In The Groove
Thursday, June 14, 2007
by Stacy Ervin - As summer begins to heat up, so too do opinions on our beloved racing and how to make it better. Internet message boards are lighting up with debates about what should be raced where. Even many drivers have taken advantage of media interviews to express their thoughts on how to improve programs.
This week's biggest debate surrounding racing in Iowa is likely to involve what should be raced at Knoxville this Friday and Saturday night. Some diehard sprint-car fans have noted they don't care for anything but sprint cars invading their turf. Others enjoy the late models taking a turn at trying to master the Sprint Car Capitol of the World.
For me, it's an interesting debate given the world in which I live.
On the one hand, what I would call one of the top two late-model tracks in the state is literally in my backyard. West Liberty Raceway, back under the guise of Simmons Promotions, draws a crowd every Saturday night for its five classes of race cars, topped off with one of the toughest weekly late-model shows in the country. This is the track Brian Birkhofer calls home and on those few occasions when he shows up and steals the show, the crowd still goes wild. The old-timers here sit under the covered wooden grandstand and recall the days when Birky's old man was bringing the house down week after week. The younger fans pack into the place to see drivers with names like Simpson, Kile, Davis, Klinkkammer and Eckrich. Some of those drivers, like Birky, have moved on now to the upper echelons of late-model racing, leaving West Liberty in the dust and returning to delight the crowd only when big money is on the line. Though the historical charm of West Liberty Raceway remains, many fans have stopped coming or have at least given it thought over what they believe is a lack of fan-friendly accommodations and personnel. Some have taken the bull by the horns and tried to keep the fan base interested. There's even a junior fan club aimed at the kids in an effort to start the next generation of late-model racing fans.
On the other hand, while late-model racing is going on two blocks from my home every Saturday night, you can find me at Knoxville Raceway halfway across the state. Knoxville Raceway, under the longtime guise of the most influential person in sprint-car racing, draws a crowd every Saturday night for its two classes of sprint cars, topped off with one of the toughest weekly 410 shows in the country. This is the track Terry McCarl calls home and on those few occasions when he shows up and steals the show, the crowd still goes wild. The old-timers here sit in the immense aluminum grandstands and recall the days when they sat in rickety wooden bleachers to watch T-Mac's old man maneuvering the hallowed half-mile. The younger fans pack into the place to see drivers with names like Alley, Brown, Lasoski, Jackson and Madsen. Some of those drivers, like McCarl, have moved on now to the upper echelons of sprint-car racing, leaving Knoxville in the dust and returning to delight the crowd only when big money is on the line. Though the historical charm of Knoxville Raceway remains, many fans have stopped coming or have at least given it thought over what they believe is a lack of fan-friendly accommodations and personnel. Some have taken the bull by the horns and tried to keep the fan base interested. There's even a junior fan club aimed at the kids in an effort to start the next generation of sprint-car racing fans.
These two race tracks, the one I call home and the one that really is home, travel very similar paths while racing vastly different cars and hosting vastly different crowds. These two race tracks, one I have spent my life at since 1976 and one I have lived my life next to since 1972, both mean the world to me.
I may be in the minority when I say that I enjoy both sprint cars and late models. Would I travel halfway across the state every weekend to watch late models? Probably not. But then, I have never been to Williams Grove either and don't really have that much desire to skip a Saturday night at Knoxville to go there.
Ironically for me, I wouldn't be a diehard sprint-car girl working in Knoxville's pressbox every week if it wasn't for West Liberty Raceway and its late models. West Liberty is where my love of racing began with a weekly trip down the street with my family. When my Grandpa Rocky, the pioneer of our little racing family, suggested a trip to Knoxville in the early 1970s to see a special stock-car show, my parents were so impressed with the place that they decided to return the next week to see what these sprint cars were all about. The cars were still wingless in those days and my parents were hooked in an instant. At 4 years old, I came to know the 100-plus-mile route to Knoxville as well as those two blocks to West Liberty. And the rest is history. Now I'm at Knoxville every week, choosing open-wheel horsepower and on-track excellence over low gas consumption and sleeping in my own bed every night.
No, this is not always the easy route, but then I have never been one to figure that one out. When I was editor of the West Liberty newspaper, I'd get hit from both sides every Monday morning. I'd get fellow residents coming into my office to rehash what we had seen at Knoxville that weekend and voice their opinions on how West Liberty Raceway could regain their loyalty. And I'd get fellow residents coming into my office to tell me what happened at West Liberty that weekend and give me grief for being so loyal to Knoxville Raceway.
The point here is, both sprint-car racing and late-model racing are alive and well here in Iowa, and there's no good reason the two can't coexist at Knoxville. Late-model racing across the country is still riding out a wave of increased popularity, while sprint-car promoters across the country are scrambling to figure out the answer to a rapidly decreasing number of 410 weekly shows. The key to having successful late-model shows and successful sprint-car shows is in the marketing and promotion of each event. The two series currently draw different crowds from different parts of the state. Fans of both need to be told why they should attend these races, especially if it means driving halfway across the state. When the Bloomquist and Birkhofer crowd comes to Knoxville, they need to see the fast 410 sprint cars in their face, as the best of the best when it comes to sprint-car racing. And it wouldn't hurt the diehard sprint-car fan to see late models as a companion class to the regular sprint show once or twice a year. Their speed and action just might be impressive.
Likewise, West Liberty Raceway needs to bring sprint-car racing back to its own hallowed half-mile again. A wildly popular special 410 sprint show at the Muscatine County Fair, one of the top county fairs in the state, went by the wayside several years ago and was replaced by a string of lesser events. Local racing businessman Bud Kile teamed up with the Sprint Invaders organization last year to bring that 360 group to West Liberty for the July 4 holiday. He paired the 360s with late models and got a stellar crowd. That show is back on the slate this year for July 3. With Simmons Promotions back at the racing helm of West Liberty and new fair management, it's time to talk about bringing those 410s back too.
If you're a fan of late-model racing, come to Knoxville on Friday night and stay at Knoxville for Saturday night. If you're a fan of sprint-car racing, come to Knoxville on Friday night as well as Saturday night. You just might be impressed with what you see. But be careful: You just might get hooked.
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