[Gene Franckowiak]

A few months ago my sprint car team ran a URC race in Georgetwon, Delaware. The track was rough and alot of equipment was tore up. Luckily no one was hurt. Last week there was another URC race at Georgetwon. Myself, My Driver, and entire team decided that the track surface was to bad to race on and we decided not to risk our equipment and bodily injury..........WE STAYED HOME. URC ran the race and alot of equipment was again torn up.

Racers are not 7 years old and hopefully all of them are capable of making a decision that serves their best interests. All the drivers said TH was not fit to race on......yet everyone of them lined up to race.

Why not forgo the points & big crash..........push your car into the trailer and go home in one safe piece.

Mez stated it was USAC's fault. Why didn't he not race? It is an option.

Point being.............if a track is unft or unsafe to race on, and you go out there and race, the fault is youirs not theirs. Driver / Owners need to make their own decisions and quit blaming others.

I'll bet there'd be alot of injured drivers today if USAC told all those guys to stick thier index finger into a pencil sharpener instead of lining up on a dangerous track.

NEVER LET PEOPLE DUMBER THAN YOU MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU !!!

[unclebuck20]

the fact remains that it should not have been that bad. If nothing else put all the water you can get on it and everything with wheels to iron it and see if you can bring it in. Seriously they were ironing with tractor and fertilizer truck.

[Jonr]

Originally Posted by Gene Franckowiak ..... NEVER LET PEOPLE DUMBER THAN YOU MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU !!!

I don't know if I agree with everything in the post, but the last part is classic. It should me a mantra for all of us.

[Avon Open Wheel fan]

The other factor is some of the drivers race for a living. Given that factor how many people would just walk out on their job? Then you would also have to throw in what if you lose the point championship for not racing that one race? Its really USACs fault for putting the drivers in this position.

[davidm]

You can't race for a living if you're layed up in the crash house.

[Gene Franckowiak]

First.........how can you race for a living if you allow yourself to be hurt ? I would think if one races for a living, he is able to determine the difference between calculated danger and stupidity.

Second.......it is USAC fault for carrying on with the race, but it is not their fault that the drivers made the decision to race in unsafe conditions.

It is the American way today not to accept responsibility for decisions we make but rather blame someone else for the decision we made.

Bottom line, Brass tacks.............if you CHOOSE to do something, it is not someone else's fault if there is an unhappy ending.

We can argue about this all week.........there is no right or wrong answer......just good common sense decision making.

If I owned a Silver Crown car, it would have been loaded up and not raced.....period. I stopped letting stupid people make decisions with my money a long time ago.

[PJ Wright]

Gene; I agree whole heartedly that MANY in our country have the "It's not my fault, I'll blame someone else mentality". Apparently, some of those folks work for USAC. As proved by his earlier post, Tom Hansing is NOT one of them.

No doubt USAC gets hammered for a lot of things that aren't their fault, but IMO this dusty debacle rests on their shoulders.

Gene, We've talked. I know you love sprint car racing and it's awesome you're helping a USAC team. What I find a lot of people don't get is that racers are special people. Not every driver was born to do this. All the money in the world might get a driver to the top, but they won't stay there for long without having a certain 'something'. There is a certain fear factor missing in some extremely talented drivers. I like to call these guys 'real racers' and they need sanctioning bodies who will keep the safety of all drivers as their NUMBER ONE goal. People keep asking me what my connection to racing is and why I'm so disturbed by the words 'profitability' and 'racing' in the same sentence, so here's the short version:
My father's uncle died at Bunker Hill dragstrip. My father decided to race sprint cars and was part of the original Indiana Sprint Week and several non-USAC wingless sprint shows in the late 70s and early 80s. My brother also ran at Bunker Hill like his great uncle. Outside of my family, I had the honor of helping to care for a legendary midget driver who now resides in a nursing facility, having had several head injuries. Throughout the years, I haven't met many drivers that didn't appear to have a screw loose (and I mean that in the most affectionate way), but that's what makes them what they are and they need protected from themselves at times.

I'm not one who goes to the shows for crashes. I go to see guys like Dave Darland take the young guys 'to school' like he did at Putnamville last Saturday night, for example. I go to feel the engines and the dirt - the sensory experience.

You acknowledged that I'm looking for a place in racing, but I think I already found it. If I'm the very last voice in the world that puts driver safety over money, then that will be my place. Nobody has to pay me to do it. Sprint car racing has already given me some of the best memories of my life, so I would work for free so other folks can walk away from the track with great memories, too. In fact, the sport needs a voice that has no financial interest. USAC used to be that voice. As you know, I am deeply concerned with USAC's decision to focus on the revenue from Monster trucks and snowmobiles. The Sunday fiasco is further evidence of USAC's neglect of the circle tracks and the drivers that built USAC racing. Everybody else can stay on the USAC bandwagon and throw insults at me for caring more about the drivers than the fans. My skin just keeps getting thicker.

[Gene Franckowiak]

First, did USAC prepare the track ? If not, the track promoter should have pulled the plug, If so, USAC should have pulled the plug.......if neither party was smart enough to pull the plug........the racers should have gotten together to discuss it.......if none of the above took place......the decision now rests with each individual competitor if he or she is going to follow the fool into the dust bowl. My point is..........We all have choices. No one forces us to do anytihng we don't want to do.

[openwheelKT]

Originally Posted by PJ Wright No doubt USAC gets hammered for a lot of things that aren't their fault, but IMO this dusty debacle rests on their shoulders.

That's how I see this situation. I think USAC gets a lot of things laid at their feet that shouldn't be. In this case though, the whole deals falls on them IMO. I understand the point of putting the car in the trailer and heading down the road. A choice could have been made by all. T Mez said it, he should have done that, but the racer in those guys sometimes overrules.

In the end as others have said, it's one day. Move on or stay home I guess. I'll move on and go again.