The DAARA show

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
1

I think there is a way to greatly increase the positive impact that the DAARA brings to a racing program. Their current presentation needs some improvement, in my humble opinion.

For starters, let me say that I love the way the DAARA preserves our racing heritage! The cars are beautiful, the craftsmanship is often excellent, and you gotta admire the spirit of the drivers and mechanics. Some of those men and women are as old as the hills, BUT they still pull on a helmet and mash the pedal. Cheers to you!

That being said, I don’t like the way they run “heats” and “features”. Generally the cars drive around in a formation that looks like a race, but at reduced speed. In their fastest class, there are a few guys who appear to really have their foot in it, but otherwise we all know that the “racing” is contrived.

Its not a good idea to present this to the fans as a real race. It isn’t, and blurs the distinction between a real race and an interesting demonstration.

Here is my suggestion to move forward. First and foremost, the DAARA needs to travel with their own announcer. Someone who knows the cars, their history and the drivers. There are alot of interesting things driving around when the DAARA is on the track, but we need an expert to tell us about them.

Also, either quit presenting them as a race, or be clearer that we are seeing a “demonstration race”. Call them something else so the novice fans don’t think that it was a real contest.

I know there are a few guys who run flat out and will disagree with me. Thats ok, we’ve heard it before. The difference between riding and racing is an on-going dispute in vintage racing, and I’m sure it won’t be settled here.

With no changes, I gotta say that the DAARA nights at the track tend to really drag on.

2

They must have changed a great deal since I was there…yes there was some “formation” but we destroyed a LOT of those cars when they ran with us on the Saturday night show at OSW!

There are some of the cars that I would not want to see compete…those little midgets eeeeeeeeegads Very beautiful cars…but would hate to see one roll!

Hmmmm but then again one of the sprints tried to take out the Pace Truck in the pits one night LOL Was not funny at the time, but is rather humorous now LOL Poor pace truck sitting in front of the Good Year building and WHAM! A sprint car to the back bumper LOL

3

Having their own announcer is a great idea. i bet every car on the track has a story (not to mention half the drivers), and there is no way a track’s resident announcer would have time to gather a tenth of the info they need. that series sure looks healthy… never seen at least a third of those cars.

4

They used to have their own announcer I believe. I think he was the owner of one of the sprints. The division I think they call stock puts on a good race usually but the other classes just seem to ride around. In defense of them though I’d hate to start looking for parts for them. I would imagine they are like looking for a needle in the hay stack. I would guess a lot of their parts have to be fabricated. I taped a Daara race last year at PGS and they had a pretty nasty crash. I think 4 cars were involved. They tore 2 of them up pretty bad. The good part is they all had good saftey equipment. They have started this year having heats for each of their divisions as well as features. Thats 6 races and the sprints usually have 2 cars. They used to run them all together and just score them seperately. Maybe that was a nightmare. Bob…

5

When DAARA comes to town they give the track announcer a ton of wonderful information about the cars, their history, plus personal info on the drivers too! But unfortunately they hand this to you as a stack of loose papers which are next to impossible to keep in order, much less use to announce the info to the fans. The result is that most of that info never gets used at all, and the fans don’t get educated about the cars on the track. They need a new system that makes it possible for the track announcer to keep things in order, or their own announcer.

6

Here is a post script to my post above. Tonight at NSS, they had 3 classes that ran at reduced speed, and one class that was a 100% flat out race. No one was riding around, they all had their foot in it.

If you are going to allow “seasoned” drivers to drive 100+mph around a big track in an antique, I really hope DAARA is looking closely at the construction and safety of those cars.

For those famililar with New Smyrna, several of them were running around 19.8 seconds, which is about the speed of an E mod.

7

the DAARA show

We appreciate all that care enough to take time to post regarding our club. I would like to set a couple things straight tho. Boneman had a couple good suggestions regarding car and driver info packets to the track announcer. We do provide the info but as Race Coordinator I will try and give better info.
As far as his statement that there was 3 classes that ran at a reduced speed at NSSW last Sat. that is wrong. The first heat and first feature is the Midgets and they are for the most part 60 horse power flatheads that ran back in the day at horse tracks and fairgrounds. they are running hard for what they are.The class that I run is the 6 cylinder/Flatheads and since I was out there I can tell you this, I was running flat out and couldnt catch the 3 cars ahead of me as they have higher modified engines but still 6 cylinder powered. This brings us to the sprint cars and yes, some of them may run at a slight reduced speed to make sure they run safely as we have a vast difference in driver experience,horsepower, car age and driver age. The V/8 modifieds/stock cars which have to have a history and the cars have to be at least 30 years old do run a lot faster than the rest of us and they have large horsepower and recent experience on regular tracks.
I invite anyone who wants to see what and how we do things to come to Orlando Speedworld on November 11-14 where we will be running all day from 9AM-4PM w/ grandstand tickets at $5 per day and a 4 day pit pass for $35.
There will be an open on track meet and greet Friday and Sat. from 12 to 1 pm. Who knows, you may get a car and come run with us.

8

Hi Vinracer, We in no way wanted to put your cars or racers down. They are a beautiful site to behold. They bring back a lot of memories to us all. I became involved in racing in 1953 so the cars you have the most of were running in that day. Didn’t you used to run them all together in 2 or 3 heats but mixed up? I seem to remember that. But my memory went the way of the wind. I don’t remember a lot. I just wanted you to know we enjoy your vintage race cars. I was able to shoot interviews of a lot of them at the Modified reunion in Feb. 2010 and there is a lot of history not only with the cars but some of the drivers. I wish things could be worked out with PGS, where I work, so you guys could come back there. Thanks Bob…

PS: didn’t you used to have an announcer that traveled with you?

9

Just a clarification…

DAARA provides ample information to the track announcers. The problem is that information arrives in a form that is next to impossible to keep organized, especially when the announcer is also concerned with whatever els emay be going on. If those info sheets could arrive already sorted into heats and features it would certainly help.

10

Here’s how you do it - very simple

Type or hand-write (legibly) a card for each car/driver by class and number
Driver Name/Hometown
Class and Type of Car
Engine/chassis type
A short bit of history on the car… surprisingly some of the guys don’t know much about where the car ran, but many do have a documented storied history while some are simply replicas… just provide a little info but not a book… keep it simple…
Also a bit of history on the driver… Some never drove before getting their car but some, like Bill Wendt, raced camels in front of Moses many years ago…
Also any sponsor info or info on folks that help these guys…

One card for each car… Give the cards for the cars that show up to the announcer and have him return them at the end of the night…

This is what the TBARA Sprints used to do (and are trying to do again thanks to Sonny Hartley) and it works very well…