Have at it, fellas. I don't have a dog in this fight. Not along the lines that have been drawn in the sand, here. Racing is important to me. Years ago, perhaps, I could have sought to have made it my life. But not anymore. Life is my Life. I enjoy fraternizing with the people for whom this sport, be it midgets, sprints or winged sprints and Indy Cars, IS their life, but it isn't mine. From that perspective I can say that the idea of fans "uniting" is a pipedream like bi-partisanship in ********: AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.
Further, the idea that the USAC ship is going to remedy itself without a sea-change in philosophy is equally unconvincing. But we have THESE races, now. And many of them are as competitive as any races from "the good old days" ever were. It isn't necessary to talk in terms of "evil" and "usuk" in order to make the point that sports have to perpetually remain vigilant to the needs of their attending fans. All other considerations build outward from the notion of filling seats.
If a track adds four support classes to bolster the back gate, but the racing suffers for it, that point won't be overlooked. If Salem has 10 cars competing and doesn't RADICALLY adjust the program in some way to make the few fans in attendance not feel cheated, fewer will attend again. If a half-mile track has two tow trucks, badly-managed cleanup efforts and general malaise, expect some fans to say "Goodbye" forever. That might really mean: f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
We should feel passionately about this sport we love. Like no other sport on earth, race car drivers put their lives on the line every night. A little ******** and venting by some who are not properly-informed of all the facts isn't the end of the world, but just saying it's business-as-usual isn't satisfying either. This is a sport littered with cultural contradictions, yet pure in it's one pursuit.: Fastest Guy Wins. (should win)
I'll no longer let somebody running some bit of noise up this particular flagpole to see if anyone salutes it get on my nerves, I just wanna see good races.
Fortunately, I have a reasoned-enough understanding of what I expect to see to limit my race viewing to those events where I actually believe I might see something that feeds my soul. Many of those events are USAC ones--the majority of the races I attend, in fact. But I pass on more than I view. I can't see that changing even if I hit the Powerball numbers.
See you folks at Four-Crown...