July 29, 2008 - Brick And Tired

It’s not the economy that is hurting attendance at NASCAR events, it’s the arrogance of the sanctioning body.

Nothing showed that more than the Tiresome 400 Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was truly one of the worst motorsports events ever staged and despite the efforts of NASCAR’s newest PR tool, ESPN, to make lemonade, these lemons were far too sour for the task.

And the fans weren’t drinking it, but if the emails and letters we’ve received in the past three days are any indication, they won’t be buying NASCAR racing any longer either.

It was a bad race. It was an embarrassment and a regretful happening. Why can’t someone from NASCAR stand up and say that. Why can’t they acknowledge they messed up and make a pledge to do better in the future? Because it has never been and never will be the practice of NASCAR to admit wrong doing.

NASCAR President Mike Helton appeared on ESPN during the telecast of the Tiresome 400, but no difficult questions were asked and no vital information was offered. Helton was given a free pass by ESPN’s three stooges. And, Helton, instead of taking the opportunity to make a plea of forgiveness to ticket buyers and sponsors, uttered the typical NASCAR mumble jumble.

All through the telecast, we heard that NASCAR and the teams were working together and doing the right things to get through a difficult situation. No one spoke for the sponsors and no one spoke for the fans. Oh, and come to think of it, no representative of Indianapolis Motor Speedway received any face time to explain the track’s side of the story.

ESPN could wrangle a high-profiled collection of money-grubbing car owners and the president of the sanctioning body, but it couldn’t find one hard-working American race fan to speak on behalf of the 150,000 or so that actually stuck around until the end of the Tiresome 400.

It fell to NASCAR’s sacrificial lamb, Director of Competition Robin Pemberton, to answer the difficult questions after the race. He failed.

When asked what fans should make of the situation, Pemberton’s response was downright puzzling. “If you are a good fan and you didn’t get what you wanted, it’s OK to be disappointed and we can be disappointed right along with you,” he said.

So, in other words if a race fan couldn’t accept paying his or her hard earned money and getting pit-stop practice in exchange, he or she is not a good fan of NASCAR.

By that rationale, NASCAR is getting fewer fans every week.

It’s not difficult to figure out why.

July 22, 2008 - A Millstream Miracle?

In recent years, National Speed Sport News has reported more than a few track closures and way too few track resurrections.

It seems once a track goes dark, it stays dark.

But for Millstream Speedway, located in Findlay, Ohio, there remains hope at least for a future schedule of special events. After nine seasons, the speedy half-mile dirt track reopened July 20 to a standing-room-only crowd, which was estimated at approximately 3,500.

The man responsible was Dean Miracle, who had received a one-race lease from track owners Greg and Mary Beth Roe, who purchased the facility in 2000. The Roes had kept up with the facility through the years, making a few improvements here and a few there, while making sure the place didn’t become overgrown in weeds. But there was no race until the All Star Circuit of Champions came in for a one-night-only one-time shot at reviving the facility.

Miracle and the All Stars hit a home run. With 43 cars in the pits, the show was delayed to allow the fans who waited in line to get in, to find a seat or spot on one of the viewing mounds from which to watch the event.

“I’m just about speechless,” Miracle told the Findlay Courier. “I’ve had more positive comments on opening something I wanted to do and love. I love the sport. I love the fans, the people and the racers. I’ve got drivers telling me it was better to race on than it was seven years ago.

“I’m proud of everyone who came out and helped me. I thank Greg Roe and his wife for letting me come in here and do this. I want to come back and do it again.”

Miracle would like to add another show for Aug. 10, but first must acquire a second one-race lease agreement from the Roes.

Let’s hope for the sake of short-track racing and a grand old race track, which held its first auto race in 1954, that that happens.

And apparently several thousand Ohio race fans hope for the same thing.

July 15, 2008 - Pick Six

If you could pick six drivers — any six drivers — to be on your race team. Who would they be?

Of course, we think of this because of the Super Team that Hendrick Motorsports and its associate Haas CNC (Stewart Haas) Racing has assembled. Next season, Hendrick’s four cars will be wheeled by Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The two Stewart Haas machines will be wheeled by Tony Stewart and most likely Ryan Newman. Now, that is some racing talent.

So, who would you pick?

For the sake of this argument, I’m going to consider, not just active, but retired/or deceased drivers as well. And I’m going to assume they would be racing a different type of car on a different type of track every week. Thus, I’m looking for versatility from my team.

My first four selections are no brainers — Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt. I don’t think I need to explain why I selected those four. They’ve won in virtually every type of race car on the planet.

For my final two spots I thought of many drivers, including the late Dale Earnhardt, Robby Gordon, Dan Gurney, Juan Montoya, Kyle Busch, Bentley Warren, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne.

In the end, I selected Parnelli Jones and Richard Petty.

Jones because like my first four picks, he could drive anything, and every car he got into got a little bit better because of his ability. Most know him because he won Indianapolis in 1963, but Parnelli won in all types of vehicles on dirt tracks, asphalt tracks, road courses and even in off-road racing.

Finally, Richard Petty. Yes, I know he only ever raced stock cars, but he is The King for a reason. 200 victories in any form of auto racing is a major accomplishment. You don’t ring up statistics like that without being talented and versatile.

And besides, with Stewart and Foyt on the team, someone has to do the public relations work. And there’s no one better than The King when it comes to winning folks over.

That’s my six, who are yours?

July 8, 2008 — Dollansky's Roll Is Uphill

Nice-guy racer Craig Dollansky is on a roll. But no matter how many races Dollansky wins, he isn’t gaining a lot of ground in the race for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championship.

The Minnesota native, who hooked up with longtime car owner Larry Woodward during the off-season, has won a career-high six WoO events, including two of the last three, already this season, but it seems as though he can’t gain an inch on championship leader Donny Schatz.

Schatz’s 10th triumph of the season was sandwiched between Dollansky’s two most recent triumphs, with the first of the two Dollansky scores ending a three-race winning streak by Schatz.

But while much was expected of the two-time defending series champion, few knew what to expect from Dollansky this season. Moving from his long time ride with Karavan Racing to the Woodward operation, which had been an infrequent winner in recent seasons, there were a lot of unknowns. As well, Dollansky had only finished seventh in the standings last season.

But with sponsorship from Auto Value, Dollansky moved most of his crew, including crew chief Mike Woodring, from the No. 7 to Woodward’s No. 2.

But with Woodward Racing celebrating its 50th year of fielding race cars, the team came out of the box strong in February and has been a contender all season. When Dollansky picked up victory number six Sunday at Tri-State Speedway, it pushed him past Jason Meyers into second in the standings. He trails Schatz by 122 markers.

Dollansky’s hot streak couldn’t have come at a better time, as sprint-car racing’s month of Money kicks off tomorrow night (July 9) with the Brad Doty Classic at Lima, Ohio. The event will be quickly followed by the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway on Saturday and the Don Martin Memorial at Lernerville Speedway July 15.

“This is definitely the time of year that you want to have momentum going,” Dollansky said after his Tri-State triumph. “This team is working right now and we have to keep on it and continue to work hard. There are a lot of races coming up and you have to keeping working every day to make sure your program stays strong.”

Strong, but still quiet enough to fly under the radar. And despite 27-career WoO victories and a host of other sprint-car victories, Dollansky has yet to win the sport’s two biggest races — the Kings Royal and the Knoxville Nationals.

His next chance comes Saturday at Eldora. I wouldn’t bet against him, but like everyone else, he’ll have to beat Schatz to do it.

July 1, 2008 - Summers Of Speed

The heat of the summer is here and the time that many sprint-car racers and fans wait all for all year, is upon us — summer Speedweeks.

Ohio just completed its 26th-annual Speedweek sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions. Randy Hannagan claimed the championship by a mere four points over Dale Blaney. Rain plagued the series, with three races rained out during the week, ruining any chance there was of one driver claiming the $50,000 bonus for winning five of the sevent races.

Hannagan was the most consistent during the series, winning once and posting two second-place and one fifth-place finish. Blaney, however, claimed two victories, including the $10,000-to-win finale at Eldora Speedway. But in the end, Blaney just missed what would have been his fifth Ohio Speedweek crown.

This week, it’s Pennsylvania’s turn. The series kicked off Saturday with Doug Esh in victory lane at Lincoln Speedway, but rain washed out Sunday’s event at Bedford Speedway. Action resumes tonight at Grandview Speedway in the first of six-consecutive nights of winged-sprint-car action.

The United Sprint Car Series held its Speedweek in May, with Tim Crawley and Marshall Skinner sharing championship laurels.

Perhaps the most anticipated Speedweek of the summer is the USAC-sanctioned Indiana Sprint Week, which features the non-winged sprint cars racing eight times in the state of Indiana during a 10-day period July 9-13 and continuing July 17-19. Fans from across the land will journey to Indiana to take in all or part of the action.

The American Sprint Cars on Tour will have its Speedweek for 360 winged sprinters, beginning July 11 and running through July 19, with six different tracks on the docket.

Running concurrent with Indiana and the ASCoT is the traditional Pacific Northwest Speedweek, which will be sanctioned by the American Sprint Car Series Northwest Region for the first time. Action begins July 14 with the series visiting five tracks in six nights, concluding with a two-night stand at Grays Harbor Raceway Park.

Finally, need any of us forget Southern Iowa Speedweek, which revolves around Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. The 10 days begins with the 360 Knoxville Nationals July 31-Aug. 2 and the Brodix Tournament of Champions Aug. 3.

Action moves to Southern Iowa Speedway for two nights with the Front Row Challenge and Ultimate Challenge Aug. 4-5. The 48th annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals concludes Southern Iowa Speedway Aug. 6-9.