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NOT JUST ANOTHER RACING COLUMN

by Dudley Balmer

2/24

LET’S TELL’EM

I recently challenged the promoters for lacking initiative in their promotion efforts but, we in the racing community are just as guilty. Take a look at what we have to offer. Sprint car racing unquestionably is one of the most exciting, unpredictable sports there is. On any given night there are usually ten or twelve of the starting field that are capable of taking the checker. This is to say nothing of the thrills and spills in the preliminary events. We have something that no stick and ball sport can begin to offer and all this for general admission beginning at an average of $14.00 dollars. We in the racing community all know this, but who do we tell?

Take the family to a professional baseball game and you can pay anywhere from $35.00 to $250.00 per ticket depending on how extravagant you wish to be. NFL football is even more expensive with ticket prices ranging from $68.00 to $350.00 for a regular season game, not to mention up to $20.00 to park your vehicle. We could also compare NASCAR just for the dollar value, certainly not for comparison in exciting entertainment. NASCAR tickets average $59.00 to $825.00 depending on the event and the accommodations desired. To me our sport is stacking up pretty well against any professional sport you can think of. If this is the case, then why are all the local tracks not standing room only for every event? To a great degree I feel it is a total lack of professional promotion and the skimming of the short term profits instead of long term investment in the facility’s future success. In addition to this well placed blame, as hard as it is to swallow it is our fault as well.

All the owner’s, driver’s and crew’s friends and family know what they do; but how often is there an invitation given to come and watch an event. We all stop at truck stops and gas stations for service, but how often do we strike up a conversation about what we do or a special event being held in their area. It is easier to fuel and go and complain about the empty stands. When we shop, how often do we ask the cashier if they are coming to their local race track after work? This is much like the congregation in church complaining about the empty pews and never inviting anyone to Sunday service themselves. Yes, the preacher is paid to do that and in our case the promoter is the advertising professional, but we have some responsibility also as does the person sitting in the nearly empty church pew. As economic times worsen and costs go up, if we are to survive, it may be up to us as members of the sprint car racing community to get off our collective duffs and out of our comfort zones and let people know what we do and where we are doing it.

For years I was told at various sales seminars and training meetings that nothing happens until someone sells something. If we think about it, this is absolutely true. We do have something to sell. We talk about racing all the time to each other, so why can’t we talk about it to those we meet in the course of our daily lives. It may not be our job; but it could possibly be our survival. If I like something, I will tell you about it. We all love sprint cars so let’s tell someone about them and where they will be and what they have to offer. Let’s sell our product and possibly if we help the promoters they will in turn be more inclined to invest more into their facility and ultimately into the racer’s pocket. Sprint car racing is one of the best places for a family’s entertainment dollar. Let’s tell’em. Thanks for reading the column. Now think about what each of us as fans of sprint car racing (and we are all fans) can do to keep it alive and well for this season and for seasons to come.

2/8

WOULD THEY? COULD THEY?

I certainly enjoy walking through the pits talking with all of the drivers. Some are still running that I raced with and others, I have raced with their dads. I especially enjoy the senior drivers beating the young guys. Keith, Sammy and Steve come to mind. I sort of know where some of these guys came from and the changes they have had to adapt to in this changing sport.

It is great to talk to the young guns and listen to their take on things. Many are really talented and will be around for a long time. Their hustle and enthusiasm sometimes takes me back to another time. I can’t help wondering how these drivers of today would do in the equipment and events of yesteryear.

Today the feature event is twenty five or forty laps at the most. It was not that long ago that a season had several hundred lap events and a couple of hundred fifty lap features for good measure. For the hundred fifty lap events we would stop for fuel and tires at the half way point, not getting out of the car, but just being restarted for the next seventy five laps. These cars had only top wings if a wing was run at all and they had no power steering. It is true that they had less horsepower than the machines of today but with downforce just being learned they were a handful under the best conditions. Before the full face helmets of today, open face helmets with a red bandana around your face to allow you to breath was the way it was done. Arm restraints came later and there were no side mud guards to keep the mud and rocks from pelting the driver. The driver could reach out and touch the tires on each side of the car. The seats wrapped around only your chest area, the Hans device was a long way off.

It was a different day with different priorities. You hoped you got paid but it wasn’t for the money. I remember running a hundred and fifty laps at Lincoln Speedway with a broken collar bone and cracked ribs but that was just what you did. You raced. If you had to break a cast off your knee to fit in the race car that is what you did. You raced. I won’t even go into my first year with the east coast URC organization in the 1960’s running without a cage, only a sprint bar behind your head. There was no fuel cell or shock adjustors. You didn’t have a wing to move forward or back to keep up with the changing track. You just drove it.

I love spending time with our new crop of drivers, some of which have not yet finished high school. If I can help them out in any way; it is my pleasure to do so. In a lot of them you can see the natural talent and you hope they get the breaks they need to be around a long time in a sport that is not noted for longevity. But, sometimes I can’t help wondering what if I could take them back two or three decades in time, and if I could, just how would they do. Would they even want to do it under those conditions without the cameras, the media coverage of today, the internet and Facebook. People still talk about the Larry and Gary show in USAC, Opperman , Kenny Weld and Gus Linder in central PA, Foyt and Andretti in the big cars, the IMCA travelers like Dick Gaines and Diz Wilson and the west coast guys like a young Al Unser Jr. at Ascot. It is not fair to name a few as it took so many to make this sport what it is today. Unfortunately some paid the ultimate price doing what they loved, and along the way made the sport and the equipment into what fans all over this nation and several other nations around the world claim as their sport of choice. Would they? Could they? I guess we will never know but we can look at those old pictures, relive the decades of progress and thank all those who came before. We have little to gain by comparing different generations in totally different circumstances. I’m sure more would be achieved by supporting the drivers of today and enjoying where sprint car racing has come, but sometimes after races are over and I am ready to turn in for the night, I can’t help wondering, would they? Could they?

1/18

Where Have All The Promoters Gone

Many years ago J.R. “Whitey” Hollowood learned that this young kid from Cross Creek, PA was going to begin his racing career at his Greater Pittsburgh Speedway on the upcoming Friday night. He placed this news in his midweek write up in the two Pittsburgh papers and the result was nearly a dozen people who knew either my dad or me paying to witness this once in a life time event. My first night in a supermodified race car was pretty much forgettable but as a promoter Whitey was not.

Whitey promoted the now long gone Heidleburg Raceway and the Greater Pittsburgh Speedway which met the same fate. His philosophy was that a secret race never made anyone any money. For a special event he would have youngsters place posters in local businesses, acquire radio time and all local media was courted and used to the maximum. Racers and regular attending fans often got a pair of passes to invite a friend in hopes they would become regular attendees. Many did. Whitey started and grew Speed Sport Uniforms into one of the most successful race equipment suppliers in the country until he suffered a stroke and later passed away. He loved racing and could sell it in a way that few others ever could.

Jack Gunn of Williams Grove Speedway and Hilley Rife of Lincoln Speedway in the seventies were also outstanding at their craft. After a serious crash at Lincoln on a Saturday night I was called in to Hilley’s office. After asking if I was ok and if I would be returning, he handed me $200 out of his pocket and thanked me for the extra entertainment for the fans. In the seventies that went a long way in getting back together and buying loyalty for racing at Lincoln on Saturday night.

Few racers in the east during the seventies and eighties did not take advantage at one time or another of Don Martin’s hospitality. He would get travelers a room, open his trucking company shop as work space and make each team feel as though they were an important part of Lernerville Speedway. His wife, brother and entire staff made you feel that you were welcome whether you stopped by one time or were a regular participant.

Earl at Eldora could be seen on the grader working the track as you loaded the race car into the trailer. What was once some dirt in the middle of Ohio corn fields is a world class operation because he sold it to the people. Whitey was right. A secret race does not make anyone any money.

Today I see promoters standing at the gate ringing their hands as they count heads coming through the gates. They advertise occasionally on racing sites or in racing publications but totally ignore their surrounding community. The racers and race fans probably already know about the event and it is the “ would be” fan or the person of casual interest that is forgotten and left to spend their entertainment dollar elsewhere. Racers are seldom treated as business partners but as a necessary evil to keep the gates open. Seldom are participants given a pair of passes to invite a guest to the track. The press and local media are ignored to a large extent and certainly not used to the track’s optimum advantage.

Mention sprint car racing in most communities and you will often hear “ are they still running those things around here” or “ I haven’t been to a race in years”. The reason they haven’t been to a race and are not an active, paying fan is that no one has sold the product to them. When I first got into sales as a youngster, I was told that nothing happens until someone sells something. Racing people come to places like Hoseheads to find out what is going on in the racing world. The general public relies on promoters to sell their product in an interesting imaginative way. Whitey Hollowood and Don Martin are gone but I wish a lot of today’s promoters would walk in their footsteps. If today’s promoters were equal to the competition on the track there would be a lot more people in the stands and fewer secret races.

God Bless and we hope to make the trek south to Florida and make as many shows as possible. If you see us in the pits or along the way, stop by and say hello. Until next time, have a safe and rewarding 2010 racing season.

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