[Wolfe-e]

First off, I would like to Thank Bill Gardner for IOW... It is always my first stop on the net and I believe its the Best...
I know its not the first time its happend, but lately it seems that every time I stop in, someone else it Throwing USAC, Under The Bus for one thing or another... Don;t get me wrong, USAC does seem to like it there and tends to crawl that way on its own from time to time, but lately well its got out of hand....
I wasen;t at Union County... I;m not at all sure what happened and I;m not sure I will ever get and unbiased answer from this board, so I won;t chime in on that, except to say or ask, "When was the last time USAC canceled a race after it started?... In my mind, I think there was a show out west several years back, on TV that they could not get in do to a rough track.... I can;t recall anything since...
I was at Terre Haute for the Sumar Classic... I saw many post on here that threw USAC under the bus for the dust and as much as I;d like to blame that on someone else, well I simply can;t... Believe me, there is always plenty of blame to go around and know one was happy about all the dust, especially not me or Chris... Hell, ya spend a lot of Long Days and Late nights before these shows, trying to do your very best to make things go right, and they seldom do... It will break your heart and your spirit but all you can do is live and learn and try even harder the next time... The Dust at the Sumar was simply a combination of cercumstances... The way we prepared the track would have worked very well for a Sprint Car show, but the lack of help running in the racing surface and the delay between the qualifying and the start of the race, the evening sun and wind all played a part... but still, we felt we could have and should have done better...
The winged show before that was all Mud and we should have handeled that better too I;m sure, but again the lack of help running in the track by the cars contributed to that... Lessons Learned
I worked nights during Sprint Week and missed it all... For everyone on here that complained about dust or whatever, where-ever... well I wish I could have seen just a little of it...
In a recent post, someone ask if Indiana really needed USAC for Sprint Week... I too have had mixed emotions about that over the last few years, more especially last year after they canceled Terre Haute, Putnamville and North Vernon.... In my opinion, that was never about Racing, it was simply a feud between USAC;s top man and Dave Allison... Dave Allison is not and never will be the most likable person on this board or else where, but Dave Allison didn;t cancel those races, USAC did and the FANS and TRACKS suffured for it... Its never just one guy or one side but I blame that mess on USAC;s end... and I said at the time that they needed to remember that its called, "Indiana Sprint Week" not USAC Sprint week...
That being said, a Sprint Week without USAC will be deluted at best. The stands will still have good crowds but Not USAC Crowds... The out of town fans will not come, at least not in numbers and the Tracks, the Promoters and the FANS will suffer for it... USAC will forever be that Love/Hate relationship for all of us who love open wheel racing... At its Best, its the Best in the World and at its worst, well its kinka like a bad day fishing, still a lot better than anything else...
For well over 50 years the Best Drivers in the World have came to Indiana. For years they came, hoping for just a chance to make it at Indy... Heck thats true even for them straight line guys... Nowadays, they come for the chance that someone might notice them and maybe they;ll move on south. Things seem to look good for several of our guys these days and though that makes things tough on our local racers, it makes them Better Too...Without USAC, would those guys still come,,,,maybe...maybe not...and again its the FANs that will suffer...
USAC does plenty on its own to get under the bus but complaining on this board or anywhere else is not the answer... The Answer is to Work Closer with those in charge.. Be clearer about what is expected and what needs to be done... BE IN CHARGE... If USAC comes to your track, they bring a product to you.. Give them what they need to do there job and let them know what your doing... Work With Them, not against them to help make shows work... At the Tony Hulman Classic, we put just 1 load to much of water on the track and it took an extra 20 minutes or so to run things in... NObody was happy about it but everyone helped out and the race surface was Great by the time the feature rolled around... They ALL Worked with US.. USAC, The Racers, The Push Trucks and heck even the Fans did there part...
I guess my point to all this is that if USAC felt the situation at Union County was so far out of hand that it had to cancel the race, well there must have been something wrong... It seems like a Bad Situation handeled Badly.. Certainly canceling a race after the stands are full is not in anyones best interest... and my first thought about that is what about the everyday fans... Those people who are there every week watching races... How do you explain to them that now, tonight there race track is unsafe.... Probably a Very Hard Thing to Sell......
Its not a very nice place to be, Under The Bus. The grounds cold and hard and its a dark and lonely place... Having been there a time or two myself well I;m just
not that anxious to push USAC, Under The Bus!

[Charles Nungester]

I don't get it? DOn't thow em under the bus but then you do on the Indiana Sprint week deal?

I'll agree that I went too far without knowing many things on the Union County deal but the majoity of this throwing under the bus you speak of, is more like Constructive Critisizm and discussion on how to make it better, Many things have been improved from it and more can be done.

If a tracks to dusty to the point of being dangerous. I do believe they should step up and try to make it better if they can. Sometimes this is possible and relatively quickly like at Gas City, Sometimes it may not be. Terre....

I don't think its throwing under the Bus. I think that USAC is one of three series and certainly the biggest with the best competitors. I try to give Kudos where kudos are due as well as what I see wrong. I may be completely wrong on either account as will every view given.

Chuck, realizing that Union County isn't about Blame but trying to avoid that from happening again.

[767]

Wolf-e have you ever been to gas city? if you don't know this place is natoriouse for going out and reworking the track during intermission to put on the best show possible. There stands are over half full every single week. So there fan base is very smart when it comes to the track. They started to see the track go bad, they knew it was going to get re-worked. Then it doesn't. Fans blame usac. Union County. Your setting watchin the track. U know things are not right because the intermission stunt comes out. they keep working the track. SUddenly you see several leave the infield and the track work stop. ALRIGHT TIME TO GET STARTED, even thou its race time. As your looking to the pits to seee who is going to be the first on the track, you see a large hauler backing up. Hauler pulls out the gate, no markings so your not sure but you think you knows whats happening. Then the big mopar trailer pulls out. Know you know, but no one has told you anything. Fans start saying they want there money back and head for the exit as they watch hauler after hauler pull out. No communication at all. Its not like USAC is the new kid on the block.

[IndyBound]

If someone from USAC had gone to the PA system at UCS an told the fans why their teams were leaving, what their concerns were and what they intended to do to prevent anything like this from happening again, maybe, just maybe then people on this board wouldn't feel like USAC was being thrown under the bus yet again. Yes, USAC has stepped up after the fact to apologize however, IMO they should have stepped up right then and there an told their fans why they decided to leave. Now they have to try to move forward from a situation that was handled poorly and see that nothing like this happends in the future.

Safe racing to all,

Patti

[Dirtfan]

Wolf-E, just be happy you weren't thrown under the S@$*!bus:rolling