The Rest of the Story

So I guess I need to clarify some things. Bruce Duckett called me out with what amounted to four pages of stuff that you may or may not have seen on latemodelracer.com after I wrote about his outburst at Thunder Raceway this past weekend, and some other things that were on my mind. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see it, it was removed before I had a chance, but since there are people out there who respect what I do and recognize the value of it they were nice enough to share it with me. If you didn’t see it, I have it and will gladly share it if you, just let me know. Just to be clear, he posted it on the public portion of the site so I’m not re-posting anything that was intended to be private. Now, I could have just ignored it and pretended not to have seen it, which would have been easy enough. However, that would probably not qualify as “actual reporting” so I’ve decided to issue a response to it.

I’m not going to call anyone names, use inappropriate language, or threaten anyone. This is going to be civil and I’m going to give you some background into how I work and what I put into it. Apparently people don’t realize it and have made it clear that it’s very unappreciated. 

First things first, I have been doing this for 10-years and never have I received anything for it. Never have I received one piece of legal tender for writing a race report. I do it for the benefit of the SWDRA, its drivers, tracks, and the Association as a whole so they can get the recognition that is severely lacking. Hopefully this gives the Association some value to attract new sponsors, racers, and all the things that come with success.

If the SWDRA and its drivers don’t want me to do that, just say the word and I’ll stop. It will not bother me one bit if they say “hey, we don’t want you help.” It honestly would save me money and I could find other things to do with my time & income. Hey, good fortune to you if you can find someone who does what I do, puts in the time and commitment I do, and does it all for the benefit of you and nothing more – expect the abuse which I did find quite comical in this instance.

Bruce wants me to apologize for my shortcomings so here goes – I indeed did not see Brad Williams go running down the track towards Art Lacy. I didn’t even hear about it until the next day. Here is the situation. When the main is going on, I’m taking notes the entire time, writing down running orders, things that happen on each lap, and I need a place to sit when I do it. Everyone was standing in the pit stands, and the main stands were VERY full so I went over to the stands between turns one and two. When the crash happened there were six laps to go and I figured it was going to take some time to clean up and get started again. So I got up and started walking back to the pit area, which is outside of turn four. To get there, you have to walk down the hill and behind the grandstands where I had no view of the track until I got back to the pit stands. By that time I got there whatever happened happened and I didn’t see it and no one mentioned it to me.

I talked to Brad’s Mom for a good 10-minutes right after the race and she didn’t say anything about it. I spoke to her after she did whatever she did when she visited Art Lacy’s car and again no mention of what Brad did. Speaking of which, I think Brad’s Mom is a great lady, she helps me out, gives me info, and asks my opinion on things etc. I didn’t have to see her go over to Lacy’s because I knew she was going to do it, she told me she was and what she was going to say. You said I didn’t mention it, and I didn’t, and here is why. It’s not relevant to anything that happens on the racetrack later. She doesn’t drive; she’s not going to use her racecar as a weapon, she’s not going to intentionally take someone out. There is zero chance of it happening, period end of story. When a driver says it to another driver, it becomes relevant to race fans because there is the real possibility that it will actually happen. Can you see the difference? You have to separate fantasy from reality in this situation. How you can believe that they are the same makes me question a lot of thing which formula inside your head.

Next, I really don’t appreciate begin called a “COWARD” and not sure what that has to do with anything. I haven’t call you any names. You seem to have misunderstood my role with the SWDRA last year. My original job was to judge starts, restarts, and if there was a caution determine the cause and make the appropriate call. Never was I there to “stop rough driving.” Several times people who were spun got their spots back while the person who caused it was penalized. Also several times people who spun to avoid got their spots backs even though track rules should have sent them to the back. Now there is something else you need to know about that, Carl never made it aware to several tracks that we would be using an official. So, when we showed up there and the track resisted, instead of standing up to them, Carl would lie down and say that I was there to “observe” incase someone had a question about a call after the race. Don’t believe it, ask Doug at Canyon, ask in Prescott, you’ll see.

Now if that makes me a coward so be it. It wasn’t my job to run the series; I did what Carl wanted me to do. If you have issues with Carl, please take them up with him. I can’t help you there, I don’t talk with him, I don’t have any of his contact information, whatever he did to you is between you two, I can’t help you out, sorry. Whatever issues you have with track officiating now or prior to last year has nothing to do with me. Reality is you abide by the rules of whatever track you are running, and until the SWDRA has four or five officials on the payroll and they tell tracks this is how we run our shows deal with it, it’s not going to change. I think Show Low’s rules and how they officiate their shows is questionable, but I have no say in that. I don’t have to deal with it, take that up with your Association if you don’t like it. What they choose to do about it has nothing to do with me and I don’t really care.  I’m in no way affiliated with anything SWDRA does, the decisions they make, how they choose to govern and run the organization has absolutely nothing to do with me. I’m not on their payroll, they don’t get me into tracks, and they make the decisions they see fit which does not include any input from me. Take up your issues with someone who can make the change, that person is not me. I don’t care who did what to whom three years ago, or two years ago, last year, this year or even in the next 20-years. Whatever happened to you in New Mexico three years ago, it might be time to let that one slide. Justifying your actions in the present day by rehashing the events of three years ago to me is a reach at best and sounds like an act of desperation.

Let’s talk about being lazy and spending time in the pit area. I was the track announcer the final year Central Arizona Raceway was open. From mid-January to the first race in March that year, I put in more then 40 hours of work into preparation. I was gathering information, drivers names, hometowns, sponsors, car numbers, wins, championships, points standing, chassis types, looking at pictures, setting up spreadsheets etc. You name it I knew it. Each week of a race I would spend a minimum of 10-hours getting ready, studying race results from other tracks, making sure my information was up-to-date. We had a sprint car show early in the year; I put in more than 20-hours on that class along that week.

The races would start there about 7:30 and I was typically there no later then 4:30 each week. I was going though the pits verifying information, getting new information, looking at cars so I knew them by sight, making sure I knew how to pronounce names, had sponsors they wanted me to say etc. I might not have been the best announcer but I knew my stuff, and if anyone says anything different they have no idea. Remember the late model special at Manzy a couple of years ago? I did the pit area/on-track announcing the second day. I spent at least 20-hours that week getting ready, I was at practice, I was at the track by 2pm each day of the race. I knew more of what was going on then Windy or anyone else in the place. I announced circles around that joint and I freaking nailed it! I was so sweet!

Now, like I said I’m not getting paid for this writing thing, so I don’t get to the track as early. I do know this; I was at the track before you on Sunday. Plus, I only have to worry about one class, not five. Races at Canyon start at 7:30, I’m there about 5:30 walking around, taking to guys, not sure how you can miss me. After all, I’m one of those 6-1 bullies. Now, some nights I don’t make it to Canyon until after 6:00 because I’m working a job that pays money so I can do this. Plus, I’m typically at the track for at least an hour after the race, than I go home and put in another three hours doing results and writing a story. I can easily spend 10-hours working a race and I go home with nothing but my pride and wanting to write the best story I can so the SWDRA and the drivers benefit.

Here is the thing about those stories, they are not play by play – that is for television. You say I only talk about the people who run up front, I hate to break this to you but that is the story. Plus, I just gave you two-paragraphs after you finished 14^th so I don’t know how you can say that. The majority of people want to read about what goes on up front, it’s my job to tell the story of the race and it has to appeal to the masses. I’m sorry the masses don’t really care about who isn’t racing for the lead. Frankly you’re lucky people even care about who wins a late model race in Arizona. The perception of Late Model racing in Arizona in other parts of the country is extremely poor. Sure, they won’t tell you that but the often tell me. Half of them are surprised we even have late models and the other half are surprised that we are almost on par technology wise.

Read a race report from Kevin Kovac, James Essex, Todd Turner, Brian McLeod or any dirt race report on any web site and at least 95% of them never significantly mention anything that happened outside the top five, much less the top 10. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish in this game. Where you start in purely luck of the draw, what you do with that is what makes the story. I could write a 2000 word story about where everyone finished but no one would read it. The two main reasons for that are 1) it’s too long and if it did get published in its entirety people wouldn’t take the time to read the whole thing. They want to get to the rat killing and 2) fact of the matter is all of that stuff you’re so concerned about, the stuff that makes me a bad reporter for not including, would get edited out in the end and would never see the light of day. Sorry, truth sucks sometimes.

This may be hard to believe, unless you really know me, but I really don’t give a flying fire truck who wins these races, or runs in the top five, ten or finishes last. I couldn’t care less. Sure there are people in the pit area I know better then others, but I don’t cheer for anyone. And until Billy Moyer, Jimmy Owens or Timmy McCreadie start racing in SWDRA that will continue to be the case. My Grandma could be in the race and it wouldn’t change what you read from me.

Gary Jacob was a great man and made more of a sacrifice then any person should ever make for anything. He was old school no doubt, but fact of the matter is writing styles change, culture and society changes, and his style became vastly outdated. Again, read any story you want and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I model my stories after the best in the business and they are VERY good! When I started I’ll admit maybe not so much, but they have evolved and changed with the times. You can say you don’t respect me, that’s fine, there are plenty of people who do respect what I do, people of influence in this sport whose opinions I happen to value more then yours.  If you think you can do better bring it! I’d like to see you give a shot! You say to know what good reporting is so I want to read it. I’ll challenge you to do it better then I do. I’ll challenge you to do it better then I do it for what I get (nothing) for doing it 30-times a year.   

As far as doing “real reporting” as you refer to it, I wrote what I saw and what I was told. I’m one man, I can only be one place at a time, I only have two eyes, two ears and I don’t see or hear everything. I don’t make the rules of the universe; I do the best with what I’ve been given. I have limitations and unfortunately I’m at the mercy of others on occasion. I wish I was all seeing all knowing like Santa, but truth is I’m a mere mortal human being and as much as I disagree with that premise there’s nothing I can do about it.  This is VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION! I never lied, made anything up, or didn’t say anything that didn’t happen or that I didn’t see happen. Would you prefer that I make things up? Would you prefer that I spin the stories to fit your perception of the world? Would you prefer that I put words in your mouth? I can do all of those things if you like, but I’m not sure you’d approve of that either.

Additionally, at no time did I attack you in any way, and in-case you didn’t notice I clearly labeled it as an editorial/commentary. The significance of that is you were given notice an opinion was coming which also makes that part of the story sovereign from the rest. In a way it’s not “real reporting” and it’s not meant to be, that’s the beauty of it. Plus, when I’m running my mouth in a “blog” which is not a race report, I’m doing it to hopefully be funny, call attention to a problem, and maybe evoke some emotion and change. I guess I can call that a success at this point.

Bottom line is just say the word Bruce and I’ll leave the SWDRA in peace. I’ll stop promoting them; I’ll stop writing about them, I’ll stop caring whether or not the series can become successful. I’ll stop putting myself out there for public ridicule; I’ll give up trying to get you exposure; I’ll leave you to having simple results on one message board, and I’ll leave it to your own devices for whatever level success they want to achieve. You say you respect your fellow competitors; the problem is you don’t respect the people who are trying to help make the Association better. And until you do, things will never change.