Dog eat dog

It's a dog eat dog world out there, and there are fewer scraps than ever before.

Short track racing has grown into a back-gate fed monster and the car count, not the crowd is the lifeblood of survival.

There were some nasty rumors going on about cars from one track being encouraged not to race at other tracks. On the message boards people surmised that Eagle's donation to the Butler County Modified purse was in retaliation to an I-80 move to deny cars from the Eagle Nationals or deny cars for I-80's Midwest Tri-Fecta show.

Again, rumor and internet gossip. If anyone has more to it, I, and a LOT of others would like to know. In this example, I'd love to be wrong.

True or not, how much does this tit-for-tat do for racing as a whole? Two wrongs not making a right and all that business....

The much-ballyhooed Belleville 100 race failed to live up to the hype (like it or not, it's true), with only 28 cars taking (4 DNS) to the track on Saturday night, and the $10,000 winner’s share of the A feature was cut – albeit to a still respectable $7500 (addendum 7-20-10: I've been told the full purse was paid). Pictures from the event showed a less-than-half-full Belleville grandstand.

I felt some sympathy for promoter Wayne Dake, in that he had poured a lot of himself into that event, going as far as building a custom two-door Taurus in NASCAR trim just for the show. You can’t blame promotion on this one, it had been out there for a year. (addendum 7-20-10: I want to clarify, I'm not saying mistakes or bad decisions weren't made.)

The low car count was the stuff of discussion in the pits at Eagle amongst friends and people who’ve been around racing a LONG time, and on the Internet afterward. Rumors flew and I’m not going there – I’ll only comment on what I can see.

Tracks refused to give up their Modified program to accommodate. The NCRA scheduled a show against it. Teams took the points over pay and stayed home.

I feel that one issue is, in this economy, in this world where the back gate keeps tracks on life support, asking any track promoter to forego their workhorse class, in the time when crowds start to die off and many have weekend plans for a long holiday is asking too much.

The timing, while wanting to commemorate the anniversary is nice, the idea didn’t seem practical. Tying in with the midgets or a September show would've been a better idea.

As for the crowd, asking fans to lay down a Franklin (or two to three with travel and lodging) for three days of what are at best, semi-pro racers in an unknown quantity, in this economy is something that speaks for itself.

Hindsight's 20-20 of course, and it’s easy for me to snipe because I wasn’t there.

But I think it goes further.

I apologize to the history buffs and the nostalgic, but Belleville, in its current configuration is an anachronism. It's out of place in this world, having more in common with an auto maker's high-speed test track than a modern racetrack.

The once famous Belleville Midget Nationals is a shadow of itself, essentially turning into a multi-day midget show. The premier midget race is the Chili Bowl, and has been for a long time.

Belleville's reputation as a motor-hungry, follow the leader track keeps the shallow pocketed teams away. I know it would make purists upset, but the centennial anniversary should be the last year of the high banks, at least in its current configuration. Cut it down to a flat half-mile, or better yet a flat 3/8 mile and go on into the next century. I'm told it's a question of money.

Look, I've got a soft spot for 'retro': I've thought about building a street rod as a daily driver just so I could work on it myself, I miss Kodachrome, and I when I write longhand (retro in itself), I use a fountain pen. But the bell can't be unrung and facts are facts. Change or die. As if we didn't know already, Darwin proved that well before the automobile.

Having refused to gloss over the negative on this site, I expect the some harsh looks, dismissive comments and possible outright anger but this is what it is. If the facts are painful, don't take it out on me.

However, I'm not going to point fingers and call people out and shake my finger at anyone. I don't blame promoters for being aggressive and throwing proverbial fists. As we remain in this recess...I mean, depression, and stay with the back-gate mentality, putting car counts over fan counts, expect to see more of this – and possibly worse.

One can blame external factors all they want, but if those external factors have changed, they need to change the way they respond to it unless they're playing on the hopes that things will go back to the way they were.

Good luck with that.