Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
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I listened tonight to the "Racing with D.O." Internet radio show with USAC's Kevin Miller and Jason Olsen and Jason McCord as guests. D.O. (sorry I don't recall his name and I am not really sure if that's the correct name of the radio show) is based in a bar every Monday night (I think) in Indianapolis.

Earlier over on the Indiana Open Wheel board he asked if anyone had any questions they wanted answered by Miller. A couple of posters asked him to speak to Miller about Tony Jones and the USAC points fund. He asked all the questions of the USAC president, but when it came to the question about Tony, this D.O. guy called him a "whiner" for asking about the fund. I was impressed with Miller's response as he stated that he would by at least April let drivers and car owners know where the fund stood.

His (D.O) remark about Tony was uncalled for and very unprofessional. Just wanted everyone to know about what appears to be an Indiana and anti-Jones slant on the situation. I asked if he would invite Tony to participate next week on the program - don't hold your breath.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Like I said on IOW:

I wouldn't let DO's offhand comment take people's eye off the ball here. I'm sure Tony will ring up DO and talk to directly about it if he's bothered by it. DO is many things including controversial, crass, opinionated and interesting. He's zinged many a driver over the years including all the best. Personally, I don't think DO was calling Tony a whiner as much as it was DO delivering a question in typical DO style. Presidential interviews would be much more interesting if DO was asking the questions, believe me. Focus on the interviewees answers to DO's questions, not the way the question was asked.

Kevin Millers found time to talk to some drunk in a bar about this,but he does'nt feel the need to respond to the CRA guys concerns.I can only assume he found USAC so disorganized when he came in,that he needs time to study all aspects of the organization,so he does'nt misspeak when he gets back to the west coast teams.that's my hope anyway. p.s I never heard of this program,don't no this guy D.O.and I have no no knowledge as to whether he drinks or not.It's just the a off handed comment as away to be crass and controversial ,but wait I don't have a radio talk show based in a BAR,could I get SUED ,,,no then he'd be the whiner or is wiener more correct,,don't mess with our cowboy

Sorry some of you are pissed off because we talked with Kevin Miller and let him answer a question sent to me to ask. Tripcrwn has seemed to take up Tony Jones fight for him. I used the term whinning to lead into the question. I know Tony well enough he knows it was meant with no harm meant. Tony has been on www.racefanradio.com s USAC show in the past. We are not set up to do call in but the Rob Klepper USAC show does, so maybe Tony could call in this Wednesday? Tony has been on our show in the past when racing back here with CRA and SCRA and USAC so he knows what we do or ask Super Ricky about it.

Race88 you don't have a clue what we do in Indy, we don't drink anymore so I take issue with your drunk comment. Yes we do it in a bar and have for 15 years. It's a bar I've seen many of your heros upside down when they come to town and come to the show at Kelly's Pub in Speedway.

Guys the quetion I have is who was the USAC offical that told Tony it was a $10,000 point fund for the driver? That's where the problem would start. The west coast USAC group has been their own group for the most part with Tommy Hunt taking care of it. I'm sure the west coast has lots of things going on that the Midwest office doesn't always know about.

Kevin Miller has stepped in and is making changes and makinbg them now. I suggest you all listen to our show from last night as Kevin, Jason Smith and Jason McCord talked about a lot of changes coming soon. It's Jason Smith not Jason Olsen,

Sorry your pissed off over really nothing but I do have the passion for the sport that many of you have. I've done this a long time and the fire still burns. Look at my joined date and you will see it's not my first rodeo.

Tony Jones is a good racer and we wish he was back here racing. I talked with him for over an hour today so he is fine.

Dan O. Laycock

Huggypole (D.O.)

Tony doesn't need me or anyone else to fight his battles. I don't know you D.O. but you sound like a decent guy and you certainly have friends that defended your flip comment concerning Tony Jones. Last night was the first night I caught your Internet program and I enjoyed the program in spite of your reference to Jones' whining. I will tune in again -for sure- hopefully for you're on the air apology. I would also urge Mr. Miller to show up at the PAS this Saturday night to meet with the drivers and owners of the CRA.

One more comment. As a radio reporter or host, I would think that you would do some homework (ask questions) on all issues of the racing community that you cover (assuming its open wheel). If you had spent some time researching this issue you would have realized how important the problem is with the USAC/CRA owners and drivers. I realize the Indiana fans are busy waiting for the new season back there and that's ok. Their focus is on local open wheel and who can blame them, but your comment seems to be also limited to your areas of local interest. Even though your program purports to be a national show, your question of Miller seemed to be "yeah, I will ask the question, but who cares about California or Arizona." Maybe change the title of your program to "Midwest Open Wheel" or something with a local theme. From now on I will ask questions of Rob Klepper rather than have you involved – nothing personal. In other words, I don't think you are qualified to cover sprint car racing out here.

Also your comment to Racer 88, "It's a bar I've seen many of your heroes upside down when they come to town and come to the show at Kelly's Pub in Speedway." did nothing to help your cause or new reputation out here.

I also was raised in the 60s, but after several years of learning hard lessons, I became wise in the ways of the world and no longer make unnecessary remarks to or about people. Least of all on Internet radio. My apologies to Jason Smith. Good luck to you and hopefully Kevin Miller can ease the unrest out here.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Sprint car driver Tony Jones to USAC: Show me the Money

12:32 AM PST on Thursday, February 28, 2008

By MATT CALKINS
The Press-Enterprise

Norco resident Tony Jones was expecting something from the United States Auto Club and didn't get it.

So now the sprint car driver is essentially telling USAC: Don't expect too much out of me.

Jones said that last year the former USAC president told him that the champion of the USAC/CRA series would receive $10,000 in bonus money, while other drivers would be given a proportional amount based on how they finished in the points.

The money, as Jones understood it, was to be taken out of a $60,000 point fund, which is generally contributed to by the various tracks that host USAC/CRA sprint car events.

Kevin Miller has since taken over as CEO and president of USAC. And when Jones, who ended up winning the championship, told Miller of the $10,000 he was owed, Miller wondered how Jones ever thought USAC had that kind of money to give away.

Considering that USAC was losing money on the CRA series, which runs on West Coast tracks including Perris Auto Speedway, Miller said he couldn't give him any more than $4,800, and said the point fund was more like $40,000.

No matter who or what the source of confusion was, the news irked Jones. And while the sprint car season has been under way for a couple of weeks now, he said he doesn't plan on running a full schedule and will skip some out-of-state races.

"The whole West Coast series got shorted," Jones said, pointing out that the point fund has been declining every year. "I mean, if you have a job and your boss tells you that you're going to make $100,000 and at the end of the year you only make $70,000, you're going to be upset."

Miller said he feels for the drivers and added that the CRA is extremely important to USAC, which also has a host of national and regional series. And he maintains that he never tried to deceive or shortchange anybody, but that the money just wasn't there.

"There is a certain expectation for the point fund, but unfortunately the expectation is different than reality," Miller said, adding that he was unaware of any past agreements Jones had made.

"I would love to say, 'Here, for me to make you feel better, here's $20,000.' But that money doesn't exist. We're trying to do whatever we can to put more fans in the seats."

Some CRA drivers, such as Rickie Gaunt, have said the CRA doesn't need USAC and can have its own series at Perris. Miller argues that the CRA would have a hard time surviving without USAC, adding that the West Coast series provides an opportunity for a lot of young drivers to develop their talent.

Perris had its opening weekend for the sprint car season nearly three weeks ago. Jones was there, as was Temecula resident Mike Spencer, who finished second to Jones last year.

Spencer said he's upset with the money situation, as are a lot of drivers. Nevertheless, he plans on running the whole season.

"The team I'm running for wants to run all the races. That's kind of been the plan from the beginning," Spencer said. "So that's what we're going to do."

huggypole; your right I have a clue of what your doing in Indy,heck I did'nt realize it was a dry state.[we don't drink anymore?] I clairified that my statement .was 'a off handed comment as a way to be crass and controversial'.Similar to you implying our USAC/CRA champion was a whiner for simply questioning USAC's points fund payout.You're quite a 'words smith' ,you said sorry twice in you statement,yet appoligizeed for nothing."Sorry your pissed off over nothing" the Nothing I'm pissed off about is you claimed our USAC/CRA champion was a whiner and it could'nt be farther from the truth.For the record Tony Jones broke his collarbone midseason,had it pinned,and continued to race through the pain to to out point a hard charging Mike Spencer to win the championship.If you know him as you stated,you know there is no whine in him.Say you misspoke ,say your sorry,no shame in being wrong once in a while.....but now'It's a bar I've seen many of your heros upside down when they come to town and come to the the show at Kelly's pub at the speedway.'you sure you want to drag statements like this out .....and don't try to drag Super Ricky into this,if he had an opinion,he'd post it ,he's not shy.......

I just don't get you guys. DO Laycock was the first person to get the president of USAC onto radio and ask him questions that he most definitely doesn't want to be answering publicly. DO Laycock has spent his entire life publicizing sprint/midget racing and yet you want to kick his backside because you didn't like the way he asked one question. Remember the ESPN Thursday Night Thunder shows? How many guesses do you want to figure out who one of the people behind the scenes was on that show? So if you think the dude is trying to tear down or be a detriment to our type of racing, you need your head examined. DO's comment about drinking referred to the fact that he quit drinking several years ago. So if anything, holding the show at Kelly's isn't in his personal interest. Kelly's just happens to be one of the few bars in the entire world that you can walk into on any night and you might randomly see a drag racing driver, Indy car driver, sprint car driver, motorcycle racer or famous racing personality on any given night. I've haven't seen a bar like that here in California.

Also, the Tony Jones issue is fairly small potatoes in the overall USAC picture. Yep Tony, and perhaps more importantly Mark Alexander got screwed by USAC. But their Silver Crown division is imploding and their National midget people got hosed on their money too. I wouldn't get too wound up on our self-importance here but the problems with the CRA series are a mere annoyance compared to the serious problems they have at the National level. They likely are working hard to sort out their problems with the National series before they have time to even start looking at the CRA series. Which is something I pointed out years ago. The CRA series will always looked upon as the retarded stepchild in the USAC family. If you have anger about the Tony Jones situation, it should be pointed towards the people sitting in the office on 16th street in Indianapolis, not DO.

Oh, one other thing. DO's father worked at the Indy Motor Speedway for many years and his grandfather only attended 80 STRAIGHT INDY 500's and was the official historian for the speedway for 60 some years. I'm sorry, how much has your family contributed to racing?

Thanks for straightening everything out there RichCee! I feel so much better now.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Rich

Thats great that DO has promoted sprint/midget racing all his life, and his family has been so involved. I don't think that gives him the right to call one of the most respected drivers on the west coast a "whinner" and I don't think anyone is critical of any questions. This is about respect and if there is a driver that should be given respect it is Tony Jones.

Grady

. 

ahhh.....excuse me Mr. RichCee but Rob Klepper was the first to have Miller on Internet radio. Also, according to the new USAC president he anticipates between 60-80 traditional "Big Cars" at their next event. That may be attributed to his (Miller) hard work as the new head of USAC. Doesn't sound like the division is "imploding" to me. DO was wrong and so be it. I am sure he appreciates you defending him. BTW, what don't you get? Glad to hear DO got on the telephone and spoke with Tony about his mistake. I know that I would have done the same if I would have publicly embarrassed someone. I am sure that everyone here is just as big a fan of sprint car racing as you and certainly entitled to their opinions. And surprisingly they usually don't talk down to their fellow posters unlike you.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

I did have Kevin Miller on our show the first day he was on the job and Rob had him two days later. I didn'r dis Tony and he knows that, he in fact likes the fact we brought the problem up so more people know about it.

The fact is most people back here #1 aren't on this message board, #2 most fans in the mid-west don't know much about what you guys are doing other than results, #3 most didn't have a clue about Tony's and everybodys problem, now they know.

WE, myself, Kevin Oldham [K.O. of Hoseheads] do care and have followed USAC / CRA present and past back to the real CRA at Ascot. Remember seeing Ascot video on ESPN's Speeweek show? Guess who did that? Remember Thunder Series at Ascot then going to Ventura ? Guess who. Remember the Thunder features on Tripp, Marc Hart, Terry Farrar and those great days?

I don't like to bring up the old stuff that I've done but I have to correct Rich C. a little. it was my dad that did 80 indy 500, the press room at Indy and Historian. He also was the USAC chief scorer in the 60's. Thats were I grew up. In 1967-68 I built with my brother the Laycock Mongoose that Lloyd Ruby led the Indy 500 with and did win a few USAC Championship races. I got into TV in 1966 and started with ESPN at their first USAC Tv race in 1979. I worked my way up to being a producer and created with ESPN the Thunder Series. At one point I had to pick between doing the ESPN NASCAR series or USAC Thunder Series that we started. I might of been rich and in NASCAR but I did the USAC stuff cause thats were my roots were.

Growing up with racing has been good. Once out of TV I owned at Midget just for 16th Street Speedway. Kruseman drove it on National TV [Speed] leading 27 of 30 laps. Sleppy drove his last race in the mid-west in it as well. He missed the show. I called him a Pus afterwards.

Anyway who cares!!!!

The bottom line is now more people know about the west coast problem. Instead of firing on the web you all need to circle your troops and make a plan. Sounds like it's broke and it needs to be fixed.

Dan O. Laycock

Mr. Laycock, I think you made our point when you responded to questions about the USAC/CRA problem with Mr. Miller. Thank you for this response - you have an impressive background in motorsports which I appreciate now. Its unfortunate that we had to go this way to get USAC's attention. Live and learn.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

This Monday we will have Mike King, new promoter at Terre Haute. Live show at Kelly's Pub Too in Speedway , In. starting at 8PM est on www.racefanradio.com

We will be playing an Oldies video with some Ascot, Ventura, Tripp & PJ. STop by if your near.

D.O. Laycock

Any Terre Haute questions?

Grady , why didn't I write this,I stumbled all over the place and insulted people.Next time I have an opinion,I'll wait to see if you post,you hit the nail on the head this time.......

I don't know how the rest of you feel but I'm not used to CRA or the original SCRA being called or thought of as "small potatoes". I'm also not very comfortable with Ken Wagner, who I respect very much, who was making excuses for the poor showing we made at the Copper on dirt.

I know, I always talk in lofty ways about CRA and SCRA and yes, I have no solutions either, but I do see this bunch of guys out Ventura way that have the spirit that CRA seem's to have lost. NO, not saying run 360's. Those guys have pride in their series and I can feel it all the way over here in AZ and it does make a difference, on the track and in the stands... I don't get that anymore from CRA/USAC, just for the individual drivers.

As far as this thread and the dis of Tony? I can't, I've been a good boy for a while now LOL, anyway, it was a dead issue before this thread started. He talked with Tony, right? That say's it all, he knew.

P. S. cshu, AMRA, is worth it. You are a true credit.

Kenny

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.