Around the Track with Jalopy Jack
They say 3’s a charm. Right now, I don’t want to give the 3rd one a chance to come around. Two things in racing got me pretty mad. One is at Wall Stadium and the other is in TV land. And guess what? It’s not the first time for either one. Let me get the TV thing out of the way. The SPEED Channel’s full of enough of it to sink a battleship. I wonder how many racing people would care if SPEED “WENT DOWN WITH IT”? Supposed to be that when you go to the races, you take a chance on the weather. Not according to SPEED. If the fans that go to the race get rained on, SPEED seems to feel that the people relying on their coverage should NEVER, EVER, see the race.
We got rooked out of Knoxville again this year. If you were there, it meant staying another 24 hours. If TV was the best you could do and you wondered if SPEED would still show it, you sat in suspense all day Sunday and possibly much of Sunday evening. As for myself, I knew what they were up to. This is the 2nd time with Knoxville that this has happened and later that season, we also lost Syracuse later that season for the same bloody reason. It seems that SPEED in relation to the network should be spelled CHEAP! If it wasn’t for the money they get from NASCAR, there wouldn’t be enough of SPEED to drop a dime on. I know there’s a lot of really, senseless programming on that station and I can’t explain the lack of logic for that.
But I can tell you that anything that’s not the big 3 NASCAR divisions that’s being shown and that excuse of a racing channel, is nothing but an infomercial. Somebody’s paying SPEED to air their races. An evening that’s not going right. In the last 2 years, their programming has taken a tumble from what already was a tumble. As I do this, the American Le Mans series event from Road America is being repeated for the 2nd time. Why? What else have they got left to show us? All of those open wheel Indy type series that were shown are all gone now. The former Hooters Cup was down to 1 hour last year and it’s now surviving [barely] as a 30 minute highlight show on “MSG +” here in New York. The SPEED World Challenge Series, which used to be covered in its entirety, is now barely a shadow of itself and it’s about 1/2 a step from being a highlight reel. But we’re supposed to mark out for roadside accident scenes, kids running their cars solo [yet] with some dummies holding up cards like a dumb game show and if we can still find it, a couple of shows pertaining to old cars, which is at least 50% infomercial. SPEED has less people watching it then ever before because more cable systems around the country are now charging extra to view it and racing fans are saying “no thanks” to that crummy deal. While I’m at it, the Cup race from Michigan when that’s shown in its regular time slot Wednesday at Noon NY time, will be the 3rd time it’s repeated. But you and I can’t see the biggest Sprint car race of the year even once. Fans, I’ll take this one on PPV next year.
But please, don’t take that “Prelude to the Dream” event on PPV come September. It’s just not worth it. And I bet SPEED’s making the money off of that because you’ll see that within 2 weeks, they’ll start showing that on SPEED and repeating it 15 times. When it comes to PPV, there are only a handful of events that we should support and let them know we want to see. Two of those right off the bat, is the Chili Bowl and the Knoxville Nationals. Perhaps we can add Syracuse because if it rains the day of the race, we’ll again lose that.
Maybe you folks would like to tell me what other BIG short track events you’d like to see on PPV annually. Leave a message on WLAR [We Love Auto Racing] at 718-707-1052. You may press the #1 button as soon as you hear my voice to leave that message.
So meantime, let’s hope that the weather this Wednesday 8/19 is good, otherwise we don’t see the Modifieds at Bristol either. But you know something? The truck race will be repeated in the middle of the night. They’re on the same card but SPEED and NASCAR, will find a way to show you the truck race regardless. And then of course the nationwide Stock cars and the Cup cars are on Friday and Saturday nights respectively, because SPEED and NASCAR have such great regard for the Short Tracks. That should be a double shammy at this time of the year, because most tracks are in their final weeks of the season and therefore, the reasoning is twofold. This time of the year the racing and Short Tracks are very exciting because the racers are going that much harder, because of points. Also, if the track wasn’t meeting the bottom line attendance wise and maybe they are, but lost some shows to the weather, these last few weeks could be make or break to those that are struggling to keep the track open. But NASCAR by now, has enough money to buy everything between the Caiman Islands and the moon, so what do they care. They got enough sons and grandsons coming from the Cup stars that they don’t even have to care about the Short Tracks anymore. So there you have it fans. TV and NASCAR. All the more reason why the Short Tracks are the place to be.
Now before I pretend that everything’s perfect on the Short Tracks, I got to take something to task at Wall Stadium for the 2nd straight week. Last week it was the officiating of the Sportsmen feature. The Sportsmen went well this week. So would everything else except for 1 driver and I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing his name in this column. On top of this week’s offering, I stated my gripe wasn’t the first time on either complaint. This incident was in the Street Stock feature. Elliot Wohl had his familiar red and white #14 back in action with an engine that he has been building from salvaged parts for the last 3 weeks. He started on the pole. The man who started outside pole was mentioned here last week and I must tell you he was happy to find out. I’m referring to the white #60X and this guy told me before the races that he discovered a flat working after warmups and replaced it with a brand new tire. With only a short field of not even 14 cars there were no Heats for the Street Stocks and the man in the #60X, Mike Tillet, found out there would be no more hot laps for the Street Stocks. He needed a few laps to work in his tire. When the green flag flew for the 25 lapper, Elliot, who’s been fighting hard to keep up his points and hasn’t yet won a feature, was off to a 2 to 3 car length lead. Tillet was 2nd. A Street Stock tire takes roughly 8 to 10 laps before the driver gets the desired affect. At around the 10 lap mark, Mike closed right in on Elliot’s tail. It looked like the tire was kicking in. With 11 down, there was just enough of an incident o cause a yellow flag. Once again, Wohl and Tillet lined up side by side for the restart. At the green, Elliot got the leaders jump and then it came. Right at the line, some bug head driving #08 just came barging through without regard to anybody else. The #08 was inside of Tillet and at the same time, was getting into Wohl’s #14 from the outside. It took from the line to the first corner to get the #14 sideways and the #60X had nowhere to go, but into the #14 broadside. This was no kiddie car collision! Both cars were out of it for good. “Klunkerhead” in the #08 was thankfully disqualified to the pits. But I’ve heard complaints about this guy before and usually from people who don’t normally complain about other drivers. I’m sure that Elliot Wohl will find a way to be back next time. I hope Mike Tillet can do the same and they both have 2 weeks to get back there.
Of course it was the night for the John Blewett III Memorial 76 lapper. Normal championship qualifying procedure was in effect. Fast timer was a surprise as Anthony Sesely had a brand new and really good looking #16. The #91 of Shaun Carrig drew the pole with #5 “Showtime” Jimmy Blewett outside of him. Green flag saw Blewett take command off the 2nd corner. After 1 restart, Stevie Reed fit under Carrig to take control of 2nd spot. The racing blew #55 held that position the rest of the way. The #16 was running4th but ducked into the pits on the first restart and for some reason, never came back out. All the Modifieds signed into the pits, 24 in all, took the green for the 76 lapper in which caution laps didn’t count. A pretty good chase and it was no surprise to see “Showtime” win it. The Wall Modifieds have just 2 more appearances, 8/29 and 9/5 and then that’s probably it until Turkey Derby. Also on 8/29’s the annual 50 lapper for the Sportsmen. Vintage cars are also there that night along with everything else.
On 9/5 it’s all divisions plus “Fan Appreciation Night”. That’s the best night of the year to get there early. This week coming on 8/22, is $5.00 Enduro night. This is the 3rd of the season and the 2nd show was much better then the first. Suggested time for getting there’s by 6PM. The Legend cars are part of the show as well as the return of the 4C Super Modifieds. Not many of them but you don’t always need a big field for a good race. A reminder that the 2 main races in the NEETS Enduros are expected to be 100 laps each. For you people who don’t like to see races stopped, this time of racing usually isn’t. They also don’t like to hold up the show for inclement weather. This is as close to English style racing as you’re going to get. Lest I forget, we also got the big race on Saturday 10/24. I don’t know the starting time yet, but so far this is for tour type Modifieds going 166 laps and $12,500 to win.
I want to comment on 1 more event this past Saturday at Wall. The #73 of Paul Hartwig, Jr. was an unmatched show of emotion to end the evening. And rightly so! Four weeks ago, I wouldn’t have given him a dime for his chances. Please revert back to last week’s column before you go any further….This young man won again and suddenly, he’s a winner 2 out of 3 weeks. HAPPY! You better believe it. If there’s an award for “The Happiest Driver” in victory lane this year, then Paul Hartwig, Jr should get it. It ended the night on a real good note and it’s going to end this column on a real good note. You might say from gripes to grapes, purple ones at that.
So with the season starting to wind down, keeping the fans in the stands and the cars on the track, this has been Jalopy Jack.