The Hoosier Race Report: Celebration Overshadowed

By Danny Burton

Danny Burton’s Hoosier Race Report appears courtesy of OpenWheelRacers.com

This will be dedicated to all the race fans, race teams, and anyone else whoever showed up at a race hoping to see some great racing, Indiana style, and were turned away because someone said that the weather would be too bad to race, or said that the track was not prepared properly.

This should be for the praise of Jon Stanbrough and the Fox Brothers team 53, who dominated the abbreviated version of Indiana Sprint Week, 2006. Had they had the chance, there is little doubt that Mr. Stanbrough and company would have easily held on be ISW champs anyway. But that isn’t the point.

I will say that I’ve no clue who pulled the plug at either Lawrenceburg and/or Terre Haute, seeing that I wasn’t at either track when it happened. So you’ll see no finger pointing here, at least not at anyone specifically. But I will say that someone, somewhere, and somehow, dropped the ball; that much is obvious. One can point to the tight scheduling that saw Milwaukee races squeezed into the last two races of sprint week. One can point to the track conditions, especially at Lawrenceburg. But one can also say that both of the previous facts have been known by most in our little corner of the world for some time now and yet still two races were cancelled, by whom we’ve no clue. (See above comment about finger pointing.)

This reminds me of last year’s debacle at Indy with the Formula One boys pulling off the track. Once again, at most any level, open wheel racing shoots itself in the foot, no matter how it’s seen. Casual fans who show up at a race with expectations of seeing a race will leave mystified, staring at the skies, maybe never to return. Hard core fans are tougher to run off, but it can happen, too. With gas prices at $3 per gallon, they will definitely think twice before driving great distances or scheduling vacation time around Sprint Week, as many do. Even they will not accept explanations about why the race is off due to weather, etc. And maybe eventually they, too, will not return.

When my son was a little boy I told him that it took a good bit of work to stack up his lettered building blocks, but it took very little effort to knock them down. It was a lesson in dependability and trust; maybe he learned. But the point is that we can all learn from the most recent events here. Those who give so much to stage races, be they track workers, promoters, or even sanctioning bodies might be well served to borrow some building blocks and learn how tough it may be to regain what’s been lost here.

I learned even after my dad died that good things can come out of bad things. If that is possible to lose a beloved parent, who took me to many of the track that I haunt to this day, and learn from that tragedy, then it’s very possible for those involved, whoever they are, to learn from the events of the past few days. True, it will take time, but it can be done. The ball, as it were, is in their court.

Time will tell how this shakes out. Internet message boards are crackling with angry fans, who feel like jilted lovers. (Those who react with threats and/or tossing objects at race officials, based on what reliable witnesses have told me, don’t deserve the description of “race fan”, in my own opinion. Not a question of getting angry; it’s what you do with that anger is the important matter.) We share a love for short track racing, especially with cars that have no fenders. We wish to leave egos and politics home when we come to the track, our refuge away from the daily grind. And to arrive at our home away from home to find what too many fans and teams found the past two days is a huge disappointment and one that needs to be addressed. But only if there is a desire to do so will it be addressed.

The above is not written out of anger; I’m too old to get mad about stuff like what has happened. Instead it is written out of love, and by someone who loves racing and racing people, even those who may have played a role in this latest snafu. But all I know is that while we should be congratulating the 53 crew for their fine efforts, we are instead talking about why two races are not happening. That, folks, is the real shame.

Short track fans, let us hope that Rollie, Greg, Tom, Dave, and anyone else directly involved get together and try and figure out a way to avoid a repeat occurrence of this for the 2007 season and beyond. For the continued success of open wheel racing, not just in Indiana, it is quite crucial.

Trying to convince my wife that President Bush would rub her back too, if he only could, I’m…

Danny Burton

Visit OpenWheelRacers.com for all of the latest open wheel racing news, results, and information.