I usually take a look at the Wagtimes web page once a week to see how the racing is going out on the East coast during the summer. But, every time our USAC guys go out there to run Mr. Ken Wagner does nothing but bi^&h at how the tracks are purposely kept dry so the Midwest guys have the advantage and how the west coast guys have no chance of running good. Basically every time one of the Midwest drivers does good he downplays their accomplishments and belittles what they have done.

Sorry to tell you Mr. Wagner but if the West coast boys can't figure out how to adjust their cars to varying race track conditions they may want to look into a driving school that focuses on setups and how to effectively use a throttle pedal.

See for yourself what his latest remarks are: :action-smiley-049:
http://www.wagtimes.com/wagsworld.html

Although this time he has vindication since Super Rickie won. (Congrats to Rickie though as he is a helluva nice guy and darn good racer!)

Couldnt agree more jake

I agree, the guy is quite biased towards non-California drivers.

He does have a great idea with his Wagsbucks program that gives donated money to hard luck drivers or those who didn't qualify.

There is no doubt he works very hard to put money in the racers pocket but man these last couple of seasons he has become very bitter when it comes to our USAC guys.

He must not remember the days of The Gasman, or Kruser, Williams, Gaunt, Drake, Yeley, Argo and numerous others coming to Indiana for sprintweek and doing darn good on our tracks.

He seems to be the ultimate homer preaching to a homer crowd. No biggiee. Having grown up watching racing in California, the tracks slick off there too. I've seen San Jose and Baylands back in the day get slicker than snot. Maybe Wagner should just tell the west coast drivers to not smash down the gas peddle and they won't spin their tires as much. Problem solved.:idea: Over simplification yes, but really c'mon.

Lets do this since National has to travel 2000 plus miles to kick their butts. Make Sprintweek a SCRA points races . The old CRA midwest tour wasn't USAC. I enjoyed them guys racing here very much.

Not a knock, I think the guy generally is great for Sprint Car racing and I see him here more than you would think.

Chuck

Its not easy to criticize Ken Wagner because of all that he and his helpers have done through many years of fund raising for the racers on the west coast. But, I believe that you may be somewhat right in pointing out his anti-USAC slant in his recent columns. I don't believe however, that he holds any bias against midwest drivers. Following his retirement, Wagner was hired by USAC as the CRA's public relations director (or whatever the title is) during its first year of operations in California and Arizona. For some reason he was not asked back the following year. Maybe there is some resentment involved. Just a guess on my part. Again he is all about supporting the racers and for that alone he has earned alot of respect out here. He has raised thousands of dollars through the years to help the smaller racing teams. His ego sometimes gets in the way, but I read his column and view his photos regularly with great interest. Just my opinion of course.

Wags is a friend of mine, and does a lot of good for the west coast racer. In fact , we could use someone like him here , now that Mr. Hunt is gone.He is a Homer though.

If he thinks tracks slick off here , he should go to Haubstadt, I think that might change his mind.

I haven't read Wags' latest column but I can imagine what he had to say. Yes, Ken likes to see the west coast guys do well. What's interesting to me is that of all the places that I've been to, far and away hands down the most "homer" crowds can be found in Indiana. Even considering Pennsylvania. I think if you talked to a few of the west coast guys that came to Indy and won a championship, you'd be surprised to hear that their success wasn't always exactly welcomed by the Indiana folks. So, in a way it's kind of ironic to see a post like this. The is not intended to be a knock on Indiana at all, I love to go out there to race. Just an observation.

Another observation. USAC schedules races out west at the beginning of the year and the end of the year. Last time I asked they were contributing $0 to the teams for travel costs. When SCRA came to the midwest/east every year, Ken Wagner always worked to gather enough money so that he could put between $1500 & $2000 in the pockets of every team that went on the tours for travel expense. So like him or hate him, Wags has done a lot for the racers.

Nobody is doubting or taking away what Ken has done for the sport of sprintcar racing but seriously, I have been reading his weekly columns for years now and these last few years (especially last years) were nothing but bash Midwest guys anytime they raced with the West coast boys.

Anytime there was a wreck, or someone bumped wheels, or threw a slider, he trashed them up one side and down the other saying they drive this way all the time (meaning dirty driving).