Editorial: Things I know, Things I think I know and Things I think

I’ve been trolling the boards and results lately. Read a few articles too. I’ll admit at the outset that I have yet to go to a race this season (I know), but I think I can contribute a few things to start.

- Don’t be surprised if the bear being poked with a stick bites back. I was surprised to read and hear of the sprint car folk upset by Eagle Raceway’s Roger Hadan’s strong retort back at the teams’ complaining of a rubber down track the past few weeks. Word from a few people is he was visibly upset and didn’t hold back. Don’t get me wrong: I understand the sprint owner’s plight. A photo from Mitchell Moore showing a rubber-down track top to bottom and the qualified comments of a few drivers should carry weight and be heeded. Tires are expensive. Burning them up on a rubber-down track will drain everyone of money, not just a few guys getting turned over on a rough track. I think things can be fixed, and word is the track was holding up well before the rain last week.

On the other hand, word is very few of the ‘hard’ tires were being bought that night. It’s hard to guess early, but offers have been made to unhook cars with the COS adapter, run harder & narrower tires all to be turned down for reasons having to do with competitiveness with the ASCS. You make your own bed sometimes.

- More disturbing is the rumor that someone has offered $20,000 in sponsorship if Eagle drops sprints from its weekly show. Now I normally would blow this off as a usual tall tale, but knowing who the sponsor could be makes me think there’s a grain of truth. Update: the sponsor I thought it was said they were not planning on doing this. So, I'll just write this rumor off.

- Short track racing, for the most part has become a back-gate driven sport. An article on Race Promoters Monthly’s site suggests this may not be a bad thing. I disagree with that notion. I think that one of the most important methods of sustaining a sport is awareness outside the participation group. The article cited drag racing as an example of a sport that survives the back gate. The problem is, there is a direct analogue to the top level of the sport. There’s a common sanction in NHRA, and the sportsman racer is merely another class of the broad group. The NHRA is built of its weekend members.

NASCAR is not. NASCAR in all respects and despite their meager effort is a different level, with the exception of the Stewarts, Kahne’s and Edwards’s of the world, does not translate back down to the short track save only for turning left. IndyCar racing is just an evolution of karting.

The RPM piece suggests becoming digitally savvy as a way to promote the sport to youth. Nobody has accused short track owners of being pioneers in digital marketing. With the decline of the American car culture...what purpose does short track racing serve today’s technology-leashed youth? Chris Moses had a good point on linking today’s short track adventures with ‘Extreme’ (now called ‘action’) Sports.

Go look at Ken Block - a World Rally Championship (what’s that?) driver who just happens to have some of the ‘sickest’ of viral videos on the internet: the Gymkhana series. Block is THE face of rallying in the U.S. and probably one of the most recognizable people in the entire sport...despite being at best, a middle of the pack driver in the series.

- By the way, Sebastien Loeb is the best driver on the planet.

- There is no great sprint hope coming to buy Eagle.

- A friend of mine (I don’t name them unless they post publicly) suggested that the “A” Modifieds could die before the sprints due to the escalating costs. Barring any more altercations with the promoter...I could see that. I’m not willing to bet the farm on it, but the influx of former “A Mod” drivers to the SportMod class suggests that the Big Boys may have trouble sustaining themselves, just like the sprints. The car counts, at Eagle anyway, are still decent.

- I-80 had an online daily deal offering two-for-the-price-of one tickets for its ASCS National show. Not a mention on dirtdrivers.com or the tracks own website. If you want to promote attendance, at a track who made a move to Friday’s, you need to promote deals like this. I don’t think they’re in a position to do A-B testing. If you’re worried about cannibalizing ticket sales - why bother doing this at all?

- The ASCS National Tour has a 48 hour/250 mile rule for its National Tour participants. Essentially, if a team races any non-ASCS National event at a track within 250 miles, or within 48 hours of a National event, they are docked tow money for the next three races. This however, applies to ASCS REGIONAL events as well, and thus prevents teams from running Junction Motor Speedway on Friday night. One can’t even run a regional event? I guess there’s ASCS and there’s, um, ASCS. Someone has to explain that one to me. I get if it’s IMCA, NCRA, WoO even. But if it’s to protect car counts maybe running nearby shows under your own banner isn’t the issue.

- I’m toying with what to do this weekend. I have Saturday evening off from Dad duties, but going out to a Free Ticket night at Eagle in 100-degree weather sounds less than appealing. I’ve avoided those for the past couple years. A trip to KAM sounds more interesting right now. I may take the long way down Highway 6, a route I find very relaxing. We'll see though. The 45 minutes to Eagle may be easier to swing.