Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

Lanny Edwards used to be a good track promoter, key word "used to be" now days he is more interested in ticket sales and concessions (especially at Lawton and Dallas) than drivers safety. Does he not realise the DRIVERS are what sells tickets. It is getting to the point where the competitors are unhappy in every class at SFS. Mostly due to Officiating.

On the other hand Mr. Carson "Bud" along with Mrs. Carson "Mary" built Fairgrounds Speedway from the ground up. Mr. Carson, as I recall throughout his rein was was always concerned about the welfare of every driver entered for competition. Mr. Carson also had the task of not only preparing one track, but two, the 1/4mile and the1/2mile. I'm sure if Mr and Mrs. Carson were to see the Speedway they were so passionate about they would be as sickened as I am.

Lanny Edwards appears to running SFS into the ground as he has done in Lawton,and Dallas.

Keep up the good work Lanny, pretty soon there won't be any money to count.

I think times have changed. I know peope who think Bud Carson was stupid, rest in peace, during his time at the track.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands 
in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he 
stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Erich Petersen 

I liked Larry Hill. Of course, I was just a race fan back then and didn't know the drivers in the pits well and the people throughout. I just sat in the stands every Friday night and watched just THREE divisions EVERY Friday night (champ dirt, 100 inch mods and street stocks). But drivers that I have talked too since then swore by Larry as he too was a racer (USAC car owner) but he also promoted and while there were those who didn't agree with Larry on things, they all respected him and his love for the sport.

Of course I am still living in the past and miss Jack Claxton announcing so who am I.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

I heard more complaints about Larry Hill and Lanny than I can count. Come to think of it, I only remember one promoter who every one liked or understood. He ran Ada (Echo) back in the late '80s. He was broke like the rest of us so we weren't able to call him greedy.

Everyone better be careful what you say or you won't be allowed to attend the races.

yep and i can back you up on that. My one sided comments on here cost me my job so do be careful.

Dont get mad at me, im just the pushtruck guy.


www.myspace.com/pushtruckguy

I don't know as much about all this stuff as most of ya'll do...........but it really does appear that at least in the pits Lanny is pissing everyone off. I think most in the stands are satisfied to just attend the races. Most don't know how Lanny is towards all those in the pits.

Matt (pushtruck) if they really ain't gonna have you there pushin off sprinters because of a couple of opinions you had..........thats pathetic. I never really saw you say too much on here........maybe a comment or 2 about track conditions. but if they told you not to come back b/c of it then that must mean someone in the midget camp is readin this here stuff............that means they know what most are feelin about the way he's runnin things, or treating drivers, or whatever...........and they still don't care.

I dare the guy to EVER tell paying fans they can't watch races just because they think he isn't doing a very good job. He wouldn't be in business very long.

On the flip side to be doin it for 40 years he must have a good idea of the economics of it all........but the rest is all fallin apart with that guy. Maybe he should let someone do the rest. rest as in dealing with the drivers and making un-biased on-track decisions...............I think that eliminates most people workin there already. guess it would have to be an outsider.

How much would could a wouldchuck chuck if a 
wouldchuck could chuck would

Whoever takes that job would quit shortly. I once read somewhere that racers are like a herd of housecats, they will turn and go the other direction just for the hell of it. Do these "biased" opinions affect the outcome of the race?

I remember drivers abusing cautions because they spun and didn't want to lose a lap. Can't blame them yet when one side abuses cautions, the other side will eventually. There was a time many moons ago when they only interrupted a race if the track was really blocked. JMO

What year was it that the driver's came together and boycotted Bud? I remember cars on trailers in front of the Grandstands with picket signs. We do what we do because we love what we do. Believe it or not there are worse places to race. We should feel fortunate that we still have a playground to play our game.

Sheila Jennings

I guarentee this, The only way in this country for a promoter to be loved and respected for what he's done is to be dead for ten to twenty years while the new ones are accused of running things into the ground.

We all whined about SFS possibly closing a short time ago, EVER THINK LANNY MIGHT HAVE HAD A THING OR TWO TO DO WITH IT NOT?

To step forward and do.......A whole lot different than sitting around and complaining about it. The power of setting an example as a whole is in the hands of the participants. What kind of legacy do you wish to leave behind?

I do not remember Bud throwing a cup at drivers not leaving the track like lanny has! I can not recall lanny in the Hall of Fame either. Bud Carson is the Hall.

Bud never let grass grow on the 1/2 mile either.

Lanny is in the Hall.

A cup? That's better than the days when a promoter felt the need to carry a gun!

They complained about Ted Johnson until he sold the WoO. THEY had and have the enclosed semi trailers, and he was finally out of debt. Now the WoO is tanking supposedly, Ted is gone, and many wish he was back.

Pull your big girl pants up and deal with it or go somewhere else. The reason I don't go much anymore has nothing to do with Lanny, it's because todays racers idea of proving his individuality is to use a different color scheme on his WRAP. I do not find this entertaining.

Do you actually think everyone in the stands likes to see 25-30 cars shaped identically?

The Chili Bowl is an exception, the power of the spectacle overcomes this issue. I am always in a positive mood when I come out of there. I felt this way even before Tony Stewart became who he is.

By the way, like many of you, I have sat and talked with Bud Carson and found he was a CLASS ACT. I am a nobody in the world of racing and still in the middle of his workday he had time to talk about anything.

I'm sure he could see Lanny's side better than anyone of us here.

I'm sure he could see Shanes side too.

I remember the drivers boycotting Bud, I remember the Hellish reign of Bruce and the anti racing tactics of Skippy. I don't always agree with the calls at SFS or Lanny, BUT until you have walked a mile in an officials shoes, do not CRY. I have walked a two year mile as an official at another track. The botom line is you make a call in an instant, there is no taking it back. Just as the driver made his/her instantaneous decision on the move they made. Be a man/woman, live with it, come back next week a little smarter. We know every time we pull into the track there is a chance things will not go our way and that same chance is there that we will get our car destroyed be our fault or anothers. We just have to live with it or find a new hobby. See ya Friday

This above statement, might be the saddest, but truest thing Ive read on this site...as a young person the racing at SFS each friday night was a mix of brave men, fast cars, creative design ,then ad in some luck -CASH - talent and then you would have some thing to wacth, As this mix would curn into the dirt & build to a sight to behold ..THE FEATURE ..........thats the kind of feeling you use to get here every friday night .kind of like the chilli bowl or knoxville but now it seems like, lets get this over quick, So we can roll out the next cookie cutter class of cars & the next & so on. Just whup out the ole credit card & order you the same dress all the other girls are wearing to the dance.What is wrong with what i just said? Is it the same dress thing, for you that might need some help (ie same dress is lookalike cars)or is it the ordering parts? Oh no!! i have to stop now, my soap box just broke and i need to find my credit card & order another one.

Brian nothing personal but I don't get that.

I'm sorry I just don't see what the identical lookin cars has to do with the racing. 90% or more of the cars in any sprint or non-wing feature in the nation look the same...............it was inevitable for open wheel race cars to evolve.

How much would could a wouldchuck chuck if a 
wouldchuck could chuck would

What a joke of a post! I happen too know Lanny and his history quite well, and if you come down to the Devils Bowl you'll see for yourself that its nothing like the clown that started this thread thinks it is! A class operation just like his Lawton track. Get in, race, get out, none of this dragging to all hours of the night for the sake of one more hot dog sale. Its also well known that Lanny was the man that many top operations came to when building these tracks near superspeedways, or even making temp dirt tracks for a few weeks. Also its well known to us that know promoting, no one could have picked up SFS and got it running in the black again.

As for the show being run gracefully, Lanny does a great job..  IF Lanny's not there, thats when most of the bullSH$$$ happens... And its not so much that the show dragges on its the things that slip by, like ruff driving, and when you have say 3 cars in a wreck and two of the cars go to the back and that one guy that gets all the breaks happens to get to start back where he was....It only happens when he is gone.

Nothing personal to you either. I sincerely respect your outlook OKCFan12.  I'm talking about a piece of the magic that has long since gone and accounts (in my opinion) for part of the lack of steady growth in attendance.

Until the N----R explosion, auto racing as a whole enjoyed a steady 8-12% annual growth in attendance. More hienies in the stands means more money at some point for the racers.

I was just a pup in the '70s yet even I know it was more fun then than now. If you weren't around then, I'm afraid you missed out on some really good times. Yes there were issues, some pretty bad. Yet, if this were then, you and I would be working on our own versions of what we could afford to race instead of sitting in the stands or here wishing we had the moolah to cut some dirt.

Respectively, the cars are cheap. The extra elements are not, and the tires are a whole different issue now. I have seen the same basic shape of open wheel car for the last 25 years now. Hundreds of them, and for some, thousands.

The inner workings of a sprinter rarely change, that's cool, but the outsides of these cars could take a lesson from RACING FROM THE PAST .COM.      and now page two

Sept. 10, 1971- Attendence:3992, SFS, OkC.

What happened on this date? Nothing more than the usual Friday night show. Except on this night AJ Little of Lawton came in and cleaned house with a sweep. It caused such a commotion that Hahn's crew protested Little and Little turned around and protested Hahn. They both passed tech. Yes all the other usual heavy hitters were there too.

Tulsa enjoyed around 5,000 a night sometimes.

In those days if you won an NCRA supermod show, you could pull in around $1,500. That's your share of the purse(before splitting it with the team) lap money, and who knows what else. ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION ROUGHLY THAT COMES OUT TO ABOUT $6,000-$7,500. People in the stands paying to get in and buying hot dogs put a good bit of this money down. And they were ready to come back next week too.

95 supers showed up for the Enid NCRA show in '75.

Two constant things have occurred since these days- The wish of the racers to look like the OUTLAWS- at all times-, and the growth of attendence has appeared to flatline.

Competition for the entertainment dollar is tough yet we pay for entertainment. Part of that is not throwing your roots away and giving us some relevance of what we saw and liked before.