State of Being :: 4.29.10
Sometimes a person has to sit back and wonder why they do what they do. Why do people spend money on things that they know will suck? Why do people spend money on races where they KNOW exactly what they are going to get? I often ask myself that question. Why did I blow hundreds of dollars at the casino? Why did I get married when I know I wasn’t near ready yet? Yet I still did it. Why? Thats the thing, who the hell knows? Theres a lot of question marks in my life that I still haven’t figured out yet. Why was I a complete douchebag throughout my first years in the racing industry. Because I let what people tell me get in my head, and I believed that I was one of the best announcers there was. I was a mark for myself. An egotistical prick, who didn’t care who he had to walk over to get what he wanted. And where did I end up, still announcing in the same place, still spinning my wheels in obscurity. It all comes back to bad decision making. Lord knows it happens every weekend. A race fan will show up to his local track, give the front gate and the pit gate his or her money, and they will watch. They will either get the race of their lives, or they will see a complete abomination. They will see someone bust their ass and come from 24th to win, or they will see Thomas the Train Engine live. They will then proceed to go home, turn on their computer, and log into their favorite message board. Heres where the decision making comes in again. What do you say? Do you get on and completely rip on the promoter? Do you get on and rip on the track prep? Does that make you feel better? I can just see some of you standing up behind your computer screen doing the damn Hulk Hogan poses after you made some anonymous bashing comments about a track or promoter. “Hey look honey!! I just ripped him a new asshole on the internet!! Just wait until I see him in person, im going to pretend nothing ever happened and ill shake his hand and give him my money again!! But as long as he doesnt know who I am, its all good” At least show some balls and sign your name or take it up with the promoter personally. Thats why they post their phone numbers on their websites, simple deductive reasoning comes in handy sometime. A promoter is going to respect you a hell of a lot more if you take it up with them personally.
I know you read all of this and wonder “what the hell are you talking about?” It all comes back to bad decision making. What does getting online and ripping apart someone going to do? Its going to convince people NOT to come to the track and then your track is going to shut down. Then what do we do on the weekend? I sure as hell don’t want to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs. Although at the rate this sport is going, spending time with my two kids and my awesome, hot, sexy, Jordan doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Lets go to the races, enjoy ourselves, enjoy life, and for gods sakes buy a hot dog or two. Internet message boards are the worst worst worst thing to ever happen to racing. Hell the internet in particular is horrible for it. Long live the days where you sat in the stands and the only way you found out if your favorite driver was going to be there was to see him come out for hotlaps. Then you pointed and said “oh my god i cant believe hes here!!” Then you went back week after week just because you didnt know who would show up. My uncle Ira Bastin said it best “cant no one recreate my day, there wont be drivers like us anymore”
In non racing related news, Duke basketball still sucks, and if they didnt have three men in striped jerseys on their side, the NCAA trophy would be placed nicely in Hinkle Fieldhouse. And the UCONN womens basketball team arent women, they are men, men in wigs. Juwanna Mann was the starting forward.
It is 3:30AM and ive officially ran out of things to rant about. If you have any questions, concerns, gripes, bitches, or anything like that. Feel free to contact me anytime. transitionaddress@hotmail.com I will air your question, or anything like that. Its your show, the fans show. Without your support, none of us would be here today.
Thanks
King of Old School Style
C.N.
Oh the irony. Chris Nunn complains about the internet while he post on the internet. I think the internet has helped the sport gain fans and attention from people who would otherwise spend their money on nascar. I know lots of people here in Indiana who watch this site and Dirtondirt to learn about tracks farther away to visit. Sounds like Nunn just don’t like people disagreeing with him.
I will rip anyone’s ass on the internet I want to and will tell said person the exact same thing to their face. Your ramblings amuse the fuck out of me Chris, I would like to know who thinks you are an egotistical prick? If anything you are shy and diminutive, perhaps you did mark out to yourself and you were the one holding yourself back.
Yes the internet MESSAGE BOARDS have FUCKING RUINED racing and you are part of it, if only folks would use them to spread the TRUTH it wouldn’t have gotten that way. I for one would love to spend an afternoon with my friends while at VCS sitting under a shade tree not worrying about who the fuck was there to race because an internet report told me so, rather we swap stories and a certain announcer comes from the pits with car counts and drivers. Chris thanks for the hard work and at the same time get the fuck off of your soapbox.
Toby W. Hallett
Chris Nunn’s got it right, the internet is polluted with know it alls and armchair promoters. At the same time, I do listen to much of what Nunn and Shannon have to say, these guys should be running the sport by now, they got great ideas.
Every one has a opion. its freedom of speech
I dont think the internet has ruined racing, maybe caused problems but nothing serious. It makes things convienient when trying to find where your favorite drivers running or maybe trying to find a random track thats not rained out ect.. But honestly track prep is an issue that will always be on fire, it really is an issue that people get fired up about including myself. Maybe if enough people were bitching about it or even stopped going to these tracks that seem to lack track prep talent then maybe there might be changes made. The difference is in these people that bash the track , prep and promoter are those that try to help. I made the suggestion of using a chemical on the track called a wetting agent. It can ruin the water proofing in goretex shoes but if used this stuff litteraly opens up the pores in the ground and allows for water penetration and also helps to hold moisture. Personaly i love the hell out of brownstown, i love the people, the set up, and the track. But i honestly dont know how much longer i can take the black slick after hot laps crap. So we at Stapleton’s are giving Btown one more shot just like everyone else should and if it doesnt change then move on to somewhere else. Id rather get home at 3 or 4 in the morning from some random track 200+ miles away that keeps moisture than midnight from the usual Btown Black Slick. All i want for christmas is actual racing… Have a good one fellas
Justin “DrillBit” Taylor
First part was good….self reflection is always good. The part about the internet ruining racing was a total waste of bandwidth. I have made my thoughts on that well known suffice to say you are giving the clueless idiots that run tracks in the ground and kill them completely in many cases a free pass by blaming their ineptness on someone talking about their experience on the net. I have spoken to the promoters at my local track.. actually the last 3. One TRIED to have security throw me out. One actually listened and thanked me for my input and the current promoter told me to go somewhere else which I have gladly done and will continue to do so.
Im fairly miffed here about why the fans are supposed to sit on their thumbs and keep their mouths shut while the same ol shit goes on every week at some tracks? One bad promoter will not kill a track in the vast majority of cases. Its takes several consecutively to finish the job. Any longtime fan knows if they simply bide their time management will inevitably change. Instead of warning people that are possibly gonna be driving hundreds of miles and spending hundreds of dollars that theres a really good chance the show will be bad are you suggesting that we bite our tongues and let them make the trip and turn it into 2 trips in 1? Their first time and their last time. That will kill a track much faster than someone warning them in advance that it may be bad. Not to mention all the curious fans who are trying out racing for the first time and trying to get information and going to one of the hellholes and having a bad experience and never going to another race.
The internet is a great tool for racefans. Would we even be having this discussion or even know each other without it? To say the internet has ruined racing is about the most ludicrous statement I have ever heard. It also gives racefans a voice and a chance to finally have a voice that for many years was neither audible or wanted. There are now repercussions for continually putting on shit shows whereas for nearly 50 years the only way to find out about these turd traps was to actually go to the place and have to experience the place and be soured forever with a guarantee the fan will never return… I have met many of the finest people I have ever met in my life from these God forbidden message boards that the select few love to bash because it isnt pandering specifically to their own agenda.
Make no mistakes the net is here to stay and smart promoters know that it can make them or break them so they will not be in such a hurry to pull the same ol shit that has broke tracks for the last 60 years. The basics of running a good racetrack have NEVER changed. The promoters that bash the net are probably doing a halfass job and are on borrowed time as a promoter to start with.
I guess I got carried away typing but if anyone is still reading… thanks for listening to my rant and following me this far no matter if you agree or think I need to put the bong down!! Have a good weekend and happy racing!
I feel that if a track treats all it’s drivers fair and equal and gives the fans a good show there wont be any reason for bashing on the internet.Some people will complain about anything but sometimes the bashers have good reason.Nobody’s perfect
Just my opinion.
the ripping of people on message boards is ruining it. i could really give a shit to be honest. brownstown is slick, and has been slick lately. i love a bit of moisture but not overly saturated and rough.
Great stuff red!! These message boards have got me personally to a many of tracks that I didnt know existed in this area!! The internet is one of the best tools that dirt track racing has!! I mean look at all the promotion that goes on, letting people know of upcoming events!! One person voicing their experience isnt going to stop someone from coming to a track because many people on going to comment on the thread with that person and if the track has a good reputation with good racing then its not going to effect it what so ever. But if the track is fucked and is always fucked and everyone is saying that then yeah its going to hurt them. but seriously I have learned alot from the message boards and sites about the way things work in Dirt Late Model Racing. Series have alot of control, about the cars themselves, series i have never heard of, etc the list really goes on and on. So to me long live the internet and message boards and for those that take stuff to seriously on the boards… calm down its just a message board… lol
Without the internet no one would even know who Chris Nunn is , or where Brownstown is or alot of these tracks for that matter . Without the internet and what I have been watching on this site I would have never known about Moler and would have never made a trip . Because of the internet and Jody’s awesome videos its on my must do list . People forget the advantages , and how its advanced this sport . I remember the old days where the only way u knew a big race was coming to town was seeing the flyers hanging on the doors and windows of local hardware stores and gas stations . People actually bought programs to know where the next race was gonna be and a little bit of info about a driver they had never heard of from 10 states away . You used to only get to see great drivers from across this country gather together to do battle once or twice a year , now you can see a better quality show in your area or within a distance your willing to drive twice a month . The internet has given alot of the local talent the equipment to give these drivers who do it for a living a real run for there money when they invade there home turf . Its also been a tool to help a local kid no one has heard of get in some equipment and attract some sponsors to be able and do what they love .
The internet is what you make of it , and its signifigance , or relevance , depends on your own personal experiences you have with it , which help to shape each individuals opinion of it . Without it you wouldn’t have near as many regional , national shows , or new people coming through your gates .
Lack of information has hurt this sport far more than any message board , bring a co worker , a neighbor , kid , or friend and support your local track even when there isn’t a big show , so many people don’t even know the world we love even exists .
It’s the same story it’s always been, it’s just now that via word of mouth from people that attend another’s track and spread the gospel… it now has a far more open and wide-reaching forum that is far more accessible. Is that a bad thing? It depends on what you’re doing as a promoter to uphold the program. Like Red said, if you operate a track with your head up your ass, sooner or later it’s going to bury you, it’s just a matter of how long it takes.
In fairness, I do know what you’re getting at Chris. There are people that will constantly bash, that will never see the good for the bad. There’s the types that have their own hidden agendas and they’ll not cease to stop with it and beat the dead horse. Yet, the types that do that generally are tuned out by the fanbase after a period of time as they grow sick of reading about the same old crap.
If they have read the sermons a few times, sooner or later they’ll get to the bottom of it themselves and see what it is that has them bent out of shape. At that point, they’ll formulate their own opinion and either agree or disagree. If the truth hurts, like Toby said above, it’s going to hurt whether it’s an opinion obtained on one’s own or whether it’s been tapped through the grapevine. The bottomline to the promoter and staffers is to get with the program.
People will tolerate mistakes for a bit as long as there’s a promise to improve, fix the damage, and build something out of it. Anyone that attended K3 last year will know what I mean when we had a promoter that promised the moon and stars before it opened, he opened to a total cluster, came back a few weeks later and reopened and it seemingly looked like it might turn itself around. Yet the reality set in and after a few weeks of seeing the lack of sponsorship ads around the track, whispers going through the pits about this and that relaying back to the fans, it all came grinding to a halt.
Was that the internet’s fault Chris? I don’t think so. The guy had no one to blame but himself. He got in way over his head. He tried to do too much at once without any prior promotional experience at the race track level. He even went as far as to get on the microphone and basically antagonize those that criticized him. That works all well and good if you’re going to back it up… but in the end, he didn’t. You talk the talk, you walk the walk, or you face the choir sooner or later.
The internet is just another means of communication. It has it’s pluses and it’s minuses, it still relies on people to have their own sense of maturity to think before they speak… it’s too immediate 9 times out of 10 to pull a punch and not get socked right back if you don’t use your head going in. Like Red said above, a good promoter will tap into it… a bad promoter will bury himself with it all the while trying to blame the internet for their mistakes.
Keep in mind… I’m not saying that a slick track is bad in all of this Chris, as personally I genuinely do prefer to watch one. Yet there’s a fine line between a slick track and a rubbered up, one lane hunk of junk. Once you get to that point, what you’re going to see in the end is far less exciting than many dirt fans want to make asphalt racing out to be. I know, I’ve got some awesome asphalt tracks in my neck that have 2-wide and sometimes 3-wide racing and I’d definitely rather go see them than a one lane choo-choo rubbered dirt track. That said, when a track is slick… it has more lanes than a heavy, momentum hunk of crap track too where everyone is following in their tracks. The difference? It’s easier to get a heavy track to go slick and fix itself than it is to fix a slicked off track that’s gotten burned up and rubbered. That’s why most fans prefer to see it heavy because they know it’ll not take as much time to fix and likely be perfect come feature time and, they won’t get dusty. That said, my experience is… you end up sitting through 2 hours of worthless one lane heats when it’s heavy and sometimes one-lane consi’s for multiple divisions before the speed gets knocked out and things fix themselves. It’s 6 of one and a half dozen of the other, but I’d rather sit through 30 minutes of grading at some point during the night and see good heats and consi’s before my feature than to sit through a throttle stomper’s one-lane parade.
Like Gaddis said… support your local race track. Same token, convey constructively how to fix things. Don’t show your ass on the internet and what you say will have some semblance of meaning. Shoot your mouth off, bash, complain, and trash people and they’re not going to care word one of what you say. Granted, that might hurt them in the end… but in the same token, why should they listen to someone that can’t be respectable about their complaints? Hold yourself accountable for your own actions, don’t be slanderous or spread libel… but like everyone said above, speak the truth and try to make them see the path to enlightenment. We all want what’s best… you just have to go about it the right way to get everyone to the same ending.
Same token… promoter’s need to develop thicker skin. If you’re going to let a few people’s ignorance ruin you, you’re seriously not cut out for the job. Even before the internet there were fans that’d boo promoters and their calls (whether they were right or wrong, you have to stand your ground, admit when you’re wrong but also… not put up with b.s. either), get up in their face, yell at ‘em, slander ‘em, and hell… probably even throw down with ‘em. If you’re not ready to take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. If you’re ready, welcome aboard… and best of luck.