So You Want To Be A Promoter, Antioch Speedway Preview, More

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So, You Want To Be A Promoter

What does it take to be the promoter of a race track? There are a lot of people who are armchair promoters. You walk through the gates and you just see everything there. The racers bring their cars to the pits, and everything is just there. The reality is there were many hours put into preparation during the week to get everything ready so the people could enjoy the show.

I know the one misconception people have. It's In the heat of the moment when things are not going your way. You get mad, and maybe you see the promoter somewhere that night. Obviously, that promoter has something against you or your driver, so you give them a piece of your mind. Problem is, you're seeing your one little situation, which doesn't mean it's not important to you. The promoter is trying to keep an eye on everything.

I remember John P Soares at Petaluma. He was everywhere on race night. You might see him going around the track in the pace car. You might see him get up on the grader or the water truck as needed. You'd see him in the pits. He'd make it a point to stop in and say hi to different drivers, and it wasn't always the same drivers. You'd see him on the grandstand side checking on the concession stands. You'd see him in the souvenir booth. You might even see him talking to a spectator.

It's an interesting thing. The best promoters are the ones who are engaged in the whole process. They're not necessarily out their lobbying for love from the people, but they know what's going on at the race track. Pops may not have been a promoter people heralded as one of the best. I certainly did, but there were a lot of people who would say negative things. But, he didn't care. He knew he was doing the right thing. When people say "effin" Soares, it was originally aimed at him.

Actually, he was part of the Barkhimer family of race tracks. Bob Barkhimer, or Barky as people called him, dreamed big. Yes, he built a network of race tracks under his California Stock Car Racing Association back in the 1950s, but he had a master plan. And, he had people at these race tracks who knew his way of doing it. He trusted these people.

It's hard to imagine people having a negative view of Barky, but they did. He too was one of those "greedy" promoters. He was skimming money off the top or whatever other accusations unhappy racers might come up with. This led to the Western Auto Racing group or WAR as they were called. It was a club run deal, and they had several tracks at one time. But, Barky won that battle in the end.

The community run track. This is the association getting together and electing their president and whatnot. Several tracks go by that model. We have a few in Oregon who do it that way. If you have no choice, you will have a club run that race track. It's either that or no track at all. Personally, I'd take a club in that scenario, but I'd rather have a promoter who is a benevolent dictator. That is to say, they do take into consideration what people are saying, but they stick to the plan.

The problem with an association run track is you get too many hands in the cookie jar. And frequently, you hear the horror stories of somebody leaving town with the money. Or, you have somebody taking somebody's wife and leaving town with the money. Not a good deal. Yreka was sort of forced to have the Siskiyou County Motorsports Association because they had a string of promoters come and go. Some managed to go for a few years, while others lasted a year. Because the people wanted to race, they needed to put the club together and make it happen.

What does it take to take to make it happen? Money. If you have an association, you probably have a few people who have money they're willing to put into the deal. When Chowchilla Speedway opened, there were investors who backed Tom Sagmiller as the promoter. It was really a combination of the right things happening at the right time in that scenario. We just lost San Jose Speedway, so people were looking for something to rally behind. Not to mention, there were a lot of people unhappy with the way Merced Speedway was being run at the time. You know the promoter will say, "If you don't like it, go down the road." Well, they did, just 16 miles down the road in fact.

The promoter who walks into the track and has the most success is usually somebody with money who has a passion for the sport. They've already had their ups and downs as a race car driver. And during those downs, when they could have walked away, they stayed. They're going to see those downs magnified as a promoter, I guarantee you. If you can't roll with the punches, you're done. You won't last but a couple of years.

What happens is there is a bit of a honeymoon period. When a track has had down times immediately preceding the new promoter, people want it to work. They rally behind you. Sometimes they'll get out and defend you when people bash you. But the honeymoon period only lasts so long. Give it a couple of years and the negativity starts to seep through. This is when the promoter is tested. Do they have what it takes?

I'm going to tell you something. We're all human. Money makes this world go round. I've learned this the hard way. Our world is ruled by money. Love, while nice, does not pay the bills. Money pays the bills. You jump into this game thinking you can pay the bills and make a few bucks. And if you are successful in those goals, sometimes you're not going to be happy anyways. Why? If people are negative and loud about it, it's going to get to you. You can't really help it. We're all human. When people tell you that you suck enough times when you're out there putting your heart into it, how would you feel?

You need to get a whole list of equipment. It depends on your situation. Even if you walk into a race track that already has some stuff, chances are you are replacing stuff. Either the old promoter will take stuff with them, or stuff is junk that needs to be replaced anyway. Plus, you need to be prepared to start replacing things you didn't think needed to be replaced. And if at all hits you at once, it can threaten your ability to run the track.

You look at the facility and think all you need is a good racing surface, plenty of space for the racers to pit and a decent grandstands. Well, that's the basics. You need to have the basics or there's no show, but you need much more than that. And keeping that track nice requires your water truck and grader. Even if they're in working order when you get there, they're going to break down and need to be repaired. And sometimes, those repairs are going to be very costly. You can be resourceful and patch things up, but sometimes you're only delaying the big expense a little longer.

These are things the fans have no idea about when they see a track that might be a little bit rough or drier than usual. They don't know that the promoter had a broken water truck or a broken grader during the week and was struggling to the last minute to get it ready. They maybe only had half a day to work on the track, and they did their best. It wasn't quite good enough to give them the smooth race track they're used to. But the promoter needs to make the show go on. Racers wanted to race, and bills need to be paid.

There's also the accommodations in the pits. Are you using porta potties or do you have a bathroom in the pits? The cost may vary. There's the fees to maintain the porta potties, because they can get disgusting very quickly. If you invest in a bathroom or happen to have a building with a bathroom, you still have to maintain it. There's also concessions. Do you bring a trailer for concessions?

Some promoters might think they'll let somebody cater with a food truck, but I guarantee you they will rethink that very quickly. You may get a little percentage from the caterer, but it's still not going to be what you would get if you run the concessions yourself. Do you invest in your own food trailer or do you build a concession booth yourself? The cost will vary. Or, there's a building there. In any event, chances are you're investing in equipment. That stuff doesn't come cheap, and it will break down. Sometimes it breaks down at the worst possible time.

Now, you need to get competitors to come race. If you don't have them, you're not going to sell tickets to the fans. A promoter has to give this careful consideration. What divisions do you run? What divisions can you afford to run? The divisions that go fast usually cost more money. So, what kind of an attendance can you get? If you're running too many fast divisions with an attendance that isn't so big, it's a recipe for going out of business unless you have very deep pockets while you try to build up that crowd.

These days, promoters sometimes have to pay every division that they have. The old formula was that you had your headline class and you had a secondary class. The secondary class sometimes brought the most cars and got no pay. You used the money you got from the back gate from them for whatever was needed. Paying the top class, paying bills. Those racers were then encouraged to learn the ropes in the lower division and eventually move up to the division that got paid. We don't do things that way anymore, although the premise of drivers moving up in the ranks is still the way it is. It's just that now they're getting paid something even in the lower divisions at most tracks.

No matter what you're paying the faster division, it's not enough. That is if you listen to the racers. If there are tracks within driving distance for the racers, you have to deal with what the other track is paying. If they're paying $200 more to the winner in that division, what do you do? You've done your books and you know what you have to work with for the purse. You have to be sensible. Some promoters have deep pockets and some don't.

Another idea employed by promoters who just do the basics is a guaranteed purse rather than a pay scale. You get yourself in trouble when you put it all on the driver's to give you so many cars to get a purse. Your loyal supporters, those who would like to get a little bit more money, are forced to play a role as an assistant promoter to get more money. "Please, come out and race so we can get a bigger purse. If we get 10 cars, we'll get whatever the guarantee is." What happens sometimes is drivers realize they're not going to get the bigger money and give up on the class. This is something a promoter has to think about.

When a smart promoter pencils out what he can pay his divisions, he can come up with a guaranteed purse formula. And it might be an attractive purse. Let's say, he decides he's going to pay his Street Stock division $250 to win and $40 to start regardless of car count. He may only be getting six or eight cars, which I assure you the promoter is not gaining on, but the drivers look at it and say they're not getting a bad deal. The promoter takes this risk knowing that he can still keep a guaranteed purse if the drivers start supporting. This means that at 20 cars, the purse is still the same. At 25, still the same. The purse won't fluctuate for the entire season.

Now, if you start out the season with 6 or 8 cars at that purse and seven races in, you're getting double the car count, drivers might complain about wanting more money. The promoter can honestly say, "Look, I've been losing my rear end paying you guys the guaranteed purse. We'll talk about a purse adjustment next year, " and an honest promoter will look at the numbers and decide what is warranted next year. What you show the racers is you are consistent. "I will pay you this much per race regardless of car count." You may not be getting more money with more cars, but you're not getting less money with less cars either.

Consistency is the key. The smart promoter might get the racers used to a certain style of track. They know what it's going to be. Maybe it's a dry slick race track that is smooth or a more hooked up race track, but they get it consistently unless there's problems with the equipment. They get the purse that they're guaranteed and the show is run and usually ended at a certain time unless something unforeseen happens. The racers are paid within 30 minutes of the final checkered flag. You've done these consistent things. If a track was sort of erratic in this area, it will be something the racers eventually notice. Consistency matters.

Another thing a promoter has to worry about is employees. You have to hire reliable people. With all of the other things that you've got going on, if you're constantly having to restaff positions during the year, it can get very stressful. Sometimes, the concession area can be a challenge. You might be having to constantly hire new people. So, if a promoter finds a good concessionaire to run that for them, frequently they let them run it the way it needs to be run. That person may be paid well, but it's worth it.

If you've got somebody with a passion for concessions running that area, it will show. They know the key is getting people served their food in a timely manner so they can get back to watching the races. They know quality matters. They know how to find people who enjoy doing their job. A happy and well-fed fan becomes a loyal fan. That means more dollars coming through the gates. Concessions are important.

Then, there is the officiating side of it. A lot of times, you have people who will go into it for the long haul, but what are their motives? If you're somebody that gets to stand out on the track, it can be easy to just enjoy the races and not pay attention as required. Some promoters keep the staff in that area to a minimum. Some promoters don't believe you have to have a dozen people as officials. What realy is needed?

For starters, you need a Race Director. Sometimes, a promoter will want to step in and do that job themselves, but this is not advised. As much as you want to be hands-on, you are needed in other areas too. You can lay out the plan that you want and not give your Race Director free reign. "This is the way I want my show run, and I need you to do this, this and this." Some promoters are looking to throw the book at the racers, and other promoters have the philosophy of, "Let's have fun. Don't make me make calls to put you guys back in line, because that's not what I want to do. I will do it if I need to."

In addition to the Race Director, you have the flag man. There are promoters who will let the flag man run the show from the flag stand. I've seen tracks where the flag man is just the monkey that throws the flags as they're told to do, and that can lead to a mess. I've seen some good flag men who can handle things from the perch very effectively. But, ego can also come into play. These two positions are a must.

Obviously, you want somebody teching the race cars. Again, there are some promoters who don't like throwing the books at people. I tend to agree with that philosophy. Generally speaking, rules become a bit of an issue when you've got somebody dominating the show. If they're dominating the show legally, so be it. But, if somebody's winning a lot, it's understandable if you have your tech man looking over that car. The frustrating thing to me is the way I frequently see tech throwing the book at somebody who just got their best career finish in third. And the reason for the disqualification sometimes is ridiculous. Plus, some tracks love to throw the book at the lower divisions and never really even check the top divisions. Why? The top divisions are the ones taking more of your purse money. Something really doesn't make sense here.

You want a tech person who knows cars. They know engines. They know what to look for and can interpret the rules properly. You also want a level-headed tech man. This goes with any official, but if you don't get the right people in these key positions it can cause troubles. I've seen tech men who had vendettas against certain racers. Hey, we're all human. Give some people a little bit of authority, and they'll become little Hitlers. So promoters need to be able to roam from spot to spot during the course of the night to keep an eye on things

These three positions are important. You need at least one competent scorekeeper in the booth, and preferably somebody working underneath that person. Reason being, mistakes get made. As much as people love computerized scoring and it's a part of the sport, I'm against relying completely on it. I think you need somebody who knows how to line score, because these computers make mistakes and they do so all the time. Sometimes, a track will have the head scorekeeper handling the payout as well, so this person is very important. You're looking into a person's character and trustworthiness when you put them in that position.

You need somebody running the pit board to make sure the cars are sent to the staging area in a timely manner. You also need somebody in staging waving the cars on and off the track. These positions are important. You are going to have a hard time running a show without them. Where can you add other people into the equation, such as people working the track and keeping an eye on things or another person roaming the pits, is up to you.

It's become increasingly important to have experienced safety people involved. People who know how to put out fires and tend to crashes, a medical person on location with an ambulance. Different states and counties have different regulations in this area. You also want at least one if not two push vehicles. People will line up for such a thing. The same goes for tow trucks, although it's advisable to have a working tow truck that is at the track in case towing companies let you down. Things do come up, and you don't want to be left without a tow truck. I've been to such a race. Actually, there was a tow truck parked in the pits, but the racer refused to help the track and it's time of need.

I still maintain that a promoter needs to give some serious thought to the presentation of the program. If they treat their show like it's just some place to be rather than an event you don't want to miss, how are the fans supposed to take it seriously? Some promoters invest in a Winner's Circle in the infield where the drivers pull up to be interviewed. They do interviews with the winners. They have announcers who know what they're talking about. Whether it's the same guy in the booth who walks down for interviews or an announcer in the booth and an announcer in the infield.

Having a competent announcer is important. That person is the one selling the drivers to the fans. They're the ones getting the fans engaged in caring about the racers. Aside from watching what the racers do on the race track, the announcer tells the fans a little bit more about the racers. And by the way, good announcers plug the sponsors for the cars and track. Now more than ever, sponsorship is very important to keeping drivers on the track and the track opened. It's amazing to still see some tracks have some joker up in the booth who doesn't pay attention. And that's the person communicating things to the fans. Unbelievable.

A media person is very important as well. Back in Barky's days, he might just grease the palms of the local newspapers and get the track coverage. In those days, they were looking for stories. It was easier to get big spreads in the papers and everybody was reading the papers. It's 2018. Papers are still here and should be used as part of the plan, but you have to explore other avenues. You engage in social media, an attractive website and whatever means you can come up with. Having a competent Publicity Director can make the promoter money. Sometimes that Publicity Director and announcer are the same person, but not always.

This is still just part of what the promoter has to deal with. Another. tedious thing a promoter has to do is engage in constant phone calls during the week. There are any number of things that arise, or you need to check on things. Something's going on in one of your divisions and you need to engage the drivers in that class. You're bringing in a big sponsor and need to make sure your sponsor's needs are taken care of. Something broke at the track and you're bringing somebody in to fix it. You'd be amazed. Plus, you might have certain ideas brewing that aren't ready yet, and you're communicating on the phone with somebody to make it happen.

A promoter is PT Barnum in a way. "Step right up and come out to my race track." You're doing all the things it takes to make it happen. You're bringing in people you can trust to delegate certain duties, and a good leader inspires those people. It becomes a well-oiled machine. I've seen a few of those. One that comes to mind is Bakersfield Speedway. Scott would be the first person to tell you that he's got a good staff helping make it all possible. If you have a promoter who is not confident or trusting of their employees, you're bound to have problems with your program.

Of course, there are promoters out there that still work regular jobs, and your race track is going to demand several hours of your time. Some promoters might be able to get away with only showing up at their race track one time a week if conditions are right for it. Other promoters need to be there two or three times a week. And most promoters are opening up their wallets for whatever costs arise during the course of the week. If the money isn't coming in through the gates, it's coming out of your pockets.

It basically comes down to this. The smart promoter has a number written down on a piece of paper. This is the number it's going to cost them to run that show. They have to pay the rent. They have to pay the ambulance. They have to pay the utilities. They have to pay the employees. They have to pay whatever the guaranteed purses are. They have to have that much money ready to be spent at the race track that week. So, they have to have the money in the bank to cover those costs.

I've known promoters who flew by the seat of their pants. They just assumed the money was going to come through the gates and bills would get paid. If it didn't, they got creative with the paperwork in the hopes that by the time the season ended, the bills got paid. Everybody got what was coming to them. Not exactly the best way to do things, but they got by with that method for a while before somebody exploited that weakness to take the track from them. Best way to avoid that is to dot all the i's and cross all the t's beforehand. Have the money handy.

Now, it's silly to think that a promoter is just going to have to open up that envelope and give all of that money away as if no money is coming in. Money is coming in. The smart promoter, who also has the concession and beer business, knows that the money is probably going to be coming in. They've crunched the numbers, and unless something really bad happens, they'll either hit their mark or come close. However, tough times come.

This means that you might lose $1,000 this week, $500 the next week, $2,000 a week after that, another $750, and finally you have a $4,000 gain on a big special night. When you're losing money, you have to be able to cover it. If somebody's calling in the money now, you can't keep them waiting. If you build up a reputation of being too late paying your beer distributor, food services, rent or whatever, you will not last. You have to have the money to back up your business. Love of the sport and an ability to actually run things on race night is not good enough.

It's not an easy thing to be a promoter. It's 2018, and there's so many things threatening the sport. The automobile industry itself is changing. The previous president, not to get political, pushed for all the old cars to be taken off the road and junked. These were the cars that were turned into Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks. You'll be seeing the disappearance of those old Camaros and Firebirds, replaced by what? You've got the Modifieds and you've got the Sprint Cars. Creative rules have made different variations of both classes, but it's still the same basic premise. There has been no next big thing since the Modifieds were introduced on the West Coast in 1987. The closest thing was the recycling of the Sprint Cars with the Wingless Spec Sprint class.

Tracks started taking advantage of the front wheel drive 4 cylinder cars to create Four Bangers, but even if the division can be fun to watch, how many fans are beating down the gates to watch Four Bangers? And that's another thing, car count. We're not getting 60 cars among two divisions anymore. Some tracks do pretty well, like the aforementioned Bakersfield Speedway. Bakersfield just had a night in which their IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks had 70 cars among them, not even counting the other classes that were there that night.

At some tracks, 60 cars come from five or six divisions. This forces a promoter to create a roster with eight or nine divisions and rotate them. A smart promoter knows they can't run one division 20 times during the year and expect car count not to suffer. Therefore, they are rotating divisions and giving divisions 14 to 16 races for the most part. Sometimes a little bit less. This enables them to hit the magic pit number, which is generally in the 60 car range.

This can be painful for somebody who has watched the sport for years and knows what good car counts are. Now picture yourself being a promoter promoting shows with five divisions and 50 or 60 cars. You're telling yourself that at eight cars you can get two heats, a dash and a main, and you know that this is sad and a bit pathetic. But, you got four races out of that division on the list. Or maybe you don't run dashes in any of your five classes. You get 10 heat races and five Main Events. 15 races. I still recommend running Trophy Dashes.

Back in the good old days, time trials on the clock was a regular occurrence, followed by Trophy Dashes. I like the idea of starting your first races off as Trophy Dashes. You have something with some stakes to it. The winner gets a trophy. In Medford, Mike McCann opens the show with Trophy Dashes for all classes. How do we get it that way? Top 4 Main Event finishers from the previous race automatically qualify for the Trophy Dash. It shakes things up. While you generally might get the same top two drivers in the heat races making the dash all the time the way tracks do it now, somebody might get lucky and get that third or fourth place feature finish and have a shot at a Trophy Dash win. Makes sense, and we start the night off with something with some stakes to it.

But back to the thought. You're somebody who knows better what car count could be. Why promote race tracks with the five divisions and a 60 car turn out? You do it in the hopes that it will get bigger again in the next couple of years. You do it because you're keeping the sport alive. You're doing it to give the next generation a glimpse at the sport that you have loved for so many years.

Still want to be in the sport as a promoter? Do you think you've got what it takes? Can you round up the resources to make a run at a race track? Are you able to build a race track somewhere that doesn't have one? Some counties might be easier to deal with than others. Have you looked at fairgrounds that aren't currently using the main grandstand for racing? Rumor has it, Grass Valley could come back into play again. It might just take the right person to approach the fairgrounds with an offer and see what is doable. The thing is, fairgrounds have lost some of their budget money thanks to the governor, so if somebody can bring a race track there and give them $30,000 or so for the year, they're more willing to listen now.

Handing the money is very important to the fairgrounds, so here's something you need to understand if you are going to take out a proposal at any track that is having a competitive bid. The person with the track now is probably paying their bills. That's all that really matters. Unless there are safety concerns or health concerns at that race track, the fairgrounds isn't really interested in the program itself. They don't care if so and so it being favored or that promoter is a jerk. They care about the money they're being paid. So if you're going after a fairgrounds track that is held by somebody in the next bidding cycle, you'll get nowhere fast by attacking the person who is there now.

There's only one question you should be asking yourself when you put out a proposal for any fairgrounds track. What is it that you can offer that facility that isn't being offered there now? What sort of money are you willing to invest? What are you going to be able to do to generate more revenue than they are currently receiving? Money is the thing that's going to talk. The idea that you will be a great promoter and be fair to your racers or whenever your pitch might be in that regards is not going to be the main point that they're listening too. How is this going to translate into dollar signs for them?

If a person opens their wallet wide enough and gets the race track, there's one thing that they have that the previous promoter the year before didn't have. Unless you're a complete idiot and not talking the racer's language, you're likely to get a boost in car count when you replace the current team. Why is that?

There are several reasons. In some racing towns, you'll find racers who have parked their cars, only race a couple of times a year or do their racing out of town. For whatever reason, they don't want to support the current team running that race track. And, they may have left and come back a couple of times before. They've made up their minds. They are done with that track. Call me when that person is gone.

From a racing program standpoint, this means that if you just do some basic things, these people are coming back. They're going to give you a chance, and as long as they see that you really care and you are trying, they're going to overlook the first few speed bumps in their way. This is the honeymoon period. But be warned, the honeymoon period won't last. Sooner or later, they're all going to start complaining about certain things that may not seem significant, but they are important to them. And if they are important enough, those people will start parking again.

What we have in society are people who demand more and more satisfaction. They want that 100% satisfaction level, and they're not going to get it at almost any race track. Utopia Speedway doesn't exist on this planet as far as I know. So, a racer who might see 80% of what they like at the race track will still park if the 20% they don't like is pissing them off badly enough. Racers are a fickle bunch.

I had a promoter tell me that if you give the racers the opportunity, they'll do the wrong thing every time. While that's an extremely pessimistic view, I somewhat understand it. Races have done the wrong thing on numerous occasions. In the Golden Age of racing, when the fans packed the stands, racers would go on strike because they felt they weren't getting fair treatment. Just that little bit of absence might have hurt the attendance enough that when they came back it's wasn't the same anymore. You can blame the promoter for screwing up, sure. But the racers aren't always innocent either

If you want to sit down and call the promoter greedy and whatnot, not that some don't deserve to have criticisms lobbied against them, you should call the racers on some of the ignorant stuff that they do too. We talked about how expensive it is for the sport. It is expensive. You want to know how it gets that way? The people at the top push the rules. The promoter doesn't say no. Sometimes the promoter is getting a kick back from the parts sales person, but whatever the reason, the promoter should be saying no.

The faster racer, sometimes driving for that parts salesperson, keeps wanting more and more. They start dominating the program. Suddenly, some of the lower end drivers start parking. They don't have a chance and it's not fun for them anymore. The greed of the people who had the resources hurt the class, but you want to know something? The racer that caused that won't look in the mirror and see the blame. Oh no. It's the cheap promoter for not paying a big enough purse. I've seen this scenario play out multiple times in the sport.

It's an interesting story. You have to have a passion to be involved in this sport. Even to be a racer, you have to have a passion. You may not be spending promoter type money, but the thousands you do spend on these race cars ads up. You can be spending that money on other things that are needed around the house. You can be spending that money on doing something with your family. Instead, that race car is eating your money. Are you getting a return on that investment? Is it fun? Are you winning? I've seen drivers quit in a short amount of time simply for that reason. It's not fun.

We are lauding this generation of young racers in the sport. Get out of the way old man, the 14 year old is coming. Fine. We need new racers. But, does this kid really love the sport? Will they be there 10 years from now when they're 24, or will they be sold out by then when they realize they're not making it to NASCAR? They're part of the instant gratification society. There might be a few that last, but how many of them? Time will tell.

This is why I have a respect for the promoters. They take the risk. They spend the money. They cover the losses that all too frequently occur. They get the rewards, but they get all the negativity associated with the job. Given all that, do you still want to be a promoter?

Sprint Cars, Modified Classes Highlight Memorial Day Weekend Show At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...April 14...It's been a while since Antioch Speedway has had a Memorial Day Weekend race. Running big shows on the holiday weekends used to be a given, but trends have changed in racing so much that it presents a problem when it comes to trying to do anything special at a race track. Several tracks in California choose to go dark, and Antioch Speedway was one of them.

However, that has changed this Saturday night. Taking advantage of the fact that neighboring Petaluma Speedway is dark this week, the All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Car division will be headlining this Saturday's show. The A Modifieds and B Modifieds will be there as well as the Hobby Stocks and Dwarf Cars.

Promoter John M Soares was careful when he booked his Winged Sprint Car schedule this year. He made an effort to not book any shows for this division when Petaluma Speedway was running and succeeded for the most part. This means that Petaluma racers who enjoy making visits to Antioch Speedway can do so without losing points at their home track. It also means the speedway should see a pretty good turnout in the popular division.

When last we left the Winged 360 Sprint Car division at the season opener, it was 2016 champion Billy Aton collecting the victory. Aton now finds himself leading the tied Matt DeMartini, Burt Foland Jr and David Lind II. Lindt, who was a feature winner at Antioch last season, calls Petaluma Speedway his home track. It was also his first career win. Antioch has been known for being the venue for several of the young up-and-coming racers to get their first wins in this division in recent years.

Division mainstay Art McCarthy is the two-time reigning champion, but his season opener ended in the pits. Art will be out to try and turn things around, and other drivers to watch for include Roy Fisher, last season's top rookie Jacob Tuttle, Tim Burcher, David Dias and probably a few racers who normally would be seen at Petaluma Speedway.

The A Modified division has seen some top-notch drivers in action this year, including past Antioch champions Kellen Chadwick and Carl Berendsen II. Both drivers are feature winners this year. In fact, two-time Petaluma Speedway and reigning Watsonville champion Nick DeCarlo opened the season with back-to-back wins. With all of that happening, people may not have noticed Bobby Motts Jr. Through consistency, Motts is 14 points ahead of DeCarlo in his bid to repeat as track champion.

Still without a win is Scott Busby. He is in pursuit of a milestone achievement. At 72 wins, one more win will give the five-time Modified champion sole possession of the all-time win record at the speedway. Two races ago, Busby won a good battle with Buddy Kniss to finish a season-high second. Busby isn't the only driver hoping for a victory. Others to watch for this week include Sean O'Gara, Raymond Lindeman, Trent Wentworth and Shawn DeForest.

The B Modifieds have another big night planned. This is the fourth Sharp Shooter Tournament Race, and there are a few drivers with their eyes on that prize as well as Main Event glory. Sitting at the top of the point list at the moment is the most recent feature winner, Trevor Clymens. Clymens is the 2016 champion and is usually in the hunt for victory if he's not winning. Behind Trevor, Brent Curran holds a six-point lead over Ryan DeForest for second. Both drivers are also in contention for top rookie honors. Curran impressed earlier this year with a Main Event win and lost a close battle with Clymens last time out.

Antioch Speedway has some fast competitors in the field, not the least of which is 2016 Hobby Stock champion Guy Ahlwardt. Guy is only eight points out of second. More importantly, he's hoping to grab his first win in this division. Other drivers to keep an eye on include Tommy Fraser, Aaron Crowell, Todd Gomez and recent Placerville winner KC Keller.

It seems as if 2010 Hobby Stock champion Chris Sorensen and Michael Cooper were playing a game of divide and conquer in the Hobby Stock division. Both drivers have won three Main Events. However, Cooper has been in a bit of a slump during the past two weeks, allowing Sorensen to build a 30 point advantage.

The Hobby Stock division has seen an increase in new competitors this season, and the question of who would be the first to win was answered last week. Top rookie John Wacht outran reigning champion Cameron Swank and Sorensen to pick up his first career victory. Wacht is now 12 points ahead of reigning champion Swank and 32 behind Cooper. Another rookie, Haley Gomez, had her best finish in fourth last time out.

As these drivers get more confident, you'll likely see some other new winners as the season goes on. Other drivers to look for this week include fifth ranked Billy Garner, Tanis Rangel, Brianna Troen, Anthony Vigna and Erik Pitschner.

Mike Corsaro is on a good pace to repeat as the Dwarf Car champion. He has won three point season Main Events as well as the Winter Classic back in January. His closest rival is teammate Charlie Correia, 42 points back. Correia, who ran Super Modifieds for years and is one of the longest running Dwarf Car drivers on the West Coast, has had back-to-back third place finishes to move into second. But really, it's about going out and having fun with his friends on Saturday night for the 80 year old competitor.

In the record books, you'll find that nobody has won more Street Stock Main Events in Antioch Speedway history than David Rosa. He's also a two-time champion. Rosa is only 16 points behind Correia and four ahead of Mario Marques in a close battle. Young gun Miranda Chappa is also in this battle, 16 points behind Rosa. The competition is getting close behind Corsaro, and he can expect a challenge from these drivers as well as others, such as Troy Stevenson, David Michael Rosa, Josh Miller, Roberto Monroy and Chris Becker.

For fans who are jonesing for their racing fix during the holiday break, Antioch Speedway is giving them what they want this Saturday night. It's a great lineup of divisions from top to bottom, and the racing should be action-packed. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Orland Raceway Off To A Good Start

Orland, CA...There's lots to be excited about at Orland Raceway this season. Car count is doing well in the primary classes after three races and more people are coming out to watch the show. Last Friday night's Glenn County Fair race offered non stop action to the fans.

The Wingless Gas Sprint division continues to grow. The recent show had seven entries and a thrilling ending. Josh Tucker won a photo finish with Tanner Thomson to the checkered flag. Josh Jacobo won the season opener, but he had a bit of bad luck this time. Jeff Crossman, David Johnson and RJ Baker were also in the mix in an entertaining race.

Silver Dollar Speedway competitor Richard Vanderploeg came to town in a Pure Stock and ended a two race winning streak for reigning champion Jeremy Langebderfer. The car count of over dozen featured past Orland champions Paul Stevens, Steve Martin, Jerry Bartlett and Brad Ray battling for position.

Keith Ross was back in the winner's circle in the Mini Truck Main Event. The competition level has increased in this division as 11 drivers lined up to do battle.  2016 champion Dan Webster is looking fast in his new truck, and 2013 champion Ross Vige was making his first start of the season. William Fogle was battling with division newcomers Tony Quinonez, Kalvin Kvalik and Justin Vance.

Paul Stevens has been racing in two divisions, and he snapped a two race winning streak for Barbara Crain. Reigning champion Tom Davis was pretty dominant last season, but he's finding it a bit more challenging to get a win so far this season as Sean Perry, Dustin Hills, Jason Libbee and two time champion John Kirkpatrick are running strong.

Racing returns to the fast one-fifth mile dirt oval on June 2nd. For further information go to www.orlandraceway.org.

The Editor's Viewpoint

It's been a very long weekend and I was exhausted by the end. In fact, it took me a couple of days to get caught up and I'm still not there yet. It's early Wednesday morning and I've done a lot of the usual media effort, but blog posts haven't been put up. No audio show has been recorded yet either. I did get into the media effort of sending some stuff to try and help various tracks.

Up here in Medford, it's been a constant struggle. I've been told it gets easier as you go on. Like, next year will be easier than this year. It's gone in reverse up here. Seems like it's been more of a struggle. I've learned one thing and that is to expect anything to happen. That's not always a good thing. And when something does happen, if you can go in there and take care of it, you get it done. I'm getting a crash course in things that I never had to deal with before.

We're making progress, but I can tell you that it's been hard work. At some point, some of these stories will come out in the book that I will be releasing during the off-season. I have logged things away in my mind or jotted a few notes here and there and moved on to what needs to be done now. When we have success, I might smile for a minute and say how it was good, but I'm already looking ahead to next week. I've had it pounded into my head from early on that things can go back down hill in an instant.

What I've learned about this place was it was already on a pretty good decline by the time I got here with Mike. We inherited a situation that wasn't pleasant, and a lot of people aren't happy with the place. There are a lot of people that are willing to give us a chance, but there are others who want to punish us for something previous management did. You can't win with them.

I have one mantra here. Did I do my best? Did I do what I could to help the cause? My time involved in the sport is limited. I really don't see me continuing for too much longer before I walk away. It takes a lot out of me that I really don't feel I have left to give sometimes. It leaves me drained, very frustrated and wondering what's going on with my own life. And what's worse is I just throw myself into it that much harder.

There's things to do, and we're coming up on a crucial part of the schedule now. The success that we earn in the next few weeks will determine what sort of chance we have for the year overall. Do we have a good schedule? I think so. My own personal opinion is that there's only one thing lacking on the schedule that we don't have enough of. I like the idea of giving the fans as much car count as you can. Knowing that one particular division will deliver a car count, and it's only on the schedule two times frustrates me. It's not my call to make. It's my job to present what's there to the people.

We had Street Stocks last week. I am a Street Stock fan. It's always been one of my top three divisions. I appreciate Oregon and the way it has kept Street Stocks true to what they have been. This division resembles the Street Stock class that I remember in California 20 years I go. For various reasons that I don't want to get into here, California completely screwed the whole thing up. I can cite two race tracks that were at the forefront of that, Antioch Speedway and Watsonville Speedway. In California, you don't have anything called Street Stock anymore that resembles this. You have Hobby Stocks that resemble Street Stocks.

You might wonder why somebody would create a tour for a Street Stock division. I like the idea. I think it was necessitated because of decisions made by management at a certain track prior to 2017. Whatever the case, it happened and we have a great series. Taking eight race tracks and running eight races with $1,000 or more to win purses is a great idea, but I know it's time-consuming. I know what we do with this race track, and even if a series isn't as big as a race track, there's still a lot to be done. Chris Sine and James Whitehouse are to be commended.

Bear in mind that Southern Oregon Speedway has no Street Stock division of it's own. Therefore, to deliver 21 Street Stocks to this track was pretty impressive. It leaves me wishing that we had this division, but I know it's just wishful thinking. We're in a time right now where we don't have the luxury of waiting for a class to come along after two or three years. We need it now. That also leaves me wondering why a certain division is only on our schedule twice, but I digress. At the least, hopefully we'll be seeing this series again next year.

I watched everything play out during the off-season with our Sprint Car class. David Hibbard was thinking big picture when he wanted to bring the interstate Sprint Car Series back to life. He had the money to sponsor the whole thing, and he wanted to make a big statement in Oregon. He saw that our numbers came along better from 2016 to 2017, but I don't think he was looking at things realistically.

I understand how a person can start looking at race track unity and doing things like that. Believe me, I have made certain efforts through the years myself. But, I'm looking at a race track that's been on hard times for a few years and needs things that get people excited about coming back again. The reason Mike put Sprint Cars back on the schedule so prominently in 2016 is because he believes that they are a key part in getting fans interested in coming to the races. The fact that we had better numbers in 2017 was encouraging, but it didn't call for any kind of a series to be created among the race tracks, in my opinion.

David had other ideas, and he was dealing with a man that I personally don't feel can be trusted. I believe that Crockett Motorsports has perhaps done some good things for Sprint Car racing in this state, but they've also done a lot of damage. The fall of the Winged 360 Sprint Car division can be at least partially attributed to Crockett himself. That's just my opinion. Others may see it differently. So, putting the idea in the man's head that there's something to be built on with the Limited Sprints wasn't a very smart move by Hibbard. He eventually realized that and withdrew his financial support. Problem was, Crockett went ahead with the series even when Southern Oregon Speedway withdrew from it.

But I'll give credit where it's due. They had a very solid opening weekend for the series. Cottage Grove is a given. The numbers are coming along in this class. They have now had two B Mains due to big car counts. Coos Bay Speedway was the question. Who would come? You pretty much know you've got six or eight cars waiting at the gates for the visitors. Well, Crockett managed to get a good portion of Cottage Grove regulars to come, and Southern Oregon drivers supported as well, despite their home track not being a part of the series.

Opening weekend for the Interstate Sprint Car Series was a success, bottom line. The one thing Crockett wisely did was make sure his dates will remain off of Southern Oregon Speedway dates. Because of that, he'll probably get some drivers from there to support the other races. Coos Bay Speedway isn't likely to send much support if any to any other track outside of Coos Bay. This has to do with the fact that Chuck Prather owns most of the cars and is keen on having a show at his track. Therefore, Coos Bay is useful to the series because it's a track to run and there are at least a few racers waiting there when the visitors come.

When you go to places other than Coos Bay, you're relying on Cottage Grove and Southern Oregon cars to prop the show up. My guess is they'll manage to have a decent season this year. I've heard Crockett is trying to sell the Interstate Sprint Car Series, which really didn't even exist for a couple of years prior to being brought back as the title brand for the Limited Sprint Tour.

Getting back to Southern Oregon Speedway, I think the key is to do what's right for that race track. Focusing on building classes that are working, such as the Sprint Cars and the Hornets and the Sport Modifieds and figuring out what to do about classes that either aren't growing or seem to be in decline. It's a never-ending struggle to build up a racing program. People don't understand, and maybe they don't need to. It does get frustrating when you hear critics who don't really understand the big picture and all you can do is sit there and listen to them tell you how you're doing everything wrong.

I'm tired of the whole process at this point. Sometimes I don't know how I get through a week of this. It's not the labor of love it once was. It's something maybe I do pretty well, but there are other things in life too. Maybe one day I'll be able to experience some of that. In the meantime, when those feelings start to arise, I just throw myself back into the sport. There's plenty to worry about when it comes to this track and what we're going to do next week. How did we do last week? What can we learn from it? What can we apply towards making next week better? And on and on.

Maybe I made a coherent point. I don't know. I'm curious to see how this Open Wheel Showcase Event goes in light of the fact that Southern Oregon Speedway fans are more of a Modified crowd. When we did the Roger Haudeshild Tribute race in 2016 on this weekend, we benefited from the fact that Yreka had a big money race on Sunday. Therefore, Californians could come up and hit our big money race on Saturday and go back for Yreka's money the next night. Now, our big race is a week later, and there's not as much incentive for any California racers to come to that.

Therefore, this week is more about building up a brand and getting people interested in a style of racing that they may not be familiar with. To be honest with you, the Northwest Focus Midget group has some great racing. The cars are fast, and there are quite a few of them. But, if the fans don't know who these people are, are they willing to pay the ticket price to come watch? If they're not, you're (well, Mike) taking the financial risk to bring them in. And we're adding a Sprint Car program to the mix, so it's not a cheap endeavor. The racing will be good, but we need to get the fans to watch. We need to get them to understand that there are more than just IMCA Modifieds in the racing world. So my goal is to see what I can do to help get people interested. It's why I was brought up here.

And the funny thing is, even if we pull it off, there's no time to celebrate and pat ourselves on the back. We've got another race to worry about next week. That's the process. I'll just leave it at the thought that I had in mind when I came up here. I want to leave things better than they were when I got here. I see myself as a link in the chain, but I don't intend to stick around indefinitely. So, at least knowing that I made some kind of a difference would be a good thing.

I see my future as leading elsewhere. I've enjoyed the challenges and feel like I've done my best. I've enjoyed my interactions with many of the good people here. I'm honored that I've had the responsibilities put up on me to help make things happen. And with those responsibilities, you're getting the trust that you're going to do what's right. It can't be about you. It's got to be about the track. Hopefully, people will look back and have a favorable view of what I've done here. There's more to be done, but right now, I'm done talking about it.

Until next time...