The Pace Lap - August 20, 2011

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated and even longer since I’ve been to a race.

Work killed my plans of going to Knoxville for the ASCS 360 Nationals - and an infant son who’s just turning the corner on sleeping at night didn’t help although my wife was OK with a late arrival on Sunday morning. I however, didn’t really have the endurance for it after the work week from Hell.

That said, it doesn’t mean I didn’t follow the scene and as always have something to say.

Looks like I-80’s Silver Dollar Nationals was a success with near-capacity stands and good racing. Good enough to run next year? Who knows? Seems like an announcement was put on hold with no ETA. Why leave fans hanging, especially after the rousing reviews immediately after the event? “We’ll announce next month/after the season/etc.” is better than “we planned to do it today, but ..............” (crickets). And, why would you ever limit a press release to a particular outlet unless there was some incentive involved? Maybe there is. Maybe there’s more at play. But ‘building anticipation’ and keeping people in the dark are not the same thing.

Eagle decided not to run the full size cars against the Knoxville Nationals, instead holding a Kart special at the track. So...can we infer that last year’s sprint-free experiment was a bust? ‘Bust’ may be too strong of a word, but to those with middle fingers raised yelling ‘who needs the sprints,’ let me say this: I haven’t seen the feathers but if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and quacks like a duck - it’s a duck. Even if you didn’t come right out and say so.

At the very least, I think the break does everyone some good. Gives the teams a chance to regroup, and the officials and staff a nice weekend off.

Gotta hand it to Brad Brown of ibracn.com for getting the Nebraska Cup Sprint Car lap money program off and running. People can sponsor a lap, and the leader of that lap during the A feature collects anywhere from 25 to 100 dollars or possibly more. It’s a great idea. Last year I saw a fan/driver/supporter of another class asking where the lap money was for their class. Well, just follow Brad’s example and start taking donations. Do the work.

I also saw another great example of crowdsourced promotion for the SIlver Dollar Nationals: bands of fans getting together and donating tow money to their favorite driver in an effort to bring them to the show. I like seeing the fans take the reins and work to make the show better for them (and everyone else). It’s an interesting concept and while one could say the promoter should be the one making the effort - I would say that it’s what the fan can bear. If they choose to do this, it’s their prerogative. What I hope not to see is the promoter taking it for granted and letting the fans shoulder the load.

Well, I’ll be away from the track again this weekend but hope to hit the final weeks in force. Stay safe everyone.