What a weekend (11/21-23/2008) at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ. We’re still at 80 degrees or so and it was just perfect weather.
Lots of IHBA drag racing to be had. Qualifying on Friday and Saturday with eliminations on Sunday.
In the piece “Test Time: Why is Local Racing Dying?” I would like to add one more thing that can bring back “Circle Track Racing” and that is the concept of a Series Champion.
Back during the ’50’s, ’60’s and ’70’s, tracks worked together. They tracks shared a series, like Modifieds. They would race at Track “A” on Fridays, Track “B” on Saturdays and Track “C” on Sunday afternoon. The same rules, the same drivers, the same sponsors, more fans, different track.
So, if you like any of these old ideas or you have some of your own, tell your track promoter… They want to hear what will make them more money, believe me…
Condition on CanonCameraGuy… Well as most people know (he isn’t a person to hide much from anyone. Towards the end of April, Ron lost his sight in his left eye (history has it as 3 detached Retinas causing a Cataract in 2001).
Things were going well with the eye until the middle of April. When the sutures put in tohold the old lens IN, somehow became detached. From that time unil now I’ve been somewhat blnd.
We tried an unsucessful operation to sew the old lens in place, with new sutures (my description). This way seemed I could be a whole person sooner… NAW! The surgery was a success but a growth grew behind the lens and withstood laser cutting.
SO, on the 30th of August, we tried once more… We got a new lens, new sutures etc. Well Thank God for automatic focus and I’ve been able to take images but not able to color correct them the way I like too.
Hopefully in a couple od days I’ll have full clear and clean eyesight back to color balance, crop the images I have on hold!
Thanks for all the prayers and most everything else! I’m truly best to have the auto racing fraternity to assist getting through this!
MyRaceLife.com Named Title Sponsor of the NELMA Late Model Challenge
St. John’s, PENNSYLANIA – MyRaceLife.com, a fast growing motorsports social network, is proud to announce its title sponsorship of the North East Late Model Association (NELMA) Challenge at Mountain Speedway. The event will now be known as the MyRaceLife.com Late Model Challenge.
“MyRaceLife.com’s sponsorship is not only a good fit for our racing series, but we also see it as an excellent tool for our teams and fans to communicate with each other and share their racing experiences,” said NELMA series promoter J.A. Ackley.
“We are excited about our new relationship with NELMA and our ability to reach fans and racers in the northeast. The opportunity for MyRaceLife.com to be the title sponsor of the NELMA Late Model Challenge fits perfectly with our goal of creating new opportunities for motorsports teams, sponsors and fans,” says Thomas N. Carter, CEO of 4D Media. Just as NELMA is built upon great racers, so is MyRaceLife.com, which supports our tagline Racer Built, Fan Driven™.
On Sunday, October 26, NELMA returns to the one-third asphalt Mountain Speedway in St. John’s, Pennsylvania for the fourth annual NELMA MyRaceLife.com Late Model Challenge. In addition to the 100-lap premier Late Model event, a full card of racing will be on hand, including the WPW Equipment Rental Legends Fall Classic, Pro Trucks, Strictly Stocks, and the Democrat vs. Republican Roller Derby Auto Race.
The MyRaceLife.com Late Model Challenge will once again feature a 100-lap main with an expected B-main. The event has yet to produce a repeat winner, with New York’s Todd Hoddick, Jarrod Hayes, and Pennsylvania’s Tommy Spencer Jr. claiming the first three events. This year’s event is expected to feature many of the Northeast’s Late Model stars, coming from a variety of tracks including Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie, Mahoning Valley and Mountain speedways; Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway; New York’s Adirondack and Holland speedways, as well as many former MAARA competitors.
The MyRaceLife.com Late Model Challenge event is expected to be one of 2008’s largest gatherings of Late Model and Legends Car talent in the Northeast.
About MyRaceLife.com. MyRaceLife.com is the online social community dedicated to motorsports. The site is built on a state-of-the-art platform that bridges all racing constituencies — track owners, teams, drivers, sponsors and fans — with blogs, videos and more. MyRaceLife.com caters to each member’s interest in motorsports, delivering technology-enabled tools which allow all members of the racing community to get more out of motorsports. For more information, please visit http://www.MyRaceLife.com.
After reading the “Test Time: Why is Local Racing Dying? 58 times (looking for things that I had miss written) I finally realized that I should have titled the piece something more specific like “Test Time: Why is Local Circle Track Racing Dying?”. And I apologize that I didn’t more specifically title the piece.
And While I did point out some differences between some of the different types of racing, That wasn’t enough. I should have been more specific. I’m sorry for not being more specific.
Great Racing at Manzanita Speedway! Winged Sprint Cars and Non-wing sprint cars . Great racing lastSaturday night on 09/27/08.
More Specifically, Why is NASCAR So Popular And Local Racing Dying? Why is NHRA drag racing rising in popularity? Enough popularity that a NASCAR promoter (Bruton Smith? in Charolette, NC) builds a Drag Racing MEGA Complex. Why does local racing in the Northwest have great crowds?
Why?:
The answer is NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
I believe its a combination of a couple of minor non-expense issues. NOT Rocket science.
Test time again: “Current issues” keeping the crowds down? Or “historical issues” keeping the crowds down?
I’ll bet you said Current Issues, yes and historical issues, no.
When the answer answer is: historical issues that influence the current crowds.
The people in the stands live in reality but, race promoters and race teams don’t.
To the Race promoters, do you want the crowds of yesteryear?
To the Race promoters, Do You want the races of yesteryear?
So, here’s the answer that you have so patiently waited for.
So, the real question is, what are you doing today that’s different when there were the large crowds and alot of cars of yesteryear?
Historically, we had a gas crisis… When that happened, the number of laps were cut or we started counting them metrically. Instead of 300 miles, we called the race 300 km (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). Some promoters changed the way they ran races (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). Then, the racers trumped the promoters by saying that they didn’t want to run fully inverted races because with the shortened races they didn’t have time to get to the front (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). Then, the promoters said they didn’t want to pay the same purses because of the shortened races, they were losing fans (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). So, the race teams said that they didn’t want to qualify anymore with costs going up (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). Then, promoters tried having what I call the celebrity things. Egg races, people in silly suits etc (the fans weren’t asked what they wanted…). When, what the adults who buy the tickets were there for, was to see races!
Now, those tracks that I was generically writing about in the beginning really do exist.
Sometimes promoters fail to realize the difference in quality racing for quantity racing. It’s interesting how such a little change can turn around a money losing business?
And isn’t that what this is all about?