Again Don, well said!!!

Danelle -

I recognize yours, as well as Shane’s, compassion and passion for the sport that we all care so much about. The respect therein words cannot describe, although a thank you is in order. THANK YOU !!

That said, one could easily misinterpret a majority of the “those who stayed” comments as “they” put their lives in danger staying to race. Which in my personal opinion, is far from the truth. When asked, those that stayed, stayed to race because they felt the track was safe to race on. This has been stated repeatedly, and publicly. Yet people choose to misconstrue the reality side of things, thus twisting reality into fiction, for the only reason to fit ones protective agendas, supporting only USAC in this horrible debacle. Being adults here, that’s just not a reasonable or rational way to evaluate this debacle. Therefore a few of us feel it is necessary to speak positive about the other side, stating facts.

As I read your posting, it made me think of a race that rates in my top 10 of sentimental favorites, and is the most memorable race to Shane, as noted on his website. “What race you will remember forever: The X2RA race at Montpelier Racing Kevin’s midget in his memory and winning.” I’d think anyone in attendance that night was touched forever. Yet thinking retrospectively out loud here, how safe was Montpelier that night, all things considered. That’s said more in the light of being a rhetorical statement, than a question - not meant offensively.

Again, THANK YOU for the personal sacrifices that families like yours make and do, for fans like myself. It is very much appreciated, even in times like this when it might seem just the opposite.

People have been killed at Eldora, people have been killed at Oskaloosa, and many other places, but they still race there. There were younger people racing at Liberty, and many of their fathers there allowing them to race. It honestly sounds like to me there are different reasons other than safety why they pulled out.

When the group of people that I brought to the track with me that night came home, we watched a couple of the Racin' With DO DVD's I bought a few years back, and ya know what I saw? A whole bunch of unsafe racetracks.

I remember seeing Levi Jones flip at Bloomington and end up on top of a guardrail, only a few feet away from a post that probably would have hit him in the head if he was a couple feet to the left, how safe is that? I remember also seeing Ricky Shelton (and another guy that I can't remember his name) flip terribly bad at Terre Haute into trees, and one going into the parking lot. Then there was Jack Runyon flipping out of the ballpark there at both ends. What about a guy dumping a silver crown car into the side of Don Black's hauler there? What about Brad Doty getting paralyzed at Eldora? What about Kenny Jacobs ending up in the creek off turn 2 there? What about all the drivers killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

All I'm saying is that if we are going to go through this scrutiny at every track, then all of them are unsafe. Racing is not safe. You can get hurt wherever you go, whatever you race, and on whatever surface you choose. I've seen people with broken backs in go karts, sprint cars, late models, Indycars, the whole bit. All of it is dangerous. For god's sake, this and hockey are the only two sports that WARN THE FANS that it's unsafe for them to watch it! Racing is a dangerous activity, and will always be, no matter how you slice it. The reason racing is so great, is everybody doesn't have the control over that feeling you get when running into a corner that fast.

I am 100% convinced this wasn't about safety, this was about track prep, money, something, it has to be. Why else would all these teams just load up and go home? They run at Kamp that has no walls, and regardless of how it happened, Boat hit a grader at Brownstown, Mellencamp flipped into a damn mud bog at Hagerstown, so what is the actual reason for all of this? I'm very interested to find out, and will be back at any of the events that Tony Barhorst puts on. Every single one of those races feels like an event, and something that you just have to see. He actually puts money into promoting this sport, which is better than what many do. I've seen more ads for Barhorst's races than I have seen USAC do. Maybe I'm completely in the wrong here, but the whole thing is a mess, and we all just have to get over it, but I left that night feeling both entertained, and cheated all at the same time. I'm just glad that I only live a few minutes from the track, or else I would have been very livid. Now the people that came down to see the races lived quite a ways away, they still enjoyed themselves (mainly cause of the massive beer run we made), but still, they enjoyed themselves, and could not figure out why nobody was racing there. One of them is a girl that we race micros with, and he said he wouldn't have felt uncomfortable with her racing there in a sprint car or a midget. And yes, we did go down to turn 1 & 2 and take a peek.

Danelle sorry about your incident, i know that in the last 5 seasons, no one has got out of there. I am not sure when your wreck happened, but i will look for that pole on my next visit. I have 5 friends that run out there every single week. i do not want to see anyone injured, all i want to know is what needs to be done to make it safe. no more arm chair quarterbacks. drivers that voted what has to be fixed? I hope we do not have to wait another 2 pages to get an answer.

As most of you know I am not a USAC apologist. I have used this forum many times in the past to air grievances after exhausting private avenues within USAC. Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around. Yes, there were many opportunities to break the chain of events that led to this situation. But rather than taking a myopic perspective of how the cancelation affected you personally, try taking a big picture approach and come up with some ideas to prevent this from happening in the future.

The events were set in motion after Mr. Barnhorst took a chance and promoted a Midget Week race last year at Kamp Speedway. When the owner/promoter at Kamp saw how successful the race was, they decided that they would like to promote the race themselves and assume Mr. Barnhorst’s risk/reward. But USAC rewarded Mr. Barnhorst for taking a chance in 2007 (rightly so) by giving him the date if he could rent a suitable track. Mr. Barnhorst then struck a deal with Union County Speedway.

It appears from previous statements that a USAC representative did in fact make an inspection of the speedway and it was further stated that a list of improvements was given to the track operators AND the promoter. That would make three entities with responsibility to ensure the track was up to standards by the event date. Sadly they ALL failed.

USAC now has a Health, Fire & Safety Officer. Perhaps one of his duties should be inspection of track facilities prior to booking and prior (say two weeks) to an event. Perhaps USAC should create a list of minimum safety standards that all tracks must meet in order to hold a USAC sanctioned race.

While I agree that the fans are and should be a primary concern, I do NOT agree that the “show must go on” at all costs. We are talking about human lives here and that is a very precious thing that cannot be repaired or replaced. Every driver knows or should know the risk they assume every time they strap in that cockpit. When they decide the risk is too great they should not be called out for it. If enough drivers see and agree that too great a risk exists, the sanctioning body must act in their interests. Sometimes car owners must get involved since some of the drivers lack the age/experience to make an informed assessment of the risks.

The one positive thing I saw come from all this is that the sanctioning body actually listened to the competitors concerns and represented them to the promoter. This was not the case at Big Diamond just two years ago when the promoter decided to water the track after hot laps and prior to qualifications. Gregg Staab was sent down from the booth to try to convince/threaten the participants to go qualify on a track that was clearly not ready. One local racer tried to qualify and almost ran off the back straight because it was so greasy.

I know that Mr. Barnhorst stated that he has taken steps to ensure that nothing like this occurs in the future and he is to be commended for taking that position. I will also point out that Kevin Miller started this thread also stating that changes have been made to prevent this from occurring again. Offer positive suggestions to help both these men and their companies present outstanding racing events in the future. Mistakes will happen in the future but if we can learn from these mistakes and put policies and procedures in place to prevent them from reoccurring we will continue to improve the sport that we all love.

Rob Hoffman

This is my vote for post of the year. I can't disagree with anything said here. It's smart and makes perfect sense.:thumb

I was at the track when Danelle went out of the park on turn 2 and I know that that wall has been raised since that time as then the wall was a guard rail that was only about 2 feet high. It is now concrete and much higher. The owner has tried to make many improvements in the last few years.

Pardon me for being slightly off topic, but if we are talking safety for all including spectators, I have a comment about Gas City. I was there Wednesday night sitting in the grandstand just off of turn four. I didn't bring a tape measure with me but the seating is just a few feet from 20 some thunderous race cars roaring around that turn. As I sat there I told myself.. "Wow.. this is not a very safe place to be sitting!!!" So...Is USAC going to continue to race at that place????????? :crying:

I will disagree that when Kevin posted this that he had everything fixed. You don't just fix something like this on the way home from the race track. If they did fix it, we as fans are in trouble. Definatly not enough thought put into the complete fix. So lets dance some more and I will ask again WHAT WAS UNSAFE? i am sstarting to beleive that others on this board are correct, there are other factors that are not going to come out.

thats definatly a plus! glad they made some improvement. I am still going to look for that poll. she is right, it needs not to be there!

I want to address the fact that I called teams out on the P.A. One thing D.O. brought up was that once it was confirmed by a TOP 15 team vote... the other teams had to choose if they wanted to race a non points race or not...Many that wanted to race left also because of the non points factor.

So I want USAC teams to know that I really have problems with the key USAC teams...that clearly were making this decision.

This is one problem I have in racing...and in our country really...Why do the HAVE's get a voice...and the HAVE NOT's told to sit back while the decision is made?

It is UNFAIR that 15 teams decided this course of action out of 48.

I also want to say I have the utmost repect for Dave Darland and Levi Jones in particular..Everyone has to do what they think is best. I really did not get a chance to see who was all FOR or against running....It was done in a secret meeting without notifying me or my race director while we were fixing problems...then they quickly headed for the exits. Leaving me stuck with an angry group of USAC fans...who I refunded $$ to.