Paragon Memories

Got my NSSN and read Dave Argabright’s story on Paragon Speedway and the area.
I’m living around Houston, but my heart never left our farm around Paragon. I grew up at that track, 1.5 miles from my house. We raced fender benders in the 1960s and had Sheldon Kinser in our class. We drove our car to the track or towed it on a rope.
The sprint boys were Bobby Kinser, Calvin Gallstrap and Orval Yeodon, a few of the real racers. I really miss the place — nowhere on earth I’d rather be. I have the best memories of the area and the pure Hoosier racing I still see in my mind.

Strange Things Afoot

The Axis of Strange:
Sprint cars with so many additional body panels that they resemble a 1937 Chevy modified.
Dirt late models that navigate the track on two or three wheels.
Race cars with rev-limiters that make weird sounds at the end of the straightaway.

More Cutting Back

I could have written the “Cutting Back” letter by John Julis in the June 25 edition. I came to the same conclusions and more after the Atlanta race last fall, coming to the realization that watching NASCAR is an exercise in futility.
The Car of Tomorrow is a piece of junk. The drivers are boring, and The Chase is contrived. Anybody who leads the point-standings in 2007 as Jeff Gordon did by more than 400 points at one time deserves to win a championship. That is another thing that sticks in my craw.
To top it off, that  “shut-up-and-race” meeting shows NASCAR’s arrogance and total disregard for fans and (independent contractor) drivers. I, too, have watched only about one hour of NASCAR racing since that Atlanta race. My mind has not changed, and I do other stuff on Sunday — like watch the IRL.
I’ve only been a fan for 43 years. NASCAR doesn’t give a rat’s rear end what I or anybody else thinks.

Announcer Critique

I would like to know when (TV announcer) Bill Weber gets the check for the hype he does for the No. 88 car and the chief wrench for same?
Weber, there are only 42 other cars out there that deserve a mention sometime.

On IRL Coverage

First, it was Rusty Wallace who was transferred out of the broadcast booth for the IRL, and most recently Eddie Cheever got the ax. I think both did a commendable job.
Another thing I do not understand about ABC coverage is why they don’t show pre-race ceremonies other than the Indy 500.

Editor’s note: Cheever was hired by ABC/ESPN only for Indianapolis 500 coverage during the month of May.

Get Some Racing In?

I tried to watch the Toyota/SaveMart 350 on TNT and finally turned it off.
Could we please have more than two laps of racing between commercial breaks? Maybe we should rename the race the “Commercial Break 350.”

On Kalitta’s Death

Here’s some food for thought:
If the last 300 feet of the run-off area at the Englishtown track had been shallow water, about three-feet deep, there’s a good chance that Scott Kalitta would still be with us.
He would be the owner of a shock-cooled engine block that would be junk, but he would still be with us.

Random NASCAR Thoughts

A few thoughts:
Danny Hamlin — you are so spoiled. Have you forgotten what it’s like to be a hungry driver? Brad Keselowski raced you at Charlotte. No one owes you squat. Stop whining and race. The Nationwide Series is his turf.
Congrats to Petty Enterprises for securing your future with Boston Ventures. I sincerely hope you recapture past success.
OK, Cup drivers, if Pocono is as outdated as You Know Who whined about, why not let the Mattiolis know what you think needs to be done instead of just complaining? Offer solutions, not an attitude of entitlement.
Stop complaining about the CoT. The fact that Jeff Gordon and Michael McDowell walked away from horrific crashes has sold me on it. Of course, I hope in the future, NASCAR allows the manufacturers to display some originality in design, but knowing the drivers are as safe as possible is priceless.

McLeod McDominated

I attended the USAC Regional Midget 50-lap Mel Kenyon Classic at Grundy County Speedway. Alison McLeod, from Mississauga, Ontario, driving a Bob East-built Ford-powered midget won the feature, witnessed by Mel Kenyon himself.
She had the field covered, period. No one could catch her on restarts, etc. It was very impressive driving. Corporate America, are you listening?

Father Drove Midgets

My dad, Stan Smola, drove midgets seven nights a week after World War II. He won the Huston Bundy Sportsmanship Trophy in 1946.
He raced with Ted and Gene Hartley, Bob Brendry, Gene Force, Leroy Warner,  Frank Tillman and, of course, Red and Adam Smith.
His last race cars were the Hawkins cars out of Richmond. He also drove for the Morgan brothers.

In Praise Of Ethanol

This is an answer to the June 18 letter by Norman Gaine titled “Ethanol Isn’t The Answer.”
You must understand that ethanol is only made from sugar. Corn is a very inefficient source of ethanol. The starch in corn must be soaked out (that’s what uses water) and converted to sugar. Why not just start with sugar?
First-run ethanol contains plus-or-minus three percent water, which does not mix with gasoline. The main expense in processing ethanol is removing that little bit of water and adding catalysts to allow blending. Your question should be, why mix with gasoline? Answer: The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms) claimed to Congress if gasoline was not added, people would drink it. True. What they don’t know is that methanol alcohol will readily mix with first-run ethanol and is a deadly poison that cannot be evaporated out.
Ethanol does not provide as much energy per pound as gasoline, but diesel fuel has much more energy than gasoline. So what? It beats walking if there is no gasoline. Ethanol does produce more pollutants on initial usage because it scrubs the deposits that are built up from using gasoline.
The claim that ethanol absorbs moisture is true, but that problem has been solved. E85 is available and is used without this problem.
Brazil and several sugar-producing countries are gearing up to produce all of the ethanol that we can use. They are building production facilities as quickly as possible, and the Brazilian government has ordered nine super tankers for nearly $1 billion to transport it to the world.
It’s interesting that Ford and GM have built straight ethanol cars for Brazil and the South American market for almost 50 years and can’t do it for us. Oil is used in so many products that it may soon be too valuable to use for gasoline.
An E85 station recently opened near my home. It’s 52 cents per gallon cheaper. The answer is, give us the ethanol, and we, the country’s entrepreneurs, will make it work.