[Stevensville Mike]

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester WOW, Just wow. I honestly didn't think it would tumble like it has.

You can say THAT again, Charles. It is moving quickly. I figured these two sanctioning bodies would wrestle with each other for awhile, fighting over the 10-12 (maybe) drivers that will actually TOUR with them, leaving a half dozen aside. It would be shades of the CART/IRL split. Eventually, someone would cave due to lack of $$$ and that would be that.

Hell, this might be over before it even starts. No one has even fired a shot yet (unless you consider Webb shooting himself in the arse).

Yeah, one could see only one series was going to survive in the end. I just thought this would play out a tad longer.

To be continued.....

[OnTheHammer]

Can someone enlighten me as to what caused the rift between the ASCOC and the Renegades and/or drivers?

[flatout]

Short answer....Guy Webb

[Charles Nungester]

A interview with Guy Webb for Area Auto Racing News quoted Webb as saying something to the effect of. You can't make a series out of older drivers wishing to extend their careers. It also mentioned Danny Smith and a couple others. He later tried to spin that.


Well drivers who might have done both are now calling tracks like Attica and saying they will not race at ASCOC races. This is why Attica and Jacksonville dropped ASCOC.

Dale Blaney ASCOC champion, who's basically guaranteed 500 just to show up at a ASCOC race has even chimed in on twitter.

I rarely mention another site for information but Hoseheads forum has a lot more information, Weed through the hearsay and its in several different threads.

[Stevensville Mike]

Can anyone provide a link to the AARN (Area Auto Racing News) article/interview with Lenny Sammons that Webb had? I have read "he said this" and "he said that" and it obviously upset a few drivers, but I cannot find the actual report/transcript. Webb subsequently posted a clarification stating that he was taken out of context. I was just curious and would like to actually see/read the controversial interview and judge for myself to see if, in any way, he could have been taken out of context with respect to his remarks.

Not choosing sides, but as a sprint fan, I am just following along here. My whole adult life I have known that there are two sides to every story - sometimes three. On one hand it seems Webb here is rapidly digging a huge hole for himself and his series. On the other hand, I have seen journalism go sideways for the sake of making a name and controversial report for the journalist and the paper.

So, any links?

[PJ Wright]

Sorry Mike, no link and I don't blame you for wanting to read it yourself. I'm a long time AARN subscriber and I did read the article. Len Sammons is a very well respected journalist and I believe he quoted Webb correctly. Notice Webb has not denied saying what was printed, only that it was taken out of context. IMO, he meant exactly what he said. Talk about ironic, when the Renegade series was first announced, Webb said that one of the reasons he would come out on top is because he "knew how to communicate with people".

[Stevensville Mike]

Originally Posted by PJ Wright Sorry Mike, no link and I don't blame you for wanting to read it yourself. I'm a long time AARN subscriber and I did read the article. Len Sammons is a very well respected journalist and I believe he quoted Webb correctly. Notice Webb has not denied saying what was printed, only that it was taken out of context. IMO, he meant exactly what he said. Talk about ironic, when the Renegade series was first announced, Webb said that one of the reasons he would come out on top is because he "knew how to communicate with people".

Thanks, P.J. If you are vouching for Len, and have read it, I'll take your word for it.

Very ironic indeed.

[kdobson]

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.

[flatout]

Originally Posted by OnTheHammer Can someone enlighten me as to what caused the rift between the ASCOC and the Renegades and/or drivers?

People had not been happy with Guy Webb for a long time. Not living up to promises, bounced checks, not paying out point fund in timely manner or in one shot. I think things reached a tipping point at last years Speedweek show at Wayne county. Some owners were not happy with decisions being made and voiced their opinion. Webb didn't like and in essence said he really only neede one team to have a series. After this went down, a lot of the regulars began dropping off. Guess he got his wish.

[stoney]

nobody got pointfund money in 2013. haven't herd about 2014 yet (were talking allstars)