Loving that wingless show

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." - Darth Vader

One-hundred degree temps and having to be at work Friday is keeping me from JMS (regrettably). However, I've got my sights set on Friday's Midwest Tri-Fecta at I-80 and hopefully Saturday's show at Eagle - but for a reason you may not think.

Maybe I get this way each year, but I've got those mid-season blahs again.
The sprint car backbiting on the dirtdrivers.com message boards is back up in full tilt, and frankly - a lot of the fans on there don't know their heads from their asses. And sometimes I wonder if the inmates are running the asylum. Exactly what has the same bitching that's been going on since the dawn of www.sameoldcrap.com* done for the sport?

I'm sorry to see that Jay Russell won't be around Eagle. Nothing but nice from the whole family. It's Eagle's loss.

The annual debate about "the work area" tires me. Do you want to know how to deal with regulating the amount of time in the work area? Don't allow any time. There - fair for everyone. I'd ban pit stops for every class. It's unsafe and how many people have really made lemonade out of lemons? This ain't a 500 mile race.

Spare me that "what-if" hypothetical crap, too. But if he...and points...and....

We can play that game all day. The "law of averages" says all the up and down works out in the end. I'd like to know how the work area saved someones season in a capacity that really mattered. Finishing 15th instead of 16th in points doesn't count.

And, for all these self-proclaimed long time wise fans, you don't remember when that was the norm. And we all seemed to survive. The whole "work area" crap was set forward by the World of Outlaws in order to give traveling teams a chance to better their position. And I guarantee you Steve Kinser got more time than...well...anyone not named Steve Kinser. Maybe Sammy or Wolfgang. But that list was pretty short and Uncle Ted selectively enforced it.

Yeah, I'm in that kind of mood. And frankly - I don't care.

So sitting here midway through the season, what was supposed to be a plan to save the sprint car class has been at best - one of sustaining it. Car counts are sub-20's again, and if not for Eldon Rhoten's 3-car operation, the counts would be nearing the 15-car minimum line in the sand Roger Hadan drew as a minimum to even race.

Changes have been made to the sprint show, including format - which in my honest opinion has not bettered the program one iota - as well as a renovated track surface that has been fraught with problems and usually requires a mid-race re-work.

I'm not saying there's been lack of trying. A quality point fund could pay out in 2012. As I said before, the changes may have prevented a bad situation from being worse. In fact, I'd say the major issues are external circumstances: economics in the case of the sprint division and weather in the case of the track. Nobody has done anything wrong.

I've said it before but I wonder if the best thing to have done was throw out the old way all together.

C'mon Jason, It's still racing, right? Better than none at all!

This is true. And I'm reminded in a positive way still.

When I go to the races at Eagle, and even in other places in this area I look forward to another show. Coming from someone who cut their teeth on the winged uprights, this is blasphemy. But it's true.

The IMCA Modifieds are the best weekly program in this area.

Not "B-Mods," not any IMCA Modified show - but the group we have here. Be it Beatrice, Eagle, I-80...wherever. For the last few years the most competitive program top-to-bottom has been the IMCA Modifieds. It's the most entertaining, frankly I think it's the cleanest show, and it has the least amount of bitching BY FAR.

It's just RACING. I don't care that the costs have escalated. I don't care that some of them come in on double stack trailers (that outdo most of the sprint haulers). I realize the cars are about as close to spec as they get. But they seem to find a way to put on a great show.

These guys just go race. Recouping the expenses through the purse has gone out the window. But they run hard, and the modern "A-Mod" isn't the spin fest the class was 20 years ago when the running bet among Eagle sprint fans was whether or not they could go caution free the first lap.

These guys are good. Period. They drive with finesse, and can go full-tilt, and back it in as hard as any sprinter; they actually look more like the old-school cars when they pitch it in. If the track goes rubber down, they still can race. If it's a "gumball" track - not "Gumbo" which is a soup - they still go like hell.

My biggest beef is that they aren't run second-to-last at the end of the night at Eagle as the sport compacts are used to cut the crust off track one last time (yes it is the reason). I'd even let them go at the end.

Week in and week out, the modified A features have ranged from good to great. It's fun to watch "The Jet" still take it to them after these years.

I don't think there are nicer guys at a track than Dylan Smith, and watching him win is one for the "good guys" every time.

Chris Abelson has been a nice addition form up north where the IMCA modified count has fallen, Shane Hiatt has made the most of his transition from the Hobby Stocks. Lacey Tuttle is the BEST female driver I've seen on dirt in a long time - that girl does not flinch at all. Rik Gropp fits the "Elder Statesman" role to a T, and still brings it. Doug Deterding was one of my favorite guys to go see during my time working for Eagle. And I'm missing plenty of others who just get out and race. Period.

Hats off to them. Maybe they don't have the "wow" factor and the colorful history of the sprints, but night after night, it's the best racing out there. This isn't a diss on the sprints, it's just that the modified guys are putting on a stellar program. You can't deny this.

And you thought this would be about wingless SPRINT cars! But I am looking forward to the Aug. 5 show at Eagle.

-Jason

*the site is one of those squatter domains, but that's not the point