Grading USAC

usac99 · 1/2/10, 12:20 PM

Now that this is his second full season, what grade would you give usac and what changes would you like to see ?

JstAbvVMC · 1/2/10, 7:10 PM

Make changes, Fix USAC !!! Please NO, some on this board would have to find a new WHIPPING BOY to complain about !!!

SUPERDUKE · 1/2/10, 8:19 PM

Well lets see:

The Hut Hundred has died

The Knoxville Nationals have ended

The Rumble Series has thrown USAC out

The Union County deal

The Silver Crown series is a shell of what it once was

I will end my list there. I can't stand to list anymore things that have happened under the current leadership. Of course the bleeding hearts will come on here and spin these into being positives for all of racing and are not Kevin Miller's fault but the results of the previous administration and shouldn't be blamed on Kevin.

When you are the group that nearly every other midget group looks at for leadership and you do nothing to put the stop to exploding costs in racing I can't give you very good marks.

I give a grade of D-. It's not a F because atleast this administration saw the failed new Silver Crown cars were not worth keeping around.

fish · 1/3/10, 7:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outsider

Well lets see:

The Hut Hundred has died

The Knoxville Nationals have ended

The Rumble Series has thrown USAC out

The Union County deal

The Silver Crown series is a shell of what it once was

I will end my list there. I can't stand to list anymore things that have happened under the current leadership. Of course the bleeding hearts will come on here and spin these into being positives for all of racing and are not Kevin Miller's fault but the results of the previous administration and shouldn't be blamed on Kevin.

When you are the group that nearly every other midget group looks at for leadership and you do nothing to put the stop to exploding costs in racing I can't give you very good marks.

I give a grade of D-. It's not a F because atleast this administration saw the failed new Silver Crown cars were not worth keeping around.

The Hut 100 was dead long before Kevin Miller. No More Knoxville Nationals, coulda fooled me. (I could go on)

No bleeding heart here, just a little bit of fairness.

1/3/10, 7:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fish

The Hut 100 was dead long before Kevin Miller. No More Knoxville Nationals, coulda fooled me. (I could go on)

No bleeding heart here, just a little bit of fairness.

Let me clarify something. The Knoxville Midget Nationals I was speaking of was the Knoxville Midget Nationals. I figured with the thread being about USAC that 2 and 2 would be put together. I was wrong I guess.

JstAbvVMC · 1/4/10, 1:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outsider

well lets see:

The hut hundred has died

the knoxville nationals have ended

the rumble series has thrown usac out

the union county deal

the silver crown series is a shell of what it once was

i will end my list there. I can't stand to list anymore things that have happened under the current leadership. Of course the bleeding hearts will come on here and spin these into being positives for all of racing and are not kevin miller's fault but the results of the previous administration and shouldn't be blamed on kevin.

When you are the group that nearly every other midget group looks at for leadership and you do nothing to put the stop to exploding costs in racing i can't give you very good marks.

I give a grade of d-. It's not a f because atleast this administration saw the failed new silver crown cars were not worth keeping around.

See, my point exactly

1/4/10, 7:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JstAbvVMC

See, my point exactly

Yes, heaven forbid we lay the truth out for people to see it. It's not like we can whip out a weather balloon and call it that. This isn't the Army Air Corp in New Mexico circa 1947.

fish · 1/4/10, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outsider

Yes, heaven forbid we lay the truth out for people to see it. It's not like we can whip out a weather balloon and call it that. This isn't the Army Air Corp in New Mexico circa 1947.

Kevin Miller is responsible for Roswell too? Please clarify.

Kevracer58 · 1/4/10, 12:57 PM

C.

There is room for improvement, but overall USAC races are at least as professionally run as any other organizations, and more professional than most.

RichC · 1/4/10, 4:56 PM

My take?

When Mr Miller arrived, he didn't walk into a pretty situation. All the series had issues but the SC and Focus series were very much broken. I would have to think it took some serious nuts to be new on the job, go into a room of SC owners that you probably never met and tell them they now owned 100k lawn art. That was the right decision. I honestly think the midget thing snuck up on them and they discovered the enormity of it at about the same time as detonation. The midgets can probably be added as another inherited problems that overwhelmed their ability to fix in time. Whether or not it should have been forseen is easy to argue. You tell me which side you are on and I probably could come with an effective argument in favor. Cost containment in the midget arena is probably going to require that Mr Miller get up in front of whatever midget owners are left and tell them that they now own 40k boat anchors. Whatever method of cost containment is chosen you are going to hear people screaming bloody murder. It's a no-win solution. I think that in the short term you are going to see the midget cars<->midget minds theory cemented into reality. Really, it's no different than any attempt at cost containment in any series because you can't call in the magic racing fairy to wave a wand and make your car cheaper. Existing equipment will be need to be obsoleted which requires new purchases. In order to make progress somebody is going to have to give a lot and no one will be willing to do that.

I think from the business admin side they'll eventually pull it together. Where I see them sorely lacking is racing admin. They really don't have anyone anymore that knows how to run races or is strong technically. They dumped everyone who had that knowledge. I don't see either Jason as being strong in that area. They really need a Norm to run the show and someone in the field who knows these cars technically. Remember when NASCAR hired Gary Nelson (reputed to be one of the biggest cheaters in the garage area) to be in charge of their tech? Somebody like that would be good. If you are smart enough to not get caught cheating when everyone is inspecting your stuff, you likely are smart enough to figure out a myriad of problems.

Apply the rules in a consistent manner, apply common sense and eventually you will gain respect. If a situation comes up where a ruling is made where the rule dates to 1957 and probably shouldn't be there anymore enforce the rule now as it stands and get it changed/clarified within weeks, not years. Actually, the methodology of what you do doesn't matter as long as it is consistently applied.

I would say that it's still too early to give a complete grade to Mr Miller. A good business plan has a 3 year outlook because thats how long it takes for change to occur. A year from now would probably give a better representation on whether he was a good or bad hire. At this moment it probably looks like whatever direction they take with the midgets will be a pivotal moment in his legacy but I have a feeling that because it's the current problem de jour that it will eventually fade into another log on the fire. I'd say in the current situation USAC is probably better off with Mr Miller than they would have been with previous administrations and I suppose that's about the best you can say at this point.

At least this year we're racing more than 1x every other month out here.

1/2/10, 12:20 PM	#1 Grading USAC
usac99 Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 98	Now that this is his second full season, what grade would you give usac and what changes would you like to see ?

1/2/10, 7:10 PM	#2 Re: Grading USAC
JstAbvVMC Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 272	Make changes, Fix USAC !!! Please NO, some on this board would have to find a new WHIPPING BOY to complain about !!!

1/4/10, 12:57 PM	#9 Re: Grading USAC
Kevracer58 Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 156	C. There is room for improvement, but overall USAC races are at least as professionally run as any other organizations, and more professional than most.

1/4/10, 4:56 PM	#10 Re: Grading USAC
RichC Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 76	My take? When Mr Miller arrived, he didn't walk into a pretty situation. All the series had issues but the SC and Focus series were very much broken. I would have to think it took some serious nuts to be new on the job, go into a room of SC owners that you probably never met and tell them they now owned 100k lawn art. That was the right decision. I honestly think the midget thing snuck up on them and they discovered the enormity of it at about the same time as detonation. The midgets can probably be added as another inherited problems that overwhelmed their ability to fix in time. Whether or not it should have been forseen is easy to argue. You tell me which side you are on and I probably could come with an effective argument in favor. Cost containment in the midget arena is probably going to require that Mr Miller get up in front of whatever midget owners are left and tell them that they now own 40k boat anchors. Whatever method of cost containment is chosen you are going to hear people screaming bloody murder. It's a no-win solution. I think that in the short term you are going to see the midget cars<->midget minds theory cemented into reality. Really, it's no different than any attempt at cost containment in any series because you can't call in the magic racing fairy to wave a wand and make your car cheaper. Existing equipment will be need to be obsoleted which requires new purchases. In order to make progress somebody is going to have to give a lot and no one will be willing to do that. I think from the business admin side they'll eventually pull it together. Where I see them sorely lacking is racing admin. They really don't have anyone anymore that knows how to run races or is strong technically. They dumped everyone who had that knowledge. I don't see either Jason as being strong in that area. They really need a Norm to run the show and someone in the field who knows these cars technically. Remember when NASCAR hired Gary Nelson (reputed to be one of the biggest cheaters in the garage area) to be in charge of their tech? Somebody like that would be good. If you are smart enough to not get caught cheating when everyone is inspecting your stuff, you likely are smart enough to figure out a myriad of problems. Apply the rules in a consistent manner, apply common sense and eventually you will gain respect. If a situation comes up where a ruling is made where the rule dates to 1957 and probably shouldn't be there anymore enforce the rule now as it stands and get it changed/clarified within weeks, not years. Actually, the methodology of what you do doesn't matter as long as it is consistently applied. I would say that it's still too early to give a complete grade to Mr Miller. A good business plan has a 3 year outlook because thats how long it takes for change to occur. A year from now would probably give a better representation on whether he was a good or bad hire. At this moment it probably looks like whatever direction they take with the midgets will be a pivotal moment in his legacy but I have a feeling that because it's the current problem de jour that it will eventually fade into another log on the fire. I'd say in the current situation USAC is probably better off with Mr Miller than they would have been with previous administrations and I suppose that's about the best you can say at this point. At least this year we're racing more than 1x every other month out here.