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Tony, you must know somebody in Republic County because your take is the closest to reality that I have seen on any forum so far.
tony210 wrote:I spoke with some of the locals that purchased the $1000 ticket packages and they said there was a drivers meeting at 2 pm this afternoon where the participants were informed that Wayne Dake had cancelled the event but they were going to step up and take over the show. They couldnt honor the $100K option but they did cover the $10,000 to win purse tonight.
I think you meant $100 ticket ... to be completely accurate, it was a $99 ticket for Friday, Saturday and the auto thrill show/pig race on Sunday (no racecars, just glitz). Wayne (the promoter) was going to cancel the event on Saturday, but the fairboard stepped in and took on the race even though it was doomed to be a five-figure money loser. The crowd ended up being pretty good (1,500 to 2,000 I would guess) but many of those in the stands were three-day ticketholders that the fairboard collected nothing from. They paid the advertised $10k to win, but had to cut the overall purse from $57k to $40k. They presented this to the drivers at 2 p.m. and the drivers unanimously agreed to race for whatever the fairboard came up in order to do what was right for the fans.
The 10 drivers who finished 1-10 Friday night and were supposed to be guaranteed the first 10 starting spots Saturday, they agreed to have a redraw and run a third heat race (pole dash) to determine those spots - again, to give the fans a little more for their money.
tony210 wrote:I cant believe the guy would promote a $100k race and not purchase the "Hole in one" insurance policy to cover the purse, especially after the magnatude of going on speed channel and interviewing on a primetime show.
I cannot verify whether or not the insurance policy was actually purchased, but several sources told me that it was not. The reason, I was told, is that the insurance company decided late in the game that the risk was too great and would not insure it. The promoter did, however, say before this weekend that the policy would be void if less than 30 cars started the main event. Only 29 cars showed up Friday and only 28 of the 32 entries on Saturday were able to take the green flag, so it would never have happened anyway. In the end, Landers started 2nd and still did not win, so he likely would not have won from 30th either.
tony210 wrote:The board members were simply snow jobbed by the promoter from Mc Cook, NE. speedway.
Wayne has no association with McCook - this was his first event he ever promoted. I don't know the promoter at McCook, but figured we should clear that up.
The race Saturday night was fantastic. In 40 laps around the high banks, the only caution came out after the first lap - and it never should have. The car that tagged the guardrail was able to angle down into the pits, but the yellow flag got displayed about a second too early. They started three-wide with no incidents. With such a mix of high-dollar superstars and low-buck part-time racers in the show, it looked like a slot car track with 30 slot cars zipping around at different speeds. Larry Hall (half of the Flyin' Hall Bros. duo) actually finished the race ... 12 laps down to the leader! Several drivers were 2, 3, 4 or more laps down at the end. In the two nights with heat races and two 40-lap features, they lost just 1 engine Friday and 4 Saturday (3 in heat races and 1 on the last lap of the "A" Main).
David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com
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