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Topic: Resigned as racing writer Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
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StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 24, 2007 at 07:43:08 PM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply
This message was edited on February 24, 2007 at 07:45:42 PM by StanM
Friends,
I submitted my resignation notice to Minnesota's Racing Connection and will no longer be writing "The Inside Dirt" column. During the past eight years I have had the opportunity to serve as MRC's advocate for Sprint Car racing as well as gaining a greater appreciation for all types of dirt racing. My reasons for resigning involve the amount of time it was taking me to research and write what often amounted to a large portion of MRC's content. I was the only writer associated with MRC who was covering dirt exclusively, in fact it was me who approached the publisher in 1999 and sold him on the idea of adding more dirt coverage, but it has became too big of a task for one person. My daughter and granddaughter are staying with us longer than expected due to the Iraq troop surge and we are preparing our home to be put on the market so we can downsize to a townhome. If I had been able to take a year off from MRC I would have been in a position to resume my writing next season but it wouldn't have been reasonable to expect my friends at MRC to hold a spot open for me. MRC is an excellent publication with a bright future and I don't want to hold them back from reaching their goals.
Unfortunately, the downside of quitting MRC is that I will be losing my media passes which will make it more of challenge to keep the content of the www.gotomn.com website current. My schedule will consist of Sprint Car races at several tracks as well as the Late Model and Modified shows at Owatonna where I will be taking photos again this season. I derive my enjoyment in racing from taking photos and associating with the drivers and crews in the pit area and I have no interest in being a fan in the stands. I will do my best to continue to present www.gotomn.com as a fun racing website.
Thank you for your support and I hope to see you at the races during the 2007 season,
Stan Meissner

Stan Meissner


Tony-the-Tiger
February 24, 2007 at 08:39:38 PM
Joined: 01/17/2007
Posts: 6
Reply

Stan,

You're more than welcome to come on down to Fairmont some Friday night and I'll pay your way into the pits if the promoter won't let you in for free.



StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 25, 2007 at 12:18:08 AM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply

Thanks for the offer but the gas from Forest Lake to Fairmont would cancel out any benefits of your offer. I haven't been to Fairmont since sometime around 1971 or 72 when I was home on leave and Jerry Lepinski won the Feature in a Supermodified.


Stan Meissner


Michael 98A
February 25, 2007 at 01:55:47 AM
Joined: 11/30/2004
Posts: 569
Reply

Don't fully get the 'Press Pass' thing.

A Fan would pay, a Parasite would want something for nothing and an Apple Polisher wants something in return for something else...Where do PR guys fit in?

I atteneded roughly 20 events last year watching various sanctions and would easily 'guess-timate' spending in excess of $500 just in tickets for the season. Could I have used the money for something else? Well no, because as a fan I want to see as much as I can with the only limit or restriction being do I really hafta work that day...Add in fuel costs, shirts, food, programs, decals, camping fees, munchies, smokes and who knows what else...Just money spent doing what I enjoy.

Stan, love ya like a brother, and this is like the 2nd time I've seen a PR type guy has raised issue related to a Pass. I just need insight as to why guys feel if they can't get into an event for free, that they feel cheated in some way. I would hate to think, you derive your racing associations as a chore other than a hobby? I hope I am wrong on that. Did I misunderstand your comment?

IRA is scheduled for Deer Creek on July 21st, so I hope to get together this year and enjoy the race from both sides of the fence. (I'll get you a Pass from Steve-if ya really need one).



StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 25, 2007 at 10:06:46 AM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply
This message was edited on February 25, 2007 at 10:29:27 AM by StanM

Basically I am saying that as a writer for the paper I was able to attend more of a variety of races and that allowed me to include fendered racing in www.gotomn.com. When I was writing I had to cover that stuff and I expected the paper to provide passes because I wouldn't have been there if I wasn't a writer. The passes made it possible to include the Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pures, Hobbys, etc. on my website and a lot of people who are into that type of racing appreciate the photos of their cars as well as the annual screen savers on my site. Most of those races were shows that I had no interest in going to but the paper was sending me out to cover them. As a result, over the past ten years I have gotten to know a lot of the people in those classes, they visit my website and appreciate the photos and attention. Nevertheless, Sprints are my favorite and those weekly shows were the ones I cut and replaced with Sprint specials. So I'm saying that if people want to see Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Midwest Mods, Pure Stocks, Hobby A's and B's, etc. on my site I'll need one of the local tracks to offer a pass because I'm not going to pay to get into those types of races. I'm not going to support that type of racing out of my pocket. Tracks like Owatonna where I'm working as the photographer are a different matter, I'll be taking photos of everything on wheels there.

I will admit that in the past I felt entitled to passes because I was a representative of the paper. It was their responsibility to provide me with passes in exchange for the countless hours I spend working for them both at the tracks and behind the scenes. That was the arrangement between me and the publisher, I would spend 6-8 hours researching, writing, typing and sending in the column for each issue as well as driving 50 miles round trip to pickup papers to be distributed at the races. I could go to any Sprint race I wanted to but there were certain other events that they had obligations to and part of the deal is that I would have to cover those as well. The Publisher's end of the deal was to set me up with passes for the races they were sending me to as well as the Sprint shows.

This season I don't think the tracks will allow passes on the basis of my website and I'm alright with that. I don't expect them to and I'm simply saying that if they appreciate seeing those types of cars on my site I'm not going to do it at my expense. I should point out too that as far as Sprint Cars go if you pick up any of your issues of Flat Out and look at the contributing photographer's list you'll see my name on there. In addition to that certain tracks have used my photos of their fendered classes for slide presentations at their banquets and programs. Do you think it's reasonable for them to contact me during the winter and have me spend several hours putting a photo CD together then meeting them or mailing it to them at my own expense? I will make whatever I have that they want available from last year and seasons prior to that but if I'm paying to get into those tracks during the 2007 season I want to see something in return for my time. Maybe that will only be one race, a couple of passes for my family or an invitation to the banquet where the photos will be used but I won't work for free. My firm stand on this matter is obviously for my benefit but it will also benefit the other photographers because if I was giving my work away to the tracks it wouldn't be fair to the others. Us photographers might not see eye to eye on everything but we do stick together on that point at all the tracks in my area.

I might go to the Princeton National on Saturday so I can at least get some shots one of the two nights but we'll see how things are as we get closer to that event. The race is in October this year so the lighting early in the evening for photos isn't going to be very good. As far as the USA Nationals, it would be a fun race and if the budget looks good I might go on Saturday but I didn't sign up for vacation to cover the whole three days this year. I'll get Late Model photos at the Masters and Challenge Series race at Owatonna as well as a couple other weekends when they're running with the Sprints at Cedar. They're fun to watch and I have gotten to know some of the drivers but I won't pay to see them unless they're running with the Sprints or I'm photographing them for one of the tracks. I'm not a Sprint snob but you know I wasn't going to cut them out of my schedule. wink

Keep checking the board as I plan on explaining my decision in more detail in my next podcast which should come out sometime in early to mid March. You're right Michael98A, I used to feel entitled to media passes when I was being sent to cover all those extra races but breaking free from that was part of the reason I resigned. Now I don't have any sponsors on the website and I don't write for anybody so I can do whatever I want. My only connection now is some photo work and I enjoy that.


Stan Meissner

willie
February 26, 2007 at 04:31:55 PM
Joined: 01/04/2005
Posts: 23
Reply

Good luck Stan, gonna miss your columns in MRC. You and Dan Plan were the best at covering the local racing scene.
 I suppose old habits are hard to break, Did I hear you say that if you did'nt go in the pits you wouldn't sit in the stands to see a race?  Let me remind you that a person can meet a lot of nice people on the other side of the wall(so to speak).
I met Vinster in the stands at Princeton, and he's not too shady, ha,ha!
Have fun with the grandkids, I am, my grandson is 7 mo.old and I should probably start looking for a 1/4 midget for him to get into.




StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 26, 2007 at 05:22:37 PM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply
There are still some things in the works with MRC so you might see my work in there on a limited basis covering Sprint Cars. I go up to the stands sometimes to watch the Features but it's not something that I particularly enjoy that much anymore. If I'm going to be at the races I'll be in the pits and infield. The website won't be going anywhere so I'm still involved in that.
Stan Meissner



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