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.