Finally! (or...a 2011 Wish list)

Busy. Baby. Work. Let's just go.

• Let's keep the special "-fests, 'classics', etc." that are really just huge back gate bonanzas to a minimum. I'll grudgingly accept it being a necessary evil to generate cash. But I have no desire for 100-200 car monotony over the course of 1/4 to 1/3 of a day. And, the fact that they "race twice - pay once" by running heats on one day and features the next (while charging front gate and pit fees each day, plus overall entry fees) should get racers mad. It doesn't. Whatever. 
• And in the further interest of ending a trend - let's hope we've seen the last of track closings for a while. 
• To that point, let's hope there's no such thing as a "C-Mod" any time soon. We have enough classes already. 
• I'd love to see some sort of incentive program for the compact drivers to move up in class. Maybe a free hobby roller or sport mod roller (but they have to race it next year and can't compete in the compacts if they take it). 
• "Little E" (as in the kart track at Eagle) will run karts for the first time. Talks with the Mini Sprint group didn't go well with Eagle owner Roger Hadan so he opted not to run them. I hope he can work something out. On the subject, I'd like to see the dwarf cars run that little track.
• The 1/4 mile at NRP (I-80) will be interesting. A midget show there would be cool, but midget shows haven't exactly been stellar performers business wise, and there aren't enough of them for a back gate special. Still... Modifieds could be interesting. 
• Rumor: one track's owner or owners allegedly offered the owner or owners of another track to buy the facility so they could close it, but they refused the deal. I'll let you guys guess who offered whom. 
• The Eagle Raceway Sprint Car committee is working on improving pay, point funds and has already changed the lineups. My poll says that none of these things are what the voters think the problem is. Is it a case of two different audiences? Is it a case of people with narrow agendas and charisma (I use that liberally) getting their way in group meetings? I find it interesting, knowing who comments to me on my blog most often. 
• The ASCS Midwest tour is running enough races (and close enough to here) for a team to quite literally run a season outside of Eagle's normal season. What will that do to the Eagle show? 
• The group of IMCA Modifieds around here is probably the most competitive group anywhere in the country. I hope it remains that way and short track fans realize what they have.

That's all for now.
-Jason