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Wow, the last three weeks have been quite interesting for me personally.  It all started on January 23^rd with the Central Missouri Speedway (CMS) Registration and Rules Review Meeting, the following week was the 12^th Annual Bodee’s Racers Auction & Trade Show, then, this past weekend was the initial registration meeting for Missouri State Fair Speedway (MSFS). 

At the CMS meeting things went smoothly for the most part but as expected once the rules-review process kicked in for the street stock division things got interesting.  The CMS registration meeting is always scheduled for three hours; this is advertised well in advance and this year the street stock division had one full hour of the meeting devoted to trying to come up with some sort of solution to the continuing rules controversy that is plaguing this division.  After two breaks were granted to the drivers in order to sort things out amongst themselves it was clearly evident that an easy solution was not going to be found.  In the waning moments of the meeting, it was presented to the drivers to vote on a package rules deal, an ambitious undertaking in my opinion but something I personally feel had to be done to save this class at CMS.  In the end, what I like to call the “haves and have not’s” in this class put their emotions aside and tried to vote on the new rules to save their class.  The streets were on the proverbial chopping block at CMS by promoter Earl Walls, this is something I have known about for quite some time but never came out and said to anyone.  Although I dropped a lot of subtle hints over the last year or so to many of the drivers and I am pretty certain they knew what I was referring to when talking with them.   So, here we are heading into 2010 at CMS with more pre-registered drivers in the street stock division than we have ever had.  Right now it is the great unknown if the “LA” street stock guys are going to backup their promise on whether or not they will venture over to the ‘Burg to compete, there were other drivers from different speedways present as well and it will be interesting to see if they make an appearance as they stated.  As for the seven or eight CMS street stock regulars from 2010, there are rumors that a few will not be returning because of the new rules package but as of right now only one driver, Nic Bennett, has changed classes and will not be running a street stock this year.  Keep an eye on the streets at CMS this year, they are going to look a whole lot different than years past and there will likely be more cars on the track than the lowly average of 14 the track had last year.  So far there are over 60 drivers pre-registered for CMS competition in the four classes, 17 in the street stock division alone. 

On to the auction, it was a huge success for Bodee with a big Saturday crowd despite some local wintry weather.  As I stated in my previous blog, this is more than just an auction and that was certainly the case as I talked to numerous fans and drivers who came by the MSFS vendor table to pickup schedules, payout sheets, and rule books.  Interestingly enough schedules became a hot topic at the auction with regards to series running at certain tracks despite obvious rules indifferences, this is sure to be a sore subject for the illogical wishful thinkers out there hoping to see some of the south’s best modified aces come in and race with the ‘Burg’s weekly racers, which in my opinion are the best in the nation, bar none!!!  The protocol with releasing press releases for as long as I’ve been a PR guy is that a track releases any news and information about its schedule first, and always before a series or association releases their information.  This can quickly land people in hot water if the protocol is not followed!  At both tracks I announce at and work as the PR person the rules are, (with only slight exceptions in the case of MSFS), if a series comes in to run, it runs by the track’s general rules and in most cases sticks to the car-class rules so the locals can compete.  The three big-money special events at CMS have been built into premiere races by promoters Earl and Susan Walls over the years and the local racers are taken care of at these races.  This will never be more evident than this year when the start money for the Memorial Day and Labor Day events will pay more start money than ever before.  Speaking of schedules, I would like to personally thank Jason Bodenhamer for granting the ULMA a stand-alone race event on the Tuesday race night during the Missouri State Fair; this is going to be an awesome night of racing with the TNT wingless sprint bandits, ULMA, and A-mods. 

Last weekend was the MSFS Registration meeting and for an initial meeting it went off quite well, more importantly Bodee was pleased with how things went although I believe he was a little disappointed in driver turnout, you would have to ask him this directly to be certain, but that is my observation.  Even so, thirty drivers is not a bad number by any means and we now have 22 drivers pre-registered in the three premiere events.  For some reason the sprint car community seems to think it is immune to pre-registration, however the late model and modified classes were well represented.  Jason went through the general track rules and thoroughly explained things to the attendees.  Instead of just stating things like “that’s the way it is” or “because I said so,” he took a different approach and actually explained why things are going to be ran differently at MSFS.  I am looking forward to the races getting underway and to see how everything is going to play out at the speedway.  Fans will have the rare opportunity to see three premiere divisions at the track in the 360 Sprints, Late Models, and A-Modifieds.  Only one issue about weight came up for the late models but it quickly fizzled as Jason very candidly answered the question and fully explained the situation.

Well, as usual I’ve written a novel in what is supposed to be a short blog so I better end it here.  As I begin my final five-week class at Ashford University completing my Organizational Management Bachelor’s Degree the racing off-season rolls on and I will keep busy with school and miscellaneous PR duties.  The next events include all the home shows and expos and of course Snake Saturday is just around the corner.  Until next time, challenge yourself with this bit of trivia.  How will you make a difference in local dirt-track racing this season?

Take Care,

SOTM  

ULMA=United Late Model Association

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 11:49 and is filed under ITP Blog Spot, Sam Stoecklin's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.