Have We Gone Too Far?

Have We Gone Too Far?

By Brad Vores October 25, 2007

Aside from this weekend’s Octoberfest at Hagerstown Speedway, the local racing season is over.

And was it just me or did there seem to be a lot more complaining and whining during the season for whatever the reason might have been?

I’ve never been known to candy coat my writing. Never did, never will. I am pretty good at determining one’s character or writing about how I saw something that may have happened on the track.

With that said, let’s a look at some of things that have been bothersome for me and many other people that I have spoke with.

First off, let’s say that I have always liked Doug Esh. Back in his 358 sprint days up until now, I’ve liked him and feel we have been friends. And his excitement on the track is second to none.

But when he said something to the effect of “the smaller teams need to group up to make stronger teams” after his win Saturday at Lincoln Speedway, I must say I completely disagree with that statement.

That makes me ask this question, Have we gone too far with sprint car racing and drivers trying to make it their full time occupation? It seems to cause a lot of more “me’s and I’s” and not caring about the fans and tracks that put the show on.

Speaking with several car owners in different aspects of motorsports, they feel that some drivers use car owners as whores to make a living. Now granted, those car owners choose to be involved in racing but they do it because they love it. Maybe it has gone too far? I don’t know.

With that said, the idea of “smaller teams” combining to form “Super teams” just so a full time driver can have a ride is ridiculous in my opinion. Maybe I’m wrong but the more smaller teams that team up, the less cars at the track most likely brings less fans to the tracks and in the end, the track might not survive. Who knows, but it’s a thought.

Yes, there are a lot of fans that come out every week to see the big guns in action. But many of those fans are more than thrilled when those big guns get beat by the little guy. It always makes for a feel good story.

Last week Lincoln Speedway used “passing points” to set the starting lineup for the sprint car feature. No one has said if these passing point systems will be used in 2008 and if they will be, they could be tweaked. I’m not afraid of change but the handicapping system has worked for years and it has produced some damn good racing through the years as well.

What I did see at Lincoln was some way over the head driving by some drivers. They know who they are. No fault of theirs because they are being forced to race that way.

There are a few drivers who wanted the passing points and that’s fine. But what happens when big crashes start happening in these heats races because of the passing points and start destroying a lot of equipment. Then do they start complaining about that? What gives?

Maybe the handicapping system does need tweaked but how come we never heard as much complaining in recent years when there were drivers winning 20 and 25 times a year and most of the time, that driver started 12th every night out.

Yes the car count was up this season and tracks did tweak the lineups and good for them. It probably did make for better racing but the bottom line is, there are a lot of good sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania spending a ton of money to race for fun. Is it right to tell them they are not needed or that they will have to run time trials or whatever it might be in the future for lineups? I don’t think it is. Those guys spend just as much cash as the “top teams” but they also don’t have the full time driver trying to earn a paycheck every night out.

Tires and track conditions have been issues all season.

It appears no tire changes will be made and teams just need to work harder to get the “edge” back that they maybe lost without a certain tire rule.

Track conditions have been issues but I think most tracks have at least made attempts to make things better.

Complainers say that the heats produce no passing. Once again, guys that don’t have the top dollar teams are fast and are able to stay out front during heat races at times. Weather often plays a big role in track conditions as well.

But in the end, the big boys come to the front while the smaller guys are fading back through the field during feature events most of the time.

We had 25 different drivers get a taste of victory lane in the area in a 410 Sprint this season. Folks, that’s awesome! Nine of those drivers won at least five times. There again, the days of 20 plus wins are gone I believe. But parity in racing is at an all time high right now.

Things will never be perfect in racing. There will always be someone upset at something and trying to change it. But one thing for sure, we are very fortunate to have the best sprint car racing anywhere in the world right here in our own backyard.

OCTOBERFEST CONCLUDES SEASON
Hagerstown Speedway’s Octoberfest 350 brings a close to the local racing season this weekend.

With well over 200 cars entered, four of the northeast’s top divisions will come together for the big weekend of racing with the feature winner in each division earning $10,000 on Sunday.

Saturday will feature all qualifying events with the big block modifieds up first followed by the 410 sprints, late models and small block modifieds.

Sunday will see the small block 100 lap feature on tap first followed by the 100 lap late model main, 50 laps for the 410 sprints and 100 laps for the big blocks to round out the day.

Gates open both days at 9:30 a.m. with racing beginning around noon.

PIT STOPS
Fred Rahmer clinched his second straight Speed Dawg points championship last week at Lincoln. Rahmer finished fourth in the feature while Greg Hodnett crashed. Hodnett had a chance to win the deal but is mathematically out now…

Susquehanna Speedway will be in action on Saturday with the third annual Candy Bowl featuring wingless ARDC Midgets, 600 Micro Sprints, Legend Cars, Thundercars, and Women on Wheels. Racing begins at 3 p.m…

Mike Rutherford swept last week’s Linda’s Nationals for 600 and 270 Micro Sprints. Shippensburg’s Dwayne Gutshall finished sixth and former Enola resident Ben Murphy finished seventh…

Make sure to check back next week as we will rank the top 10 drivers in each of the top divisions from the 2007 season. It will appear along with my column on Thursday…

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