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The
CASA Chronicles (No. 15) |
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July
6, 2005-
San Jose, CA. I just realized that the California Asphalt
Sprintcar Association has completed its 34th racing event, the Inaugural Mike
McCreary Memorial 100. Thirty-four? Big deal. It’s not even a normal
commemorative number, why should 34 be noteworthy? Well the number 34 sticks in
my mind two ways. First it’s the traditional number of events the big boys of
NASCAR once ran per season and second, I remember when my dad was chairman of
the rules committee for San Jose Speedway back in the 70’s and he commented
how aggressive the schedule was one year – that it had 34 races just like the
Cup guys. So I guess I’ll take a minute and look at our deal at race number
thirty-four. Now keep in mind, I know full well how racing has changed
over the years. Back in the aforementioned 70’s my dad and uncle ran any
combination of Kearney Bowl or Clovis on Friday nights, San Jose Speedway every
Saturday, and Sundays may have been Clovis if not on that Friday, Altamont
and/or Madera. I remember one weekend seeing Lloyd Beard run Friday at Clovis,
Saturday at San Jose, then I went with him from Sunday afternoons show at
Altamont, to Sunday nights show at Madera, arriving just in time to qualify.
Four races in three days, that doesn’t happen anymore around here. But I
wanted to illustrate how dedicated real racers can be and how to some, 34 races
might be the one-third mark of a season, not season number three. For CASA, it comes during season number three. In part,
from a changing of the times and also by design. The times we race in today are
significantly different from those I grew up in. Hardly anyone races on any
night except Saturday. Gone are most Friday and Sunday shows. And a day race,
when was the last one of those you attended? And if there were other weekend
opportunities, how many of them run under the same rules so they would attract
the same cars? So here we are, at one race per week, maximum. By today’s standards, running once each Saturday from mid
March to mid October would be far too many races for most teams. Even those
track/sanctioning bodies who do schedule along these timelines often have their
primary show take either a night off to run a big combo deal (King of
California, North/South Civil War, etc.), break for the fair or give a guest
club an occasional prime night at their track. A big Late Model show, Grand
American Modifieds, Midgets or some other form of visitors often give the weekly
sprint car guys a week off here and there throughout the season. Not having a true home base puts CASA in that group of
racers that visits others tracks. We are scheduled as guests at tracks that
likely cannot run us on a weekly basis. While we would like to race as often as
possible, at this point in our development it is unlikely we could sustain
20-plus car fields for 25-30 events per year. However, nothing precludes us from
growing into that position. So this is where we are at race 34 and what we’re
dealing with between week 34 and 35. Everyone in CASA works very hard to build this
organization. And it is a work in progress. The promoters we race with all have
CASA’s best interest in mind because we in turn, have their interests and
success in our mind. But at this point we must consider ourselves as guests of
the tracks we run. While it would be wonderful to be an established sanctioning
body with 50 years of experience and a full paid staff to handle every little
detail or occurrence that might present itself, we are at this point, still the
new kids on the block. We can and do make suggestions to promoters and their
staff and we have developed a very good working relationship with all the folks
we race with, but we are not in a position to dictate how they run their
facility, and what the promoter can and can’t do. The promoter’s, like all
promoters, have and do exercise their options as they see fit in the best
interest of their track and fans. However, no decision is ever made without
regard to the big picture and the long-term health of these relationships. That said, regardless of the preparation, level of hard
work and all the things that happen behind the scenes, some events, like any
other event in sport, are going to better than others. We, like everyone in this
game, will have good days and yes, maybe even bad days. When we have a good day
we take pride in it but still look for areas to improve. If we have a bad day we
still do the same. Our 34th race was not our best. It was however not
from lack of effort. In fact more effort was put into this event that any other. The excitement (tinged still with sadness) of the Inaugural
Mike McCreary Memorial 100 led to special dedicated bonus lap money making this
the richest event in CASA history. It is a stepping-stone for the future. The
intention is to build this into the richest pavement sprint car event in the
west if not the nation. But the operative word here is not “richest” which
many people will mistakenly read, but “build.” This will have to be built.
It will require hard work and dedication, over and above all the work currently
being done to stage this series in general. Every facet of CASA is
simultaneously being built. It is no small feat to have started this thing from
scratch and nurture it into what it will one day be. Will we stumble? Will we make mistakes? Sure we will, who
in this business hasn’t? Even the big time players have some black eyes in
their history. Remember the 1981 Indy 500? USAC took 4 months and a court case
to determine Bobby Unser the winner after Mario Andretti was photographed on the
yard of bricks as the winner the morning following the race. And who was it that
passed the pace car with two laps to go and got disqualified to lose Indy in a
huge misunderstanding? Foyt and Boat in victory lane at Texas when they
weren’t even on the lead lap? And of course this year’s U.S. Grand Prix at
Indy will likely be the biggest black eye for years to come, illustrating that
any and all organizations can and will have difficult moments. But we will all
have more successes than failures. And we’ll measure each success and failing
appropriately in the context of the big picture. Currently, and after a less
than stellar night at the first McCreary race I expected some criticism, its
human nature. Its very easy for those who don’t appreciate the hard work
required criticizing those who don’t do the work specifically toward their
intentions. But it’s okay, we’re harder on ourselves so we can deal with it,
but I would appreciate it if criticisms were in the appropriate context. Keep in touch with all CASA racing activity through the CASA website: www.casaracing.com |
