Provisionals: Enough Is Enough

You'd almost have to be living under a rock to NOT notice all the provisionals sanctioning bodies are using now.  One recent race in particular, I noticed that five of the 27 starters took some sort of series/track/emergency provisional.  Seriously?! That means over 18% of your A-Main lineup didn't even race their way into the show.


Over 18%!!  Enough is enough.


Let me preface by saying this...  I know that, to an extent, provisionals are somewhat needed for a series to be successful anymore.  It's sad, really.  Over the last 15 years, drivers have convinced themselves they need the safety net of a provisional to fall back on should they have problems in a prelim.  And sanctioning bodies have convinced themselves that drivers won't follow their series unless they have the aforementioned safety net.


I've worked for a few sanctioning bodies during my time.  I get that.


But what I don't get is the unnecessary need for so many provisionals.  I mean, honestly, there is not a reason why a race with 27 starters needs to have nearly one-fifth of its field made of drivers who didn't actually qualify for a spot in the in the main event.  


You're robbing other, worthy drivers of a spot in the show.  


And what's up with the emergency provisional?  When did this become a necessity for drivers?  You've got a chance to turn a solid qualifying lap.  Then you've got a chance to make the show through your heat, which is lined straight up from qualifying.  If you don't race your way in through your heat, you've got a chance to make the show through the B-Main.  If that doesn't happen, you've got a provisional.  And then you've got the emergency provisional on top of that...??  What gives here?  Counting qualifying (and, yes, I do count qualifying), you've already had FOUR chances to make the show.


Enough is enough.


Not all provisionals are bad, though.  I'm all for giving the local drivers and weekend warriors an extra shot at making the big dance.  Provisionals for the top driver in a track's points standings help bring more of that local talent to a big race.  And I miss the days where there was a provisional for the "longest tow".  It added a little flavor and character to the event, didn't it?


But now, everybody and their brother starts the season off with, basically, more provisionals than he should/would ever have to use over the course of a season.  For me, as a fan, it take a lot of fun out of racing.


Enough is enough.


If nearly one-fifth of your A-Main starters are there because they took some sort of provisional, you REALLY need to reevaluate your program.  Let drivers race their way into your show.  That's what's fair and that's what people really want to see.


And if you think otherwise, the only person you're really kidding is yourself.

Indiana Icebreaker Preview

Occasionally it's the heat, occasionally it's the rain, but more times than not, weather is usually a factor when it comes to Brownstown's two major races, the Indiana Icebreaker and the Jackson 100.  Such is the case again this weekend with a 50% of the wet stuff for the Lucas Oil sanctioned 15th Annual Indiana Icebreaker at the 1/4-mile fairgrounds oval.  Remember, inclement weather forced this race to be postponed last year.


The weather forecast, combined with the announcement to start Hot Laps at 4:45pm, makes for an interesting Saturday in Brownstown, IN.  On one hand, you have an opportunity to wait out the rain with such an early start time.  With a high temp of 68 and a low of 48 predicted for Saturday, it won't necessarily be cold, but a rain shower would certainly make it feel much cooler than 68.


But let's hope for the best.  Say it doesn't rain and the show runs off without a hitch with Hot Laps starting right at the scheduled time of 4:45pm.  That's an awful lot of racing taking place in the daylight.  And this is an event draws a lot of cars.  As a matter of fact, the Indiana Icebreaker has had over 60 entries five of the last six years.  60 cars hot lapping, qualifying, and running heats on a daylight surface? Yikes.

Brad Neat won the season opener at Brownstown.  (Steve Alcorn photo)

History shows us, however, there's little need to worry about a lock-down Brownstown surface this early in the season.  The chance for a track to rubber up is always there - at any track on any night, Brownstown included - but for that to happen this early in the season would be a little out-of-the-ordinary.


The other thing to keep in mind is the fact that Brownstown is one of those race tracks whose size and shape allows for side-by-side racing whether it's black-slick or hammer-down.  Admittedly, I like it a little better when guys have to flat foot it and go balls-to-the-wall.  But, to be honest with you, I'm a RACE fan, and if a black-slick track provides good, side-by-side racing, then I'm fine with that too.


Who are the contenders heading into Saturday's race?  Well, let's start with the obvious.  Don O'Neal, fresh off his Spring 50 win at Florence one week ago, is a good bet for ANY race at Brownstown...any race that isn't a foot race, of course.  The Team Zero cars of Scott Bloomquist and Jimmy Owens are usually front runners at Brownstown, so expect them to be in the mix, especially if the track slicks off.

Scott Bloomquist is the defending winner of the Indiana Icebreaker.  (Jeremey Rhoades photo)

One other driver to keep an eye on is Brad Neat. The Dunnville, KY pilot, now racing on his own again, won the season opener at Brownstown on March 10th and has a history of running well there, dating back to the his days with the Battle of the Bluegrass Series.


If you're looking for the odds-on favorite, go with O'Neal.  If you're looking for a darkhorse, go with Neat.  If you're looking for the answer no one wants to hear, go with Mother Nature.


I'll be keeping my fingers crossed they get this one in.  Brownstown's got themselves a good, hard-working, passionate staff there.  I know they'll do everything they can to get this show in.

Top 10 Craziest Things... #8

#8  –  Crowley’s Ridge Raceway 7/3/04

What Happened:  Sometimes, the craziness isn't what happens at the track. Instead, it's what happens leading up to the visit.  In a nutshell, this wild road trip took an unexpected journey through southeastern Missouri and northern Arkansas.  Fighting off Mother Nature and mosquitoes the size of buzzards, we were able to credit ourselves with two races in one night.

After hitting Union County Speedway in Liberty, IN on Friday, July 2, 2004 myself and my old college roommate Joe Gainey packed up my 1999 Grand Am for a wild road trip that was to incorporate 9 races in 9 days.  Set out to conquer the racing world, we were west-bound and down for a seven-hour journey to Pevely, MO’s famed I-55 Speedway.  An overcast, rainy Saturday would hinder our spirits, although we made good use of my new cell phone by constantly calling the track to see if they were racing.  In addition, we quickly found my mother to be a much-needed asset, serving as our “on-call meteorologist” (remember, in 2004, we didn't have smartphones, or really, any way to access the internet while driving).  Less than 15 miles from the track, we received the word that I-55 had been rained out.

With Mom keeping a watchful eye on the radar, we were guided to “head south”.  With our trusty National Speedway Directory in hand, we made an impromptu, last-minute, mad dash down Interstate 55 and landed nearly two hours south of our original destination at the new Poplar Bluff Speedway in Poplar Bluff, MO.  Arriving just in time for their early starting time of 6pm, we sat on the backstretch and watched them tick off heat race after heat race in a relatively timely fashion as Mother Nature’s dark and dreary storm appeared to get closer and closer.  Just a couple races shy of intermission, what can best be described as a tropical downpour fell upon us as we slopped through the pits to the parking lot and into our car.  Noticing the time was still early (7:30pm), we rocketed out of the pits in a hurry and fired up the cell, ringing up the on-call meteorologist who guided us to continue going south.

The National Speedway Directory listed Crowley’s Ridge Raceway as being 1/4-mile dirt track located in the city of Paragould, AR.  Following Late Model driver Brian Richie through the backroads of unfamiliar territory, we were lucky to find this little 1/5-mile hole-in-the-wall that is nestled deep within the woods on northeast Arkansas, nearly 10 miles away from Paragound and, seemingly, any type of civilization.  We arrived at the track just in time for the intermission fireworks display.

Wearing nothing on my feet but sandals, mosquitoes as big as vultures picked apart my feet like they were fresh roadkill on a sunny afternoon.  The facility hadn’t seen a lawn mower or a weed eater since Christ was a carpenter, and the payouts were only slightly better than the proverbial “hot dog and coke” as our new-found friend Mr. Richie won the race (after tagging the tail of the field) and pocketed a whopping $200 and a free tire for his efforts.  Restarts were a free-for-all as the waterhead flagman waved the green as cars exited turn two, and the entire program seemed to be nothing short of unorganized chaos.  Now being well over three-and-a-half hours from our original destination, we finally found comfort in a run-down Days Inn in downtown Paragould.  Thanks to Brian Richie and his crew, who gave us directions on how to get out of the race track and back to civilization.  Also, it’s worth noting that a tornado would rip through Paragould the day after we left, killing two people and injuring several others.

Looking Back:  And to think this is how we STARTED our road trip.  Actually, Joe and I like to reflect back on this excursion quite often.  Without a doubt, this is one of the best racing stories I have ever been a part of.  Also ironic is the fact that we ended up nearly 4 hours south of our original destination.  I remember us calling Crowley’s Ridge at least three times to get directions on how to get there.  They were giving us roads that weren’t on the map.  Thank God we were able to follow Brian Richie, even though he was driving well over 70mph at night down these Arkansas backroads.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Julian Roberts from Pittsburgh, PA who correctly identified this week's mystery track as Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, NY.  On March 31, 2007, Five Mile Point became my 100th track to see a race at.


Julian will receive two free general admission passes to any regular show at I-77 Raceway Park this season.  Congrats!

Trivia Tuesday UPDATE

Still no winners in this week's Trivia Tuesday.  Please remember that you must be a blog follower and respond to the original post (and not Facebook or Twitter) in order to win.  Complete rules are available on the original post below.


Since we've gone a day without a winner, I'll post another pic for everyone.

Remember...   the first person to correctly ID this track gets two general admission passes to any regular show at I-77 Raceway Park in Fairplain, WV this season.

TRIVIA TUESDAY: Name This Track!

I'm upping the ante this week.  The first person to correctly identify this race track wins two general admission passes to any regular show this season at I-77 Raceway Park in Fairplain, WV.  

Trivia Tuesday Rules:

• Must be a blog follower to guess (see instructions below on "how to follow this blog")
• No more than two guesses per follower
• Must respond to this post using your "follower name"
• Contest ends this Friday at 5:00pm.  If no one guesses correctly by then, the name of the track will be revealed during next week's Trivia Tuesday.
• As always, we ask that previous contest winners give others a chance to win.  Please wait 30 days before entering another contest.  :)

Congrats to Chad McVey from Belpre, Ohio who correctly identified last week's track as Susquehanna Speedway Park in Newberrytown, PA.

Spring 50 Random Thoughts

• I got to sit outside with a t-shirt on and watch a race in the middle of March.  Absolutely no complaints from this guy.
• Was it a rough and tumble race track?  Yes.  Is it usually a choppy track for this race?  Almost always.
• With 33 official entries for the race, I was a only tad off on my car count prediction of 35-40 cars.
• I was, however, correct on my predictions that Don O'Neal would be hard to beat and to "keep an eye on any driver with a 'Club 29' decal on their car". Lanigan was strong, as everyone expected.
• Hat tip to Bobby Pierce.  He certainly lived up to his nickname ("Smooth Operator") for the duration of the feature.  Nice job, young man.
• As for the big accident on the backstretch on lap 2, chalk that one up to a combination of two guys racing hard and the ruts coming off turn two as the video clearly shows O'Neal's car bounce a little sideways into the path of Rattliff.
• I hated to see Eric Wells lose a motor.  He was certainly the fastest car there...at least through the heats.
• That had to be the biggest crowd Florence has ever had for the Spring 50. I'll go as far as to say it looked more like a Ralph Latham Memorial crowd.  
• Was anyone else surprised to see Duane Chamberlain in the Engle #15?  Maybe I missed that announcement during the offseason.
• Hat tip to the King Family for running a tight program with potential inclement weather on the way.  I know they would have liked to spend some time on the track at intermission, but I also understand their hands were somewhat tied, as we all saw the lightning off to the southwest.
• Nice to see Wayne Chinn back in action.  
• I thought RJ Conley looked really strong early, but simply held his own for the second half of the race. Maybe he was just being conservative given the track conditions.
• I could have sworn I saw a Leprechan with a bull horn running around in a green suit.
• If you stuck around for the Modified feature, you had to be impressed with Jeff Babcock's 18th-to-2nd run.
• Equally impressive was Joey Kramer.  The guy's just a damn good wheelman.
• I had a great time.  You can't put a price tag on socializing with friends and getting to see a lot of people you haven't seen in over five months.  I also hate it that so many good cars got torn up.  Let's hope everyone is able to rebound in time for their next race.

Following The Blog; Facebook, Twitter, & More...

Hey everyone... just wanted to send you all a few reminders that folks have been asking me about...


HOW TO FOLLOW THIS BLOG - A few people have emailed me and asked...   "how do I follow this blog?" and the answer is simple.  Just click "Join This Site" in the lower left-hand part of this page.


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That's it for today.  Go out and take in a race this weekend and I'll be back with more on Monday.  


DJ