Around the Track with Jalopy Jack
Tires, tires, tires! Why do they bother with the cars? Just roll the tires around the track. This is racing? I don’t understand what everybody sees in pit stops. It’s sort of like the 4 wheel bicycle races at Daytona and Tellawrecka. Instead of seeing 1 particular car go from first to 19th and back up to 12th in a couple of laps, any track USA can do this for you with the event of a pit stop. If there has to be pit stops [and according to the powers that be, there does] then I want to look forward to seeing the same upfront cars continue their battle, or if they weren’t battling a chance to see them closer together. I’m tired of seeing tires be the tell all and when all of a determination of the race. This is just 1 of the reasons a regular Saturday night short track show is the best of all. Tire management? They know how far these cars can go on fuel and tires. If the distance’s maxed out then there’s your tire management. This goes for road racing as well as ovals. Should we be fortunate enough to get our money’s worth out of the SPEED Channel, then we’ll see the SCCA run offs where each race’s about 45 minutes long. That’s a long sprint to the finish and you’ll see that those who’re rough on their tires in the beginning usually wind up falling back towards the end. And those that show a little patience and some experience with skill and finesse will be the ones to approach the leader as the checkered flag’s ready to become unfurled. A pit stop in this type of race is neither healthful nor entertaining. It means you’ve had it buddy, no chance to win this one. Every race on every major circuit should be this style.
What a mundane way to start this week’s “not so long” column. I guess it’s a subtle way to let you know I didn’t make it to any live races this past weekend. OK, so SPEED Channel got another pre-plug from me. So now I bring up the fact that SPEED will be televising the Modifieds from New Hampshire International Speedway this Saturday at 1PM for 90 minutes. I understand it’s a 15 minute tape delay. This is because SPEED Channel can’t handle a 7 second tape delay, which’s norm for the TV industry. Modifieds on TV at this track’s always good. But here’s my gripe. It’s NOT going to be repeated. Aren’t real racing fans going to be on their way to a local race on Saturday afternoon? Well, let us look at the reality of this. First of all, it’s that time of the season when the local track maybe having their annual end of the season extravaganzas which could very well mean an earlier starting time and a larger crowd and all the more reason why you might have to leave earlier to get your favorite seats at your favorite tracks. Or for many fans it’s an opportunity to go to another track where they’re probably having that season spectacular. That means more travel time. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, there’s always taping the race, but we’re talking about an event that’s more local in flavor. All that extra time you’re spending at the track with all those racing people you know that sooner or later, you’re going to overhear somebody talking about that great Modified race they’ve seen on TV that afternoon. If there was going to be a replay that big mouth fan wouldn’t have had to stay home to watch it and can catch it on replay along with everybody else. But NOOOO! NASCAR and SPEED Channel just don’t feel that our Modifieds are worth it. In other words, we’re getting treated like dogs. We can’t say that we didn’t get fed, but we weren’t allowed to eat at the table with the truck, Cup and Nationwide fans that’re getting their races repeated in at least twice each at that. Of course that Modified race in Loudon’s also going to be a pit stop for tires, but you’re on your way to your local short track to make up for that, aren’t you? Besides there’s nothing on TV quite like watching those Modifieds dart around that 1 mile track. HEY, how about a triple crown for Modifieds?! Bristol, New Hampshire and Martinsville can make up the Triple Crown. Modified racing seriously hasn’t been the same since the losing of Trenton and Langhorne. I think elevating the status of certain races for the Modifieds would be an excellent idea.
What I really miss about the big races at Trenton and Langhorne was the qualifying races at all the different short tracks. Often these would be extra distance races, but also sometimes the qualifying race would be a regular distance feature. I remember in the case of the original Race of Champions for Langhorne that when a certain local speed plant would have their qualifier, a representative of the Langhorne Speedway would be present and award the winning driver a trophy, which had an unusual shape to it. I believe it might’ve been known as the “Langhorne Bowl”. Back then there were more tracks and more of the tracks had Modifieds or Sportsmen as their headline division. The Langhorne race was actually for Sportsmen. This was an attempt to slow them down around that dangerous 1 mile track. This was no big deal to the owners and car builders as just about anybody can convert a Modified to a Sportsman or vice versa. New cars were built just for Langhorne all the time. The way the qualifying worked was that about 30 different tracks had the honor of having a Langhorne qualifier. Those 30 cars were guaranteed 1 of the top- 30 starting spots in the big race at Langhorne, providing they met a minimum speed in time trials. Everybody else had to time trial in. This race could start over 60 cars! Langhorne was originally a dirt track and practically a circle all the way around. When they ruined it by laying down the payment it was nearly a circle but really “D” shaped. Their reasoning for paving the track was because the Indy cars were going [Ugh] rear engined. So not only was a great track ruined but a great major division of national championship racing also. At least on both levels [Indy cars and Modified-Sportsmen] we still had the same great drivers. In the case of Modified-Sportsmen, we had a collection from different tracks. In the case of the Indy cars we had the Indianapolis 500 drivers who’re still for the most part, very active in Midgets and Sprint cars on the USAC circuit around the country. These are some of the things you just gotta miss from the old days of racing.
Don’t forget Wall Stadium and their final regular Saturday night show of the season on 9/26. And of course the big race on 10/24. Hopefully by next week, the other divisions will be announced for 10/24. Believe it or not, it’s not too early to plan on next season. Not only should the track operators and car owners be making steps towards next season, but also the fans. By this I mean a more productive winter could lead to a more enjoyable summer. It might be time to make that back of your mind extra money idea into a reality. A little imagination doesn’t hurt. You know those people that’re continuously trying to shut down the local speedway? Next time we have a heavy snowfall we can dump that much more snow on their property and charge them ACCORDINGLY to dig them out. This should assure us of at least admission money to the races for the season. People who try to shut our tracks down should be dealt with severely. Local businesses shouldn’t deal with them; they shouldn’t be allowed access to water or electricity. Their cable should be shut off anytime they try to view a non-racing sport. This is why I’m the man who should be on radio 5 times a week and TV at least twice. So I can properly announce on the airwaves why these people who try to close down our speedways should be properly dealt with. Don’t some racers need garage space? Aren’t there some fans with high gas bills that would love and treasure a chance to live closer to the speedway? We can have both problems accomplished by getting these evil race track closure types out of the neighborhood! Tell you what, you all listen to my ideas and I can guarantee you that more stands would have to be built around the track to accommodate all the fans. Make these stands concrete ala Freeport Municipal Stadium and Hinchcliffe Stadium and if the stands enclosed both straight aways and all 4 turns, it’ll not only hold most of the fans that want to see the races but it’ll also help contain the noise from the race cars.
And then we can have back another aspect of the racing that we sorrowly miss and take the mufflers back off the cars. Because the noise was part of the spectacle. Folks, just read what I put down on YankeeRacer so far. A lot of my ideas to bring short track racing back to where it should be and what it can be are in my past columns.
Ideas that equal out to improvements on both sides of the fence, pits and stands alike. But the best idea I can give you right now is to get out this weekend and next weekend and every weekend after that, until Providence the first weekend of December and let them know, short track racing’s what you want. Oh, Christmas’ coming up?
Guess what? If Christmas’ only for those that love racing think of all the money you’ll save. That alone should get you to that 1 big annual race that you can never seem to afford. Did I ever say that this column would also be a lesson in life? Your feedback on WLAR [We Love Auto Racing] at 718-707-1052 could be an answer. You could get the 2 for 1 deal, which means you listen to the entire hotline, then leave a message or you just press the #1 button and go for “message only”. Anybody in the game sport industry and way of life of auto racing’s allowed to comment. So until next week and hopefully some of my personal commentary thoughts and feelings of live racing that I hope I’ll be fortunate enough to witness this weekend, keeping the fans in the stands and the cars on the track, this has been Jalopy Jack.