[team3521]

Brent,
Go back and re read most posts. There was substance. Everyone of them. But thanks for posting your opinion.

[team3521]

Jerry,
Thank you for your posts. I will back up my opinion. I am honestly tired of all of it, like I've said, it's beating a dead horse.
A. Midgets are stupid expensive! The money you have to put out for an engine that will compete is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if you're at a 1/4 mile track or IRP. USAC has let the spending eliminate the middle class guy that used to be able to compete. Eliminate them, no car count, no car count, no fans showing up to watch. No fans showing up, no racing. It's pretty simple. $55,000 for a Toyota midget engine is a recipe for failure
B. Tires, I've said it a hundred times. Take away the Hoosier monopoly and open the tires up to all manufacturers. Hoosiers are engineered to last one night. Harden up the tires, take all the HP out of the equation.
It doesn't matter what size tracks you put midgets on.
C. My grudge with Kevin Miller is what he takes and what he's giving back. It's no different than our government of this country.
Pavement midgets have died on his watch after he watched what had happened to pavement sprints. He saw it coming from a long time ago and did nothing proactive to change the course it was on. That is a sign of a leader that shouldn't be leading.
Good luck with ISW Jerry. Thank you for caring!

[Jerry Shaw]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Kevin Miller gets to be a complete dictator in the decision making process. The board is a part of that, too, I think. IMO, a harder tire and choice of vendor couldn't hurt and could be a step in the right direction as far reducing costs is concerned. And costs are what are causing the big disparity between the have and the have-nots. As far as the engines are concerned, it's got to be real tough to turn away a manufacturer that wants to put money into the series. If you want USAC to go away as a whole, create a situation where nobody is putting money into it. Now, POWRI takes away some of the advantage that they have by running on smaller tracks. And at least some of the dialog that is in this article leads you to believe that those at USAC are starting to understand this. And even though this has happened during the Miller administration, Miller didn't invent this phenomenon. This has been a trend for a number of years. And it occurred in a very similar fashion, when Steve Lewis and his teams dominated USAC. It doesn't kill that type of racing. It just forces it to change. When it gets too expensive, regional series like POWRI, MSCS, etc gain steam and become more prominent. As long as we are there to support racing, there will be racers and race teams that will find a way to race. And calling for them to fire somebody doesn't accomplish anything. Nobody's getting fired. In fact somebody's getting hired and it's a 7 time USAC National Champion. I don't know what the future is, but that is a step in the right direction. We'll see.

Jerry

[racephoto1]

Fish, if you're here this week, look me up, I'll be carrying a camera and wearing a Red Sox cap . I'll tell you my opinion, and it goes both ways.Some you'll like, some you won't. I just hope they leave Levi alone to do the job.

[fish]

Originally Posted by team3521 Most of you on this board are sheeple. You will follow wherever you're being lead off to. Including to slaughter. I'd like to know, Mr. Fisher, have you ever owned a race car? How about a midget? Have you ever ran a race as an owner or as a driver with USAC? We have had some very interesting discussions on this board, and we have beaten this dead horse so many times I don't have the energy or the enthusiasm to write it anymore. But I can tell you this. The only reason I post my opinion is because I care about the future of our sport. Mr. Miller in my opinion has done nothing but hurt it. He's been paid exorbitantly for many years off of the sheeple that don't ask any questions about his performance. I'm done with this...but thank you for expressing your opinion. That is one of the reasons of what this board is for. It's called freedom of speech in case you've forgotten that.

Sheeple? Baloney. I'm anything but that, and my past comments should make that quite clear.

As far as my involvement in auto racing, my mother carried me into the races as baby and I've been around long enough that I helped build the car from the ground up that Hank Lower used to dominate at Butler Speedway in the 70s. I raced everything I could get my hands on as a youngster and was quite successful at it. I've been in a sprint car and was left absolutely dumbfounded at the power to weight ratio and gained quite a respect for sprint car drivers because of it.

Anyone remember MARC Times Racing News? I was a writer and photographer for several years for Dick Beebe. Twenty years ago I took my auto racing stuff to a newspaper and believe it or not, someone has paid me to write for 20 years. For anyone that remembers the Dealer's Choice in Michigan, I wrote a story about the event in 2000 that was named the top sports stories in the state of Michigan by the Associated Press that year. Imagine that, the top story in the state for a whole year was a story on short track auto racing.

I currently am the sports editor at the News Sun in Kendallville, Indiana which was rated as the No. 2 daily newspaper of its size in the state of Indiana by the Hoosier Press Association. I do the auto racing writing for all the newspapers in a chain with 20,000 readers and set the scheduling of all the sports editors for the entire newspaper chain.

The very first week that I worked in Kendallville I ran an auto racing photo and my boss told me "no one cares about that." I said the same thing to him: Baloney. In one of last week's papers there were photos of the sprint cars at Kokomo in three of the papers. This is in a newspaper two hours away from Kokomo!

You say you're just out to help the owners and drivers. All you've accomplished is stirring up the pot. You aren't helping the situation, you are making it worse. I'm tired of trying to build up auto racing to a stick and ball crowd, only to see someone within the sport do their best to try to tear it down.

I'm sure everyone thinks I'm a big USAC supporter because of my stance. I'm a newspaper reporter folks, I get paid to tell it like it is. When it sucks, I'm not afraid to say so.

Why do I get so upset with your firing comments? I have been in the situation as a track official where someone on a message board called for my firing. I've been on the other side of the fence. And by the way, I did not get fired, but after completing the season I chose to never again work for another speedway or series.

You are preaching "freedom of speech" to the editor of a newspaper. I know this, I can be held liable for my comments, why shouldn't you?

You still won't put your name behind your comments. I'm not one of those that feels everyone that makes a post should include their names. But if you are going to call for someone's firing, have the courage.

Jim Fisher

[BrentTFunk]

Originally Posted by team3521 Brent, Go back and re read most posts. There was substance. Everyone of them. But thanks for posting your opinion.

Who are you?

[Tumey's 55]

Originally Posted by Nate I agree with comment above, it's not a new concept that the larger tracks, although fun to watch as a fan at times, are hard on engines and often result in midgets getting torn up. I read into it as Miller actually is hearing what people are saying and may restructure the schedule to stay on smaller tracks much like Powri. Now, what that would do in terms of events like the 4-Crown and what not I'm not sure and that's why I'm not jumping to any conclusions.

In the article Miller said "We want to be at Belleville. We want to be at Eldora. We want the Gold Crown, which is 5 or 6 years old, we want those races, which are established to have great car counts.”

[bcataldi]

Originally Posted by team3521 Jerry, Thank you for your posts. I will back up my opinion. I am honestly tired of all of it, like I've said, it's beating a dead horse. A. Midgets are stupid expensive! The money you have to put out for an engine that will compete is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if you're at a 1/4 mile track or IRP. USAC has let the spending eliminate the middle class guy that used to be able to compete. Eliminate them, no car count, no car count, no fans showing up to watch. No fans showing up, no racing. It's pretty simple. $55,000 for a Toyota midget engine is a recipe for failure B. Tires, I've said it a hundred times. Take away the Hoosier monopoly and open the tires up to all manufacturers. Hoosiers are engineered to last one night. Harden up the tires, take all the HP out of the equation. It doesn't matter what size tracks you put midgets on. C. My grudge with Kevin Miller is what he takes and what he's giving back. It's no different than our government of this country. Pavement midgets have died on his watch after he watched what had happened to pavement sprints. He saw it coming from a long time ago and did nothing proactive to change the course it was on. That is a sign of a leader that shouldn't be leading. Good luck with ISW Jerry. Thank you for caring!

A. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "$55,000" engine I'd have enough to buy a damn Toyota. Many on here just repeat what has been told to them without facts. I bet you believe a Toyota is well above 400 horsepower also. Pick up the phone and call Stanton sometime and get some real information. Go to a chassis dyno and get some hard data. This horse has been beaten to death, because people want to perpetuate a perception that is not reality. A toyota is not 55,000...at last check you are looking at around $35K. Expensive? Heck yes...stupid in fact. But, IF you run on smaller, slicker tracks that big shiny chunk of metal in the frame rails creates MUCH less of an impact. There are guys running very well without big dollar engines on those tracks - Justin Peck has a pretty garden variety Esslinger if I am correct not built by Esslinger but by Davey Ray's shop. Davey Ray has a Stealth with an Esslinger that I'm sure is not a "55,000" engine...Daniel Robinson does awful well with again, a pretty standard esslinger. Heck Justin Grant and that team is an older Gaerte if I remember correctly. If I had to guess I'd say these engines are in the $20,000 range - barring the Gaerte which Im sure is less. Bargain? No. But show me a big time traveling national level series that has engines that are much less than $30,000 anymore - go take a look at the Late Model stuff sometime. It's not 1995 anymore - I just recently started running a Micro and heck, you can easily put 15K in one of those engines. You can't stop people from spending money; creating smaller, slicker bullring racing mitigates the advantage of opening up your checkbook.

B. Can't say I disagree much there - as a racer I've never seen a tire rule save ME money. Though putting a harder tire on will do nothing more than make teams chemists with tires. Seen that in karting, you see it in IMCA stuff, you see it everywhere really.

C. Also can't say I disagree much in the treatment of the pavement stuff. The past of USAC is a rocky one and I would be the first to rail against some of the decisions - however, as to this article and the quotes that suggest a shift in the thought process and the hiring of Levi...positives in my book.

[Jbaldwin]

Good post Bcataldi. Don't know how much toyotas are but the SR-11 that Joe Dooling/BC run is listed at 35900 cant imagine them being that much more if they are.

http://www.stantonracingengines.com/...tem.aspx?ID=31

[Charles Nungester]

I don't like the personal attacks on the board and its the reason I know a couple dozen that no longer post. Right or wrong or only half right, They should be able to say it.

If a major league manager team stinks for several years or continuously declines, Is it not the manager who gets the criticism or the axe? Like it or not, Miller is the Manager and other than recently SC has been in decline for about six years. Yeah, some of its totally beyond his control. The economy took a dump etc. But some of it is.

I really don't think some people, Even some who claim to be IN THE KNOW get it. Its not the ONE 30k-50k motor, Its the fact to run the whole series competitively you'll need two or three of em in-case one takes a dump, probably two chassis and a spare. Be able to bolt a new tire on every night and sometimes wear three of em totally out in one night and be ready the next night.

Making one tire brand sure helps USAC's coffers but what about the racer who has AR sponsorship and can get em at 75 bucks a tire? He now has to pay the 150 the mandated brand is asking. Even if its a tad off retail. They're still losing.

Miller was hired to fix the finance of USAC get that on stable ground. Id say he's done that. However, Has the product suffered? theres only one answer DEFINITELY.