Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

I will be posting Paul's photos tonight. So I know he shot from the outside. I guess him and Dennis just wanted to shoot from that location for something different.

John,

You stick to your photos and I will sell cars and promote the fastest growing Sprint car track in Calif..

John Racing photos"However, you are doing a diservice to your track, your sponsors and the traveling teams when you limit their exposure they way that you are."

NBC CHANNEL 11 "Not sure how many people noticed, but camera crews were on site at Ocean friday for the GSC race. Their website has photos from all classes, and a brief race summary.....trust me when I say brief!!!! None the less it is some coverage of sprint car racing which our area has not has since the death of San Jose Speedway. Check out their website if you get a chance."

santacruzhonda.com

oceanusedcarcenter.com

"promote the fastest growing Sprint car track in Calif.." Sounds pretty good - STATS please......

Yeah - that's what I thought!! An arrogant remark and no answer. It was a simple question to answer really.

Fastest growning Sprint Car track? How many cars did you get Friday night? How big is your typical 360 field? Must be running B and C mains every weekend. Outside of Watsonville who knows you even run sprint cars or that there is a race track there? What nationally recognized media outlet are you in?

When was the last time you had any photos published in Sprint Car & Midget, Flat Out, Dirt Late Model or Speed Sport News by your track photographer? My point is if not for the two you kicked to the curb, so to speak, Friday night you would have no NATIONAL COVERAGE. At least your videographer gets you some press.

You must think we started shooting photos last year like your track photog. I am talking about people that have been supporting the sport of sprint car racing for decades. Not some Johnny come lately used car salesman. Good god, even Tony Stewart (who hates media) has more sense than you with regards to track promotion.

Our local High School football team was on the local news 4 of the last five nights and they have not e even started playing yet.

I really don't understand why it is such an issue for you to have someone else there to shoot the special shows like GSC. You also may want to look into right to work laws for California with regards to members of the media.

Whenever your ready with that answer.

John,

If you would like to talk "work laws for Calif " PLEASE call my wife at

LAW OFFICE OF DARLENE R KEMP 831-688-0700

I will tell not to charge you for the phone call..

I think your numbers are a little inflated there. Checking your own results shows the most sprint cars in one night to be 24 with a couple of 22 and a couple lower. My average with the handy calculator came out to 23. Not to bad for a start up (yeah right). They were running sprint cars there when you were still wondering how to get in.

Last year GSC had 20 and 21 cars for the two races.

Out of all that you picked the last sentence. I will let you ask her. I already know the answer and the outcome.

Still don't want to answer the question? Why? Don't really have a policy? Just make it up as you go along.

there is not a track anywhere in nor cal that consistently attracts the calliper of cars ocean is getting every Friday night

You deleted your stats while I was typing this but here was my reply:

Good stats and it does make your point. Thank you. I haven't been to Watsonville since you took over and it has nothing to do with you or anything I have heard about you. When I was in San Jose it was simply too big of a hassle to get there on a Friday night for me. Now that I am in Chico - well that one is just obvious. I loved Watsonville in the early '90s. When they ran sprints there it was among my top five favorite places.

With that said I can additionally say that promoting a race track is tough business to be successful at and can I confidently say I will never do it. You have your reasons for doing it the way that you do and if it makes you successful then critics should be told nothing more than "take a hike". This brings me to my point: You, as the promoter, do not owe anyone a reason - within legal limits - for doing what you do. Your answer to John can be as simple as "John - that is our policy. We expect every media member to abide by our policy and if you do not agree with our policy you are welcome to purchase a grandstand pass and watch our races along with the rest of our paying spectators." What will get you into trouble is when you apply a policy in an inconsistent manner and I'm not talking about your "official" photographers. If you make a weekly exception for them to shoot from the infield and nobody else you are being consistent. The cause of this present debate is the perception by some people that your policy towards the media is perhaps biased and inconsistent. One way to respond to this might be to simply post your media policy in a formal manner at the beginning of each season and everyone will know where they stand.

In closing I will only say that I've been to the Knoxville Nationals as a media member on a number of occasions. The treatment media people receive at Knoxville is second to ABSOLUTELY none in the dirt track racing world - it is an absolute FACT that CANNOT be debated. Do I think YOU need to treat the media in this way? I don't think any track can be expected to treat the media as well as Knoxville in this economy. Do I believe Knoxville's treatment of the media has helped perpetuate their well know EXCELLANT reputation? ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY!

Chris Lovett

Have you ever been to Chico on a Friday night shrek? There is a track in NorCal that does have the caliber of cars that Ocean has and they are 410's to boot!!

geez you two are making anything i have ever done on here look good. thanks!

jp, we all would love it if some how the track and the sprints could see more exposer and recognition. don't misunderstand me because i am not taking sides or trying to say you have done wrong by us racers. the nbc 11 thing is great. it is a step in a good direction. how did it come about?

jm, i can understand you as far as being a photog and used to the policies and the freedom and access you have been granted at other places. by the way gsc races at other venues are getting about the same car counts as ocean gsc shows have. ocean 360 shows are getting as much of a car count as gsc shows or as much and some times more than other tracks that run a regularly scheduled 360 series. we are not talking civil war, as we know they are drawing larger car counts and are glad that series is doing well.

if you guys could ever iron out your differences i think that us racers would be the ones to benefit.

excuse me now while i duck and hit the "post message" button!!

i have been to Chico (and just about every track in nor call )many many times over the last 40 years and i absolutely love the place some of the best racing Ive seen has been at Chico but at this time i don't think there's a track in nor cal that can compare to ocean's Friday night 360 sprint car line up i wish we had weekly 410's but thy went away with SJ so having the golden state sprints come is a real treat even if its the same stars that race ocean on Fridays with 360 motors maybe some day thy will switch to 410's and it will be just like having gsc on a regular bases

http://www.nbc11.com/news/16946723/detail.html

there is a link to photo gallery there as well as a small bit of print. it's a start.

Well said Chris and Steve.

John - All we are asking is for you to put your media policy up here for all of us to see. Not some "we will see what happens when you get here" policy. At the beginning of the year you stated we needed to request media credentials in advance. Is this not the case anymore? Or has your definition of media access changed?

My first published photo of a sprint car was taken at the WOO race there in I think 99. It was a photo of Steve Kinser and was hanging in the Spirnt Car Hall of Fame the last time I was there. To bad I nor anyone else will ever have that kind of opportunity again. Hopefully it is not just shortsigtedness on one individual's part.

The same as Chris it is way to hard for me to get there on a Friday night without taking a vacation day so I doubt you would ever see me there. Especially when I can go to Chico and see larger car counts and higher quality cars. But there are a half dozen or so other media members in that area that could benefit from some formal policy.

I didn't intend for this to be a pissing match between me and you. You have your opinion and I have mine. Your are likely not going to change it and neither am I, however, having something printed here from you officially would make it a whole lot clearer for everyone. Ask you infield announcer Tony Karis, he is the president of the MSPA. Maybe he can help you understand our issues and us yours.

Shrek - You need to get out more. There are two tracks in NorCal that have "weekly" sprint shows. And although the track is not that great, Antioch has good racing nearly everytime I am there for sprints. Although I do not get to Petaluma often, the stories I read and photos I see seem to indicate some pretty damn good racing there as well. There is also a track in the Central Valley that knows a bit about running a sprint show too.

well now that we have established that there is more than (1) place that can put on a sprint car show...........let's all get along and be thankful that we still have these places to watch races. I for one am thankful that we have the 360 program at Ocean, and try to do whatever we can to get it to grow. I also truly appreciate the work of the photographers/videographers, it is an art that as a fan and owner/driver I really enjoy.

You are allways welcome @ our tracks......SDS andP'Ville

Thanks Robbie!! Is it time to get started on this years poster? Send me an email with any changes and i will get on it.

shrek..........if you ask any 360 racer where is the toughest place to get a win at a weekly show it wil be a place known as knoxville on the hill.

placerville is by far the toughest place to win every week,i guess thats why so many civil war champions cut there teeeth there and still run there today.

I will agree with you that Placerville is a tough place to win but if you took the top 5 or 6 drivers in the points from Ocean and P-ville and had a series and raced at both tracks..I would put my money on the Ocean drivers .....9 out of 10 times...JMO