ATTEMPTED SRL ASSASSINATION?

Source: Udo Richter
Date: 02/01/2006

It’s no news that the SRL is not on Stockton 99 Speedway’s schedule; Ken Clapp and Steve Fensler can’t come to an agreement on a couple of items. Some could say Steve might be being stubborn because he won’t turn over the officiating to the Stockton officials over some contractual pricing issues. But would that be the right thing for the series? Would Stockton dare ask to do that with a NASCAR sanctioned series? Did they ask do that with the WestCar Late Model Series? Another item is the testing, Steve doesn’t want his boys charged extra for testing not consistent with other tracks.

Steve always refers to his racers as his boys. They are racers that built something with racers for racers and a show for the fans. And his boys do put on a show for the fans. Yes, it was tested with Jason Fensler racing in the SRL last season; it was a long season for Steve and the SRL. But what some people choose not to see was that the Beebe Racing Enterprises has a talented crew, manager, owner, and driver that were always well prepared with new equipment. They came and dominated, call it cheating if it makes you feel better, but you can look at it as a year long lesson, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Let’s get back to the topic at hand, no SRL date on the Altamont schedule and a very limited SRL schedule. Let’s take a look at the money and leverage; who stands to lose if the SRL is broken, and who stands to gain? We will start with who stands to lose.

The SRL racers themselves are of course one of the biggest losers in this deal. There are 20 regular teams and well over 40 teams total that have been competing in the series that have the money invested for this year and built up from many years past that do not know if they have a home. As well as the Elite division drivers who are looking for a new place to race in 2007.

Sponsors couldn’t sign with teams when there was no schedule. It is not the SRL’s fault that the schedule is uncharacteristically late and now missing Stockton and Altamont dates. Steve made the right decision and posted a limited schedule. But sponsors local to the missing tracks, where most of the SRL races to date have taken place, may hold their money until they see local races on the schedule. I have heard first hand of teams that have sponsors on hold right now due to the schedule.

The up and coming racers don’t see a promising schedule and wonder if they should put the money forward to build a car for this series. Does it have a home now, and for years to come in this uncertain market? Good drivers like Ryan Foster, Jeremy Wood, and Kyle Gottula may not get the experience and exposure they need because this is the only division they can afford to race in.

Many businesses’s like David’s Racing Products, Boyd Enterprises, Naake Suspensions, R2, Joiner, F.R.E, and track vendors will directly effected. These are just some of the people the racers pay to keep racing. They should be considered when making these decisions. Not to mention the companies that are on a National level, that would be affected by Tour racing on the West Coast simply disappearing.

The engine builders like H.U.R, Long, Freight Train, Boyd, and a few others are in the division already and others like Maropulos coming in next year from the Elite divisions. People who I’m sure were glad that NASCAR leaders like Don Hawk backed the move to SRL at Phoenix, with spec motors taking over a lot of divisions, their clients & equipment would have a home.

The people that are trying to put Altamont back on the map may not know the strength of the current SRL and the future SRL. The strong back gate fees; most teams have a minimum of 5 to 12 people on their crews, plus guests in the pits, and not to mention the fans that they bring and the food that they eat. The drivers past and present; the late Jeff Anthony, Ryan Foster, David Philpott, Ron Strimiska Jr., The Belletto family, Joey Zampa, Jason Fensler, Ken Boyd, Dave Byrd, Troy Ermish, Nathan Tucker, Rick Ruzbarsky, Jeremy Wood, Mark Smith, and many other good drivers, the list goes on and on of drivers the fans have come to see and undergrad drivers have had there to ask questions to.

The dates Altamont offered the SRL are all of the holiday dates, the investors were not interested in the previously discussed dates. The same three dates that Stockton has its extremely successful Tri-Holiday races as well as the WestCar Late Model Series. Why would any investor want to go up against such a successful race three times when it could be easily avoided? Run the next day, or another weekend. Altamont stayed off those dates even when they weren’t working together with Stockton, why go up against them when you are working with them?

From my understanding the old Altamont was going to celebrate the life and help the family of Jeff Anthony, the iron man of Altamont with an SRL race as a tribute to him. The new personnel of Altamont may never have heard of Jeff or the great racing he gave us, but if they wanted to, they could look at it from a business point of view. I guarantee whatever night the tribute race is on will be standing room only. We are talking about a man who filled the building with his wake, they were in the halls, and outside in the rain. Over 800 people and a lot of people did not know about his wake. If this was missed by management it is something to consider.

Now onto the Elite division teams, they stand to be hit the hardest. This one is hard to understand. The two tracks who are giving the SRL the most trouble are the ones that benefited the most in the past from the SRL. They are both NASCAR sanctioned and stand to gain most from the SRL this year. Not to mention that NASCAR and Altamont stand to gain the most from the SRL in the future due to the fact that SRL is giving a home to the NASCAR Elite divisions that want to race or a place to sell the unique equipment if they choose to move up to the NASCAR Autozone Grand National West Series. From what I understand, NASCAR is behind this move as they want to show the same courtesy to the loyal Elite divisions racers as they are showing the Nextel Cup. By this, I mean giving Cup a venue to rid of the old equipment (the Grand National division) so teams can make the transition to the car of tomorrow easier.

Here is where it gets interesting. Who benefits from the SRL failing? Both Stockton and Altamont will profit with the SRL coming because of its loyal and growing fan and driver base, both tracks made money with the series last year. NASCAR’s upper management seems to back the SRL because it gives them a place for their Elite division teams to sell or race their current equipment. The SRL is no threat to NASCAR, they want to be a driver development series for the upper divisions of NASCAR, and with the Elite division going away next year this is even more prudent. The West Series is going to benefit from the Elite divisions being discontinued whether there is an SRL or not.

Now if NASCAR didn’t like the fact that ASA wanted to talk to SRL, I could see that if NASCAR wasn’t backing away from the Elite series. The racers deserve more than just a local series. They deserve National attention. They also deserve to have an insurance policy on them that is as good as NASCAR’s and not just a weekly track policy.

Why would NASCAR care anyway if the new series was with someone else? It takes a lot of heat off of NASCAR with someone else stepping up. Doesn’t it?

But I think Steve and Davey Hamilton are just looking for a little help and support. Isn’t Dennis Huth the same one that started the Northwest and Southwest Series anyway? He could be a big help if they would let him.

Maybe NASCAR could sit down with them and discuss the transition and scheduling issues and quit trying to make this hard when it should be easy?

In business, decisions are based on money or emotion. This must be emotionally driven by some kind of old business or part of some kind financial plan we are unaware of. I still can’t figure out who wins, this makes me lean towards believing it was emotionally motivated.

Investors usually make decisions based on the question, how does this affect the bottom line? This comes from their group of professionals that are put in place to advise them. Someone is giving someone bad data for personal reasons or a hidden agenda. I think the ball is in our court to find out what is really going on and who is behind this, by our court I mean the racers, team owners, sponsors, media, vendors, track investors and so on. All of us stand to lose the most by these moves made based on the best interest of someone else, not the racers and the racing community.

Take action, call or email Altamont and Stockton and ask for a reasonable explanation as to why they would not give dates to a strong track supporting series like the SRL. Call or email NASCAR in Daytona, these are NASCAR sanctioned tracks, they can fix this from their desks. Ask the SRL what’s going on. Express your opinion where it can be heard, to the people running these tracks, and sanctioning bodies. Tell the rest of the community what you find out.

Altamont Motorsports Park
Phone: (209) 383-7671
Email: info@altamontracing.com

Stockton 99 Speedway
Phone: (209) 983-1689
Email: mailto:speedway99office@earthlink.net

NASCAR Regional Racing
Phone: (386) 681-4174
Email: dhawk@nascar.com

SRL Phone: (916) 687-7284

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