It's been a month now since I've been to a race but it feels like more than a year. There was a time when racing past the middle of October was considered outrageous but now with the new norm, even this time of year any kind of break feels too long. Even keeping busy with working most days, refereeing basketball games and taking a couple of weeks off to get my knee operated on and cleaned up, the hours still seem to weigh long, especially when one gets up in the dark and goes home in darkness also.
However, there are a couple of events upcoming that will hopefully knock the staleness off of me. The first comes up next weekend with the first ever running of the VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals indoors at the Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. With both Late Models and Modifieds racing for three straight nights, this could one of the most colossal motorsports events staged in a very long time, or it could be one of the biggest fiascos ever attempted by man. Many of the people that I have talked to agree with me, and that is perhaps one of the reasons that they are going. They want to be there if it turns out to be as spectacular as it has the potential to be and they also want to be there if things implode and there are horror stories to be told and then retold.
The folks running this event have bitten off a huge chunk and if they are somehow able to pull off this event to anywhere near the spectacular status it could be, well then, good for them. There must be a huge investment of cash involved in such a monstrous undertaking and for the good of the sport, I hope it turns out to be a spectacular success. There will be many people on hand in person to see how this turns out and hopefully many more watching on pay per view at home or at their local watering station.
For quite some time, I wasn't sure if this event was going to fly, and I really dragged my feet on making any commitments as far as attending this race was concerned, but about five weeks ago I finally decided that I would give the promoters the benefit of the doubt and take a weekend drive to St. Louis. When I finally decided to "pull the pin" and attend, I received media credentials incredibly fast so I thank Jacob Nord for the quick response in advance. I still which for the first attempt at this race that they would have went for lower numbers of cars as any race, no matter how entrenched, would struggle with handling the potential of up to hundreds of race cars, particularly with all the extra logistics required for an indoor event. But again, I will withhold judgement and see how things play out next weekend. For sure, no matter how it all plays out, it should be a memorable weekend.
Not so long after that, we get ready to head to Arizona for the Wild West Shootout, one of the very best events that we attend every year and one that we look forward to almost from the minute that we get on the plane to head back North at its conclusion each year. Race fans, if there's one event that you want to put on your bucket list to attend, it is this series of races in Arizona where we have enjoyed some of the greatest racing and best times, of any events we have ever attended over this long and crazy race chasing journey of ours.
This year things will be somewhat different for this race meet as the location of the races has changed from Tucson to the Arizona Speedway near Mesa. We loved the USA Raceway(or whatever the name was from year to year for the track), very near Tucson and it was such a good track and so handy to the everything else that was needed including motels, the airport etc. However, the instability with the ownership of the track made continuing the race meet there impossible and I totally understand why promoter Chris Kearns was forced to find another location.
So this year the races will be at Arizona Speedway close to Phoenix and things could be much different. The Tucson track was a high speed track that in recent years particularly they had kept very moist so the racing was almost scary fast. I'm told that Arizona is much different in that it is smaller, runs normally smooth and slick and likely will require a totally different driving style. And that is fine with me, as long as the facility is first rate which was one thing that Tucson had going for it. 2017 will be a new adventure with new motels to find, new restaurants to discover and new attractions to find to entertain us during the off days of racing. But likely the sun will still shine brightly all day, the temperatures will be warm and that is all good.
Due to some major whining from some of the "big name" drivers in the Late Models who didn't like to actually have to race their way into the features, the format has been changed somewhat for 2017. Time trials will be held for at least the Late Models while I'm not sure about the other classes. I suppose the format will find the fast cars up front in the heats and some sort of stifling format that will reduce passing, unlike at Tucson where the heats where always thrilling using a draw format and then passing points to determine the feature event lineups. The lineups for the features were always interesting and tended to promote lots of feature race passing so I hope this big change doesn't negatively affect the racing at Arizona. But I will try to not jump to conclusions and instead let things play out.
A new change for Arizona finds the Modifieds to be sanctioned by USRA and this series will be the actual start of the USRA point season for 2017. Previously at Tucson, they ran USRA rules but the events weren't sanctioned. I suspect this was done in part to try and guarantee solid fields of cars. With the move North, they are racing right in the heart of Arizona IMCA country with the Arizona Raceway in fact being an IMCA sanctioned track. How many of the local Modifieds will attempt to run this series is questionable with the difference if rules between the two. However, if the Arizona track does get as slick as I've heard, perhaps the IMCA crates would be just the ticket. I was wondering if in 2017 they might switch to IMCA Mods, given the new location of the series but with people like Royal Jones, a USRA stalwart, being one of the event sponsors, I understand why they remained more of the "open motor" type cars. Several of the Late Model drivers also have Modifieds which they will likely bring, and with a large contingent of northern drivers that like to travel to this series, they are more equipped to run the USRA style as opposed to IMCA. I know that there are a considerable number of drivers from my home area here that are looking forward to taking their cars out to Arizona and race in January and that includes cars in all three classes that race. In fact, many of the best X Mods will be cars from our area. The defending point champ in the X Mods, Grant Southworth, only lives about forty miles from our homestead.
Rich Thomas of Aberdeen South Dakota is one of the most beloved race car drivers in the upper Midwest. Rich, who is seventy five years old, still races three nights per week at South Dakota tracks and remains a competitive driver, despite his age. He also embraces his "old school" approach to racing as he has an open ramp truck, ala Ken Schrader, that he hauls his race car on. Sadly, Rich's wife Karon passed away recently after a long battle with cancer.
The area also lost a former racer recently with the passing of Eau Claire Wisconsin's Duane Mahder who was killed in an industrial accident. Mahder was a many time track champion at various Wisconsin dirt ovals with his Late Model and was a former WISSOTA Challenge Series point champion. Duane had retired from racing in 2009 but still helped out on his son Chad's Late Model and was a very visible presence in the pits as he loved to talk auto racing. Duane was also an accomplished ice racer on road courses and pitted for some of the best asphalt Late Model racers in the country before he started his own career racing on the dirt.
Defending Sunshine State Modified point champion Kevin Adams from Cameron Wisconsin is readying for another effort to regain the point title in Florida. He has two new Shaw chassis for the 2017 racing season and in a late season tune up for Florida, blew away an open motor field in an October race in central Wisconsin. He will be traveling with close friend Curt Myers to Florida. Myers, a two time and defending WISSOTA national Super Stock champion, has sold off his Super Stock equipment and will be moving up to Modifieds with an LG2 chassis. He plans to run both open USMTS shows plus local and regional WISSOTA races. Myers has previous experience running Modifieds as well as a stint in Late Models.
I know "the Boss", Jeff Broeg likes to keep up to date on tracks closing, tracks reopening etc so here's perhaps some news that he didn't see. After being closed for one year, the track in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin will reopen for 2017. Previously known at Thunderhill Raceway, the track will now be called "The Hill Raceway" and be promoted by three local people in the Sturgeon Bay area. They plan to run of Friday nights and have dropped their IMCA sanction in favor of an open show featuring Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Street Stocks and Enduro Cars along with some other specials on various nights of the week featuring other classes of cars.
The track in Chilton Wisconsin has also been mentioned as a possible returnee to racing action. This track in recent years has only run specials with a couple races each year. However, with the loss of the Manitowoc race track after 2016(sold by the Fairboard for industrial growth) the Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Inc. club has been looking for another track to run their 360 Sprint and Late Model shows and had expressed interest in updating the Chilton track and taking it over. I have not heard any news on this recently and perhaps there is someone out there that has some updated news.
I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls Minnesota is one of the premier tracks in the upper Midwest. If you haven't ever been there, trust me, it is first class in all regards. When they make a rule or add a division, people pay attention to see what comes of it. Track owner Dick Johanneck is the owner of Polydome Calf Nurseries, the corporate sponsor of the entire WISSOTA racing organization. And the Track Manager, Corey Eggen, is a member of the WISSOTA Board of Directors so this track carries plenty of weight.
They recently announced that they are adding a "Midwest Limited Late Model" class that will start racing at the track weekly. I have been in communication with Eggen and he tells me that the class is designed to be a "feeder" class for the Late Model division. While Modifieds have had Midwest Modifieds or Sport Mods or whatever you care to call them, the Late Models have had no such class and with Late Model numbers slipping here as they are throughout much of the Midwest. Eggen felt the need to do something to try and bolster the division.
His idea is that this will be an outlet for all the older Late Model chassis out there that no one wants to buy. The shocks etc. will be controlled and the motors will be like those run by the Limited Modifieds to keep the costs down. Tires will be allowed to be cut and ground so that drivers in this class can buy used tires from the Late Models. Eggen did make the point that this class is not designed to eliminate the Late Models that they already have and that WISSOTA sanctioned Late Models will continue to run on a weekly basis.
Eggen told me that he had commitments for nine cars in this new class two hours after the rules were announced including some drivers from as far away as Fargo North Dakota. Eggen's hope is to develop new drivers that some day may consider moving up to full Late Models and also bring some drivers back that have been on the sidelines due to costs involved in racing a full blown Late Model. This class will be similar to the Late Model class that Bob Timm started at Mississippi Thunder Speedway last year except the tires will be Hoosiers instead of American Racers. It will also be fairly close to what Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Iowa has running except while Lee County is going to crates only with their UMP sanctioning, WISSOTA as an organization had pushed more toward concept motors than crates and thus the motors in this new class will be limited but built motors and not crates. Right now the class is not sanctioned but I'm sure other tracks in the area, both those that run Late Models and those that don't, will monitor their progress and if they get enough interest, the sanctioning body may bring them under their wing and offer uniform rules and a point fund.
At this holiday season I'd like to send Christmas greetings out to all the fans, drivers, crews, promoters and track and series officials everywhere. Racing is a tough business these days and we all need to hang in there together as best we can.
If you see me in St. Louis or Arizona, stop and say hello. I'm always anxious to get feed back to see what people think of my ramblings. Some day I'll even get my picture up on the website so you will know who I am(or perhaps not).
No comments:
Post a Comment