Posted by Hughes on July 16, 2012, 5:22 pm 174.235.193.235
Things at NAPA Speedway are looking up in lots of areas. Car counts are climbing, the racing is close and the stands seemed full. All good healthy signs of improvement. Hats off to all the changes happening.
Now that the above has been said lets discuss the topic of track watering. I belive race officials had ample time during intermission to make decisions on when & how much water to put down on the surface PRIOR to any cars taking a green flag. And yet the great deity called director waited to water after the start of the first feature (which had the largest car count of the evening). Yes, the dust level was lowered but so was the car count. One person described it as pure brilliance (he appeared very upset so I believe he meant it factiously). The watering fiasco on the 3rd lap of the x-mod feature was definately something from the other end of the spectrum from brilliance. I'm not sure who made the call to unleash the water boy & his bucket for a "spritzing" but it needs to be re-visited before the next show. Mistakes happen but this is the second time this year that the x mods had a "spritzing" of the track just prior to a green flag. The outcome this time was similar but far worse. Both times the surface was not ready for green flag racing. If the deity called director cannot get a handle on the definition of a spritzing vs a soaking someone should show both he and his water boy an example. (I think the water boy is the same one who "spritzed" the grandstands on opening day.) Most tracks I've seen use a lower class to work in the track and at the same time run their race. But then the other tracks don't have a deity as race director. Since the locals don't seem to listen to Royal, Jimmy Ray, or Chad regarding track operation why not talk to the Seals brothers? Maybe they could give some pointers since they're local. Otherwise the x mods should consider lighting some candles prior to lining up for a feature, maybe then the director will listen.
Not sure who you are? But you are spot on with what you saw.. There are certain people running the place that need to be fired... My hat is off to Jim Guthrie and NAPA, for doing what they have done. But it is time for a real team to come in and run the place.. We have a great track and a great venue, we just need a real director or manager to run the place.. Like you said car counts are coming up and the stands where full, now lets build on that.. Lets not make the same mistakes and go backwards...
Amen - the X mod class made a great showing with a lot of the cars there for their first time out this season. After the drivers had put their own time and money in to their cars to have them taken out like that was pure asinine. Almost as retarded as to have the track personnel ( while slipping, sliding and falling around on the over watered slick clay. ) say it was the drivers fault. They should thank God for the fence that was protecting them from the near death experience after making that comment to an already angry crowd. I venture to say and correct me if I'm wrong Napa has more spectators and participants at the dirt track then any other event held out there. And with all the great improvements they have made this year, I Agree that maybe they have outgrown the abilities of the current track personnel.
First you must know the real question to find the real answer. So who will run Napa Speedway for the same price or less than Robert & company that could do a better job? Who would we get to replace them? The Seals, Skater Boy, Kevin Montgomery, Rick Stevenson, who? Ok let's say Jim fires everyone and starts over, what if the next group is worse? Then what? The person this makes a difference to is Jim; it's his money on the line. If it floats he profits, if it sinks he loses money, he doesn't want it to lose money. So now that we know the real question time for the real answer…If not Robert & company then who? Robert has done a lot of work out there for which I am thankful, likewise I’m not saying he is the best race director in the world, but he is not the worst either, trust me. So for better or for worse, unless someone does it for free, financially we are stuck with what we got. So email or call Robert give ideas, tell him he is a bonehead, or tell him how to do it better, do the same thing to Jim. That’s the only way they are going to listen, you don't give them a choice, going on to ovalracin to read what we put is a choice that they don't have to make, but email and phone calls you can not ignore for ever.
I am not happy with the way that this particular decision was made and/or executed due to the fact that so many cars were damaged and one of them was one of our cars that I personally will have to take time to repair, that being said I will happily do so to get Eric back out there. Jim, Robert and crue I am sure have not turned a deaf ear to all of you. What I set out to say was if you are going to talk to them use your head not your emotions, I can tell you they will listen if you do so. lol everybody knows I have tried the latter
I think it's safe to say that in the future any clas that gets thrown on the track with a wet track will be given a few laps to roll it in first! The flagman is a ROOKIE!!!
