The way I look at it, not my money invested so I have no complaint. Unless you are footing the bill, you don’t have a say. The show wasn’t advertised as Levi and BC will be racing. They decided not to race and that’s that. I don’t feel cheated by any means. I personally think if you are there and paid your money, you should race. Just my opinion. I don’t look down on either of them because they didn’t though. Team decision and that’s it. Don’t have to agree with it, but it’s done. Not my money.

I do think the MSCS rules need tweaked a little. You can’t have a draw decide your night. There were so many heavy hitters there that if you didn’t draw well, it was going to be tough. I don’t care if they draw, but you have to give passing points IMO. You also should have points subtracted if you loose spots. If you start on the pole and finish last, you should have negative points. So you get rewarded for passing and docked for getting passed. You would also get points for your finish because the pole sitter could only loose points and not gain. It would take some time to calculate, but it wouldn't be that hard to do. I know a draw can hurt you when qualifying too, but you do get your chance on the track. Nothing is perfect, but a straight draw is hard when there are that many drivers and that quality of a field.

People load up and go home all of the time when the draw or qual. bad. They just say they had a motor issue and people leave it at that. I even saw a highly respected WoO champion go home from the Chili Bowl because of his Sat. semi. I think Joe Gearte drove it on sat.

I think the track had something to do with it from the stand point that it tends to be very fast and when it is narrow, it is very hard to pass. Not bashing the track, it's just how it is.

I don't blame any teams decision to do what they do. I understand why you would stay and race, but I also understand why you would go home.


Face it; like Rob pointed out in a way; racing is a gamble. Sometimes you go all in and sometimes you fold and wait for the next hand. Rob went all in and lost more than his ante and Tim folded and lost his ante, but has more bank for the next hand.

As a fan goes; I get it. I would be disappointed as well, but it really is no different than if they would have just said they had motor problems. At least they didn't lie about it.

Why wouldn't both teams pull a NASCAR 'start and park' and pick up a few more $'s for 'running' their heat race?

Could have trailed the tail of the B and did the same thing.

A 'business decision' to mitigate further loss says a lot about them as a motorsports organization. I know this is foreign to a lot of you, but think about the stock market. A successful businessman buys a stock based on a lot of variables (past performance, current situation, hope, etc). After buying it he realizes the stock isn't doing as well as he hoped and the future is looking mighty grim. So what would our successful businessman do? He sells it, realizes a small loss, and looks forward.

These guys aren't dumb. Their winning record speaks for itself and I am really surprised to hear from anyone associated with them, especially Tim, because they certainly don't owe you (ergh, the ones with the ridiculous responses) anything.

Sounds like a team trying to stay competitive? And you all think that what they did was bad for the sport??

The draw format stinks. I remember a couple of years ago there was lots of discussion about it with MSCS. They were going to look into it and make a decision. They were made aware of the alternatives. The ASCS passing points system has been used for years. The excuse we heard from MSCS was it would be too hard for the scorers???? What?? It appers to be just as easy as what they are doing now. Why would they not want to change te format to make thing more fair??? Will someone from MSCS respond? There needs to be a change.

Al Wissmiller

Just my opinion here, but the first sanctioning body to adopt the ASCS heat/qualifiers format and then pay through the field a little better will have all the cars they can handle. 4000 to win and 500 to start would be about right.
Pay 100 for running the B. With 40-50 cars every night it shouldn't be that hard to do.

BTW, we stayed and started on the tail of heat 3, but it was our last race of the year so why not.

If BC and Levi had not loaded up, there wouldn't be all of this discussion. Maybe a good change can come from it.

I am going to preface this by saying that I do not know Levi Jones or the Clausens (although I have talked to Tim on the phone one time).

Is what they did any worse than not showing up at all? I mean on Saturday, I had a car in my garage ready to go, but decided that I would rather spend the evening with my wife. My decision was not even a business one? Hell we got the money. Even worse we ended up at my in-laws (maybe I should have gone racing).

The point I am making is that everyone has raced a bunch this season, cars/motors/teams/drivers/owners are getting tired. With that being the case, I do not see anything wrong with them saying, wow this hill is a bit too steep tonight (that is a big complient to the other drivers) and we are not up for it. Leave the track, towing how ever long they had to tow, arrive home, sleep a bit and then watch some football. Why is that so bad?

All you keyboard jockeys who want to to talk about how much of a racer you are, where were you on Saturday? I am not trying to be disrespectful to the fans, I love the fans and take every opportunity to thank them and hand out photos to them and their children. But until you have dedicated a year of your life to running a car, and all the associated work that goes with it, IMHO you should not judge someone for saying, "F-it, tonight is just not our night". Hey maybe the local Hooters had a special on draft beer and at this point in the season everyone needs a drink.

Now had I taken my car to the track, I would have run the races, but I am a 43 year old never has been, who just likes to race and on occassion finds himself standing next to a trophy queen (regardless how hard I try to screw it up). But who is to say that loading up was not the right thing to do. A local legend once told me to follow my gut, if it is telling me to park the car, I damn well better park that car. Tim's gut told him to park it, and they did. Good on ya!


Rick

I never thought I would see the day where a sprint car driver (or team) would be patted on the back for not even trying, in a heat race.......

It's not like they had to start last in a 10 lap-20 car B main that transfered 2 cars. I could surely understand if they loaded up in that situation.

Yeah, they aren't the only racers to have loaded up, and won't be the last. But, if everybody from 5th starting place in the heat on back, had just loaded up and figured they didn't have a shot at making the A, how many 'Atta Boys' would be passed out then.

After reading through these post the past 2 days the thing that runs through my mind is that fact that we are spending all this time talking about 2 guys that didn't even race. How about talking about the great race we saw that put Stanbrough in the Victory Lane with a $10,000.00 check for him and the Fox Brothers. Not to mention the great drives by Windom and Gardner. Heck the one heat race was one of the best races I have seen all summer. Let's talk about the guys that did race and let the Clauson's and Jones's go do their thing. I am just happy that my last race of the season turned out to be a great race, could Jones and Clauson have made it any better. I doubt it. Bob Bressert

I have no dog in the fight…heck, I have been working with lower funded guys for years now trying to compete against the top teams like Clauson. I don’t feel they need to be defended because their results speak for themselves but….its a message board so I will join the circus…so to speak…lol

Sure, this was something that does not happen often. I think if it happened all the time by the same team, I could see people questioning why the team even fields a car in the first place. But this was one time, one time.

Yes, you can win from the tail…someone has to start last but…

A few things…My thoughts, nobody elses.

1) People have questioned Tim when he said it was a business decision….asking how can it be a business decision when you have multiple sprint cars, midgets, etc? I think there is a huge difference in the sport of racing when the term “Business Decision” is used. In the traditional business world, a business decision is usually measured in profit/loss. In the racing business, hobby, or whatever you want to call it, I don’t think it is measured in profit/loss…..it is measured in just LOSS. Almost nobody makes money in racing at this level…and it can without a doubt be a legitimate “Business Decision” when one chooses to reduce his possible losses, even if any chance at profit is given up. At my job, I analyze businesses everyday across the country that would have been better off, at times, to focus on reducing losses even if giving up the chance at profit for a short time. I don't disagree with the decision. There are times to put the old school racer hat on and race at all costs, and there are times not too. Its up to each team to decide when that is.


2) I know for damn sure if I had a car where $40k+ was invested in it, I wouldn’t let anyone (driver, people on a message board, promoter, mom, dad, wife, girlfriend, etc) tell me when, where, or under what circumstance I should run the car…regardless if my decision was right, wrong, popular, or unpopular. It’s MY car.



3) I can understand the disappointment of some fans not getting to see the driver’s race. But, there have probably been 50 races in and around Indiana where one can see Clauson race this year. Maybe it was the case for some, but I doubt many people were there JUST to see the Clauson team race. I would bet people were there to see all of the top driver’s race, and Clauson is part of that group. I think many are reaching really hard to take a stab at anyone they can (It’s so easy on a message board).

4) Many have mentioned that the team had already paid the money to travel to the race and pay pit passes. At first I was like, OK, maybe that’s a good point, but then I got to thinking. Many times throughout the year, the Clausons are at a race track without a car, just hanging out and being spectators. During these times, they still had to spend the money to get to the track and pay pit passes, the same as they did a few days ago. Sure, it is a rarity to not race with a car there but…I go back to my #2 point.

I do not know, but I think someone said that they practiced the car before loading up. In the words of Allen Iverson…” Come on, its practice man, practice. Not a game, not a game, but practice…” (If you aren’t familiar with Iverson’s famous rant, you will have no clue what I was just talking about). Not a lot was lost running a few hotlaps. Yes, stuff can still happen in practice, but we all know it isnt as risky as an actual race.

PS: I have never met anyone involved, they wouldn’t know me from a hole in the ground. I’m just bored sitting in another damn hotel room traveling for work…so forgive me.

PS #2: Like Bill Gardner said, draws suck. Maybe this will start some sort of revolution to get rid of the draw and bring qualifying back…or at least passing points.