“What…what would you say ‘ya DO here?” – Bob Slidell, from the movie Office Space

The ‘About’ link over on the right gives you an overview and my credentials, but I’m going to be a little more descriptive, and a little more pointed, if not flat arrogant here.

I don’t make any other claim than this site is for my own personal enjoyment. I don’t make any money on this site, and even if I did sell ads and whatnot, there isn’t nearly enough in what I’ve spent in web hosting, photo gear, and time (I do value my time).

My hobbies include photography, racing, and writing. This site allows me to do all three. I’ve grown up around the racetrack – literally since I could “p*ss in a pot.” I’ve been lucky to be a fan when I was a little kid, be a part of a race team through my teens and 20’s and be a part of the management and promotion side of the racing industry for eight years (including three where it was my full-time job).

In exchange for the access and expense of tracks giving me access, I have given back. This site averages around 1000 visits per day during the season, and it’s a reference point for a lot of race fans. No, it isn’t Huskerpedia, or whatever, but our sport is a lot smaller than Husker Football too. I have sent material to the “media,” including trade papers and traditional media outlets like the Lincoln Journal-Star, reaching out to more than just the inner core of message boards and race media.

There have been quality, timely photos of the event posted of Eagle, FREE to view for two years now when no other photos have been posted on a medium (the internet) which is the dominant form of communication in the short track world. For the record, I’ve made $246 on photos since 2006. I’ve spent approximately $4250 in photo gear, software and webhosting fees – not to mention time. Just like most of you racers, I’ve lost money and will lose more because I’m not selling prints this year, but it doesn’t matter: I do it because I love it.

I’ve been complimentary of races and promoters, including the controversial bus races at Eagle, the terrific Non-Wing/360/Modified show at I-80 last season, and the revival of Shelby County Speedway by a group of hardcore lovers of the sport.

And almost on a daily basis, I try to take what’s been sent, and what hasn’t been sent but posted elsewhere and get that in a one-stop place for any short track fan in the area to visit. Sometimes, this involves editing, clarification, cleaning up and so on to make it presentable.

FAR MORE of this site is positive, informative and nothing but sugar for the sport, because as a whole, this sport is wonderful.

Sometimes things happen that aren’t sweet, and maybe those things need to be brought to light so that the sport does not suffer. And we may not always agree on what’s sweet or what’s sour, but I’ve always been willing to hear the other side.

One thing I’ve tried to do is break some of my Eagle ties. The way I’ve done this is through objectivity. For all the race results, press releases and such, I’ve said uncomplimentary things about Eagle before; the crowd for the ’06 Nebraska Cup, where I posted a panoramic picture of maybe 200 people in a 5000 seat section of grandstand, an editorial about night of pit-road mess and official decisions I didn’t agree with, my disdain with the 2007 Backrow Challenge being a support show to the WDRL. And all while Roger and Michelle Hadan have graciously let me in for no charge, indeed receiving a literal pat on the back and thanking me for what I've done from Roger.

But to only speak negative of one place I had connection to before and not be objective to all tracks I ask for access to, is unfair to everyone.

The model for the site was Kevin Eckert’s (formerly of Open Wheel) excellent http://www.openwheeltimes.com/. He posts news releases, and the occasional editorial. I don’t agree with Kevin all the time, but he shoots it straight and makes you think.

And this is where I get into the “pointed’ part of this editorial. The way things “used to be” and the environment of the days of old is gone – forever.

Writer extraordinaire Joe Scalzo described it in his book The American Dirt Track Racer as the “Eleventh Commandment” of racing: thou shalt not speak ill of the sport. I got news for you: that went the way of the ancient view of the Sun revolving ‘round the Earth.

The Pollyanna journalism of the old died long ago.

It died with the advent of technology and the mobile family of the 50’s brought choices for the entertainment dollar.

It died when lawyers sued for neglect.

It died when sponsor money was needed just to stage a show or race a car and the front gate had to support the expenses.

It died when the family budget demanded more money for food, groceries, housing and basic needs and wants of a seemingly-affluent society.

It died when even the sport’s own faithful and participants got their own platforms in the media.

And if one final whack to the dead horse couldn’t be delivered, the Internet with its message boards, track and fan sites, and fans, drivers, and all those concerneds’ demands for world-wide access and delivery of the facts pulverized the remains of the Eleventh Commandment into a stain on the backstretch of history.

Sometimes bad things happen in a good sport. Crowds don’t show, people get hurt, racers run out of money, fans can’t pay, the show was a bore. It happens and will continue to happen. People expect to be entertained, but they expect truth as well. Husker fans spoke ill of the program even in the good times (remember Lawrence Phillips)? And as sad is it maybe it did need to be said and addressed, for the good of the sport.

If the charlatans who tell you to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” then ask for your money and ask for your allegiance can’t take their lumps like we all have to in our lives in the REAL world, then I have no use for them and the organizations they run interference for.

I’m not asking for sympathy or to be a martyr. I’m not the next Geraldo Rivera or anything like that. I’m telling you where I stand, and what “I do here.”

I’m just asking for your trust and your sense of fair play. I’ll keep pouring myself into this if you keep reading. Racing is too much a part of my own life and bigger than any one of us to let good things go unnoticed and bad things go unaddressed.

Last weekend, a long-time racer (I won't mention the name, for sake of not getting him involved in my rant against his will) talked me out of hanging this up altogether. He said to just keep doing what I’m doing.

And that’s what I’m going to do.

Labels: editorial