You know Spridge, when I started working on cars back in 2000, the Sprint Week opener at North Vernon had close to 70 cars give or take. Opening night at Lawrenceburg ten years later did not even have 50. It really is sad. You used to go to a USAC race around Indiana anytime and there would be at least 40 cars in the pits. Those days have long since passed, and I hate it for the sport. I thought the car counts for the Buckeye Nationals the first year were great, but they fell off quite a bit thereafter.

You really have to look at the economic factor more so than anything. If you look at Gas City, Bloomington, Lawrenceburg, and Lincoln Park for example on a weekly basis, most of the racers are geographically close. (within an hour to hour and half) Granted you have a few that make a longer tow to run a specific track, but for the most part everyone is fairly close. Some owners have called it quits or scaled it down, a lot of the sponsorship dollars have gone away, and the weekly teams aren't equipped like some of the USAC guys. You used to always be able to count on Bill Biddle having a couple of cars, god rest his soul. KKR scaled back it's USAC involvement, Bud Kaeding stays out west, and Chad Boat and Cole Whitt have moved on. You see some corporate dollars on the TSR car, but the Hoffman's lost their deal. The days of a guy throwing $10,000 at his buddies car are gone. They have to make payroll. Some local guys have great stuff, but not the 850-950 hp motors that some teams have. The best thing I seen this last weekend was Dickie Gaines, proving that a local guy can still get the job done against the big boys. The bottom line is, that is the first time for a while you have seen a true local racer win a national race for a long time.

You also hear that some folks feel that USAC has a lot of ******** that nobody wants to get involved in. I know you work for USAC Kirk, and whether there really is or not, I don't know. But, when Don Short gets on here and makes a statement about it, you have to wonder. I have not personally seen it, but I have not been with a team that has run a lot of USAC since about 2005. By saying this, I am no way slamming USAC, just stating feelings that I have heard, and I commend those folks for speaking their heart.

I love this sport, and I really hope things come back around. I hope that in 10 years, the sport still has at least the viablility it has today, but it would be nice to see it the way it was 10 years ago.