[The Old Coyote]

I will volunteer tofor Charles if he wants to continue to comment. I can assure you I have no intention of doing anything other than watch and learn.

[Revolution Racing]

The senior management and the board all have very big smiles on their faces right now. It took me avery long time to understand this - and some reading this may never grasp it - but we all need to take a giant step back from the day to day racing issues and look at the big picture. The closer you are to the racing (drivers, owners, builders), the more important this is.

Those of us whose passion in life centers around racing naturally gravitate toward that passion. So we naturally assume that the issues at hand have to do with how to put on better races, more races, better purses, etc. We assume that these are the issues that somehow need to be improved upon so that the sport can progress, and you are right as far as it goes. But take that step back and ask, why, after decades of trying, have we not made much progress in these areas? Why have we actually LOST ground to some groups that would seem to be less well funded, less well organized?

The board and senior management look upon these discussions and smile because they know that they can depend on all of us racers to stay so focused on those issues directly connected to the racing we love, that we won't take time to take a step back, and look at the systemic factors that are preventing any progress.

One would think that, armed with a recruit from senior management at a major auto manufacturer, and subsequently with sponsorship from another major auto manufacturer, the organization would be positioned to make significant progress on market share and penetration issues. Actually, over the past couple decades, several such 'foot in the door' opportunities have come and gone - none of which ever were fully capitalized upon. And all the while, we all sat around talking about things like tires, purses, and racing surfaces. Meanwhile, a culture was developing at the top, one that recognized that there was not sufficient oversight of upper management, and zero oversight at the board room. As a result, we have an organization that has reached the point where the actual racing is viewed as mostly a necessary evil - something that must be done in order to keep the revenue coming.

Now don't get me wrong - I don't believe this approach was a conscious decision - it was the result of years of stagnant results in the aftermath of the down fall of USAC's glory years. Put yourself in Johnny Capels' shoes, for example. There was a guy that grew up in a culture where everything USAC touched turned to gold. Several factors, some tragic, changed all that in a relatively short time. So what would anybody in that position do? You take a look around at what your remaining assets are, and you attempt to stay alive by trading on those assets. USAC has been trading on their golden past - to one degree or another - ever since. And as that past fades, they are finding that they are getting less and less in return for that warm and fuzzy memory of what they were. So much so, that these days they barely have enough coming in to pay themselves the rather impressive salaries they are accustomed to. This explains why in recent years there has been a focus away from the core, open wheel racing. Management is open to associating with ANY activity - R/C racing has even been discussed - that can generate revenue. KM described this mentality as one of USAC evolving into more of an entertainment business. Sounds great, but what has happened to our focus on open wheel racing. In the case of Midget racing - my passion - I can tell you the results have not been outstanding.

And all the while, those of us who love the sport spend our time arguing over tire compounds. If those of us who love the sport would shift our focus to the effective management of the organization, if we would demand responsible usage of the revenues they manage in our names and insist that a focus was instituted that concentrates on our core values of open wheel racing, I believe we do have sufficient talent and energy within USAC management to accomplish those goals. but as long as the membership prefers to argue down at the level of pavement vs. dirt instead of looking at the issues that are steering the ship, human nature will take its course and those guys up there will remain elusive, detached, and well paid.

[fish]

Originally Posted by Revolution Racing The senior management and the board all have very big smiles on their faces right now. It took me avery long time to understand this - and some reading this may never grasp it - but we all need to take a giant step back from the day to day racing issues and look at the big picture. The closer you are to the racing (drivers, owners, builders), the more important this is. Those of us whose passion in life centers around racing naturally gravitate toward that passion. So we naturally assume that the issues at hand have to do with how to put on better races, more races, better purses, etc. We assume that these are the issues that somehow need to be improved upon so that the sport can progress, and you are right as far as it goes. But take that step back and ask, why, after decades of trying, have we not made much progress in these areas? Why have we actually LOST ground to some groups that would seem to be less well funded, less well organized? The board and senior management look upon these discussions and smile because they know that they can depend on all of us racers to stay so focused on those issues directly connected to the racing we love, that we won't take time to take a step back, and look at the systemic factors that are preventing any progress. One would think that, armed with a recruit from senior management at a major auto manufacturer, and subsequently with sponsorship from another major auto manufacturer, the organization would be positioned to make significant progress on market share and penetration issues. Actually, over the past couple decades, several such 'foot in the door' opportunities have come and gone - none of which ever were fully capitalized upon. And all the while, we all sat around talking about things like tires, purses, and racing surfaces. Meanwhile, a culture was developing at the top, one that recognized that there was not sufficient oversight of upper management, and zero oversight at the board room. As a result, we have an organization that has reached the point where the actual racing is viewed as mostly a necessary evil - something that must be done in order to keep the revenue coming. Now don't get me wrong - I don't believe this approach was a conscious decision - it was the result of years of stagnant results in the aftermath of the down fall of USAC's glory years. Put yourself in Johnny Capels' shoes, for example. There was a guy that grew up in a culture where everything USAC touched turned to gold. Several factors, some tragic, changed all that in a relatively short time. So what would anybody in that position do? You take a look around at what your remaining assets are, and you attempt to stay alive by trading on those assets. USAC has been trading on their golden past - to one degree or another - ever since. And as that past fades, they are finding that they are getting less and less in return for that warm and fuzzy memory of what they were. So much so, that these days they barely have enough coming in to pay themselves the rather impressive salaries they are accustomed to. This explains why in recent years there has been a focus away from the core, open wheel racing. Management is open to associating with ANY activity - R/C racing has even been discussed - that can generate revenue. KM described this mentality as one of USAC evolving into more of an entertainment business. Sounds great, but what has happened to our focus on open wheel racing. In the case of Midget racing - my passion - I can tell you the results have not been outstanding. And all the while, those of us who love the sport spend our time arguing over tire compounds. If those of us who love the sport would shift our focus to the effective management of the organization, if we would demand responsible usage of the revenues they manage in our names and insist that a focus was instituted that concentrates on our core values of open wheel racing, I believe we do have sufficient talent and energy within USAC management to accomplish those goals. but as long as the membership prefers to argue down at the level of pavement vs. dirt instead of looking at the issues that are steering the ship, human nature will take its course and those guys up there will remain elusive, detached, and well paid.

The people that would "smile" are the stick & ball people. Because they know the attendance for their events will continue to grow while the auto racing people fight amongst themselves (and continue to make THEMSELVES look bad).

I cover more sporting events in a year than many people see in a lifetime. I grew up in auto racing and last night I put together the sports pages that 20,000 people are reading today. How many people do you know that have spent endless hours taking sprint car photos and at the same time have stood on the sidelines at Notre Dame? Seems like the sort of guy that an auto racing fan would want in charge of what they see in the sports pages.

It's pretty obvious to me what's wrong with local auto racing. All you have to do is look at this thread.

Jim Fisher

[Rhody]

The problem, at least for racers, is that many promoters use the racer as the revenue stream, instead of using them to draw the crowd and use the grandstand as the revenue stream. It's hard for me to justify continuing to race when I feel like I would get more respect and satisfaction from playing beer league hockey. I would sure have a lot more spending money.

On another note, any time I have raced a WoO show, the officials made me feel somewhat appreciated. Not true at many other places.

[trecraft]

Originally Posted by Rhody The problem, at least for racers, is that many promoters use the racer as the revenue stream, instead of using them to draw the crowd and use the grandstand as the revenue stream. It's hard for me to justify continuing to race when I feel like I would get more respect and satisfaction from playing beer league hockey. I would sure have a lot more spending money. On another note, any time I have raced a WoO show, the officials made me feel somewhat appreciated. Not true at many other places.

So very well said.

[The Old Coyote]

[team3521]

Keith, I lost my enthusiasm for this subject, but I just reread your latest post and I couldn't agree more! It inspired me to write a little more.

I'd like to know how so many can ignore the facts of what's happening right in front of their noses. Like sheep, bah!... bah! They are led! Following and never asking any questions beyond their own concerns that are at the forefront.

Seriously, I'm happy USAC is doing something different. They have in my opinion an opportunity to revive open wheel racing, but they've needed to cut their president out of the picture like you would remove a tumor for far too long. Hey! We're sanctioning snowmobile races now! Aren't you proud of me! And off road races and etc...pfft!

I'm not even going to go into the Silver Crown debacle. I think Andy is doing a great job from what I know and that makes me very happy. I love Crown cars. But, while pavement midgets died last year and unfortunately were preceded in death by the pavement sprints several years ago, everyone with half a brain knew the midgets were next! NOT A SINGLE THING WAS DONE ABOUT IT. What's a proactive approach?

All of us lil guys that USAC has bled dry, hold onto cars in our garages and they are worthless on the market. No place to race them anymore!

I don't want to see that happen to the winged sprint cars! Leave them out of USAC! You have enough with your tasks to clean things up. They have a great thing going (except the division of the sanctioning bodies) and USAC has killed or almost killed just about everything they've touched in the last 15 years.

Yes, I am angry! Angry at the fact the wages that are being paid are not what a dying business should be paying their managers that are not doing their jobs. Meanwhile, we the bill payers are not demanding enough from the management!

[1121]

When Stevensville Mike stated that I was all the way to one side of the USAC discussion, I had to chuckle a bit. And Mike, I’m not mad. You made some valid points. But just because I believe USAC is better than many other organizations and they get blamed for many things that are not their fault, it does not mean that I don’t see their weaknesses.

Many people bring up the Silver Crown Series. And people that know me know that I love those big cars. When I was a young boy, while my friends dreamed of playing professional baseball or basketball, I was dreaming of blasting down the front stretch of the Indy Fairgrounds. A dream I still haven’t achieved.

When USAC came out with the “new” Silver Crown Cars, even though the dirt cars still existed, I was devastated. I felt this was the first step to getting rid of those cars. In my mind, obsoleting the existing cars was a big mistake. Especially with cars that nobody had.

I do like Jerry Coons idea of running the dirt cars on pavement. But I don’t agree with parking the existing cars. I think if they would do something to even the playing field, they could keep both cars active. Maybe have a ride height rule or maybe have the pavement cars run a smaller right rear. I’m sure there are other things also.

One of the reasons that I have hope for Davy Hamilton is that he is a racer. And it took a racer (Andy Hillenburg) to start bringing the Silver Crown Series back. And no, I’m not saying Davey is just like Andy or vice versa.

Another thing that has been brought up is Mr. Miller’s salary. And I agree that it seems high. But I will also say that if USAC called me today and offered me the same salary for the same job, I wouldn’t take it. I feel it is a no win job. No matter what you do, some people are going to complain. And I just can’t take that many people being pissed at me. I get enough of that at work!

And for the record, I don’t feel that the Auto Value Super Sprints/ USAC merger (or whatever you call it) will last long. In a few years, the AVSS will be back to the way it was.

I have only run in two USAC races (one dirt/ one pavement), but I been on a crew at several races, from the Silver Crown series on. I and the people I was with were always treated with respect and dignity. As you can imagine, I was always with a fairly low dollar car.

I’m sure here is where some of you are saying “he’s only run two races with them and he likes them? What does he know?” Well, let me tell you a story.

Like way too many racers, a few years ago, I was hurt in a race car. It wasn’t extremely serious, but there was an ambulance ride and a broken bone. But no overnight stay in the hospital and I’m proud to say I was at work Monday morning.

When the bills started rolling in, I found out my health insurance didn’t pay for “dangerous activities such as auto racing and sky diving.” (and I’ve done both) (and this situation has since been rectified)

I called the race track and after several months of them jerking me around, they finally admitted they didn’t have any insurance on the driver’s.

I called the sanctioning body that I was running with, and they informed me they didn’t carry insurance on the drivers and it was up to the track to have the insurance. The track had given the sanctioning body a fake insurance statement.

So all the bills were up to me to pay. At the urging of a friend, I contacted a lawyer. I found out that the track was heavily in debt and soon closed.

I have since found out that very few sanctioning bodies actually carry insurance on their drivers. It is up to the track to carry the insurance. And most tracks only have about $15,000 of coverage.

So after all of this, all I had was a stack of bills, a busted race car and a limp.

I highly recommend that anyone who straps in any race car is certain of their insurance situation. I’ve heard good things about STIDA and I was able to purchase additional insurance through where I work.

Fast forward a few years.

A very close friend of mine lives in an area where they don’t race non winged cars. USAC was coming to town and he wanted to run. He’d never run without a wing. He paid for a Temporary Permit ($50 I think). He had the car way too tight in hot laps and the car bicycled and got up in the fence. It caught his arm and basically tried to remove it from his body. He was knocked unconscious and remembers nothing. I would see his helmet later on. All I can say is “Thank you Bell.”

He had two ambulance rides (they were very close to the hospital) and two different surgeries. He is OK today and continues to race.

When the bills started rolling in, he started to turn them into his work insurance. He worked at a company you have all heard of and they basically gave him everything back. They said it was an auto accident and therefore his auto insurance should pay.

He contacted USAC. Remember he was racing on only a temporary permit. He had tens of thousands in bills. He didn’t expect much. USAC put him in contact with their insurance company. THEY PAID EVERYTHING!

He did not have to pay one dime. So when people talk about how USAC doesn’t care about their driver’s, I have to laugh. I don’t think there is any other organization that this would happen with. They could probably drop their insurance to what other series have and they would still get most of their existing drivers.

I don’t know if by running with the King of Wings or the Auto Value Super Sprints, if we will have to pay the for the full USAC license. But this is one driver that will write that check with a smile.

By the way, USAC did not kill off non-winged pavement racing. And they are not killing midget racing. I’m not saying these two are not dying, because they are. But it’s not USAC’s fault. I do have thoughts on who is responsible and I’m sure it would surprise many of you. And those of you that blame USAC for everything from Global Warming (oops, Climate Change) to the Cubs losing streak will not agree with me. And that’s OK. Some time when I get my work caught up and maybe there’s a rain out, I’ll have a few beers and lay it out for you. Until then, it’s late and I’ve got an early morning.

Tom Paterson

[Revolution Racing]

[The Old Coyote]