The Hoosier Race Report: The Enemy Within?

By Danny Burton

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

I confess to not being able to make up my mind about lots of things. Sometimes this is not necessarily a bad deal, especially when choosing which ice cream I want. But when it comes to trying to decide what the biggest threat to the short track racing is, I tend to go back and forth. So lately I’ve been thinking that perhaps short track racing people, all of us, need to look in the mirror.

Racing teams themselves need more of a voice in how things are run at any short track, and some do, no doubt. They need to decide just what they wish the rules to be, how much money will be spent and distributed, and maybe even how a track, if dirt, is prepared. And it matters how they share their concerns with track operators.

Perhaps promoters have it much worse. Too many have turned to “back gate promoting” to make their money. And many have also turned to sponsorship money to keep the track running and generate income. These promoters need to look to those who have instead actually promoted their product and continue to enjoy healthy sized crowds. If they do that first, the sponsors will follow. Obscene numbers of classes will decrease to two or three different types of cars on a typical night of racing. But racing programs that end in the wee hours of the morning will surely drive away even the most dedicated of race fans. The sooner more promoters realize that, the better off short track racing will be.

I’m aware, though not overly familiar with, a few of promoters’ headaches. Weather is a huge headache, all too often. Most fans don’t realize that when there is threatening weather, a promoter sweats as much as any fan would in a Turkish bath. How many fans and/or race teams will stay home thinking that rain is imminent? If the races go on, just one lap is made by a car, and it rains, how much money is the promoter losing? At one point last year, Bloomington had been rained out something like nine of 12 races. Why didn’t Mike Miles give up at that point? How could he have made money? And we’ve yet to discuss things like insurance, finding good help, leases, scheduling, track and facility maintenance, the price of cheeseburgers, and whatever else you can think of from here on out.

Sanctioning bodies have a huge stake in this, too. They need to take a hard look at how they do things, it would seem. Like everyone else, they must realize that, more than ever, competition for the fans’ entertainment dollar is intense. Whether it be sanctioning fees, scheduling, marketing, promotion, rules (their enforcement or implementation), and whatever arrangements they have with individual tracks, sanctioning bodies had best address such issues and soon. Those who carry on as if nothing is wrong will find themselves descending into irrelevancy.

Short track racing could carry on without race fans, maybe, but it would become another part of our culture that would be lost. That, to me, would be a tragedy on one level. Fans are crucial to this mix, obviously. All the others mentioned here need to realize that what fans will pay and how much they will endure has its limits. To charge a fan double his or her hourly wage for a program that ends after midnight (especially on a work night) is a good and quick way to oblivion for short track racing. And charging that same fan a price for a sandwich that is higher than the price of a gallon of gas (yet another factor here) is not going to increase a promoter’s bottom line in the long run. We won’t even talk about phantom rainouts.

But fans don’t get a free pass here, far from it. The coming of the internet age has been both a blessing and a curse. Information is available in a matter of seconds. That is only one of the blessings. But for people to hammer away on a keyboard before they think their words through is also done in a matter of seconds as well, with unnecessarily negative results. That is a curse. Fortunately, cooler heads tend to prevail. But an informed fan is a better fan. Just as all other groups mentioned, fans’ collective feet need to be held to the fire. Responsibility and proactive thinking need to prevail among us all.

What is called the social contract applies here as well. A fan pays his/her admission and agrees to abide by the rules of the track. The track and/or promoter agree to offer various services that are reasonable to those who partake, be they restroom facilities, concession stands, and the races themselves. The track also agrees to provide racers with what they need to do what they love. This includes sane rules, fair enforcement of the same, a dirt track that will yield to good racing, an acceptable number of push trucks if needed, and maybe even decent restrooms and/or concessions easily accessible for those in the pits. Racers agree to abide by the track’s rules, compete in the spirit of fair competition, and accept whatever judgments are made, even when they go against them. Sanctioning bodies agree to not schedule against each other, work out differences with each track and the racers who compete with each sanctioning body, and enforce their rules fairly. Promoters agree to actually promote, treating fans, racers, sanctioning bodies, sponsors, and even so-called rival promoters with dignity and respect. They need to do what they can just to get all concerned to come back for a visit again.

Ideally all who enter the gates of any race track, especially any short track, should be made to feel at home. Unfortunately, of course, for a variety of reasons, this does not always happen. And the more this does not happen, the closer to extinction short track racing as we know it will be. As surely as racing at this level had a beginning, it could just as well have an end. Do we as current fans wish to be the ones who contribute to that end? I’d think not.

We’d best, all of us, get our “house” in order. One fine way to do that is to talk about it as reasonable people do. And it just so happens that a group of said reasonable people in Indiana are planning such a meeting. The Hoosier Racers Swap Meet and Trade Show is scheduled for Saturday, January 27, 2007 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. In addition to the meeting that will include car owners, drivers, and whomever else they will let in, the Swap Meet will include various other activities worth checking out. Check out www.shoestringracing.com and see more. And best of luck to Craig and Tia Dori, who are putting on this event. I’m planning to be there myself.

This is probably the last column we’ll be sharing before Christmas Day. I wish all concerned a Merry Christmas, in all the holiday’s best intentions, whether you celebrate the holiday or not.

In training to be Jimmie Johnson’s golf cart driver, I’m…

Danny Burton

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