FROM RACER #4
Hi Jok. I agree with your article about the "decal
police". If you actually have the product, and have
the decal on for the final, you should get paid. Granted,
some will say that the company isn't getting their full
amount of x-rounds of racing exposure. But the most attention
gets paid to the final anyways, right? Anyways, good article,
always a joy to read your work.
Mike Carr
Buff Daddy Motorsports
Enon Valley PA
IHRA Stock 18 HF/SA
IHRA 1/8 and 1/4 mile National Record Holder
NHRA Stock 1302 EF/S
Street ET/Street Automatic/Modified/No-Box/Pro HX18
FROM RACER #5
Jok, I couldn't agree with you more about your stand on
contingency decals. The influx of marketing people from
outside the sport (see Burk's Blast) is probably responsible
for this situation. Outsiders have no clue how much work
it takes just to get to the race, let alone win it.
It has to do with balance: Passion for the sport vs. the
skills of the job. I understand the thinking, visa vis;
bringing in outsiders: "Let's bring in new blood",
"thinking outside the box", etc. And that in and
of itself is all well and good. Many organizations have
used that process to get better.
However, just because someone is an insider does not mean
that they will automatically be staid, and an inside the
box thinker. The history of drag racing itself has many
good examples of this. There have been insiders who have
always been thinking about how to improve the sport –-
build the better mousetrap, if you will. Insiders thought
up the
original Christmas Tree when it was realized that the old
flagman needed to be improved upon. Insiders refined the
tree from five to three ambers. Insiders like Steve Evans
and Ron Leek developed and nurtured bracket racing when
they realized that the old system of class racing wasn't
cutting it and that car counts were way down.
I could go on, but my point is that the best improvements
can and usually do come from within. It may take a little
longer to find the talented individuals from within the
sport, but in the long run it will produce a better organization.
From my perspective, the situation developed over a long
period of time beginning when the sport's founders realized
that what they had created was growing beyond their wildest
dreams. They were forced to add staff. As the new staffers
weren't always from the inside, it brought "new blood"
and ways of thinking. This was OK as long as the founders
had veto-power over the newbies. Over time, the founders
left for various reasons (health, retirement, death, etc.)
and the newbies grew into the job. But what these men lacked
was the fervent passion and compassion that the first generation
of the sports 'leaders' possessed. The second and third
generations looked on the positions that they were in as
more and more a job or career than the founders, who looked
at the sport as their baby.
When that happened, we started to see the announcements
of newcomers to the organization as having gone to this
college or university, worked for such-and-so corporation,
interested in various hobbies, etc., rather than seeing
their racing credentials. Why? Because they didn't have
racing credentials. They had marketing skills, or legal
talents, or... job skills, not experience in the sport creating
something that they loved. Not a passion, but skills to
get a job done.
And the upshot was that because the powers-that-were needed
the skills, they ignored the lack of passion. With the passion
for the sport also comes compassion for those in it. When
you look at the job to be done as a job or career and don't
have compassion for those whom your job affects, that's
when people perceive that the person in charge has a career
to protect and advance, not a 'baby' to nurture and grow.
There are plenty of opportunities to grow front office
talent on the local level at tracks such as Cedar Falls,
IA, Atco, NJ, and Paris, TX and then move them on to places
like Route 66, LVMS, Moroso Motorsports Park or IRP and
finally to the 'Big Leagues' of headquarters staff. That
would ensure that those who have the talent to do the job
also have the passion for the sport and have compassion
for the participants who provide the entertainment that
is being sold to the paying public.
Jok, thanks for your passion AND compassion for those in
the sport. Also, I enjoy DRO, and its looking a the sport
that you guys obviously have a passion for "from a
different perspective". I may not always agree with
the points of view expressed (although I usually do), but
I can tell that those views are deeply held - with passion
- and with the overall well-being of the sport in mind.
Thanks also for reading this rant. I know it has helped
me get off my chest some stuff that I needed to express.
Dale Tuley
Las Vegas, NV
