[TQ97]

I've been mostly quiet on most of this, and I will continue to be for the most part. Like Sandy Lowe and Joe Monroe, I grew up in this club. I met my wife in the UMRA, ran around with Tate and Collin Ambrose after races picking up tearoffs on our BMX bikes. Maybe I was too young and didn't see it then, but I certainly don't remember in the late 70's and early 80's all this drama. That very well could be because of Bobby Lowe and his time at the helm. It just doesn't seem to be the fun family deal anymore. Maybe there's too much $$ involved, or because we have so many races now and with costs, its hard for it to be a fun family thing like it used ot be.

Jon, you have some excellent ideas, but I found some errors. There were never 75+ cars at the Rushville Nationals. The highest car count was 61 in 2000. Also, according to UMRA rule book, bolt on cages are illegal and the Illinois group no longer races with wings, though for car count they allow non wing 600s. One major thing I don't agree with is your view of paying the President each night. The president makes roughly $2000 a year. I bet that averages out to about $1 an hour, if that. Figure 10, 5 hour board meetings, 2 - 5 hour membership meetings, all the time on the phone with promoters, club members, etc. I had a major part in putting the schedule together in 2003....trust me, it took a lot of time. Traveling to and from these meetings for gas etc. Every night at the track, regardless of who the president is and even though, according to the rules, they have no say in calls, etc, there is always someone there complaining to the president, while they are trying to focus on driving or what have you. I've been on the board, I've also been the treasurer, I've even been asked to run for president. I wouldn't even think about the latter, anyone who wants that job, deserves far more than their nightly stipend.

Jim - you bring up an interesting point. If TG would retire this year, and things change on the board, would that change the feelings of some people. ??? It's hard to tell but I doubt it. There have been other problems that didn't involved green cars too. A major problem since I've been racing with the UMRA has always been the consistency of the "calls". For instance, 4 years ago they instituted a "no cussing" in any way policy. That year, I was involved in an incident at Rushville in the middle of tunrs 1 and 2. Calmly got out of my car, walked over to the other driver, tapped him on the helmet, leaned into his cockpit and said a few choice words to him in a normal tone. An official happened to be right there with us. Now mind you, there was no way any fans could hear what was said. Didn't matter, I was DQ'd for the night of all points and $$. This year, I witnessed a driver get out of his car on the frontstretch at Rushville, proceed to stomp back to the pits all the while screaming cuss words at the officials standing outside turn 4. Not only could everyone in the pits hear this, most people on the frontstretch in that area could as well. The penalty for that driver? Nothing. One of the problems with that is it was a different official. Every one calls it differently. But that doesn't make it ok with me. I still feel wronged when I see a similiar situation not get called the same way mine did. My guess is that there are too many feelings like that.

Leadership - I can vouch on the story of Travis being on the phone as they took his father away. There is no doubt the dedication he has shown in running this club the last 5 years. And if anyone thinks it hasn't affected his driving performance during that time, they are wrong. That all being said, if anyone could pull off a new club, I do believe that Jenmarco could do it. I guess time will tell.

Opinions- everyone has one, everyone is entitled to one. That being said, I find a couple things ironic. All people who are for the new club, sign their name, or have ID's that are easily figured out (TQ41&84, etc). Most people, exception of Garrity and Gray who are against the new idea, keep posting in anonymity. Does that say anything? Not sure, but I found it interesting.