Rumors, Facts, Why I Care, Earnhardt Jr., Cheech and Chong

Yesterday I mentioned the rumor of a possible early August co-sanction with MLRA and NCRA at a Midwest track.  Apparently that is not so, but the MARS Dirt Car Series may be joining NCRA, at least according to its website.  I have already expressed my opinion of MARS appearing at Midwest tracks like I-80 Speedway or Adams County Speedway-MARS is a southern Missouri and Arkansas sanction that doesn’t bring enough cars north to cover its fee.

I have heard from a number of people wondering what I think about the rumored new Sunday night NASCAR sanction in the Midwest.  What do I think?  I think it is a battle between ego and common sense whether it will happen.  Ego is attaching the NASCAR logo to your track, though I don’t buy it is worth as much for grassroots tracks as it was 10-15 years ago.  Ego is sticking it to another promoter’s track or other efforts. Common sense is NASCAR runs stock cars, not some other division.  The stock car fan and driver base in the area is Omaha/Council Bluffs.  Promoters at I-80 Speedway think Sundays are no longer viable. What makes Sundays more viable at a track further from the fan/driver base?

Which will win out?  If I were to bet I would put my money on ego, the holy grail of Midwest dirt track promoters. And if you wonder why I write about weekly racing when the only weekly show I plan to attend is at US 30 Speedway, the reason is simple.  Weekly racing is either going to add to or take away the resources a promoter has available.  If cars and fans don’t fill the pits and grandstands, what is likely to happen to the track?

Junction Motor Speedway is making raceceivers mandatory for late models, Modifieds, and B-Mods this season.  They are not renting them, drivers have to buy their own for about $100 from Speedway Motors.  This is a great idea.  If a driver cannot afford $100 for a raceceiver, I question whether he can afford to race at all. Raceceivers and transponders are NOT technology of the future, they are the present.  Promoters who do not use them are forfeiting a great tool for keeping their show running in a timely fashion.

I don’t have a Wild West town like Dale Earnhardt Jr., but like Cheech and Chong, I got a basketball jones.  Tonight will be the fourth night in a row Matt and I will be sitting in the grandstands at some gym, and the fifth night out of the last seven. Basketball jones, I got a basketball jones, I got a basketball jones, baby ooo-e-ooo. It might not be the same as camping out in an RV in Tucson for a week of racing, but we all do what we can do.

Basketball games start on time.  There is a clock to show how long intermission is going to last-maybe race tracks should try that.  Games do not end at well after midnight.  There are plenty of fouls in a basketball game, but it doesn’t take five minutes to line up the players each time, like race tracks seem to take lining up car on each yellow flag.  Admission to high school or small college games is $5 or $6, even to games involving ranked teams (the equivalent of a race special which costs $20-$30). Maybe I should do a basketball blog instead.

Or just keep blogging about auto racing and like a Chicago Cubs fan, tell myself this is going to be the season when everything comes together. Thanks for stopping by.

Sorry Tony-I’ll have to save my Anville/Earnhardt Jr. story for another day.