I was extremely disappointed in the track’s decision to penalize the sprint cars by taking away hot laps. We made the 350 mile round trip to Kokomo last night to evaluate the substantial changes we made to the chassis and gain some data for the upcoming sprint week race. Many racers in the pits talked about loading after the call to take away hot laps but only Damion had the integrity to do so. I was among those that wanted to load but was swayed by the fact that loading would cost the team $420 ($200 in pit passes and entry fees and $220 in diesel) and we would not meet our objective of gaining valuable tuning data. The gain in tuning data had to be balanced against the risk that we would start 3rd in a tightly packed heat with a car that may be uncontrollable.

We don’t run Kokomo on a weekly basis and I usually make the car pretty free (safe) for hot laps and then tune (tighten) to the track conditions. Without the benefits of hot laps I had to literally say to Daron that I didn’t know what the car would do in the 1st corner.
Daron’s timeline in his earlier post was correct and I know for a fact that Keith Bloom was the first car in the push off lane and he sat there for 2 to 3 minutes waiting to be pushed before being told to go back to his pits because they had canceled wheel packing and there would be no hot laps. We were rolling on the way to the push off lane when the announcement was made.

As for the pit PA announcer, he begins incessantly making calls for the cars to come to the push off lane way before it is necessary and because of his constant “crying wolf” the competitors have no sense of urgency to comply. The threats and tone of his calls are demeaning to each and every competitor in the pits. I certainly understand the need to keep the show moving and that the fans don’t want to wait between races but I have been at many other tracks which accomplish that goal without being demeaning to the competitors.

As for the KISS coordinator, she initially stated that the pit PA announcer did not have the authority to take away hot laps and she would talk with track management. Everyone can see how effective she was at getting that accomplished.

Kokomo is a great little track and usually well prepped. The fans are terrific and I thank everyone for coming out. I realize that we are there to entertain and I hope every fan feels they received value for the hard earned money they spent last night. I need to balance the money we spend against the value we receive in accomplishing our goals. I certainly don’t need to spend so much and take unnecessary chances of tearing up the car to get one opportunity to tune the car and be treated like I was last night.

Damion had the courage to take a stand and follow through. Until more racers (myself included) find it within themselves to become as principled, we are doomed to keep receiving this kind of treatment. I can express my displeasure in two ways; by letting everyone know about the problem and by not voluntarily returning to the facility until something changes.

Rob Hoffman