[flywheel]

kirk, how many races have you PAID to get into? ill bet the over under is 0 have fun gladhanding everyone

Ron Shuman was the biggest beneficiary of Hoosier Tire money in the country during SCRA's prime. It was the reason the USAC/SCRA co-sanctioned shows never got off the ground: SCRA wanted a Hoosier RR, USAC was open tire back then.

[Topless77]

Originally Posted by flywheel kirk, how many races have you PAID to get into? ill bet the over under is 0 have fun gladhanding everyone

Good one flywheel. David best post ever. Can we say nail on the head. Nice to see a knowledgable response from someone thats worn many hats over many years. Also well said openwheel.
Posted via Mobile Device

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon Ya know, David, it has been tough to keep up with all these ill-informed posters tonight, especially since I was AT A RACE. And your thinking is wrong. The part I like about being me is that I'm completely objective. I don't have a dog in the fight - all I want is a strong, well-supported series that puts on great shows and pays the racers well. I want everybody to be a winner. You can just look at me as a reporter. I'm out here at the races just talking to people...I just sponge up everybody's thoughts - their bitches, their compliments (although no one likes to give any about anyone or anything). Then I spit them out wherever - either to each other, provoking more thought (because it's obvious to me that each racer, car owner, crew member, and sanctioning body is looking out for themselves - not that it's a bad thing), or to everyone one on here. Quite honestly, I can't take seriously the opinion of a person or people who rarely, if ever, attend races anymore. This ain't the '70s. Shoot, it's not even 2008. This is 2009! What you did thirty years ago or last year doesn't get you anywhere if you don't know what's going on now. And you can't know if you're sitting at your computer in Minnesota and not at the races. And about Ron Shuman: He was one of my favorite racers and I thought he did a helluva job running the SCRA. I think he does a great job. But am I right that he was basically mutineed against by his own club? He had a club, and I thought he treated them quite well, and between the racers and tracks, he was basically forced out. So apparently quite a few people were unhappy with him too! Am I wrong? As I've said a million times on here (some people can't keep up quite like me), my goal is to be a car owner one day in the future. But I have that as a goal after careful research and consideration...and spending a lot of time picking the brains of car owners from the biggest and richest to the most local. Finally - I had a chat with a person tonight about things like this after it was pointed out that I am always defending somebody or something. I described it this way - I am pretty hard on my friends and family. I'm not afraid to call them out and point out mistakes and whatnot. But when someone chops them down for something they don't deserve, I'm the first to speak out vehemently against said "hater." In just the last few weeks, I've had to correct naysayers of USAC, WoO, ASCS, POWRi, Pennsylvania Posse, California, a bunch of tracks, and a ton of racers...if people would only educate themselves and try to get a clue about the topics they are going to discuss, things would be a lot more simple! Now with that, I have to join the Bacon family along with the ASCS officials to celebrate his win tonight. Goodnight.

Well Kirk, if you can't keep up with yourself then it's not our fault.

[PJ Wright]

Kirk; To borrow an analogy from Hans Christian Anderson it seems that, while you are admiring the emperor's new clothes, many folks are noticing the fact that he is indeed naked.

[spruett]

A word about Kirk and his "free races" I have never seen anyone with as much passion and caring for grassroots racing as this kid. When we first met him in 2003 he was this dusty face kid running around the pits getting racer interviews and posting them on the web along with race reports, sleeping in his car going from race to race making no money , paying his own gas, barely eating, going to school and putting everything on the line to support racers in the press and to have a career in racing. He is no different than the guys who are out there on the trail riding 16 hours and working on the racecar all night during the week to get a chance to tee it up and race their guts out on Fri and Sat . He is a racer and that is why the drivers, car owners and sponsors respect him . At least this one does

He is smart and has been closely observing USAC and many other grass roots series for years. He has also had a spin in the big time. We are lucky to have him and his no-fear of expressing opinions attitiude.

Kirk , thanks for your tireless and mostly thankless efforts to keep it real.

Steve Pruett

[Cale88]

JMO Not saying I agree 100% with spridge but what is the point of turning this thread into what he hasn’t or has done?

[Stagger]

And about Ron Shuman: He was one of my favorite racers and I thought he did a helluva job running the SCRA. I think he does a great job. But am I right that he was basically mutineed against by his own club? He had a club, and I thought he treated them quite well, and between the racers and tracks, he was basically forced out. So apparently quite a few people were unhappy with him too! Am I wrong?

I do believe USAC came out west and promised television and more money...Of course none of that happened. Shu got screwed by USAC. Ask the guys out west. I am sure you are best friends with all of them. I would guess most would like to go back to the Shuman days. I personally would like to see Shuman come out to Indiana and but USAC down. Sure USAC will always be there but I think most would run a Shuman deal if it was done right. He had the right formula and it was taking off. Usac took it as a threat to their kingdom. Came out west an made promises that they still can not deliver. I do not see the west coast car count at Sprint Week like we did when Shuman brought his boys out. By the way are you even old enough to watch the man race? probably not.

[DonMoore10]

Originally Posted by Cale88 JMO Not saying I agree 100% with spridge but what is the point of turning this thread into what he hasn’t or has done?

Well... According to him he gets invited into the USAC President's office all the time and has his brain picked. Maybe PRI magazine should interview Spridge.......

One thing that I think gets lost in these conversations (this was stimulated by the discussion about television) is that USAC is far, far from great shape financially. There have been a succession of blows beginning with the loss of the IRL and in particular the 500, many people forget that that the US GP was sanctioned by USAC and was not an insignificant source of revenue, and the last television deal was a dollars and cents disaster. You have to pay for television now and at the moment USAC doesn't have a Lucas Oil or something similar to support them. There have been a variety of cutbacks to keep the ship from taking on more water. Any rehash of the reasons this happened is irrelevant at this time except for those areas where history should not be repeated. Two important area of historical context is the once golden road to NASCAR has narrowed considerably - and some of the growth in areas like midget racing involved the emergence of the wealthy family bankrolling a racing operation (I'm not being critical of this - we all do whatever we can to forward the aspirations and dreams of our kids) as opposed to the "sportsman" owner (like Ralph Potter, Dave Calderwood etc). Then certainly the economy - meaning finding Lucas Oil has become more difficult. For teams in the end it seems like some have decided to race closer to home (Bloomington for one has had excellent sprint car counts) and think even more seriously about the bottom line (i.e. the Billy Puterbaugh debate that erupted on this board). People mention what happened at Belleville and often point to the car count drop and attribute that to USAC - but BELLEVILLE changed (as did Knoxville). It almost used to be more about the party (should have been the Gretchen Wilson Belleville Nationals) than the racing. It was pure fun. Picnics, squirt gun fights during the qualification draw, stink bombs and cutting up at the Belle-Villa motel- then all of a sudden it was knit-brow serious. In the past people would haul their car out there (in better economic times) and if they raced pretty well and made the A that was great - it was more of a vacation. It became less fun when times got tougher, the chance of being truly competitive diminished, and all you had at the end of the day was a depleted checkbook.