The article was a column that isn't online. Truthfully, I haven't read the column. It was published mid-Dec and none of this started until the comments in question were posted online by a reader. Not having read the article or context did cause some concern as you mention. So we didn't just Read --> React. We Read it, investigated it, and then responded. The investigating turned out to be a pretty quick step after getting some first-hand facts. While not wanting to disclose conversations - I'm pretty content that our response was well grounded in facts.

Our response could have waited, but it was one of those things where we felt it was important to get out in front of it to send a strong message about where we stood. I'm not even saying our response was the right response for all tracks. Circumstances can vary. In our case we did not have a long history with ASCOC. We did have a long and positive history with one of the named drivers and great respect for the others. Not only is one of them one of the most popular drivers at our race track, I can recall a time or two where we had shows where I thought we could be a little short on cars and asked him for the favor of towing 6 hours to help our show... and he did... without asking for an extra dime. We felt this was a time to have his back.

Have we had some fun on our social media with the comments about age? Sure. Have we used to sell some extra tickets? Absolutely. But let me say this. Contrary to current popular opinion, Mr. Webb is no dummy. I don't see him going anywhere. His decisions and actions are thought-out and measured. He has experience in this sport that deserves some degree of respect and thoughts on other topics about the sport that are well-reasoned. If there were some large board of people who collectively ran this sport, he would certainly deserve a seat at the table.

Unfortunately, his comments in this instance were toxic and forced us to choose sides - which we did. Hopefully this ongoing War of Ohio can be resolved soon for the health of the sport.