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Good times at Shady Oaks Speedway!


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With 109 racing teams making their way to Shady Oaks Speedway, on a beautiful Saturday evening, the pits were crowded.... For the three days preceding Saturday's May 22 race, Allen, Darrel and Kenneth Kunkel, worked very hard to blade and prepare the racetrack. Their efforts resulted in three wide racing in most every class. With eight classes running any given night, the program tends to run long. Especially if there are any red flags or accidents. In the interest of shorten the program and keeping the crowd, there will be no hot laps at the next race. Be sure as a driver to be there on time at the driver's meeting, because heat races will start directly after mudd packing.

 

As with any Saturday night, there seems to always be driver's issues with one other. As track owner & director of competition, all driver's complaints and concerns need to come directly to me for all final decisions. In the mini stock devision, a first time racer from Pleasanton won the feature in a car with a V-6 motor. This car is legal at Pleasanton, but doesn't fit Shady Oaks rules. Our tech man disqualified this car by our rules. I decided in the interest of good race relations to allow his win to side because it was his first win as a young racer. Rather than taking away this child's first win, I made him co-winner and moved everyone else up in position. Adam Perk's daughter gets the winning points. This decision made for two very happy families and both children got trophies. Everyone was happy about the decision. Remember these are our future racers!

Other than that, the night when very smoothly, I am happy to be back home at Shady Oaks where I belong!

Jim Scribellito

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Dont think I am following that. So do you want all 23 street stocks to run 1 heat? If you want to save time its all about cautions and lineups. Caution laps kill time and fan interests. If a caution has more then 3 laps under yellow thats too long no matter what the deal is. The track needs to get that part figured out and then teach the drivers to be better at whatever the caution policy is. This is such a big time waster. Also a big time waster is running any class heat races that have 3 or 4 cars. At the drivers meeting you said drivers need to attend the meeting. I agree but you have alot of drivers that are local that show up after the drivers meeting and because their car count is low they really never get punished. Maybe those classes that cant show up on time should run last. We do our best to be there by 4 pm and most of the time we are leaving after midnight for a 3 hour drive home. Not complainting about that but when you see a team consistantly show up late around 6 or later then they race early and are leaving at 10 pm its like man must be nice when your trip is probably less then 45 minutes home if that. The only thing I dont like with starting racing that early is its a battle to keep the track from drying out. You end up running the poor water sprayer all over to try to maintane some kind of track. Its a balancing act to get a show run in the appropriate amount of time. About every other tracks runs 4 or 5 classes at the very very most not 8 or more. Anyway track appears to be going in the right direction so I am sure these issues will be addressed.

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Jim - You are a truly incredible person from all of my interactions with you. From the first day I met you some 19 months ago, just a couple days after your arrival to the property, I knew that you were going to be a special promoter. Sounds like in the mini's the tech man did his part of the job correctly, and you as well came up with a wonderful solution given the specific and thoughtful circumstances you deliberated to make your decision. I also appreciate that you are stating for issues to come to you. A single person to resolve matters is invaluable.

 

I love that you are there in the mix again for so many reasons, and my reasons are more along the lines of simply seeing you happy and where you belong.

 

Positive suggestions: I also made a suggestion on another thread about ideas that could help on cautions. 10 cars in a heat would be reasonable. If you have more than 10 in a class then split them to a max of 10 in a heat. Personally, I would hate to see any class not get to run a heat since they pay thinking they are going to get two opportunities to race.

 

On a closing note, you may not know it, but you as a person are in inspiration to me. You are an excellent example of the old quote "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade"... I guess God throws the curve balls at the strong people in life. Your positive outlook in spite of the curve balls is incredible and simply something I admire, because I just don't think I could ever muster up your personal strength.

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Jim - You are a truly incredible person from all of my interactions with you. From the first day I met you some 19 months ago, just a couple days after your arrival to the property, I knew that you were going to be a special promoter. Sounds like in the mini's the tech man did his part of the job correctly, and you as well came up with a wonderful solution given the specific and thoughtful circumstances you deliberated to make your decision. I also appreciate that you are stating for issues to come to you. A single person to resolve matters is invaluable.

 

I love that you are there in the mix again for so many reasons, and my reasons are more along the lines of simply seeing you happy and where you belong.

 

Positive suggestions: I also made a suggestion on another thread about ideas that could help on cautions. 10 cars in a heat would be reasonable. If you have more than 10 in a class then split them to a max of 10 in a heat. Personally, I would hate to see any class not get to run a heat since they pay thinking they are going to get two opportunities to race.

 

On a closing note, you may not know it, but you as a person are in inspiration to me. You are an excellent example of the old quote "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade"... I guess God throws the curve balls at the strong people in life. Your positive outlook in spite of the curve balls is incredible and simply something I admire, because I just don't think I could ever muster up your personal strength.

 

very well said!!! Jim, you are a blessing to this area and to racing. your strong will and determination should be an inspiration to us all.

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With 109 racing teams making their way to Shady Oaks Speedway, on a beautiful Saturday evening, the pits were crowded.... For the three days preceding Saturday's May 22 race, Allen, Darrel and Kenneth Kunkel, worked very hard to blade and prepare the racetrack. Their efforts resulted in three wide racing in most every class. With eight classes running any given night, the program tends to run long. Especially if there are any red flags or accidents. In the interest of shorten the program and keeping the crowd, there will be no hot laps at the next race. Be sure as a driver to be there on time at the driver's meeting, because heat races will start directly after mudd packing.

 

As with any Saturday night, there seems to always be driver's issues with one other. As track owner & director of competition, all driver's complaints and concerns need to come directly to me for all final decisions. In the mini stock devision, a first time racer from Pleasanton won the feature in a car with a V-6 motor. This car is legal at Pleasanton, but doesn't fit Shady Oaks rules. Our tech man disqualified this car by our rules. I decided in the interest of good race relations to allow his win to side because it was his first win as a young racer. Rather than taking away this child's first win, I made him co-winner and moved everyone else up in position. Adam Perk's daughter gets the winning points. This decision made for two very happy families and both children got trophies. Everyone was happy about the decision. Remember these are our future racers!

Other than that, the night when very smoothly, I am happy to be back home at Shady Oaks where I belong!

Jim Scribellito

Just wanted to say it was great to meet you Jim! Sorry I didn't introduce myself sooner. I look forward to racing at your track for a long time. I told my wife I met you and she can't wait to meet you too. I thank you and your wife and all your staff for getting Shady Oaks Speedway going again. See yall next time.

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