Broadsliding With Bev
by Bev Thompson
March 15, 2004
THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER
Why it that we always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence or on the other side of the mountain? Why do we always want what we can’t have? Why are we never satisfied? I guess it’s just human nature to always want something you don’t or can’t have, but I’ve seen a lot of wasted energy over the years by folks wishing for, or trying to obtain the unobtainable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no different than anyone else when it comes to wants, it’s not just the racers I’m talking about, it’s everybody. I seem to always want what’s over the next mountain as well, because I suppose, it’s better, bigger, greener, or whatever. But, is it…..really?
Racers seem to think, it’s the competitive spirit they possess that always makes them strive for more and want to push the envelope, but I think it’s all humans that endeavor for that greener pasture. Just over the hill, just beyond that fence, just let me peek over the rise and it will be better. I know it will. But………is it?
Just this week at Williams Grove I was talking with Daryl Becker from central Ohio. A nice guy who normal races Attica and the tracks in Ohio near home, but decided to come east with his black #69B to get some laps under his belt before his own season opens up. I was struck by what Daryl told me about Williams Grove. He thinks the Grove is comparable to Charlotte or any premier NASCAR track for that matter. He told me he thought the clay was great at the Grove, he said the dry dirt in Ohio that he races on is horrible. He stated how well the show was run here and that everything about the Grove was so professional. He was impressed with the Grove’s payout compared to the Ohio tracks. He had nothing but nice things to say about the Grove. I thought it interesting to hear his raves about our home track. A home track we often complain about and sometimes take for granted. A track that’s been around forever, but most feel needs many improvements.
Then I thought about when some of us head out to Knoxville each year and I always come home raving about what a wonderful place it is and how well it’s run. I always trout the Nationals as a premier event and of course it is our “big” event of the season for the sprinters, but I thought it interesting that when I compare it to home, I think it’s probably a better place to race weekly. However, it you ask any local week to week racer out there, they will list all the bad things the track does and all the negative things about it, because they live it. Comparison shopping and the grasser is always greener on the other side is everywhere.
So why do we always want what we can’t have? If the track’s surface is dry we want it wetter. If it’s too wet, we complain it too rough or too fast. If they start too early we complain we can’t make it on time. If they start later, we complain we’ll never get home and get any sleep. It they have low car counts we complain racing is falling apart and there are no cars left in the world. If there are too many cars, it takes to long to run the show and folks get bored, or there are too many crashes because there are too many cars. If they have a tire rule we don’t want it, if they don’t we want one to save money. If they run time trials it takes too long. If they don’t run them, we think qualifying is not fair. If they have a red flag and it’s a closed red, we want it open to adjust the car, if it’s an open red we want it closed so our competitor can’t make his car faster than ours. If we’re leading the race we want it to run off with no cautions, but if we’re racing to the front we want plenty of cautions to let us play catch up. If it’s a Sunday race, we want it to be a Friday race. If it’s a midweek show, we want it to be on a weekend. If there’s another class racing there, they take to long to race and they wreck too much, but if there’s nothing else running we complain to officials we don’t have enough time to prepare the car and we’re not happy. If it’s sunny and too warm, we complain it’s too hot and the surface too dry and hard from the sun. If it’s overcast we complain it’s not warm enough and might rain. If officials make a call, we say they are picking on that guy, if they don’t make a call we say they show favorites. If your driver starts 18th and finishes 2nd it’s a great second, but if your driver starts 2nd and finishes 2nd it’s not good enough and you want more. If you’re a fan and the pits are in the infield the rigs block your racing view from the stands, if the pits are outside you complain you can’t watch the guys working on their cars and you can’t see what’s happening down in the pits. If they call a rain out and the sun comes out the promoter is a jerk, if he waits to make the call and we drive there to get rained on, he’s still a jerk. If you’re a beer drinker and the stands are alcohol free, you’re not happy, but if you don’t drink and have children along, you want an alcohol free section. Go figure, the grass is always greener.
So is the moral of the story to travel to the next mountain, hop the fence, is it to peek over the next ridge, or push it up the next hill? Or is it to be satisfied that we live in a free country where we are able to race on any day of the week and we have a choice of places to run our race car. Should we be satisfied with what we have and just go about our business and not worry about the guy next door? Or should we be striving for the next level, the next goal we want to attain, should be looking for that greener pasture somewhere beyond our own fence? Is it really greener on the other side of the mountain, or is it just an optical illusion in life?
I tell you one team who thought their pasture was greener this weekend when they made it three in a row at Williams Grove and that was Greg Hodnett and the Apple Team. Someone asked me what the most consecutive wins at the Grove have ever been and I couldn’t answer that one off the top of my head. However, after some checking I discovered it was Steve Smith that holds the most consecutive wins back in 1976 and that amounted to 6 in a row. I did get to thinking it would be a media dream for Hodnett to keep winning at the Grove week after week this year, keeping up a streak that would outdo everyone else. Boring as all get out for the fans and of course frustrating to the other racers, but a really cool thing for Bob Stewart and the crew and also for Hodnett diehard fans. Pretty darn cool of Greg to win three in a row already and be so dominate. Excellent for Hodnett to come from 18th (in a day show) and go on to win on Sunday, only knocking around about three cars in the process. Face it folks you can’t pass that many cars without a bit of bump and grind. I personally as a writer and media person think it would be neat to see Greg keep up his winning streak up, shutting out the other guys, but as an owner I of course want my own car to win a few shows. As a mom and fan I like seeing the wins spread around to everyone, giving lots of guys a chance at winning. Only time will tell if Greg can keep up the pace and win every week at the Grove. Three more wins in a row to tie Smith’s record, four wins to break it. You go Greg!
Also in very green pastures this weekend were two young fellows at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday. While it was a bit of a disappointment that Brian Leppo didn’t capture that first ever win, at least he got second to his friend and young buddy, Jimmy Siegel. At the Lincoln banquet in the fall they chose co-rookies, Siegel and Leppo and these two proved why that was a good choice last season. Putting on an excellent show for fans on the slightly dusty day surface, Brian led most of the way to finish second to second generation Siegel, who passed him on the last lap of the feature and won his first ever 410 feature. I know his dad Steve was as proud as if he had been driving the car himself. Congratulations to the entire Siegel family and crew on this big win in the Scarpitta #59 car. Darren Eash also did an outstanding job in the Kline #22 finishing 3rd in Saturday’s feature. In fact Darren had an outstanding weekend overall with a strong 5th place run on Sunday at the Grove as well. Watch for this yellow car in victory lane this year.
Very apropos that I should write about greener pastures this week because that makes me think of cows and that makes me think of cute Blane Heimbach. Blane a Selinsgrove farmer working on the family farm had some green pastures this week as well, by winning the first 358 show of season at the Grove on Sunday. Blane made it look easy in the Creasy #12 car starting 4th in the feature and taking home his 3rd feature win at this track. He bested Nate Snyder in his black sprinter with Cliff Brian, 3rd, T.J. Stutts in 4th and Jason Shultz rounding out the top five. Several reds marred the heats and features as always the first race of the season is a tough on equipment. Lest you think that sprint car racing is in trouble in Central PA please know that 358 racing is alive and strong, with 48 cars pitside for the first race of the year. As for the 410’s they also had their highest car count of the month with 27-410’s on hand at both Lincoln and the Grove this weekend.
BEV’S BRIEFS: No consi necessary for the 410’s on Sun. because Wade Hendrickson broke a motor in his heat and was done for the day. Rick Lafferty had what he thought was a rock put a hole in the oil pan from the outside in during warm ups, but was hesitant to run if there was a motor problem or they patched it and the patch fell off during a race. Also the #17B suffered early problems and was a scratch from the day’s activities, so that left 24 cars to run….I thought it was a Keith Kauffman day as he was starting on the pole and had the field covered in this caution filled show. It was not to be though when Hodnett passed him. However, Kauffman shouldn’t be too unhappy with 2nd as Sunday’s race was only the second race of the season that he even finished. On Sat. he dropped out with a broken shock at Lincoln and the last few weeks haven’t been much better for him…Also bizarre was that Hodnett had other problems in his heat besides a flat tire and only finished 7th in the heat. This put him behind the eightball starting 18th come feature time. He made up for it by winning though…Fred Rahmer from 14th to 3rd was fun to watch as was Donald Kreitz from 11th to 4th…Todd Shaffer busted a rearend in warm-ups that saw the team hustle to get him ready for the heat. He would end up 7th come feature time…Lance Dewease also broke but in his heat and that saw him 12th come feature time. He would finish 6th…A tough day for Bob Beidleman in the 358 feature when after a first lap red he was leading, but got out of his car to make a wing adjustment on a closed red. He was disqualified leading and sent to the pits after only one lap…358 racer, Rick Hench, making components for Tony Stewart, has Lasoski Racing which now carries an orange #20 on his wing…I did like the #00P-358 car with the bar code on the wing, but didn’t get ask what it represents…Chad Layton did double duty running his own #U1 in the 410 feature and finishing 14th, while driving his brother’s 358 car and crashing hard in that one…Also a tough day on Sun. for last year’s Champ Cory Haas who crashed and flipped hard with his 358…Canadian Ryan Coniam came for a visit to Central PA this weekend and finished 15th on Sat. at Lincoln and 19th on Sun. at the Grove with the 410’s…The 305’s opener at Lincoln saw Rod Ort in his #36 win the first show of 2004, with 23 cars on hand and 16 finishing the feature. Joey Hershey finished 2nd to Rod…The ESS guys have 32 dates at 18 different tracks scheduled for their 2004 season with a purse increase as well. It’s now $1,500 to win the show, $1,000 for 2nd, $400 for 10th and $250 to take the green. Many series sponsors also grace the club with extra money for heat wins, dash and half way incentives. Also a nice points fund for the club helps the races at season’s end. Their first race will take place Sat. May 15th at Mercer Raceway in western, PA…Congrats to 20 year old female racer Chantal Germek being chosen as the Western PA Rookie of the Year. Chantal is a former Enduro Champ and races her #24 in the Charger Class at Motordrome and Jennerstown on a regular basis…Lernerville opens their doors on March 26th…Eldora will host the USAC guys at Eldora with their opener on April 3rd…Silver Springs will hold their first race this week on March 20th and they expect more than 100 super sportsman’s to show up…The first Bob Miller Thunder show will happen May 30th at Grandview with the Outlaw guys to visit…Selinsgrove will also kick off their season this coming weekend first on Fri. for the 410’s to race and than on Sat. for the 358’s to open up their season…Port’s Bug Day will be this Sat. the 20th with an opener of March 27th starting at 6PM…Bridgeport will run a practice on April 3rd. Can’t wait to see the new bathrooms there…ARDC will open their season not until May 14th at the Grove….Path Valley will practice this week the 20th…And finally New Egypt will hold practice on the 27th with an April 3rd opener…So you will find me here on Robin Rd in Newtown, PA this week looking for greener grass on the other side of the mountain, or maybe not…See you at our wonderful stupendous PA tracks…
BEV’S TRIVIA QUIZ?? Answer to last time was Doug Esh now has six Lincoln wins after last week’s win. Congrats to him!
QUESTION??? What year at the Grove had the most single wins with 23 different racers? Answer next time.
Email me at broadsli@voicenet.com …
Bev Thompson writes a weekly sprint car news column for Area Auto Racing News out of New Jersey. She is also part owner of a 410 sprint car team here in PA. along with her husband Bruce and their driver,son Len Thompson.Watch for Bev's column here every week.