SAIS drops Super Stocks and stirs some controversy, 8-20-89

[NickHolt]

[arob]

And now history repeats itself.

[NickHolt]

At age 75, and having been directly involved in stock car racing for more than 50 years, this is my third trip though the "history repeats itself" cycle. 

Nearly every local class - unless the track or sanctioning body rules with an iron fist (does the name Neil Upchurch come to mind?), eventually collapses due to relentless pressure from racers to allow more and more speed equipment. With every cave-in by management, the very few teams with the resources to actually acquire and utilize the expensive speed equipment increasingly dominate until the class eventually dies. 

The exceptions are few and far between.

The legendary TIDA Late Models were a huge success in large part because of the dominating leadership of Neil Upchurch.  And the rules didn't change in spite of almost constant complaints from teams that the rules were archaic, stupid, favored one type of car over another, etc, etc. While some say that Neil went overboard with his absolute control of every aspect of the series, one can't argue with success.

Not to toot my own horn, the Legacies are another example. James Huff and I fended off many convincing arguments from a few teams to allow modifications to the basic Legacy rules. Hopefully the group that now controls the Texas Legacy contingent will turn a deaf ear to well-argued proposed modifications.

Nick

[RodneyRodriguez]

Yep, time after time we this and somehow people are surprised. Just as with classes falling off and racers run other divisions. History repeats itself time after time.

Nick along those lines reading these 1989 stories really have been interesting what a season that was.

[HiTech]

22 hours ago, RodneyRodriguez said:

oYep, time after time we this and somehow people are surprised. Just as with classes falling off and racers run other divisions. History repeats itself time after time.

Nick along those lines reading these 1989 stories really have been interesting what a season that was.

IN 1989  near the end of the year we were losing too many mini stocks ..frank hoch  told us do something or you may not be racing 1990...so frank carpenter . me and steven  set out to figure what to do . the cost got  to high tires motors and money teams . I didnt have that money  lol ..frank spent many many  days and hours looking for a cheaper tire . we pulled  our modified motors which cost some of us a lot back in those days .. and made some rules that got us all close and cheap ..stock....and then the battle and work was on to find new drivers it made a few others  leave  the  class  but we knew the class was dead either way if it didnt work out .. .I cant remember just how many new cars were built out of the shop something like 13 or 14  but a lot of poeple came together and frank carpenter  spent  his well earned money on pipe and so many other things .with out him we could not have done it .. we took a car to the car show showed videos  and that paid off .. some poeple are still in racing starting from that class .we ended up with average 15  up to 20 cars by the next years season end ….  THE DIFFERENTS  was we had rules and we hired our own tech man  . cost 2 dollars per driver each night to pay the tech man . had drivers meetings away from the track on rules and changes and if a driver was a driving problem and would not settle down  or if something needed to be changed  we all took a vote. yes or no and that was the rule .. majority vote .. WE DID GREAT FOR TWO SEASONS TILL FRANK PASSED . out of respect I wont go into how the new track owner  and us got along .. but the mini stock class lasted for years and over time  started losing cars again and thumper went  in and  carried on where we left off till finally the class ended ….  I37 loots to have a really good class of todays mini stocks  and doing well  even a driver are two from  back in the 80s I raced against have found a home in that class .. I agree with nick and Rodney .. racing  evolves right back to the beginning  every few years .. every class dies  only to rebirth .again and again . reading what nick has  given us here  lets us reflect on how  racing never changes ..  EVERY FEW YEARS YOU HAVE TO PUSH THE RESTART  BUTTON .. . we the older generations drive the wet behind the ear newbies crazy .that was then and this is now ..nick . you have proof …  some of the very things tracks didnt want was racing series where the series had any control .. I have to say neil was able for years to work that out ..agree or disagree with him it worked .and the birth  I suppose many would agree changed of todays lets say factory stock rules that most dirt tracks run on now .. . look how long it has taken for that to come around ...cars are not and will never be cheap again to build   .but it never was anyway  if you have the money it isnt a big deal  if you dont would not matter .. but least  with that class and the tracks working to run the same  pays off in the long run ..  least that's my take .. still isnt cheap  but cheaper as long as they can keep the fancy parts down to a minimum  in the long run .. SOMEDAY HISTORY WILL HAVE TO REPEAT ITSELF AGAIN / and some young driver will say to the old racers  . that was the past stop living in it .  you dont know what you are talking about yada yada  ..

Edited April 11, 2020 by HiTech

[arob]

The biggest problem I see , as only a fan, in the constant rule changing and not seeing what is working elsewhere. When the Street Stock Shootout was going you had rules that made for competitive racing. And good car counts. I'm not 100% sure about what killed it so I will keep my opinion to myself. I-37 had large fields until it suddenly died on the vine. I think Texana has the best Street Stock rules it seems. That class has always been strong there and has been for years. Meanwhile Sportmods and Factory Stocks keep growing and growing. Really the Factory Stocks of today are closer to Super Stocks back in the heyday. At the end of the day the only thing that will help rules wise is sanctions. Rather it be IMCA or USRA. That way the track doesn't have to deal with rulemaking. I agree with STS and I-37 going with USRA , I-37 and Texana going with IMCA for Mods. But I'm just a fan. What do I know.

 

[HiTech]

2 hours ago, arob said:

The biggest problem I see , as only a fan, in the constant rule changing and not seeing what is working elsewhere. When the Street Stock Shootout was going you had rules that made for competitive racing. And good car counts. I'm not 100% sure about what killed it so I will keep my opinion to myself. I-37 had large fields until it suddenly died on the vine. I think Texana has the best Street Stock rules it seems. That class has always been strong there and has been for years. Meanwhile Sportmods and Factory Stocks keep growing and growing. Really the Factory Stocks of today are closer to Super Stocks back in the heyday. At the end of the day the only thing that will help rules wise is sanctions. Rather it be IMCA or USRA. That way the track doesn't have to deal with rulemaking. I agree with STS and I-37 going with USRA , I-37 and Texana going with IMCA for Mods. But I'm just a fan. What do I know.

 

The way things are today not many racetracks have enough locals racing  .MANY DEPEND  on drivers pulling  from surrounding  cities to help .. how many tracks have shut down trying to get cars .. where many had one set of rules and the next track had another set of rules .. kyle had one set cc had one set sas had one set  and so on just like dirt over the last couple of years  had their own set .. now most of the tracks are getting on board of having a common set of rules  so others   from another track can show up and race .. the days of a single track having its own set of rules and filling the pits and stands each and every race night is almost gone by the way side .. . ../ we can now MAKE ONE CAR AND TRAVEL  to least three tracks min with out going nuts with rules ..

Edited April 11, 2020 by HiTech

[RodneyRodriguez]

I will say even having to have help navigate through classes dropped etc. I always have thought the fact of folks being pissed because their class gets dropped due to low car counts has been confusing, especially when they don't show up.

But that's a whole other discussion LOL