Now to answer the question “Do very
good racers hurt the local track?” There are two answers
or maybe more but here are my opinions:
1. YES….. The “very
good racers”-- some who dominate a local track and
others that travel the country bracket racing, have the
best equipment and a good budget to race with probably do
hurt racer participation at local tracks when there is an
event that drew the “very good racers” to the
track. Is that bad? NO…. I’ll tell you why later.
2. NO….. I cannot see
where having top quality cars and drivers at a track is
a bad thing no matter how you interpret it. The better the
winning racers are the better the rest of the racers will
become.
3. MAYBE and MAYBE NOT…. See there
always has to be a third opinion (on everything, right?).
These “very good racers” I speak of could very
well be a local racer who never travels and is content to
race at one track. He may have several point titles, always
seems to be in the finals and usually has one or more cars
to race with. It does not have to be a race team that travels
with three or four cars and is from a different state. DOMINANCE
is just that, the ability to dominate the competition consistently.
It should be a tribute to the track and a challenge to other
competitors to work harder to beat them.
I can think of a few racers that race in this
area who seem to define the description of a “very
good racer”. Their attendance at local tracks every
week might very well be causing a decline in racer attendance,
but if that keeps a racer away are they really a customer
that will be missed or are they looking for an excuse to
quit or race less often? It is a question that can go on
forever and likely will.
All I can say is, if and when I line up against
racers like, Lane Dicken, Bruce Kaul, Bruce Main, John Davis,
Jr., Mike Taylor, Mike Wepler, Ed Bousman, and dozens if
not hundreds of other racers I try to treat them the same.
Give them the respect they have earned and deserve and then
run your own race and hope it was good enough on that day
to put you in the next round and them in the trailer. If
you are a local racer and feel intimidated by a racer who
seems to win all the time take a tip from me and other racers
who win a lot: Talk to them, ask them questions, learn from
them and watch what they do to win. Look around in the later
rounds, I’ll bet you see the “very good racers”
that have been eliminated watching the last few rounds trying
to find another piece of information to help their chances
at the next race. If you don’t want to do that, get
out your buy-back money because you are going to need it!
In closing I say that anytime you can have
the best racers competing at your track it is a GOOD THING,
not a bad thing. If your track is trying to chase the “very
good racers” away with low payouts or rude treatment
then you have a track manager and a bunch of racers who
are losers as well.
Winning is an attitude and the reward for
hard work, excellence and dedication to the sport. I have
nothing but the highest of respect for winners as well as
racers who work their butts off trying to get there. It
isn’t easy; if it was everyone would be in the Winner’s
Circle photos. When everything that is involved in winning
becomes something that is looked down upon by track owners
and other racers…. I guess I will have to just go
fishing because I can’t stand that attitude.
“Winning isn’t everything, but
giving it your best effort is!”
To that end, I hope to “see you at the
stripe” in 2005 and good luck to all!! 
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Dead-On
[1/7/05]
What
lies ahead in 2005? |
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