t.nie
Patience Tester
Ok, this is a long one, but for anyone who wants to know my take on everything, here it is if you care to read it.
This is the first time since Thursday night's race that I have looked at these forums. I have had some conversations with people, and every time it was put to me "so and so said this or that on stlracing" I cut them off and explained that I really did not want to know what people were saying, that it genuinely did not matter to me. I have been using this site long enough to know that the bulk of what goes on here, especially this summer, is negative, critical, malicious and underhanded, so I could easily imagine what a beating the whole event was taking after it was over.
To be perfectly frank, these boards have become the gallows for St. Louis area racing, the place where people come to execute those they feel responsible for everything they can find wrong with every racer, promoter, official, sanction, and track in the St. Louis area racing community.
If my decision to continue doing what I do was based on what I read on here, I and every other person involved with putting together races would quit in a heartbeat. Every promoter at every track in the area gets hammered on here at some time or other, so why should this event be any different? As far as some people are concerned, they own a racecar, they show up to race, and since the track charges them to get in, they have a God-given right to crucify whomever they want whenever they want on stlracing. I think they are digging their own grave and taking racing with it.
Fine. Next time you go to Wal-Mart, give the manager a good cussing out when you don't like something. Tell the manager at your local gas station what a "mothereffing S.O.B." he is for the price of gas. Stomp around at the new Busch Stadium and scream at the people who work there, tell them exactly what you think, exactly how you feel cause a pretzel was 6 bucks and the cost of a ticket to the game has gone up. You paid to get in, you drove all the way there, it's your God-given right, isn’t it?
The way I see it is this. Randy and I worked a lot of hours and spent some money out of our own pockets to do a second Big Dawg Challenge, because we thought it would be a fun night of racing for the local bomber guys. Sam and Angie helped out with the shirts; because they thought it would give something to the racers that they could keep and help draw more cars so the race could take place. I personally stuck my neck on the line with Stephanie Meents at MARA and sold her on the idea of letting the race happen, telling her we would get a good car count to help her cover the costs of the event.
Oh yeah, just as a sidenote, do you know how much money she just lost on that night? I got the exact figure on what she took out of her bank account to cover the event. It aint pretty, but she wanted to honor her mother who passed away with a Memorial race, since her mother was such a huge supporter of Midget racing and MARA. Sorry some of you seem to feel that you got your time wasted on 'go-karts crashing' but there was actually more meaning to those races than just taking money out of the racers and the 'crowd' in the stands. The truth is, she spent a lot of her money for that event, and has not complained about the cost because she has her own reasons for wanting to do it; a race to honor her mother, Charlene Meents. It was not to make money at all. She lost the price of at least two damn good family vacations to Disneyworld and more on that one night.
So we put the thing together, Randy bought a trophy, WRP Speedshop agreed to kick in some wheels, Greenville Service agreed on a day's notice to show up for the Bomber guys, Unlimited Imprints kicked in the t-shirts to put the purse up to $300 to win, and I made a bunch of flyers and hit all the area tracks in the weeks leading up to it to tell every bomber guy I could find about the race.
On the night, in the drivers meeting, I did everything I could to tell the drivers what was expected. As far as this race was concerned, they were the All-Stars and were expected to drive like All-Stars. Run hard, run clean and let's have a great event. I also said that if this event turned into a demolition derby, this would be the last Big Dawg Challenge we ever had. As far as I'm concerned, when the best of the best Bomber Big Dawg drivers hit the track, there should be little or no contact. You are the best, right? You can drive the wheels off a racecare, right? So let's see what you can do.
The heat races were some of the best racing I have seen so far this year. 27 cars, 3 9 car heats and a lot of tight racing with little to no contact. I saw guys lifting off when somebody got too far sideways in front of them going in just to avoid tapping them and spinning them. Every last racer out there did everything they could to run as close as they could without a single scratch. There were one or two minor incidents and that was it. I took a deep breath and thought, good, they understood what they were told in the driver's meeting, we are going to have a great Big Dawg Challenge feature.
The feature came and the track was what it was. Dusty. Dry. Terrible visibility. Not the best circumstances to race under, but every driver could see for themselves what they were up against with the conditions. After two attempts to get it underway, we had already lost a car or two. MARA flagman Billy Shipman did exactly what he said he would do at the driver's meeting: "You get two shots at a start, if that doesn't work, we put you single file."
So they lined them up single file while I watched from the infield. With the field rolling away single file, I thought "This is the Big Dawg; these guys deserve one more shot at a double file start, especially under the track conditions." So I went to Billy on the front straight and asked him for one more double file start. He said yes, and set the field up for one last double file. I stood on the track and let the drivers know through hand signals that this was the last shot they had, 1 more time and that was it.
The green dropped and we got one lap in. From there onward, it turned into exactly what Randy nor I nor anyone else wanted to see: a demo derby. The dust was so bad at the back of the field it was impossible to see the cars. I have raced. I know how dangerous that is. I know how bad dust can be, and what I saw looked a lot worse than anything I have ever driven in, and I have driven at a fair amount of tracks in the Midwest under a lot of different conditions. My impression was that the conditions were beyond what I had ever seen anyone else try to keep a race going under.
Then the incident happened on the back straight. I saw the 21 car spin coming out of 2, it disappeared behind a truck that was between me and the back straight, and I heard the crash right after. I didn't see it, but just the sound was enough that I knew it was a pretty hard hit, so I ran around the truck to my back and onto the track to see if the guys were ok and how tore up the cars were. I was the first guy there. Bobby Hinson's 12 car was inside the 21 on the passenger side. The drivers were kind of stunned, just sitting three not really saying or doing anything. I started asking “are you ok?” It took a second or two, but then Bobby in the 12 car told me he was ok and Mike in the 21 said he was fine. I walked around to Stevie in the 55 and he said he was ok too. That was a big relief. I know racing is dangerous, every racer accepts the risks, but I really would hate to see anyone get hurt at something like this that is just supposed to be for fun.
I went back to the 21 car and looked at the cage all bent in, and all I could think as that if that was a driver's side door shot, it could have been pretty bad for the driver. Bobby got out of his car, looked right at me and said "If you don’t call this thing, Todd, somebody is going to get killed. I can't see. Nobody can. I never saw him. I couldn't avoid it, because I just never saw him." At that point what he was saying was exactly what I was thinking, and when it comes to track conditions you have to listen to what the drivers are telling you they are experiencing. It was bad and I couldn’t fix the track, so I was going to have to do something about the race.
I went to the tower and asked Dave Walker, the scorer how many laps we had in. He said 2. There were only 8 cars left in the Big Dawg after just 2 laps. I said "We are going green, white, checker. These guys can't see a thing. 3 laps and we are done." Tim announced it almost immediately after I said it and I went down onto the front straight to let the drivers know. I held up 3 fingers, they did a couple of caution laps, dropped the green. and it finished without another incident. Jackson won it, Kizer, then Gegg.
Nobody other than me had anything to do with the decision to go green, white, checker. That was completely my decision. I made the decision out of safety concerns for the remaining racers. I do not apologize to anyone for the 5 lap Big Dawg Challenge. Making a decision that is unpopular is never any fun. I got cussed out by people in the stands. The drivers were obviously unhappy. I was told by numerous people they would never come back. I said that's good, because I really don't know what you would be coming back to.
One guy made the trip all the way to the infield just to throw the t-shirt back at me. No problem, I understand that this was a call that was going to make people mad. The most important thing to me though, is that all of the drivers went home in one piece.
I have no plans for another Big Dawg at BCR. Not because people are mad about this one, but because I will not organize the Annual Bomber Big Dawg Demolition Derby. I own a car. I have torn it up before, and I don't like the cost or time it takes to fix it. I don't blame anyone one bit for being mad about the Big Dawg being cut short. I am not happy about it either. But I said in the drivers meeting, if this thing turns into a demolition derby, I won't be doing it again. I told all the drivers to stay out of each other and race clean. That didn't happen, for a variety of reasons; the track conditions, the desire to win the thing, any number of reasons. I single no driver out for any criticism at all, and I blame no individuals for how this thing went. Every driver can think about his or her own actions and decide for themselves whether or not they could have done anything different to keep the thing from turning into what it did.
I certainly do not think the conditions on the track made it possible for a good race to take place, and I don't think anyone could disagree. I also know that the track prep people were extremely unhappy afterward and offered apologies for the surface not being any better than it was. But it is a track that gets used once a year, so it really is a take what you get kind of deal anyway. It has never been a whole lot better over the 12 nights that I have raced there in the last two years, either.
Thanks to all the drivers who showed up and took a shot at it. Congratulations to Josh Jackson on winning it. Thanks to Randy for the trophy and leg work. Thanks to Sam and Angie at Unlimited Imprints for all of the shirts. Thanks to WRP Speedshop for donating the Aero Beadlock won by Jackson in the dash, and Aero racing wheel for the Lucky 13 driver, Jake Hewitt, who actually finished 13th overall. We didn't have 13 cars running on the white flag lap, so the wheel goes to the 13th finisher. Thanks to MARA for hosting it. Thanks to Khris Fohne for being there to hand over the trophy. Thanks to Tim Zobrist for announcing. Thanks to all the people who drove all the way to BCR on a Thursday night just to watch it.
I have no regrets about doing it, it was a fun project to work on and put together and I had fun at the race, all the way up until 12 cars were gone in 2 laps, reducing the Bomber Big Dawg Challenge to a survival race under horrible conditions, not a true All-Star show at all. Anyway, that's the story on the 2006 Big Dawg Challenge. Called after 5 laps due to the damage and concerns for safety. I wish the result had been different, but that's the way this one went.
This is the first time since Thursday night's race that I have looked at these forums. I have had some conversations with people, and every time it was put to me "so and so said this or that on stlracing" I cut them off and explained that I really did not want to know what people were saying, that it genuinely did not matter to me. I have been using this site long enough to know that the bulk of what goes on here, especially this summer, is negative, critical, malicious and underhanded, so I could easily imagine what a beating the whole event was taking after it was over.
To be perfectly frank, these boards have become the gallows for St. Louis area racing, the place where people come to execute those they feel responsible for everything they can find wrong with every racer, promoter, official, sanction, and track in the St. Louis area racing community.
If my decision to continue doing what I do was based on what I read on here, I and every other person involved with putting together races would quit in a heartbeat. Every promoter at every track in the area gets hammered on here at some time or other, so why should this event be any different? As far as some people are concerned, they own a racecar, they show up to race, and since the track charges them to get in, they have a God-given right to crucify whomever they want whenever they want on stlracing. I think they are digging their own grave and taking racing with it.
Fine. Next time you go to Wal-Mart, give the manager a good cussing out when you don't like something. Tell the manager at your local gas station what a "mothereffing S.O.B." he is for the price of gas. Stomp around at the new Busch Stadium and scream at the people who work there, tell them exactly what you think, exactly how you feel cause a pretzel was 6 bucks and the cost of a ticket to the game has gone up. You paid to get in, you drove all the way there, it's your God-given right, isn’t it?
The way I see it is this. Randy and I worked a lot of hours and spent some money out of our own pockets to do a second Big Dawg Challenge, because we thought it would be a fun night of racing for the local bomber guys. Sam and Angie helped out with the shirts; because they thought it would give something to the racers that they could keep and help draw more cars so the race could take place. I personally stuck my neck on the line with Stephanie Meents at MARA and sold her on the idea of letting the race happen, telling her we would get a good car count to help her cover the costs of the event.
Oh yeah, just as a sidenote, do you know how much money she just lost on that night? I got the exact figure on what she took out of her bank account to cover the event. It aint pretty, but she wanted to honor her mother who passed away with a Memorial race, since her mother was such a huge supporter of Midget racing and MARA. Sorry some of you seem to feel that you got your time wasted on 'go-karts crashing' but there was actually more meaning to those races than just taking money out of the racers and the 'crowd' in the stands. The truth is, she spent a lot of her money for that event, and has not complained about the cost because she has her own reasons for wanting to do it; a race to honor her mother, Charlene Meents. It was not to make money at all. She lost the price of at least two damn good family vacations to Disneyworld and more on that one night.
So we put the thing together, Randy bought a trophy, WRP Speedshop agreed to kick in some wheels, Greenville Service agreed on a day's notice to show up for the Bomber guys, Unlimited Imprints kicked in the t-shirts to put the purse up to $300 to win, and I made a bunch of flyers and hit all the area tracks in the weeks leading up to it to tell every bomber guy I could find about the race.
On the night, in the drivers meeting, I did everything I could to tell the drivers what was expected. As far as this race was concerned, they were the All-Stars and were expected to drive like All-Stars. Run hard, run clean and let's have a great event. I also said that if this event turned into a demolition derby, this would be the last Big Dawg Challenge we ever had. As far as I'm concerned, when the best of the best Bomber Big Dawg drivers hit the track, there should be little or no contact. You are the best, right? You can drive the wheels off a racecare, right? So let's see what you can do.
The heat races were some of the best racing I have seen so far this year. 27 cars, 3 9 car heats and a lot of tight racing with little to no contact. I saw guys lifting off when somebody got too far sideways in front of them going in just to avoid tapping them and spinning them. Every last racer out there did everything they could to run as close as they could without a single scratch. There were one or two minor incidents and that was it. I took a deep breath and thought, good, they understood what they were told in the driver's meeting, we are going to have a great Big Dawg Challenge feature.
The feature came and the track was what it was. Dusty. Dry. Terrible visibility. Not the best circumstances to race under, but every driver could see for themselves what they were up against with the conditions. After two attempts to get it underway, we had already lost a car or two. MARA flagman Billy Shipman did exactly what he said he would do at the driver's meeting: "You get two shots at a start, if that doesn't work, we put you single file."
So they lined them up single file while I watched from the infield. With the field rolling away single file, I thought "This is the Big Dawg; these guys deserve one more shot at a double file start, especially under the track conditions." So I went to Billy on the front straight and asked him for one more double file start. He said yes, and set the field up for one last double file. I stood on the track and let the drivers know through hand signals that this was the last shot they had, 1 more time and that was it.
The green dropped and we got one lap in. From there onward, it turned into exactly what Randy nor I nor anyone else wanted to see: a demo derby. The dust was so bad at the back of the field it was impossible to see the cars. I have raced. I know how dangerous that is. I know how bad dust can be, and what I saw looked a lot worse than anything I have ever driven in, and I have driven at a fair amount of tracks in the Midwest under a lot of different conditions. My impression was that the conditions were beyond what I had ever seen anyone else try to keep a race going under.
Then the incident happened on the back straight. I saw the 21 car spin coming out of 2, it disappeared behind a truck that was between me and the back straight, and I heard the crash right after. I didn't see it, but just the sound was enough that I knew it was a pretty hard hit, so I ran around the truck to my back and onto the track to see if the guys were ok and how tore up the cars were. I was the first guy there. Bobby Hinson's 12 car was inside the 21 on the passenger side. The drivers were kind of stunned, just sitting three not really saying or doing anything. I started asking “are you ok?” It took a second or two, but then Bobby in the 12 car told me he was ok and Mike in the 21 said he was fine. I walked around to Stevie in the 55 and he said he was ok too. That was a big relief. I know racing is dangerous, every racer accepts the risks, but I really would hate to see anyone get hurt at something like this that is just supposed to be for fun.
I went back to the 21 car and looked at the cage all bent in, and all I could think as that if that was a driver's side door shot, it could have been pretty bad for the driver. Bobby got out of his car, looked right at me and said "If you don’t call this thing, Todd, somebody is going to get killed. I can't see. Nobody can. I never saw him. I couldn't avoid it, because I just never saw him." At that point what he was saying was exactly what I was thinking, and when it comes to track conditions you have to listen to what the drivers are telling you they are experiencing. It was bad and I couldn’t fix the track, so I was going to have to do something about the race.
I went to the tower and asked Dave Walker, the scorer how many laps we had in. He said 2. There were only 8 cars left in the Big Dawg after just 2 laps. I said "We are going green, white, checker. These guys can't see a thing. 3 laps and we are done." Tim announced it almost immediately after I said it and I went down onto the front straight to let the drivers know. I held up 3 fingers, they did a couple of caution laps, dropped the green. and it finished without another incident. Jackson won it, Kizer, then Gegg.
Nobody other than me had anything to do with the decision to go green, white, checker. That was completely my decision. I made the decision out of safety concerns for the remaining racers. I do not apologize to anyone for the 5 lap Big Dawg Challenge. Making a decision that is unpopular is never any fun. I got cussed out by people in the stands. The drivers were obviously unhappy. I was told by numerous people they would never come back. I said that's good, because I really don't know what you would be coming back to.
One guy made the trip all the way to the infield just to throw the t-shirt back at me. No problem, I understand that this was a call that was going to make people mad. The most important thing to me though, is that all of the drivers went home in one piece.
I have no plans for another Big Dawg at BCR. Not because people are mad about this one, but because I will not organize the Annual Bomber Big Dawg Demolition Derby. I own a car. I have torn it up before, and I don't like the cost or time it takes to fix it. I don't blame anyone one bit for being mad about the Big Dawg being cut short. I am not happy about it either. But I said in the drivers meeting, if this thing turns into a demolition derby, I won't be doing it again. I told all the drivers to stay out of each other and race clean. That didn't happen, for a variety of reasons; the track conditions, the desire to win the thing, any number of reasons. I single no driver out for any criticism at all, and I blame no individuals for how this thing went. Every driver can think about his or her own actions and decide for themselves whether or not they could have done anything different to keep the thing from turning into what it did.
I certainly do not think the conditions on the track made it possible for a good race to take place, and I don't think anyone could disagree. I also know that the track prep people were extremely unhappy afterward and offered apologies for the surface not being any better than it was. But it is a track that gets used once a year, so it really is a take what you get kind of deal anyway. It has never been a whole lot better over the 12 nights that I have raced there in the last two years, either.
Thanks to all the drivers who showed up and took a shot at it. Congratulations to Josh Jackson on winning it. Thanks to Randy for the trophy and leg work. Thanks to Sam and Angie at Unlimited Imprints for all of the shirts. Thanks to WRP Speedshop for donating the Aero Beadlock won by Jackson in the dash, and Aero racing wheel for the Lucky 13 driver, Jake Hewitt, who actually finished 13th overall. We didn't have 13 cars running on the white flag lap, so the wheel goes to the 13th finisher. Thanks to MARA for hosting it. Thanks to Khris Fohne for being there to hand over the trophy. Thanks to Tim Zobrist for announcing. Thanks to all the people who drove all the way to BCR on a Thursday night just to watch it.
I have no regrets about doing it, it was a fun project to work on and put together and I had fun at the race, all the way up until 12 cars were gone in 2 laps, reducing the Bomber Big Dawg Challenge to a survival race under horrible conditions, not a true All-Star show at all. Anyway, that's the story on the 2006 Big Dawg Challenge. Called after 5 laps due to the damage and concerns for safety. I wish the result had been different, but that's the way this one went.
