Shootout Series Retrospective

[NickHolt]

Around mid to late April, spinning off from last years two track challenge, Stephan Danielsen (a visionary) developed the idea of creating the Street Stock Shootout of South Texas. Stephan took the bull by the horns and made contact with three tracks identifying unique dates that would not step on the others and allow all participants interested to not conflict with points, etc. at their local tracks. He further reached an agreement with the track operators that while each set of rules for the home tracks were a bit different, there were trade offs back and forth that make the group pretty equal. Along the way, he approached me for us to tag team this effort. This worked out pretty well as he and I both seem to be full of BS and we like to talk and this series idea was exciting to me as I saw what it could become. I began using the term “grass roots” over and over because this launched as truly grass roots with nothing more than an initial idea. There are so many conversations about “we need to run the same rules everywhere”. But, as teams when we can all understand that if there is a give here and a take there, we can be pretty equal no matter where we race. So, it became that we felt I37, SOS and TRP streets, along with STS Pures and Houston Hobby’s were pretty close (not perfect, but close for this series), and the series was off and running.

 

And wow, did it ever take off. Suddenly, the synergy was building. Sponsors started coming in left and right who wanted to be part of this. We are so thankful for those!!! Again, “grass roots”. There is so much talk about this track or that track needs to do a larger purse. That is nice, but many times it takes the people interested in a particular class to do something and not just talk about what should be done. When we look back at the sponsor list, the vast majority of sponsors either have a car in the class at one of the tracks, really like the fender cars or have some connected interest to the class. Grass Roots and synergy in action sparked a major interest in the series and we were able to establish a very nice points fund and some nice special awards at each event with the sponsors coming to the table. We are so thankful for each and every form of sponsorship from funds to products, to the beautiful wood trophy.

 

As this began to develop, I thought (even though this sounds odd), how cool it would be to have B Mains where someone didn’t make the A. How long has it been in our area with fender car action that we’ve seen a B Main on a regular Saturday night program? This was a thought, but we didn’t know if it was realistic to have more than 24 cars at one of these events. But, what a tremendous positive surprise the very first event at SOS turned out to be…

 

Nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, we showed up at SOS. Low and behold we had pre registered entries and a mass of folks to last minute register for SOS. 32 cars showed up with 31 of them registering into the series. Going into the series we knew there were good drivers, but I personally never really expected the extreme talent that was to be demonstrated and the class of participants we were to see. Personally, heading into that event, I was hoping everyone would respect each other on and off the track as it is my belief that nothing other than little league baseball invokes as much emotion as dirt track racing does.. .. What a top notch group of people in those 32 competitors on that night. We anticipated the time trials might take about an hour, but we were organized and pleasantly surprised when they were done within 20 to 25 minutes. That went like clockwork. Time allowed for out of car driver introductions and that was very special for the fans. Anytime we can connect with the fans, we are doing something good. The A Main came around for 23 men and one lady to take the green flag and the capacity crowd was on their feet. Oh, what an adrenaline rush it was to see grandstands full, with fans on their feet and 24 entertainers ready to do their thing. Each driver was there to win, but low and behold they competed with each other with tremendous respect with only one caution the entire race. And, the vision was proving to be true about matching the cars as there was a mix in the front runners with Chris, Wade, AJ, Tony and others in the front group. While each and every competitor who showed wanted to win, what they may not have realized is what their presence was doing to give the track a shot in the arm and the entertainment value they were providing to the capacity crowd. And, to get to test yourself against drivers you don’t normally run with. What a night and much smoother than we ever expected. Chris Shafer won the feature on his home turf to set down the possibility of a three track sweep and walked away with the points lead. We all shook hands and departed with excitement for event #2.

 

Rolling into Edna for event #2 at TRP was to be a massive night as it was combined with the Aaron Hudgeons Memorial Limited Mod event. We picked up some more entries on that night into the series and if I recall correctly we had 35 cars racing which consisted of 33 men and two ladies on this night trying to get to the A Main. And, another capacity crowd. A few bumps with a couple of transponders hitting in the time trials. We were now able to incorporate a small cash prize for the two B winners to add to the nightly prizes. Off to the A Main with 23 men and one lady making the call, and we thought for sure on the slicker track there would be lots of paint sharing. Nope, that was not to be case. One or two cautions again and a different feature winner with Wade Jones and he took over the points lead. On this night Bobby Jack also started making his presence known by moving up in the front running and given Wade a solid run on the last few laps to challenge for the win.

 

Two down and one to go, we rolled into Pleasanton for the I37 event to wrap up the series. Even on the last event, a few more registered into the series and it paid off for Donny and Johnny who both won special nightly awards. To our surprise rain came, but it turned out to be what the doctor ordered as it made the track very fast. 29 men and two ladies competed for a spot in the A Main with 24 men making it into the big show. And, yet again a capacity crowd! It would have taken a mathematician to keep up with the ever changing picture of the top in points. Wade came into the event leading with Chris in 2nd, but AJ and Bobby were there to add a twist. Time trials had a 1.5 second spread from the fastest to the slowest. Wade looked to have the points wrapped up if his position maintained in the feature, but low and behold two flat tires almost put him a lap down. Tension mounted as the race started back up without Wade, but quickly went back to caution without a lap being completed. Wade was able to rejoin the field at the tail without losing a lap. There was no telling how this would end, and mentally I had forgotten the points spread for AJ and Bobby. Bobby won the event with AJ second and a young man named Shawn made his presence known by finishing 3rd.

 

Sunday rolled around and it was time for Stephan to do the math and figure out all of the points. Wade won the championship and AJ bumped up into second. Notable also was one racer making the top 10 points payout having only made two races.

 

This series took off much larger than ever expected and it was due to the sponsors coming on board, the host tracks, and the class act of competitors registering into the series. As we embark forward to 2012, the series will be back with four tracks, adding STS, and we’ve already secured a title sponsor in Allgayer, Inc. Stephan will soon begin dialogue with the tracks on dates and possible standard purses for the events. We will approach all of the 2011 sponsors to sign on again and hope to gather even more sponsors. We will start early and hope to have sponsor commitments wrapped in early 2012 and start having registrations rolling in also. In closing, we couldn’t be more impressed with how everything went in the three events. Thank you sponsors for helping build the points fund and product sponsors. Thank you tracks for hosting the events. And thank you teams for registering into the series and giving the fans their moneys worth each and every time and doing it with class and style, just like we dreamed about!!

 

How about it. Can I get a Hell Ya (Stone Cold style) for heading into 2012? Think big and let’s see if we can bring at least 40 cars to each of the 2012 events!!!

[StacyRacing]

Monty you did a great job catching the character of each race. I want to say thanks to both you and Stephan for letting SOS be the host for the first race in the series. Yes, it was a great shot in the arm for SOS, in ways that may be understood in the future. Personally it will always be a special memory for me because it was the first race weekend that I was Race Director, my Dad was staging and my Mom was in the office. There were a few glitches but the race was great and the drivers conducted themselves with class. I am already looking forward to next years race and I promise there will be hot laps, lol.

 

 

Keith Stacy

Race Director SOS

[BobbyJack]

next year we know we need to go to friday practice

BOBBY JACK 88J