Quote:
Originally Posted by kdobson
As a promoter of one of these proposed events, I really have a hard time understanding what the issue is...
At our last midget race at Jacksonville, there were a small handful of Indiana based cars, but the vast majority were POWRi regulars from Illinois/Missouri along with a few Wisconsin cars. I wouldn't expect USAC to reschedule their Pennsylvania sprint car swing on account of Illinois Midget Week (or whatever it ends up being called with the Micros at each show as well) - so I suspect the general make-up of the field will be similar to past POWRi bigger events held in Illinois.
For the most part, Indiana midget week will have the USAC regulars and Indiana locals, with a handful of cars from Illinois and other neighboring states traveling. I know that we haven't sent the midgets I'm involved with to Indiana Midget Week in the past and wouldn't have done so in 2013 either. They can race on weeknights in Illinois an hour or so from home, where they can't in Indiana because of jobs. I suspect that the same holds true for many Indiana-based midgets not being able to travel to Illinois for 4 straight days.
Jacksonville is 2-1/2 to 3 hours from the Indiana border. Belleville and Lincoln are similar. Knoxville is as close to Jacksonville as Indianapolis and we don't work our wing schedule in Jacksonville around what's going on in Knoxville because the distance doesn't have us sharing many cars or fans - at least not enough to determine the success or failure of a show.
As someone with some responsibility for creating a schedule for MOWA, I don't care what the IRA is doing on a given weekend in Wisconsin - even though we regularly work together and consult on issues our series have in common. And I don't suspect that the IRA in Wisconsin is paying a lot of attention to when we schedule our MOWA sprint week when they are scheduling their shows - even though on off weekends for one series or another we might send a few cars one direction or the other. They worry about what's best for the IRA, and we worry about what's best for MOWA.
The week after the proposed Illinois Midget week, the UMP Summer Nationals begin which pretty well consumes the big event budgets for tracks and the pocket books for fans in our neck of the woods for the next 6 weeks - and is a far bigger concern for me than what's going on in Indiana. Any earlier and we are prohibited by City Ordinance from running on a week night due to school. After the Summer Nationals conclude, we hold a MOWA Sprint Week, then it gets close to Illinois State Fair week and suddenly kids are back in school and are again prohibited from weeknights.
We would love for everyone from Indiana to follow 4 nights of midget racing in Illinois and we plan to roll out the red carpet for visiting fans if we end up hosting one of the events at Jacksonville. But at the same time... if we can put together four consecutive nights of racing for our area midget teams and fans - many of whom wouldn't be going to Indiana anyway, why shouldn't we?
This has nothing to do with USAC vs. POWRi or hidden agendas. As a track we have been receptive to discussing potential shows with USAC that could work over here as well. I'm sure the folks at USAC spend very little time worrying about what's going on in Illinois or with POWRi. They have to do what's best for USAC. I also am confident that POWRi's main focus is what's best for POWRi... and hopefully what's best for both of them also coincides with what's best for race fans across the Midwest. I see nothing bad for the race fan in having numerous options to watch midget racing in June 2013.
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Thanks Ken for sifting through the BS to post a very well written and informative post about an event that I for one certainly have penciled in on my racing calendar for 2013.
I have only been to two of the four tracks but in hearing from a number of Illinois residents, I would like to fill in the other two tracks as new venues next racing season. The two tracks that I have been to, Belle Clair and Macon, are two of the best midget tracks anywhere.