bigrightrear
Member
This is a post from above on the stlracing forum that was copied from the 4m.net message board. Enjoy!
Dirt Late Models Fans Are The Most Miserable People On Earth
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Alright, I've finally had enough. Caution...rant follows...this is not directed at any one person or any group in general other than those I see in my racing travels...
It seems like darn near every DLM fan is living a life of eternal misery. I've never seen a collection of people that p!ss and moan about everything under the sun the way this generation of DLM fans do. It seems like your entire world if full of percieved injustices.
YOU are the problem with this sport...not traction control, not sanctioning bodies, not Scott Bloomquist, not greedy promoters, not slicked-off racetracks, not high engine costs, not tire rules or lack of tire rules. YOU.
I swear, I've never seen a group of people with such a sense of entitlement and a lack of basic knowledge of the racing business like I see with race fans today.
You claim to be fans of the sport, yet take every opportunity to trash it on this board. You claim to love the sport, and yet delight in making personal attacks against those drivers, sponsors, promoters, owner, etc. that actually ARE the sport. YOU ARE NOT THE SPORT.
Some of you have probably caught onto the fact that I'm a little sarcastic by reading my other posts. Here's some reasons why..it is my opinion that:
1) A track promoter has every right in the world to make as much money as they possibly can.
It totally chaps my @ss that 95% of you are under the impression that a racetrack is apparently supposed to be run as a non-profit charity solely for your entertainment.
Everyone feels they are always being ripped off. I'm sorry, but I just spent $40 to get into a race track for 2 days and watch the Pittsburgher. I was allowed to bring in my own beer and food, and there was free parking. I got to see 54 late models, and some decent support classes races. I was watching action on the track for probably 6 hours over those 2 days. So, the whole event cost me $40....I figure I paid around $7 an hour for entertainment.
Next week, I'm going to a concert. Ticket was $35, parking will be $10, I have to buy beer there at $5 a pop, and the food won't be free either. It will last two hours.
Which one sounds like a better deal to you?
2) Admission costs are more than reasonable in nearly every case.
Do a quick mental count of how many people complain about admission costs on here. You know what? If it's outside your budget, stay home. Better yet, stop trashing the track on a message board and get a second job so your butt can afford to go. I'm sorry if the choices you've made in your life have led you to a point where paying $7 an hour, tops, for racing is too much for you to afford. Weekly shows are more along the lines of $3/$4 per hour to watch racing. Maybe you should try to get a job at the track.
Until the day I walk out of a racetrack where the fans say "Man! That was an awesome race! I think I'll mail in some more money to the racetrack, because I feel like I ripped them off only paying $X to see that!" the tracks will set the admission, and sometimes you'll get the best racing, and sometimes you won't.
I love it when someone on Podunk gets on here and complains that the cost of a race at Hagerstown is a rip-off. You know what? Everything in the area around Hagerstown is more expensive. Look at the cost of real estate in Loudoun County, VA or Frederick County, MD, where a lot of the fans come from. It's a lot more expensive too. Look at the average salary in the area. It's higher too. But here's the point: YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWAY, SO WHY TRASH THE TRACK?
Other things on the cost topic that I love, in no particular order...
-It's too much to go to the show at track X. Instead, I'll stay home and spend $100 on die casts.
-I can't believe track X had the nerve to charge $20 for that show...hey, wait til you see my new shirts I got for driver Y and driver Z!
-"I can't believe these $#%&# charged $14 to get in" says the guy in front of me who just drank a $10 12-pack of beer and smoked a $4 pack of smokes before the heats even finished...which brings me to my next subject...
3) Racing and alcohol.
-It is entirely your legal right to drink if you're over 21, in places where it is allowed.
However...
-It it NOT illegal for promoters to make a profit on beer sales
-It is NOT your legal right to bring in your own beer
-It is NOT your legal right to spill beer on me
-It is NOT your legal right to throw up on me
-It is NOT your legal right to touch my wife, or any other woman
-It is NOT your legal right to drop the F-bomb any time you please, especially if there are kids around
-It is NOT your legal right to pee on the tires of my car
-It is most definitely NOT your legal right to hop in your vehicle and drive on the same road as me after you've been drinking all night
And unfortunately, it is NOT my legal right to kick your stupid drunk @ss for any of those infractions, or I can go to jail. So, you see, you have a lot of leverage. All I ask is that you drink responsibly, and when someone tells you you're being an @sshole, realize they're probably right.
Most normal people outgrow the "let's get puking drunk at every possible opportunity" phase at some point. If you haven't, too bad, but it's not my problem that Mommy & Daddy didn't hug you enough, or the fourth-grade bully kicked your butt every day, or you wet the bed until you were 27, or whatever your issue is. So don't take it out on me while I'm trying to enjoy myself.
4) Scott Bloomquist is not the Messiah/Scott Bloomquist is not the anti-Christ.
Scott Bloomquist is a very talented driver that we are fortunate to see compete on a regular basis, Like him or hate him, the DLM world will be lesser without him when he retires. You could also say the same for dozens, if not hundreds, of other drivers.
5) Drivers owe you nothing other than an exhibition of their driving ability.
Anything above and beyond that is a bonus. Drivers are the ones risking everything to entertain you. Be grateful they and their owners and sponsors put up their time and money to do so. The problem with hero worship is that heros rarely live up to people's expectations.
The drivers you worship are human beings too, with the same financial and personal concerns all of us have. Race cars do not magically clean, repair, and transport themselves. Maybe you should all take this into consideration when driver X doesn't want to shoot the breeze with a total stranger (you) for ten minutes at 1:00am when they are racing 200 miles away the next day.
The simple fact of the matter is that you most likely know next to nothing about that guy whose t-shirt you are wearing. How are his parents health? Does his kid have a soccer game the next morning? Is he in a bad mood because he snuck around and took out a second mortgage on his house to buy a new motor and didn't tell his wife, and the motor just blew (or the wife just found out)?
In summary for now, if you are really FANS of the sport, by all means try to make it better, but 4m isn't the way to do it. I'm sure most promoters out there would be pretty straightforward in explaining things to you like how much insurance costs them for a night, how much their electricity bill is, and how much money they lost the last time they raced when it was calling for rain and everyone stayed home and got on 4m instead. I'm sure most drivers will be honest when you ask them why they didn't stick around and sign your shirt. Give them a call, or drop them an email.
Keep trashing the tracks, and keep trashing the drivers. I'll keep a tally going. When that track turns into a strip mall because the "fans" decided to stay home and trash it on 4m, or that driver retires because he's worn out by "fans" swearing at his wife and kids in the stand, I'll remember. And the first time I see you going all weepy eyed for the good old days when driver X used to race at track Y, I will call you out without mercy.
OK...I feel better now.
Life is great. I've got a few more races to go to this year, and I just spent a lovely late summer weekend at the track, having a couple beers and hanging out with my niece and nephew. I saw a very competitive race, and although it was far from the Racing Utopia 100, it was better than sitting behind a computer waiting for someone else to post the results.
Be happy in your hobbies. Or get a new hobby.
Dirt Late Models Fans Are The Most Miserable People On Earth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, I've finally had enough. Caution...rant follows...this is not directed at any one person or any group in general other than those I see in my racing travels...
It seems like darn near every DLM fan is living a life of eternal misery. I've never seen a collection of people that p!ss and moan about everything under the sun the way this generation of DLM fans do. It seems like your entire world if full of percieved injustices.
YOU are the problem with this sport...not traction control, not sanctioning bodies, not Scott Bloomquist, not greedy promoters, not slicked-off racetracks, not high engine costs, not tire rules or lack of tire rules. YOU.
I swear, I've never seen a group of people with such a sense of entitlement and a lack of basic knowledge of the racing business like I see with race fans today.
You claim to be fans of the sport, yet take every opportunity to trash it on this board. You claim to love the sport, and yet delight in making personal attacks against those drivers, sponsors, promoters, owner, etc. that actually ARE the sport. YOU ARE NOT THE SPORT.
Some of you have probably caught onto the fact that I'm a little sarcastic by reading my other posts. Here's some reasons why..it is my opinion that:
1) A track promoter has every right in the world to make as much money as they possibly can.
It totally chaps my @ss that 95% of you are under the impression that a racetrack is apparently supposed to be run as a non-profit charity solely for your entertainment.
Everyone feels they are always being ripped off. I'm sorry, but I just spent $40 to get into a race track for 2 days and watch the Pittsburgher. I was allowed to bring in my own beer and food, and there was free parking. I got to see 54 late models, and some decent support classes races. I was watching action on the track for probably 6 hours over those 2 days. So, the whole event cost me $40....I figure I paid around $7 an hour for entertainment.
Next week, I'm going to a concert. Ticket was $35, parking will be $10, I have to buy beer there at $5 a pop, and the food won't be free either. It will last two hours.
Which one sounds like a better deal to you?
2) Admission costs are more than reasonable in nearly every case.
Do a quick mental count of how many people complain about admission costs on here. You know what? If it's outside your budget, stay home. Better yet, stop trashing the track on a message board and get a second job so your butt can afford to go. I'm sorry if the choices you've made in your life have led you to a point where paying $7 an hour, tops, for racing is too much for you to afford. Weekly shows are more along the lines of $3/$4 per hour to watch racing. Maybe you should try to get a job at the track.
Until the day I walk out of a racetrack where the fans say "Man! That was an awesome race! I think I'll mail in some more money to the racetrack, because I feel like I ripped them off only paying $X to see that!" the tracks will set the admission, and sometimes you'll get the best racing, and sometimes you won't.
I love it when someone on Podunk gets on here and complains that the cost of a race at Hagerstown is a rip-off. You know what? Everything in the area around Hagerstown is more expensive. Look at the cost of real estate in Loudoun County, VA or Frederick County, MD, where a lot of the fans come from. It's a lot more expensive too. Look at the average salary in the area. It's higher too. But here's the point: YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWAY, SO WHY TRASH THE TRACK?
Other things on the cost topic that I love, in no particular order...
-It's too much to go to the show at track X. Instead, I'll stay home and spend $100 on die casts.
-I can't believe track X had the nerve to charge $20 for that show...hey, wait til you see my new shirts I got for driver Y and driver Z!
-"I can't believe these $#%&# charged $14 to get in" says the guy in front of me who just drank a $10 12-pack of beer and smoked a $4 pack of smokes before the heats even finished...which brings me to my next subject...
3) Racing and alcohol.
-It is entirely your legal right to drink if you're over 21, in places where it is allowed.
However...
-It it NOT illegal for promoters to make a profit on beer sales
-It is NOT your legal right to bring in your own beer
-It is NOT your legal right to spill beer on me
-It is NOT your legal right to throw up on me
-It is NOT your legal right to touch my wife, or any other woman
-It is NOT your legal right to drop the F-bomb any time you please, especially if there are kids around
-It is NOT your legal right to pee on the tires of my car
-It is most definitely NOT your legal right to hop in your vehicle and drive on the same road as me after you've been drinking all night
And unfortunately, it is NOT my legal right to kick your stupid drunk @ss for any of those infractions, or I can go to jail. So, you see, you have a lot of leverage. All I ask is that you drink responsibly, and when someone tells you you're being an @sshole, realize they're probably right.
Most normal people outgrow the "let's get puking drunk at every possible opportunity" phase at some point. If you haven't, too bad, but it's not my problem that Mommy & Daddy didn't hug you enough, or the fourth-grade bully kicked your butt every day, or you wet the bed until you were 27, or whatever your issue is. So don't take it out on me while I'm trying to enjoy myself.
4) Scott Bloomquist is not the Messiah/Scott Bloomquist is not the anti-Christ.
Scott Bloomquist is a very talented driver that we are fortunate to see compete on a regular basis, Like him or hate him, the DLM world will be lesser without him when he retires. You could also say the same for dozens, if not hundreds, of other drivers.
5) Drivers owe you nothing other than an exhibition of their driving ability.
Anything above and beyond that is a bonus. Drivers are the ones risking everything to entertain you. Be grateful they and their owners and sponsors put up their time and money to do so. The problem with hero worship is that heros rarely live up to people's expectations.
The drivers you worship are human beings too, with the same financial and personal concerns all of us have. Race cars do not magically clean, repair, and transport themselves. Maybe you should all take this into consideration when driver X doesn't want to shoot the breeze with a total stranger (you) for ten minutes at 1:00am when they are racing 200 miles away the next day.
The simple fact of the matter is that you most likely know next to nothing about that guy whose t-shirt you are wearing. How are his parents health? Does his kid have a soccer game the next morning? Is he in a bad mood because he snuck around and took out a second mortgage on his house to buy a new motor and didn't tell his wife, and the motor just blew (or the wife just found out)?
In summary for now, if you are really FANS of the sport, by all means try to make it better, but 4m isn't the way to do it. I'm sure most promoters out there would be pretty straightforward in explaining things to you like how much insurance costs them for a night, how much their electricity bill is, and how much money they lost the last time they raced when it was calling for rain and everyone stayed home and got on 4m instead. I'm sure most drivers will be honest when you ask them why they didn't stick around and sign your shirt. Give them a call, or drop them an email.
Keep trashing the tracks, and keep trashing the drivers. I'll keep a tally going. When that track turns into a strip mall because the "fans" decided to stay home and trash it on 4m, or that driver retires because he's worn out by "fans" swearing at his wife and kids in the stand, I'll remember. And the first time I see you going all weepy eyed for the good old days when driver X used to race at track Y, I will call you out without mercy.
OK...I feel better now.
Life is great. I've got a few more races to go to this year, and I just spent a lovely late summer weekend at the track, having a couple beers and hanging out with my niece and nephew. I saw a very competitive race, and although it was far from the Racing Utopia 100, it was better than sitting behind a computer waiting for someone else to post the results.
Be happy in your hobbies. Or get a new hobby.
