Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

usac doesnt do anything for midget or non wing sprint car racing in so-cal . they helped silver crown when it was on its death bed ,and usac understanding where its future drivers come from fortified the 1/4 midget ranks . ts hard to believe that most people dont understand why usac put so much into the 1/4 midgets . this is our future tallent ! wake up people ... and where do these young racers end up if we dont see them graduating to sprint cars . ill tell you , they end up racing stock cars and racing short coarse trucks .  this is where the majority are going now . why do they by pass sprint cars ? because we have nothing except young guns to transition young racers into sprint car racing . if you think parents are willing to transition a kid from bandelaros or dwarsor go karts to 410 sprint cars , well your wrong . with 1 or 2 transition classes for sprint cars we can hold on to the future tallent . right now the short coarse truck racing is what sprint car racing should be . many of you think of this truck racing as what you see on tv but understand there is a complete regoinal series that we dont see on tv giving these up and coming stars a place to learn how to get it done . we dont have a place to groom our future stars ! so what happens , they go somewhere else . if you cant see this its only because you dont want to take the time to look .......

Drama , Controversy , Rivalry 

When is someone going to observe to notice to recognize to acknowledge to accept that the SoCal you (me, no longer: I went where the action still is) live in is NOT the SoCal of the '50s, '60s or even early '70s? I spent enough time in speed shops in Bell, Downey, North Hollywood, etc., with various family members when I was a kid to know that the Kar Kult-ure (as it was in the "golden age") is long gone. Max and Ina are gone. Keith Black is gone. Jim Simpson is gone. The Morales brothers are gone. Louie and Dale are gone. Vic Jr. is still around, but not nearly as active now. Little Leo's been gone for decades. Stu Hillborn, Joe Hunt, Eddie I., Frank Kurtis, Ed Kuzma, Lujie, Vel, JC Sr., Harry Schooler, Ak Miller, Fred O., Ed Roth, Clay Smith, Mickey T., Jim Travers, Gerry Grant, Frank Coon. All gone. Big agriculture and the heavy equipment mechanics behind it are gone. The aviation and auto assembly plants are gone. The age of the WW2-era machine tool miracle worker is gone. The =talent= and the =affinity= (the "means, motive and opportunity") for big-bore race cars are gone (or, more accurately, considerably diminished). Time marches on. Move to, say, Merced or Modesto (decent places to live now, for sure) are find yourself in the middle of what remains in the Golden State. 

So we have the annual rant about what is wrong with sprint car and midget racing. Lots of discussion of what is wrong now, how much better it used to be, etc. This will, once again, disappear a week or two before the first race of the season.

 We all seem to agree that we need more cars. So what do you have to do to start racing sprint cars or midgets in Southern California. First you need a race car. Nobody starts racing with new stuff so you find someone leaving the sport and buy their package. From what I have seen this year, that is $15,000.00 to $40,000.00 for car, trailer, spares and tools. Then the driver needs his suit, helmet, hans device etc. That’s another $1500.00 to $3000.00. Assuming this is an owner/driver team you still need some help so you talk friends and/or relatives into being pit crew. We will assume you already have a tow vehicle. You go to Perris for your first race and find that it will cost about $1000.00 for you and your crew to join USAC and a couple hundred more for pit passes. So after spending a ton of money you and your team will get to race 8 times this year. If you want to race the whole series, it will cost you and your team $1000.00 to $2000.00 per race to travel to the rest of the series. That’s another $15,000.00 to $30,000.00 for the season plus tires, fuel, repairs etc. As a beginning racer you are not concerned about the size of the purse or the cost of a new motor and you are hurting a professional show by not being competitive. In order to afford this, you go looking for sponsors. They all ask you how many races do you run and how many people are in the stands. When you tell them 8 races and 1000 people in the stands they say no. You counter with “if we can get enough help from sponsors, we will also run the races in Arizona and Northern California”. The potential sponsor points out that he does not have stores in those markets so the answer is still no.

What if you could buy the same package, put together the same crew and just go to Perris every Friday night. 25 to 30 races per year. You buy your pit passes and race. No traveling, no series, no memberships, small purse so pros don’t “cherry pick” it, just weekly local racing. With that many races you could get 10 to 15 or more local small businesses to give you $50.00 per race even with small crowds.

There are sprint cars and midgets sitting in garages right now that would support this type of racing. It provides a way into the sport and a place to learn and polish your skills. Some people would stay in this system just for the fun of it and others would use it as a stepping stone to a professional career in something like USAC. Either way, weekly local racing is the foundation of the sport. There is no “quick fix” for our problems, but they will never get fixed if we don’t get started.

 Five birds were sitting in a tree in the fall. Three decided to fly south for the winter. How many dead birds were found under the tree the next spring?

Answer: Five. Three decided to fly south, but none of them took any action.

 shorttrackautoracing.com

I don’t necessarily disagree with you, Raj, but your comments triggered a lot of emotion and thinking for me. The So Cal I live in is certainly not the same as the 50’s, 60’s or even the 70’s. I know some of what you speak as I was born in Torrance (1953), lived in the South Bay till the mid 60’s and have effectively lived in So Cal since, with periodic departures to see the world. I have fond memories of empty freeways, a new Disneyland already bustling and the Helms donut truck making a daily drive down our street. My father was part of that post war boom that blew up the population and filled the freeways (eight kids!). He worked at Hughes Aircraft but he wasn’t a gear head, he was a salesman. He never took me to Ascot so perhaps I missed the “golden age” of racing. You say that Kar-Kult-ure has moved to Modesto and perhaps you are correct. But perhaps it’s still here, just changed, grown up, with mortgages, kids and grandkids that make those muscular days of adolescence seem like a warm memory. A lot has changed with freeways, Disneyland and donuts, but they’re still here. It’s true; I don’t have Ascot. But I do have Perris. Don’t have Shuman but I do have Damion. Don’t have those small speed shops but we do have racing specialty warehouses everywhere that you can Google for overnight shipping. I don’t think I need to move to Modesto to find the Golden State. It’s all around me and the racing I am seeing now is my “golden age”. Spencer, Gardner, Mitchell, Williams, Kaeding, Bernal, Kruseman, VanderWeerd, Bacon, Darland, Stanbrough, Clauson and many others have blistered the non-wing traditional sprint car races I favor in my home track. This So Cal we live in is a big part of the Golden State that drives the nation with technology, entertainment, agriculture, manufacturing and an entrepreneurial environment unmatched around the world. Why worry that “the age of the WW2-era machine tool miracle worker is gone” when Space-X, CNC routers and titanium have replaced it! Racing is like life, the tide goes in and the tide goes out. We will always have high points and low points. I do see non-wing sprint cars on a rebound down here. Car counts are climbing again, the economy is improving and what’s next could be outstanding. Talent (including a healthy freshman class at Perris), technology and an improved economy (money) will provide “means, motive and opportunity” for big bore racing. It is the greatest sport. People shouldn’t let the past dim their vision; they should open their eyes to the amazing history, tools and opportunity they possess here and now. Mainly I just wanted to say, I love LA!

Midget car counts have done anything but rebound. They have declined to the point where most promoters will also decline to schedule any Midgets at their track for fear of the seven car shows of the last couple of seasons.

To be frank, I couldn't give a damn about the So-Cal of the 50's, 60's or 70's. I care about the So-Cal and the racing of right friggen now. All this defeatist talk from fans and 'people in the know' is really starting to stick in my craw. Raj, I am not moving to Modesto because you have given up on So-Cal. I am going to keep digging, keep running on the edge of completely broke and broke down to bring the most exciting action I can capture to the world in the hopes that just maybe,  it might help in some way.

All this "ermahgerd! Racing is dead" crap, as stated above gets noone anywhere. Sooner or later we all buy into that sort of negative hype and I am not interested in that sort of defeatist bullshit attitude. So pardon me while I hold on to this ride as long as I can. You can find me, on the infield having the time of my life with a giant smile on my face. Working to preserve, promote and support something I think is worth fighting for.  

OK Buzzard you've convinced me to stop bitchin and enjoy what we have and to do whatever i can to help it grow!!!

cya at a race track,soon.

and yes Ray Ray its true no more bitchin (unless someone pisses me off lol)

ROB

"Stop talking 'bout yesterday, Rock! Yesterday wasn't so great."

Paulie to Rocky

There's no races @ thunder bowl or ocean speedway?

I have attended these races for years and there's always a big crowds .

Only 1 swing up north all year (Calistoga will be packed house,Petaluma on Monday will be cool)

USAC/CRA 410's are dwindling down agin.

This is why traditional sprint car drivers keep  moving back east.

bummer.