Border Wars

[zyoung25]

I don't have a favorite driver or sports team/personality. When I was kid I rooted for my dad's friend Mr. Ricky... but I was a kid. The idea of adults being fans of any one person or team is stupid. I really enjoy DLM racing, but I truly do not care who wins. Unless I am wagering money on, have money invested in or have personal relationship with a competitor, I have nothing to gain or lose when someone other than me wins. I do enjoy the many personalities of sports, but to truly care about the person associated with any one personality is plain stupid and childish.

I'm kind of on this same boat...I don't really have a favorite sports team, however I don't think it is dumb for others to have a favorite. I have a personal connection with my favorite driver, other than that I have guys I root for, and a couple a I root against. I've never been attendance when my favorite driver has even won. I'm just not crazy about how some act like their favorite can never do wrong, that burns me up to no end.

I can show up at a race and not be disappointed about who wins, for the most part. I don't care for Bloomquist at all, after he spanked everyone at the world, I turned around and told my friends, "we probably won't ever see that happen again, that was awesome."

[W2Racing09]

I'm kind of on this same boat...I don't really have a favorite sports team, however I don't think it is dumb for others to have a favorite. I have a personal connection with my favorite driver, other than that I have guys I root for, and a couple a I root against. I've never been attendance when my favorite driver has even won. I'm just not crazy about how some act like their favorite can never do wrong, that burns me up to no end.

I can show up at a race and not be disappointed about who wins, for the most part. I don't care for Bloomquist at all, after he spanked everyone at the world, I turned around and told my friends, "we probably won't ever see that happen again, that was awesome."

As I said earlier in this thread, I can see when my driver does things wrong. The bigger conversation here is what each of us consider to be wrong. I don't consider moving someone to be wrong, that is part of racing. I do consider anything that causes a caution to be crossing the line however.

Where I grew up in the North East we had only asphalt tracks. On asphalt I guess contact is a lot more accepted than it is on dirt. I can't even count how many times I've seen someone give the leader a shot going into three and then get under him coming out of four for a win. The fans would be upset and people would be yelling but that was it. Because they know the other driver would do it back to them without hesitation. I see a move like what Richards did to be the same as a risky slider in Sprint Car racing. You have to use every option available to you to win the race.

Whether you consider it dirty, clean or indifferent you can't deny the positive effect racing to win at all costs has on the sport. If you don't like Josh Richards then you might show up to a race just to hope he does bad. I know that is how I feel with Kyle Busch in NASCAR -- I don't really have much of a favorite driver in NASCAR but I do enjoy seeing Kyle Busch have bad races. That is about the only reason I even check results in NASCAR. It is good for all of you to have a driver that you dislike, whether it be Bloomquist, Owens, Richards, Lanigan, etc. That is another thing that keeps people coming back.

I've attached a picture of one of the best finishes I ever saw in all of racing. Unity Raceway in 2003. The fans were all on their feet as the cars came across the line. That picture was on the front page of the paper and they even talked about it on the news that night. It was the end result of Ben Rowe (#00, my favorite driver growing up) bumping Johnny Clark (#54) coming out of turn four and then pretty much forcing him off the track down the straightaway and it ended with Johnny Clark in the fence in turn one. Both drivers shook hands at the end of the race, I would say Clark understands that winning is the goal of every driver out there. I'm sure he was not happy but I'm sure he also knew he would have done the same thing.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[j1s]

zyoung25 - - You nailed it.

I will back off my broad statement that rooting for a favorite is childish. But to treat your favorite as a demigod; that is childish. Eventually all people screw up... so be careful who you bow down too.

[W2Racing09]

zyoung25 - - You nailed it.

I will back off my broad statement that rooting for a favorite is childish. But to treat your favorite as a demigod; that is childish. Eventually all people screw up... so be careful who you bow down too.

I don't think there are many people out there treating favorites as a demigod. Being a loyal fan is not even similar to treating someone like a demigod. I don't worship a Josh Richards shrine in my closet or anything like that, I do however voice my opinion about him and others on this message board. I also make sure to support his sponsors, the sponsors of my other favorite drivers (at the regional and local level) and any other company who sponsors dirt racing before I will support another business. If we don't do that then why do people even bother sponsoring race cars? As you say everyone screws up at some point but that wont have any effect on whether I'm a fan or not. My favorite driver may do something that I disagree with and I will be right on here with everyone else post my criticism if that is the case. But that does not mean I won't be a fan of that person any more. I've seen enough of Josh Richards, JT Spence, and others racing to know that even if they do at some point do something I disagree with more often than not they race the way I would expect my favorite driver to race.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[buddscreek]

so, who do y'all think will have the most this weekend. Winchester or Hagerstown? was told lathroum may skip Winchester and go to Hagerstown.

[W2Racing09]

so, who do y'all think will have the most this weekend. Winchester or Hagerstown? was told lathroum may skip Winchester and go to Hagerstown.

I would be surprised if not Winchester, but stranger things have certainly happened. Keep in mind Port Royal opens on Saturday (if they weather does not close them up). With Port Royal open it could hurt both tracks but more than likely it will hurt Hagerstown the most.

My predictions: Potomac: 19, Winchester: 24, Hagerstown: 19, Port: 19

Thanks,
Jeff.

[j1s]

I would love to see 19 Supers at Potomac this weekend, but I'm leaning towards doubtful. Either way if all the stars align and my brood of many allows me to get some free time to slip away I will be there in my usual Turn 3 spot. Just for the record: the Potomac/Winchester 20 race series is nice try, but it will not have the desired impact. There are too many stipulations for the series to be extremely successful. I applaud the effort; laugh at the implementation. And before you ask... I do not have solution to make it better. I am not track promoter. At this point in my life I am desk jockey that likes to attend dirt races, and I will show up at just about any rinky dink track anywhere... given that have the time and resources to do so.

[W2Racing09]

I would love to see 19 Supers at Potomac this weekend, but I'm leaning towards doubtful. Either way if all the stars align and my brood of many allows me to get some free time to slip away I will be there in my usual Turn 3 spot. Just for the record: the Potomac/Winchester 20 race series is nice try, but it will not have the desired impact. There are too many stipulations for the series to be extremely successful. I applaud the effort; laugh at the implementation. And before you ask... I do not have solution to make it better. I am not track promoter. At this point in my life I am desk jockey that likes to attend dirt races, and I will show up at just about any rinky dink track anywhere... given that have the time and resources to do so.

There would have been a couple of ways to make it more successful. The easiest way they could have gained a few more cars (like Stone, and probably 3 or 4 others) would have been to add in 2 drop races. Counting only the best 18 finishes toward points. Another thing that would have helped would have been to have 4 or 5 of the Potomac shows on Sunday night. Not many people are willing to sit in the kind of traffic it takes to get to Potomac on a Friday night even for a shot at $20k.

I think the very obvious biggest thing they could have done is work with other tracks. Winchester could have had a very profitable year hosting 16 SLM shows. Work with Hagerstown and make sure they are not running against you. The 10 MD/VA shows, the 4 Victory in the Valley shows, and the Winchester 200. That would leave another 15 or so dates for Hagerstown to run the SLM. Each track would be almost guaranteed to get 25+ cars every night. On the nights the track does not have SLM they could run LLM and charge $10 to get in.

Thanks,
Jeff.