THERE MAY BE BIG THINGS IN STORE FOR THE SRL

Source: RacingWest.com / Janet Peery
Date: 07/31/2007

Could the promotion styles of yesterday happen today? Could series like the SRL be brought back to the stardom of days past? Absolutely, there are still brilliant men and women working the sport..

Back in the day, the old style promoters were willing to take a risk…with series like the Winston West and the Tour. They worked hard at promoting. . They would bring in a big name driver, wrap the trash cans, put up billboards, and pay for their own TV.

Shining moments and promoters with imagination continue, promoters that are cooking up barbeques, handing water out to the fans, thanking the competitors for coming and most importantly promoters that are not afraid to take the risk of going beyond Late Models and Legends and bringing fans the special shows.

When the NASCAR Tour went from track to track, the promoters although always keen on outdoing each other, promoted the series and in doing so promoted the next or previous track the series competed on and that grew racing. It was contagious and the enthusiasm was like a fire under the Tour. Now some lethargy has set in and it is time to change that.

The catalyst for change, the match to relight the fire, might be the new Mesa Marin. There is group of racers chomping at the bit in anticipation of racing that track…and this when the track is still being built.

History bears witness that the Collins family is not afraid of risk. Marion Collins built the “Field of Dreams” in Bakersfield and on his wall up in the pressbox was a drawing of what he wanted Mesa to become. A lot of the new Mesa comes from that dream.

Should the SRL be lucky enough to get dates at the new Mesa Marin the car counts will grow because in addition to the wonderful tracks it already competes on, it will now be on one of the crown jewel tracks. Having Mesa would round out the tour, just as the previous Tour raced all kinds of tracks, there were a couple jewels that the drivers appreciated. This is going to be the start of something big.

If the tracks work together in the fashion they did with NASCAR and by working together…I mean friendly competition…buying dates from the SRL and then promoting old style. The SRL has the potential to be as strong as the NASCAR SW Tour was. NASCAR never promoted the Tour. It was the track promoters that grew it and so they could again.

Stop and think what is it that changed? It is all still there…if the MW Tour can succeed, the West can as well. So we have had a bad year. Doesn’t mean we quit. We got to keep at it. Those cars are still there.

Those cars gave us a lot of good racing in the past…and they could again. HotWood saved the SRL this year and Mesa Marin could build on what HotWood has done. I think we are bottoming and are now on our way up. The glory days of old are about to be reborn at the new Mesa Marin and the positive force from that track and the other tracks already supporting the SRL will spread to tracks not participating. The traveling show will be something a promoter will want because it is what races at Mesa Marin…and Madera…and Shasta…and Altamont…and Colorado…and who knows maybe even Roseville.

It is our promoters with imagination that have the power to get it done and I have a lot of hope springing up inside of me that they will.

See Also .:

News Index | E-mail to a Friend