Closing The Book on 2016

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to 2017! Whether it was a great year or a lousy one for you, either way, it's time to put 2016 in the rear view mirror and move on. As for myself, 2016 proved to be a perhaps, once in a lifetime year for me as virtually all of the races that I would have longed to attend, I was able to do so. There always seemed to be some great event or series of races that I really wanted to see but for one reason or another, was never able to. However, in 2016, along with an extensive Summer time schedule that allowed me to chase racing all over the Midwest on a weekly basis, I was able to go to just about every big event that I really wanted to see. Once again we were able to attend the racing series at Tucson in January and made the World Finals in Charlotte for the second straight year. We also got to St. Louis in December for a racing weekend that far exceeded my wildest hopes and for the first time in over thirty years, we were able to attend some races in Florida during Speed Weeks. With minimal rain outs plus some just plain dumb luck, I was also able to cash in on some other opportunities to attend races as the season wore on. The bottom line was that many of my racing records were smashed in 2016.

In 2016 I attended one hundred and eighty four nights of racing which destroyed my old record of one hundred and sixty nine that was set back in 2012. This was accomplished by attending sixty three different race tracks in fifteen states. The fifteen states attended came up second to my all time record of sixteen states set in 2008 and duplicated in 2010. While the numbers always remain secondary as the only reason I'm going to all these races is to just have fun, not try to set some kind of meaningless records, I still would have never thought it was possible to break my old record. And simply, the only reason it happened is because I was able to go to Florida. I went to fourteen nights of racing between February 7th and February 20th and suffered only on rain out as by dumb luck, the year I was able to work things out to go to Florida proved to be the year they had some of their best weather ever.

2016 also proved to be the sixth time that I had attended over one hundred and sixty races during a calendar year and also marked the thirty sixth straight year that I have attended at least one hundred races during a year. I guess mostly this shows that I am persistent, stubborn, lucky and have managed to maintain good health over this long run. It also means that I have missed an incalculable number of weddings, picnics, parades and other social gatherings, for which I am grateful that my wife, relatives and friends continue to humor my hard to explain desire. Most of all I am fortunate that Linda understands and indeed, would be there at nearly every race herself if circumstances allowed. In other words, she's nearly as nuts as I am!

Interestingly, while it at times felt like I was chasing my tail all Summer, I actually attended races at fewer tracks in fewer states than some other previous years. I actually even made it to two "tar" tracks in 2016, thus proving that I am more than just a dirt track fan, although less than half of one percent of my racing was at pavement tracks, thus providing a pretty weak argument  against my dirt track bias.

I think my other "achievement", as it were, was that in 2016 I hit a significant number in terms of tracks I have attended. With the seven new tracks I attended in 2016, I am now up to three hundred race tracks that I have attended races at in twenty nine states and three Canadian Provinces.

The seven new tracks were All-Tech Raceway, East Bay Raceway and  Bubba Raceway Park, all in Florida plus Screven Motor Speedway in South Carolina, Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore, Sheyenne River Speedway in Lisbon North Dakota and Riverside International Speedway (The Ditch), in West Memphis Arkansas.

Seeing so many races, as you can imagine, there were lots of great shows and spectacularly close finishes and the inevitable "dog" from time to time. However, with things as tough as they are in racing these days, I prefer to not even mention the "stinkers" that we could talk about one on one, but instead highlight some of the many spectacular nights spent at the tracks of America.

The Wild West Shootout in Arizona continues to be one of my, and many others, favorite races of the entire year. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson was a great location for this event and I am hoping strongly that the move to Arizona Raceway in San Tan Valley will not alter this perception. Chris Kearns and Joah Trussel will need to be on their game to continue this great series.

Florida was a blast! It was fun to be a first hand part of the racing that the rest of the country talks about until the snow melts and they can do some first hand racing themselves. East Bay and Volusia County were both first class in all regards and folks made this neophyte feel right at home. Plus for the first time, I got to meet the legendary Jean Lynch.

Ardmore was a pleasant surprise. I had no preconceived notions about this place but it proved to be a very nice place and their three day, early March USMTS event had terrific fields of cars.

Toby Kruse and the rest of the folks at Beatrice always do a great job with their Spring event in Nebraska. Despite what the weather might throw at them, they always seem to somehow get their race in. The field of cars was spectacular and the crowds great. And don't forget the gizzards!

The Izzo family finally got their Spring race in at LaSalle Speedway and it turned out to be a great event. For Late Model fans, the action on the quarter mile was great and folks got a preview on what kind of a year Bobby Pierce would have early.

Humboldt Speedway does Modified racing the right way and the Whitworth  family puts on a great show. Every since year they make improvements to their facility and the physical change to what their racing plant looks like now compared to the first time I ever was there is stunning. Their "King of America" race the end of March always attracts over one hundred of the best around and for the support class, their B Mod race weeks before is nearly as big.

The two day Lucas Oil MLRA race in April at Lucas Oil Speedway was another notable event. The racing was excellent, the car counts stout and the facility remains mind boggling, no matter how many times I have been there.

In my area there were also some races of special note. At the Rice Lake Speedway, their Street Stock "Little Dream" race continues to set records as the race for the support class, bid up by fan participation, paid over fifteen grand to the winner in 2016! They also had their best night ever for the track, in terms of overall revenue, when they hosted the One Main Financial Challenge Series for Late Models and A.J. Diemel edged Jake Redetzke in a thriller. The John Seitz Memorial race for Late Models at the River Cities Speedway is a race not to be missed by Late Model fans. RCS is a spectacular track to watch any type of race cars run at, but watching the Late Models ram three wide around the track in a lap that takes about eleven seconds is spectacular. The WISSOTA 100 at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron is also a spectacular show. Over three hundred cars in action over four days in front of a packed house, and as a bonus in 2016, the racing was very competitive on the half mile. The non profit club that runs the ABC Raceway in Ashland Wisconsin always does a great job with their season ending event in September. The Red Clay Classic is one of the last events in northern Wisconsin and both participant and car counts are outstanding for this track on the shores of Lake Superior. FYE Motorsports Promotions moved their Fall Classic to the Ogilvie Raceway in 2016 and the results were spectacular. Jammed spectator seating required temporary bleachers be added to handle the crowd and the pit area was increased for this event. It was a good thing they did, because the fields were outstanding in all classes and the weekend was a huge success at the "Big O."

I had not been to the 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas for well over thirty years. Everything looked much as I remembered from back then but as I also remembered, there were a lot of tough race cars that raced there and that Wichita was a great racing area as even for a rather late season event, the November crowd was ever bigger than C. Ray Hall and Todd Staley could have hoped for. The event has already been added to the USMTS special event schedule for 2017.

Finally, the Dome at America's Center hosted the final race event for me for 2016 and one that had probably received as much pre race publicity as any race for a long, long time. Running both Late Models and Modifieds inside the Edward James Dome seemed like a huge undertaking and for quite some time, I was skeptical that the race would truly ever take place. It took me quite a while to decide whether I was even going to attempt going or not, but believe me, after a shaky opening night that ran way too late with way too little action, the next couple of nights were spectacular. Particularly of course, was the Friday night feature's that saw great racing action in both the Late Models and Mods and as good as anything I ever saw at the Chili Bowl. Even though Saturday night's racing wasn't quite as good, they had shown that they could provide side by side racing in both classes and that was all that we and the drivers needed to see. We are anxiously waiting to hear announcements as far as what the promoter's plans are for 2017 but we hope that what we saw was just the first year of what will be our version of the Chili Bowl for Late Model and Mod fans. Thank you Cody Sommer for putting your neck on the line in this bold promotional effort. 

We now look toward the new racing season to see what will be the same, what changes will take place and what does the future of the sport hold. One of the best bits of news so far this early Winter was the news that the promotional group at the Oshkosh Speedzone had signed a one year contract to continue operating the "Zone" for 2017. Anyone who has been to Oshkosh knows that this is one of the finest facilities in the Midwest and the car counts for their weekly shows, along with their specials, are spectacular. They, unquestionably, have one of the countries' biggest weekly car counts for the Modifieds of any track. Yet, they promoters have been in continued battles with the county, and there appeared a point not so long ago that racing might be shut down and the facility dismantled. And with only a one year contract, the future is still very tenuous.

Anyone who attends races on a regular basis knows that the entire country is suffering with problems over car counts and spectator turnout. We hope that 2017 shows an increase in both categories but we also know that promoters can't just open the gates and expect the racers and fans to pack the tracks. They need to work harder than they ever have had to before. All three parties in this deal, the fans, the drivers and the promoters need to work together and in a positive nature. It would also help if the sanctioning bodies would spend more time working to make their product better instead of trying to undermine their competition's efforts.

Good luck to all in 2017 and we'll perhaps see you in Arizona. By the way, the best non racing visual that we saw all year was after an early show at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway, we caught a spectacular fourth of July fireworks display on the banks of the mighty Misssissippi River that was beyond description.