Originally Posted by Tim:
Mr. Sullivan,
We knew what we were getting in for when we started coming up here in 2003. We know we would be racing against aluminum motors, and we accepted that we'd be under powered and over weight. When Mr. Stockon had the steel block series, through MSCS, in 2004, we supported it whole-heartedly, both finishing in the top five in points. Interestingly enough, there didn't seem to be a car count problem then, but many of the races were in Illinois where there was a contingent of cars. Jump to 2009, and a new program begins, which puts us back into a field we feel we can compete for wins in. The powers that be indicated that they understood 2009 would be a building year, but were committed to making the series work, even just a few days prior to the "big announcement". The committment was then "altered" to the dismay of many. My only questions on this subject had to do with whether the decisions had been supported by the Race Day Director, Joe Chambers, which, sadly, we now know they were not and Joe is no longer involved with the series.
You know, you can only be betrayed by those you put your trust in. We stated from the beginning that we'd support whan we could. Whether they feel betrayed by us is up to them to comment on. We don't feel betrayed by them because, quite frankly, we're not virgins with this series-building process, so we throttled our trust in the folks in charge of the series. The throttle was probably just shut, however, with the recent post by Mr. Chambers.
All in all, Kind of a Bummer
Tim Simmons
Tim,
I have been following this thread and have some questions. I have "no dog in this fight" so the decisions won't affect me one way or the other. Starting in the beginning, I thought this was a great idea and it could give some lower budget racers an opportunity to race in a series. In looking at the original schedule, I was kind of amazed that they would try to make this work travel wise. I still feel this concept has merit but here are some questions for you or anyone else who might care to elaborate.
1)Are there enough steel block sprint cars out there today to adequately supply this type of racing?
2)If you had a three year plan, would you attract enough modified drivers, street stock drivers, etc. to jump on board and increase the number of cars available?
3)I commented earlier that if you had a couple of tracks be the cornerstone for the series, would that help with reduced travel...higher car count? I mentioned maybe contacting Joe Spiker and seeing about running Lincoln Park & Danville once each month from April to September. That would be a 12 race schedule and maybe fill in a few more dates elsewhere. Would that work?
4)In your opinion, what does it now take to make this "idea" continue and flourish in the future?
I am not trying to bash anyone and from a spectators point would like some drivers, fans, sponsors, officials, opinions. I realize that "weekend warriors" have regular jobs and sometimes it isn't feasible to make the races every time. If cars get torn up it sometimes takes a little while to get them fixed and back at the track.
