20 super stockers entered at Denver

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Dan Fletcher

Nope, no Fletcher. I had planned to leave this morning for the 1600 mile jaunt to Bandimere, but I had some unforeseen circumstances come up.

With provisional entry status, I always wait till Monday to enter. This helps others to get into busy events, and it allows me to keep my money in my pocket as long as possible. Well, I'm sure some of my "friends" out there will get a big kick out of this, but the bottom line is I got busy working on race cars Monday and forgot about entering until half an hour past the deadline. 30 minutes.

My fault, 100% my fault, period. The rule is the rule. But I have to ask, what sense does this policy really make? If the event is full, fine, game over. But most are not at this point, and this one clearly is not. 20 friggin' cars!

It was Monday afternoon, still almost 4 days prior to the start of the event. I have 2 cars in the trailer ready to leave. I want to give them $620 for no tangible product. Hell, its still over 2 full days from the first burnout. Exactly who benefits from such a policy?

I tried calling Graham yesterday, not to lobby to get in, as I realize that's not happening, but rather to ask that a improvement be made to the policy. Forget about me, but what about the guy that couldn't get off work, but on Tuesday something changed and he now can? An event is not even close to full and you have a customer with proper grading that would like to attend. Does it not make sense to accommodate him? And if you think there's going to be a land rush of people wanting to enter late, then obviously make it hurt a little and charge a late fee.

Again, 100% my fault, but its going to be pretty painful to get in the truck and drive 2700 miles to Sonoma...

Well said Dan. I don't see any reason to close entries for a race until it is full.

As far as it goes, there are some tracks a lot of us do not care to go. It might be distance, it might be location, it might be facility layout, it might be consistent inclement weather, it might be track and general weather conditions, it might be any combination of the above.

If you go to a track, and you have to drive a mile to the staging lanes, or worse, have to tow, from what amounts to outside the facility, on a regular basis, you probably won't be thrilled to go back. If it rains every year, you probably won't go back. If the air sucks, and you don't have the time or money to develop a tune up for it (another gear, another transmission, another converter, etc) you may not go back.

Let's be realistic, if you have 60-80 cars in Stock or Super Stock, you've got 3-4 guys that are like Bertozzi, Biondo, and Fletcher, and then there's most of the rest of us. Racing is serious, but it is not a living, it's fun, it's a vacation. When you cease to enjoy a vacation spot and activity, you tend to go elsewhere.