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I have read some of the comments above, and I wish to bring a few things to light...
USAC recently came out with a press release in which it detailed what the new media site will become. It will be a full service website that will encompass races from the "Thunder" days, as well as my archives from USAC events from 2005 to present (and hopefully fill in the holes as time goes on), and current racing events as well. It is not my business model, it is USAC's. I am simply one piece of the puzzle. But, it was developed mid-season (during the busy month of May 2012) in order to cover the current races so they did not go uncovered (like so many did last year). It hasn't even scratched the surface of what it will become.
Presently, very few tracks allow for live streaming because they fear people staying home instead of coming if they know that can watch it from their living room (Which was the case with Kokomo this past weekend. Hell, they didn't even want the delayed "On Demand" broadcasts up until the weekend was over). I have always contended that live streaming never should have been free from the start. Once you give something away, some will never pay for it. I have believed all along that live streaming should be a PPV model that has a revenue share for the tracks that allow streaming. However, the fact remains that getting tracks interested in allowing live streaming continues to be difficult, and thus, the next best thing is a next day On Demand model. USAC is trying this to see if it can generate interest in their new site.
But, if people rail against it arbitrarily because it's a pay site, then you might as well get used to the idea of not having ANY professional video at these events. Here's a stark reality folks. There are only a handful of us that do this well. And only a few of us in Indiana. There aren't enough of us to go around as it is. If we cannot make ends meet by continuing to do this, you will be seeing less and less video all the time.
The bottom line here is, soon, USAC will be launching the latest version of their Media site, and it's going to feature a lot of very cool things from the past on it, as well as events on the current schedule. All for a reasonable monthly or yearly fee. If we get enough people who want to be members of this site, and view as much of the past and current content as they can handle, then we are going to have the opportunity to do some great things in the coming months and years. But, it's going to take the support of the racing community to make it happen. Nobody is trying to soak you of your hard earned dollars without giving you a viable product. We simply hope to put up content that you as race fans feel you can justify spending your dollars on.
One last thing before I go. None of us who do this do it for the money. If we did, we would have quit ages ago. But, personally, I have been covering this sport for 29 years, and I keep hanging in there because A) I have a strong passion for it, and B) I want to do my part to help the sport flourish. Many of my colleagues gave up on this long ago, because there is NO REAL MONEY in it. But guys like Sean Buckley and myself keep diggin' because we want to be here, and we want to be a part of the solution. We don't need your praise, or any acclaim for it. We simply need the support of the racing community and for you the race fan to believe in what we are trying to do. We are just like you. We want to see good things happen within the sport of Sprint Car racing.
Thanks for "listening". Sincerely,
Dean Mills - race fan
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