronts open
Mufflers are not required - minimum 1475 lbs w/driver
Raceceivers are mandatory (Drivers must supply their own raceceiver)

For complete ASCS Midwest schedule: www.ascs360.com

ASCS Midwest Region On-Deck:
Thursday May 27th - I-80 Speedway - Greenwood, NE
Friday May 28th - Junction Motor Speedway - McCool Junction, NE

JMS Season Opener Saturday

The staff at JMS is excited to see everyone this weekend for our Season
Opener!

The Races Start at 7:00 pm
Hot Laps and Front Gate Opens at 5:00

Junction Motor Speedway Season Opener

Admission $8.00 Adults and $4.00 Children ages 6-12
5 and under are free in the stands.

Pits $25 for Non-NASCAR Crew
$20 For all NASCAR Drivers and NASCAR Crew Members

Classes Racing

ALL NASCAR--- LATE MODELS, MODIFIEDS, B-MODIFIEDS, STOCK CARS, AND 4
CYLINDERS

ALL drivers will have to purchase a license to race in all 5 of these
classes. This is mandatory for 2010 JMS rules.

See everybody this weekend, we look forward for a nice evening and great
racing! 

ASCS Midwest Updates

This Friday & Saturday - ASCS Midwest Opener!

The weather forecast is looking great for this opening weekend of ASCS
competition.

Friday April 16th & Saturday April 17th
I-80 Speedway - Greenwood, NE

ASCS Midwest Region points both days
2 separate shows - $1500 to win each night

ASCS Midwest Payout (each night)
$1500 - 1000 - 700 - 600 - 500 - 400 - 350 - 300 - 275 - 250
$250 thru 20th.

RR Tire - ASCS Spec Hoosier (16" Medium or Hard) - LR & fronts open
Mufflers are not required - minimum 1475 lbs w/driver

TIMES UPDATED...
Pit gates open @ 3:00pm - ASCS Pit Meeting @ 5:45 - Racing @ 7:00pm

Pit Passes $30

For more info: www.neracewaypark.com

For complete ASCS Midwest schedule: www.ascs360.com

ASCS Midwest Region On-Deck:
Friday April 30th - Central Missouri Speedway - Warrensburg, MO
Saturday May 1st - Lucas Oil Speedway - Wheatland, MO
(Both events co-sanctioned with WOW Sprints)

Eagle Icebreaker Photos

Here's some of my favorites from Eagle Raceway's Icebreaker Challenge on April 10.

Eagle Raceway 4-10-10 Icebreaker Challenge Photos

Eagle Practice Photos

Here's some shots I liked from the two practice sessions April 2, and 8, 2010.

It's just what I liked, not meant to be a photo of everyone there.

Eagle Practice April 2010 Photos

I-80 Speedway suffers damage, will race Friday

From I-80 Speedway

Greenwood, Ne (April 6th, 2010) I-80 Speedway was hit by a tornado early
Tuesday morning, suffering minor damage. We will be racing as scheduled
Friday April 9th. The decks in turn four were totally destroyed and the
bleachers in turn four were badly damaged also. The Total Performance parts
trailer was flipped on its side and blown about twenty feet away from its
original location.

We will have things cleaned up and ready to race again on Friday April 9th
with the NASCAR Whelen All American Weekly Series, unfortunately we will
have to close off the west end grandstands and decks until we are able to
repair them in the next couple weeks. We have posted a few photos of the
damage on the website. 
 

Showdown at Uptown Saloon

From Rhonda Bryan

The "Showdown at Uptown Saloon" Located in Greenwood, Ne will be on Friday,
April 23rd beginning at 6pm. Proud owner, Tammy Garrow has been a long time
sponsor of our annual Kid's Night Bike Giveaway.

Tammy has invited ALL the driver's, Owner's, Crew Member's and Racing Fans
of Eagle Raceway to come out and show off their race car's and spend the
evening signing autographs for the racing fans kicking off our 2010 Eagle
Raceway Racing Season.

Let's show our support to all of our racing fans and attend this event!

The Uptown Saloon is located right on the corner of Hwy 6. Drivers may line
the Main Street with their race cars. Parking is available for all.

Rain date will be on Friday, May 21st.

There will be the famous Uptown Burgers and Beer specials throughout the
evening along with a few giveaways.

We hope you'll bring the family out to meet the drivers of Eagle Raceway!

Any questions please contact Rhonda at 402-450-7992 or email
rascal60@windstream.net

What's Up

Seems like the photo galleries are behaving again...just in time to move on
to some other service!

I'll have some thoughts on the upcoming season (at least the "regular"
season) here in a day or two.