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Getting Ready for a Party!
The Infield by Paul Pittman
Stevens Point, WI (Nov 20, 2004): Halloween is now behind us and as we get
ready for Christmas, we also get ready for the annual Bumper to Bumper IRA
Awards Banquet. What? What happened to Thanksgiving? Good Question! I’d like
to know that myself. As a kid, we never even dreamed of talking about putting
up a Christmas Tree before Thanksgiving was over, let alone all of the other
things that went with it but here we are, circa 2004 and it has apparently
become normal to start the Christmas push before the Halloween items are
pulled from the shelves. Visiting the local retail shops, you can simply walk
from one season to the next just by changing aisles! I suppose they, (the
marketing geniuses behind it all) have every right to start when they want,
but come on! There’s a lot to be done before then and Thanksgiving was
always a good way to gauge where you stood when it came to what you had left
to buy and such. Besides, there is a reason there is a month between
Thanksgiving and Christmas, you know! It takes that long to sort through the
leftovers and digest!
Getting back to the IRA Awards Banquet, the 2004 version seems to be coming
together nicely and once again, the top teams will all have their 10, 15 (or
more) minutes of fame at the microphone as they are each honored for their
participation and loyalty for the entire season. In all, 21 teams are being
honored as having participated in at least 75% or more of the shows. As a
matter of fact, a total thirteen teams made 100% of the IRA sanctioned events
which is simply astounding considering the amount of travel and rainouts the
series experienced this season. A nice point’s check awaits each as well as
a shot at some very nice contingency awards, including a brand new Maxim
chassis as well as several other high dollar packages.
A few procedural changes are in store to help speed the overall program along
as well as upgrades to the sound system. The dinner will switch to a buffet
style this year as well in an effort to boast the overall effect. At the most
recent membership meeting, IRA President Steve Sinclair addressed several
issues along with the banquet business. Most notably was the subject of the
2005 schedule.
“I am going to try and have it done by mid December,” stated Sinclair in a
firm manner. “We are going to make every effort possible to make the 2005
schedule as pleasant as possible for everyone involved. Overall, there are
still a few holes to fill, but it is nearly complete and I am quite happy with
it as are most of the competitors who have already seen it.”
Most notable on the existing draft of the 2005 schedule included the penciling
in of the annual Wilmot visit during their fair. Sinclair did go out on a limb
somewhat and virtually guarantee that he will have the schedule posted by the
end of December. “Well, at least a tentative one.” Sinclair did admit with
a grin. That being said, there was a genuine feeling of confidence about the
whole issue that I have not seen in a while.
Some other topics of discussion included the recent sprint car “summit” at
Eagle Raceway. “Much of what was discussed, we are already doing, in
compliance with or doesn’t even affect us so as a group, the IRA is in very
good shape in the industry,” stated Sinclair. The existing body panel rules
will still be in effect, however, the access height on the outside of the
car’s body panel needs to be a minimum of 12”. “Some teams were pushing
that a bit and it really needs to be enforced. There is a real safety issue
involved. A driver has to be able to get out that way if necessary, or allow a
safety worker to get in if needed. Some of the cars out there would be
impossible.”
There are no projected changes to the rules governing the top wings, however,
care will be taken next season in checking some of the “modifications”
made to bring the older style wings to compliance with the 2004 rules.
The club’s official 4-wheeler, the Suzuki “Vinson” is also now for sale
if someone in the area is interested in a nearly new ATV. It only has 149
miles on it and looks like it is right off the showroom floor. “We are very
proud of our new relationship with Suzuki Motorsports and with our 2005 model
coming soon, we want to offer this one to someone out there at a very
reasonable price. Another nice benefit of the whole deal with Suzuki,”
stated Sinclair. The price of the vehicle is $4900 (firm) and if anyone is
interested, they should contact the IRA’s main office at 815-759-9269.
Other discussions ranged from the enforcement of series decal placement on
competing cars to ways to expedite the nightly program. With regards to the
latter, it was pointed out that more effort has to be made by teams to be in
staging when their race is ready. “A lot of times, we are undermanned and
can only make a limited amount of walks through the pit area to hurry our guys
up,” stated Sinclair. “There were times I would walk through a few times
and drivers would still be in the same chair they were in when I walked by the
first time. That will change this year! It has to. If we are going to be
asking our promoters to help us out, then we as a group need to be helping
them out and doing everything we can to make things right.”
2004 Champion Scott Neitzel was on-hand with handouts of various items for
sale as the team upgrades their operation in preparation of backing up their
title run in 2005. Scott and Dave Uttech also had several items for sale, both
teams hard at work readying themselves already for the upcoming season. Tim
Bartz was also on hand with some very nice display work courtesy of Bitter’s
Print Shop of their new team cards and such.
So, with all that said, there’s not much else right now to bring up. Steve
has written and published a very nice synopsis of the 2004 season which is
available for your reading pleasure at the IRA’s website at www.irasprints.com.
A few other changes recently made to the website include the addition of a
category for the club’s sponsors as well as the overall facelift honoring
the series’ 2004 Champion. Some publications gearing up for the upcoming
season include Race Talk and a projected new magazine called “Your Racing
Connection”. Race Talk is an established publication while the “Racing
Connection” magazine is a new endeavor aimed at the teams, mechanics and
industry insiders. Editor Ryan Hurley is eagerly trying to get a pilot issue
together with hopes of having it distributed by the annual PRI show. “We
really want to work with the other publications out there right now. They are
some very fine publications and I do not want to give the impression that I
want to infringe on their markets. We hope to put together something that will
help the everyday racer and wrenches overall life easier. We are intending
this to compliment publications like “Sprint Car & Midget” and
“Flat-Out Magazine”. We all need those magazines as fans.” We’ll all
be anxiously awaiting this publication to see if it does indeed fill a void we
didn’t know we had.
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