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

If reports are correct that there were only 12 410 teams at Santa Maria last night, doesn't USAC care to try and help at all? When the USAC/SCRA split was taking place in 2004, USAC was buying plane tickets for some of their national drivers to race that first year. I suspect they did that to help kill of the SCRA. What has now become one of their own series, does USAC not care to do anything to help?

Manzanita cancelled the USAC/CRA event in September and replaced it with an ASCS event. This was probably due to that fact that only 6 teams from California went last time and track management was concerned about another poor showing, especially with gas prices where they are now. I know USAC just cant foot the travel expenses week in and week out for the teams, but I don't see where they are making any effort whatsoever to at least try and help. Just seems interesting that when they had an agenda in 2004 they could buy plane tickets without hesitation. Now that the very race teams they wanted to join them need help, where's the leadership now?

Is Santa Maria turn out really USAC's fault. I mean it was no secret that the teams do not like to go there from last year. But at leat they had 20 cars there even it 8 were 360s.

Cant very well fly in national drivers when they have their own race at eldora

security to turn 1 Ray Ray posted something on this board must have too much time on his hands since the girls graduated.

ROB

Ok, I might be sincerely aging myself here but I do have a question for the gang on the message board. Back in the day when CRA had Gary Sokola and Frank Lewis as president and even when SCRA was formed and we had Glenn Howard and then Ron Shuman as president, I seem to remember that if a race was a certain distance from the home track the teams were given tow money to help defray the costs of traveling. Now, I went to a race in Hagerstown for the USAC Nationals and I heard that USAC gave the National guys tow money to head east. Why isn't this being done for the USAC/CRA group?

I could be 1000% wrong on the tow money thing, and of course all of my notes from races are packed & in storage in Phoenix so I don't have a way to double check my memory. Maybe someone else on the board could help me remember or let me know if I'm off of my rocker!

Why is it that the USAC National guys get tow money and USAC/CRA guys don't? With diesel as expensive as it is, I can't really blame a lot of the teams for staying home. I would love to hear USAC's answer to my question but I know that heck will freeze over before I'd get an honest answer from them. Sorry USAC but that's how this fan feels. Especially after going to Hagerstown and watching how USAC treated a guy who isn't a regular USAC National driver. But that's another can of worms to open and off of this subject.

Thank you to all of the teams that do show up week after week to put on a show for the fans. It's got to be hard to do, but this is one fan who appreciates it; even if I'm not on the west coast right now to enjoy the racing.

Just my 2 cents worth....

June

RIP Chet and Mark.  You might be gone but never will 
be forgotten.

You misread my post. I didn't say anything about having USAC fly drivers in for last nights race. No worries tho, I also have misread an interpretation or two on these oh so wonderful message boards!

USAC is like the big oil companys .. Do I need say more ?

Joe

June, with the SCRA club, in the beginning, we did receive assistance  with tow money, members, regardless of distance East/West. But you have to remember, we're racing for the Corporation now, not a club. We're(Owners & Drivers,)  private Contractors, hired to provide the entertainment that the USAC Corp. is selling to the race tracks. It's not a club made up of Owners & Drivers anymore. That  ended when the So. Cal track owners decided to not allow Ron Shuman's (President), club of racers to continue racing as a club.Of course, that's my opinion as I saw it happen, as one of the owners/drivers.

Cal

Hey Cal, long time no see.

As "Independent Contractors", you have ZERO say in your schedule, what you get to use at work and how you conduct your affairs. That's very odd because that is typically the 'perks' of being a "private contractor". Funny how things work out huh?

You coming back to Chili Bowl in '09?

Thank you Cal for answering my question. I think that it's horrible that USAC ponies up tow money for their national series but can't do anything for the west coast series.

I wish I had a lot of money or would win the powerball or lotto so I could kick in some money to help out the teams that need help with fuel/diesel or other things. Ken Wagner has done so much for sprint car racing that he has to be thanked for all that he does.

SkyHarborCowboy aka Joe is another one who really has been trying to get more money for the owners to help offset the rising fuel costs.

I wish I knew the answer to get the sprint car racing back to what it was a few years ago. I miss the big car counts and the diversity of the different drivers.

Good luck to all who are racing this upcoming weekend.

June

RIP Chet and Mark.  You might be gone but never will 
be forgotten.

The truth is that you people are the answer. I read the posts on this site and you folks are always looking for ways to help the racers. I've been to a few shows in So Cal and those fans remind me of the old days. You are giving what little money you have to a racer who needs it for gas and you are thanking him for coming and giving him a pat on the back. Sometimes that's all it takes. We all wish we could be JW Hunt (may he rest in peace) and walk through the pits and hand out cash to the racers who busted their butts to be there, but we can't. As a former driver and now watching my kids race karts, I just want us to have fun and enjoy racing as a family. Yes that does include being competitive enough to always have a chance at the win, but it also includes helping out the guy pitted next to us. I've been to a lot of races where someone gets in a crash and the promoter never even stops by his pit to see if he's ok. We are in an economic slump right now and it's tough to come up with money to go racing, but you can still stop by a guys pit after the race and thank him for coming.

Racers can give their half used tires to an under funded team and let them know that they care enough to help. And the big teams should care, because as Santa Maria just showed you, you need the little guys to fill up the field. Promoters won't continue to put on races and fans won't show up with only 8 cars racing. So as long as YOU folks are around doing what you can, the racing will continue and things will get better and then worse and then better etc. (That's just life)

Here are some things to think about:

1) This current 410 mess in So Cal started over the hatred of one individual who's name has already been mentioned in this post.

2) A certain organization has always treated west coast racing like it was a stepchild.

3) Did the participants take the time to realize the consequences of allowing a corporation to take over their group?

4) The SCRA (a club) never needed to go away and the only people who have an answer as to why it was allowed to dissolve would be it's former members. At least with a club setting, the people had a voice, it was their choice whether to use that voice or not. Now under the corporation, they don't have a voice at all.

The bottom line is, it doesn't matter who's running the show because unless attitudes change and people among this sport start working together for the common good of the sport, it won't be long before people will be sitting at home on Saturday nights.

Agree or not, this is just one's perspective on a sport that's in trouble.

Good post RACERX3C. I for one am tired of all the doom and gloom. Right on.

So as long as YOU folks are around doing what you can, the racing will continue and things will get better and then worse and then better etc. (That's just life)

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

Only on paper....LOL

Living in North Carolina makes it a bit hard for me to help out on a weekly basis. I do my best with letting my friends know all about the racing at Perris and other venues and try to get them into the stands. As far as helping out the racers, well, once I get out on the west coast and have the extra money to do so, I will. Having a husband in the USMC means we don't have a lot of extra $$$. We did however fly out from NC to California for the open show at Victorville in April. If that's not showing support, I don't know what is.

A lot of people do try to help out, but in this economy it's hard for us all. As much as we'd love to help out with gas prices being what they are, I know all of my extra money goes into the gas tank rather than anything else. I think it's the same with a lot of other racers, car owners and fans. I just hope that we can all band together and work something out to help out the racers in need. I don't think it's one person vs another type of thing. I think it's all about teamwork. Isn't that what racing is all about?

Just my 2 cents

June

RIP Chet and Mark.  You might be gone but never will 
be forgotten.