The ABC’s Of Late Model Racing, Plus The Silver Dollar Nationals

As I often do, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking something strange. This time it was “just because something is old, it doesn’t mean it is worth anything.” I am not sure if I got that from Antique Road Show or Pawn Stars. And yes, Randy, I do know I am living proof of the theory.

Both the good and bad Simpson brothers have the Alphabet Soup Race at I-80 Speedway on their schedules for this weekend. Brother Chris drove a Brian Birkhofer MB Chassis to a $10,000 win in the UMP Summernationals at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois. It was his first big money win, and came against arguably the best competition to date in the 2013 Hell Tour. Simpson won earlier in the year at I-80 Speedway and has to be the favorite going into Friday’s race.

Tony Jackson Jr. and Jesse Stovall are coming off MLRA wins last weekend, and they could compete with the Simpsons for first place money. I would not count out veteran Kyle Berck either. As far as car count for the race, I will say 42 Late Models, 22 Modifieds, and too many B Mods and Hornets.

TRODT Speedway will be hosting the Hawkeye Dirt Tour from Buena Vista Raceway tonight. Action starts at 7:00 p.m. On Friday night, TRODT Speedway will have IMCA Wild West Modifieds from Ely, Nevada. I might also take a glance at the Open Wheeled Nationals from St. Croix Speedway in Wisconsin. It looks like winged and non-winged sprint cars with A Mods and B Mods will be racing in the cheese state.

Speaking of the cheese state, here are several highlights from the Cedar Lake Speedway Outlaw Nationals Fans Fund:

2013 FANSFund Highlights:
• The goal for 2013 is to provide a minimum of $1,200 for each driver that gets invited by the
• The goal is to raise enough funds to invite 12-13 drivers. Note, this is somewhere between $14,400 and $15,600.

Here is a link to the site if you want to learn more.

http://www.fansfund.com/

Yes, this FansFund has been around for years, and the Silver Dollar Fans Fund is just in its second year. Yes, it does have corporate sponsorship, including both the track and the WoO sanctioning body. However, as of today their FansFund has a balance of $7,850 compared to our balance of $1,310. This is really discouraging.
I know several times I mentioned possible fundraisers for the Fans Fund, but fundraisers can take a lot of time and effort and still not raise much money. I would like to raise money through donations alone, giving fans ownership of the fund.

As I said, I am discouraged by the results of the Fans Fund, even more in the number of donors than I am in the amount donated. Only 13 people have donated to the fund. To me that says people simply are not interested in the Fund. That I don’t understand. The Silver Dollar Nationals has the potential to be mentioned in the same breath as the Show Me 100, the Topless 100, the North/South 100, the Firecracker 100, and the USA Nationals. Nebraska could host one of the top ten late model events in the country, and to me, not just every late model fan, but every dirt track fan should want to help make the event bigger and better.

I wrote before that you don’t want to see me beg. Well, you aren’t going to see me beg. I am not going to pester you either. I won’t even ask. I will continue to acknowledge donations, and from now until July 11th when donations end, I will close my blog with this reminder:

To contribute to the Silver Dollar Fans Fund, please go to

http://www.therestofthedirt.com

Fans Fund information is located on the right hand side of the home page. Click on the amount you would like to donate, click “Donate Now,” and follow the instructions.

Thank you.

And thanks for stopping by.