Wrapping Up The 2020 Racing Season

 With no more events slated for this month, it is now time to officially wrap up the 2020 racing season for me and to get ready to move on to 2021. 

I don't think I need to mention much about what the status was for racing in 2020 as everyone is fully aware of what a difficult time it was for everyone. And certainty not just for short track racing but for life in general. In fact, while we all whaled bloody murder as events unfolded during the season, starting way back in March, truly short track racing in the Midwest did not suffer near as much as many other sports did and what we had to deal with can't compare to what many individuals and businesses had to endure during this difficult year. Losing a few races pales in comparison to serious health concerns that many had to suffer with and those people who lost their jobs, had their hours severely cut or lost their businesses had much more to worry about then those of us that had a few favorite races cancelled or postponed. 

In fact, other than that period from early March until toward the end of April when things were shut down pretty securely, the rest of the racing season pretty much ran off as business as usual. Although some of the really big events did get shut down because they weren't allowed to have the numbers of spectators that were needed to make some races financially feasible , most tracks soldiered on with their weekly races. 

We in the Midwest were much luckier than states like New York and California and our neighbors up in Canada where spectators weren't allowed all year and the vast majority of the races that were held only did so because they could generate enough revenue through pay per view to make the bottom line more palatable. Who could have guessed that the on line services that broadcast short track races live would be the salvation for many people, who never got to the tracks all year but still were able to see many of the biggest races of the year?  Or who could have imagined that special races would be concocted just for broadcast on tv with the stands at the tracks completely empty? Or who could have guessed that racing games would be broadcast on prime time tv to large audiences of people and even though I am not proud to admit it, I even watched one night in the midst of utter boredom? One thing can be said for sure and that is that while 2020 will go down as one of the worst years ever, there certainly were some interesting things that did occur and will likely shape the landscape of racing moving forward. 

As for myself, when I sat down and added things up, I was surprised to see just how many races that I had been lucky enough to attend during the 2020 season. Except for a five or six week down period in March and April when nothing happened, the rest of the season was busy for me. Granted, it was different than a normal season with tracks racing on different nights, races being moved or added  with just a day or two's notice and sometimes even less than that, and much of the schedules for most tracks being an absolute train wreck with changes, additions and deletions coming in quick order, somehow racing still took place and I was lucky enough to be there most nights to catch the action. There were a couple of races that I didn't get to simply because I didn't know that they had been added or dates changed. I could have been there but simply didn't know soon enough that they were going to be run. It was just that kind of year. 

The season started out great with perhaps my best January and February ever. I saw races in New Mexico, Arizona and Florida with stunning weather in all three states. I didn't get rained out once and in fact I don't recall the weather even being a minor factor. I was able to get to two new tracks, saw great racing in all three states and it looked like it was going to be a fantastic year. Then the spam hit the fan and the world shut down in March. Between March and April together I was only able to get to three races and two of those were only because of great help by some very nice people in the sport. 

However, by May things were pretty much back to normal in my little corner of the world(be that good or bad) and the rest of the year rolled by pretty smoothly. There were some changes that came up quickly but I always seemed to be able to replace a cancellation with another race so I wasn't sidelined much over the Summer. And overall the weather was great with few rainouts along the way. 

I was able to make up for my two bad months with some rather strong Summer months. In fact, during the months of June, July and August I was able to get to eighty three nights of racing in a possible ninety two days, missing only three nights in each of those three months. For me, even during such a busy time of the year, that doesn't happen very often. 

For the year, I attended one hundred and sixty two race events which was just out of my top five years ever, and quite remarkable given that things were shut down for about five or six weeks in early Spring. I visited sixty two tracks in fourteen different states but sadly, no Canadian tracks this year. I went to seven new tracks for me in 2020 and this year marked my fortieth straight year that I have attended over one hundred races during the year. I saw races sanctioned by the World of Outlaws, IMCA, Lucas Oil, UMP, USAC, USRA, MLRA, WISSOTA, MARS, USMTS and a couple dozen shows with no specific sanctioning so I got a taste of just about everything. 

The new tracks this year included Vado Speedway Park in New Mexico, Cocopah Speedway in Arizona, Devils Lake Speedway in North Dakota, Miller Central Speedway in South Dakota, Gravity Park Speedway in Wisconsin, The Springfield Mile in Illinois and RPM Speedway of Texas and I have nothing but good things to say about all seven. 

During my race chasing days now I have been to three hundred and twenty two different tracks in thirty states and three Canadian Provinces. 

While I always have to thank all the promoters, track managers and club officials that are so nice and welcoming to me, this year with all the special challenges presented, there are a few folks that deserve special mention due to the extra efforts they went through to help me out, especially during that difficult lock down time. They would include James Essex, Toby Kruse, Tom Berry Jr, Denny Moore, Bob Timm and Todd Good. Thanks much to all of you. 

Now it is time to turn the page and welcome 2021 and I'm sure that most people are more than ready to do just that. However, we are still far from being out of the woods and as I make my early season plans for the new racing season, lots of things are still pending based on what happens in the coming weeks. At this point I plan to be in Arizona again for racing out there and perhaps to Florida at some point, although that remains much up in the air at this time. 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all and a happy new year and may 2021 be a year that we will all remember in a totally positive way.