[kdobson]

This isn't a "get along" thing. POWRi has almost nothing to do with it. Place the blame entirely on my shoulders. Our Herb Barlow Memorial which had the same lineup got rained out in September. We have only had 4 shows for our fans to watch this season due to our local COVID restrictions. We are also at a hard limit on our grandstand capacity. We reached capacity on Sept 11th at the Barlow prior to the rain.

Frankly, there isn't a decision for a fan to make. If you don't have a rain check from Sept 11th, the odds are pretty slim that you are going to get a ticket to our grandstand. We had about 50 used up at the race the following week, and I've reached out by email to all of our online ticket buyers from that race to see how many aren't going to make it Friday. I can only sell 50 + those that reply they aren't coming for the grandstand.

I would venture to say that given that our grandstand crowd on the 11th was very "Local" since you had to engage with our Facebook page to even know how/when to buy a ticket that you could count on very few hands the number of people that hold a grandstand ticket for this Friday that would have also gone to the Leffler. That's why you've seen virtually no promotion by me of our race Friday.

As for cars, there's no doubt the USAC cars will.. and should go to the USAC race. I reached out to a few teams prior to scheduling it to see who was going where. Very, very few cars coming to us this Friday would have been at the Leffler. Quite a few like KKR etc. will be skipping our race - rightfully so - even though they were here on the 11th. Yes, there will be 6-8 cars that might have gone to the Leffler that will be here. But USAC just put out a list of 30 in a press release that they know are coming to their show. So there will be plenty of talented teams and drivers there. If our field Friday affects that race at all - it would be on the fringes. The Leffler is a great race for an absolutely great cause. Support it. We will, by paying each heat winner $100 bonus from Jacksonville Speedway. (Spridge, Levi - tell me where to send the check)

In normal times we would never do this. We had starved fans holding rain checks and a number of teams that weren't planning to go to the Leffler wanting a race - also holding pit passes. There was only 1 night that worked on our schedule to even have another race this year and this Friday was it. We are a fairgrounds track with other things going on - a lot of them that have been put off till October. Friday is our last chance to race before we close the doors.

Those aren't excuses, those are just the facts that brought this around. Sometimes things don't work out perfectly. This year lots of things didn't work out and resulted in a little chaos. Not that it matters, but I did inform USAC before making this make-up date public. Of course they weren't super pleased. I wouldn't have been either. But they are good folks and it'll work out.

I know Indiana fans in particular like huge fields. It looks like there will be 30 or more great ones at the Leffler. Last Friday the MOWA series I help operate had 44 cars at Tri City. Quite honestly that means 22 cars from that show went home with tow money only - not paying the bills for the night. On the bright side at least 45-50 midget teams are going to get paid purse/finish money this Friday night in Illinois.

Again... I am sorry it worked out like this, but I firmly believe that the Leffler will be a great event even with us running 20 or so midgets in Jacksonville.

If you are upset and want to give me a piece of your mind - text me at 217-371-3653. Don't blame POWRi for this one. - KD