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.