I have received a number of phone calls in the last several days regarding the future of KARNAC and posts from or about Jane Smith.
As many, if not most, of you know I have been dealing with health issues for the last year or so. This has had the result of my limited participation in the operation of KARNAC.
That being said, there are a couple of things that need to be clarified.
- KARNAC is not going away or change in any major way in the foreseeable future. I made provisions several years ago through my family to ensure KARNAC continues to be available to race fans regardless of my involvement.
Though I can’t rule out the sale of KARNAC at some point as after all this is America, that would only be done if it were to benefit the racing community.
- KARNAC has never in it’s 13 years of existence had paid employees. Never.
Jane Smith, along with a few others who volunteered their time and talents over the years have been rewarded when it was possible. I myself have relied primarily on things outside of KARNAC for my livelihood. KARNAC has always been a labor of love for me as well as many others. Along with many, many photographers and writers all the way back from the early days in 1998 and '99, we traveled the state of Florida and beyond to create the content that is KARNAC. Rick Anges, Bill Hunt and Hans Nieborg just to name a few spent many long weekends traveling around and meeting the racers and fans, promoting tracks and events. We never did it for money. Ever.
We share the sorrow of Jane Smith’s recent issues financially, some of which she communicated recently and times past on this message forum. We have never felt comfortable with that, and while those issues are very real and perhaps even scary, I have always felt and expressed directly to Jane Smith that this was an inappropriate forum for her personal issues. There are literally millions of American’ who are severely struggling in these times. I know dozens of people personally who like ourselves saved our precious homes through government programs and I also know many people, including family members, who have lost their homes, their businesses, their whole way of life due to the economic downturn in recent years. It has decimated short track racing, as drivers have had to sell their cars and promoters have had to curtail much of their promotional activities.
- Times are hard, but the future of KARNAC does not rest on hard times or good times. It is something I am extremely proud of and that’s why I took steps years back to ensure its survival, independent of my own.
As for me personally, I am doing fairly well, a lot of pain from the surgeries that I had, but I am not on death’s door step, any more that you reading this are.
Just as some race car drivers can rightfully be accused of taking their passionate hobby too seriously, so do some fans, whether they be in the grandstands, posting to a message board, or playing the role of a media person. I have been there, I know what that picture looks like. Rick Anges has been there too, and he knows what that looks like. I am sure some of you reading this have been there too.
- In light of that I have asked Jane Smith, who has been helping by posting race results and news items to our pages for a long time, to take a break from this stuff and get her life in order. KARNAC, is the scheme of things, is insignificant. Racing, except for a few drivers who do it for a living, and businesses that are involved exclusively in the business of racing, is also insignificant in the scheme of things. It is for most a diversion, a hobby, a pastime,something we involve ourselves in for our own fun and pleasure. It is not, or shouldn’t be, so important that we let our families, our homes and our life suffer from our involvement in it.
While we wish Jane Smith the best and all of us admire the work she has done to help promote short track racing, effective this date she will no longer have an active role in KARNAC.com or its affiliated web sites.
As always we offer our very sincere thanks to all of you fans who have supported KARNAC over the years and continue to do so.
If there are ways you as a fan think we can improve on the site, please e-mail us your thoughts to KARNAC@comcast.net
And just for the record, I have no intention of having a membership fee for KARNAC or Real Racin USA.