The travesty of a modified race......Saturday, May 26, 2012

[Lugnuts]

You mean they made the feature a 60 lapper with a competition caution!!!!

[RGeeProductions]

I sat and talked with Steve Tooker today and he would like to clear up a few things about last Saturday and future shows.

First off, there was not any issues with the scorers at any time during the modified feature. It all had to do with the radios and communications of the scoring. The issues were unknown at the time and caused mass confusion by all. THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SCORERS! The problem has been looked into and addressed during this week (I presume by John Elwood. Steve didn't mention what issue was found nor did I ask). Steve did state that they have 15 radios and most officials have 2 radios and nothing would work correctly at the time. He assured me they will do all they can so this does not happen again.

As for the calling of the race. All divisions have time limits. Yes, there was a demo only after the race but the race was becoming a demo itself. Steve said, "the drivers seemed impatient all night". This was right from the first green flag. At the time, a decision was finally made to call the race so no more teams incurred damage to their cars. The call was made as Steve and Mike felt it was in the best interest of the drivers and their equipment. Also, some have stated that slow moving restarts by McGuire caused many of the later accidents. Actually, McGuire noticed cars still on the frontstretch when coming down the backstretch for restarts and kept the pace slow so that cars could bunch up. I think that was a good move as things would have been far worse.

Another thing mentioned is handicapping and heats for future 35 lappers. Steve and Mike both feel this may come about but not definite as of yet. Tires seem to be one issue with heats. If you must race on the heat tires you use, what shape will they be in for the feature after going through their heat cycle and cooling off for so long. Will this make the features better or worse? Or, let teams change tires and then incur more cost to teams which would put the teams with money in the top 10 every night there is heats. And it would be very hard to police any of these options, but being looked in to.

The Cromarty's, Steve, Mike and John are trying their best to better the racing for all at the track. When no calls were made for years, all complained. Now calls are being made and still complaints. They are honestly trying to do the best they can for all racers, each and every week.

On another note: Those who are not racing and sitting in the stands, please do not make judgement calls about what happened by hearsay. Many statements have been said by some of what was said at the drivers meeting by Steve. It seems it has turned into the telephone game and as each person tells another the story changes. The drivers and crews or anyone who was there knows actually what is said at each and every meeting. Please don't jump to conclusions on hearsay. As I stated above, all involved at Riverhead are truly trying their best to better everything there...

[RGeeProductions]

Forgot about the 25 cars starting.
They added the 2 cars because all pay to have a license, pay a pit gate fee, pay for fuel and pay for tires. Saving 2 cars from not racing at all was a help.
My opinion is that the 2 extra cars did not cause the racing issues Saturday night and the call to add the 2 cars was a great way of showing they want to help everyone they can.
I know if I had a car and time trialed or qualified 24/25 and was told I could race, I would appreciate that fact.
Now if they want to start 30 or 32, well I would definitely think, no way!!!
Again, they are just trying to get everyone the chance to race, within reason.

[The Bullfather]

Thank you for this information, it gives a insight of what they are trying to improve on, it takes a collective unit and they are listening to each other! Communication is the key!