Heading home from an adversity filled weekend in NH, but always happy to see and catch up with my extended family in the modified garage. As far as my thoughts on the weekend-let me repost a comment I made under another thread during the race that seemed to be well received: the Richie, Bugsy, and Flemke books should be required reading for all these drivers, esp the racing etiquette and respect sections. I can PROMISE you the racing today would be just as exciting, and wed have more than half the field still out here putting on a show rather than on jack stands in the garage because of other peoples lack of respect. Its disappointing to see how great the racing can be, but were left shaking our heads at how far the respect level has dropped for too many of these guys behind the wheel. Take a pic of the garage now for proof... I watched Mike Stefanik, one of the all time greats, just get bulldozed both ends of the track 2 laps in a row and his day ruined. I watched one car drive up the track 3 lanes and clip another in the left rear, turning him in the wall. I watched that same car come from 2 lengths back and piledrive a car at start finish, turning him into the wall. The list goes on and on. The races at NH have always been a high speed chess match, but there used to be and needs to be some finesse to it. All the typical lines are tired and worn out by now- I didnt mean to..., thats how we race now, I did what I had to do--Im sure the 2 guys didnt mean to get turned head on in the fence, and Im sure Steffy did what he had to do by actually trying to stay outside and race someone through the corner. Every car has a steering wheel and a throttle and brake pedal-its up to each pilot to control his own car, you shouldnt have to rely on the left side nerf bars and 4 tires of the guy you are racing to get you through the corner. Id love to see some of these guys try to race with the old style single bar nerfs like all of the greats learned to race each other with. A final note, and I see it from the very bottom rung of motor sports to the very top. When Matt started racing, he made mistakes, and still does. But when mistakes are made, usually my dad or me were the first ones chewing him out. Ive found your support systems are your best critics. There was no back patting and sugarcoating, you screwed up, heres why. All too often now the same guys make the same mistakes repeatedly, but they get pats on the back rather than kicks in the butt, and I think thats one of the big detriments in Motorsports today. I know the stars of yesteryear would set the young bucks straight, and they would listen. The young bucks of today need to open their ears and eyes, because if they havent noticed, their ties to the all time greats like Richie, Bugsy, and Flemke are slowly but surely fading off into the sunset, and itd be a shame to not follow the lead and take the advice from guys like my dad, Stefanik, Reggie, etc. Everyone wonders whats wrong with racing today-lets start with bringing the respect level back up to where it belongs.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 01:02:50 +0000
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