LegendsNation is reporting huge changes at the home office…
You can see the story at legendsnation.com
Maybe they found a way to make the Bandos even louder and more annoying.
Heres your answer Boneman. You better get a cup of coffee.
LN Exclusive: SMI Makes Major Changes at USLCI / INEX; Focusing on the Future of Legends Car and Bandolero Racing
02-25-2011 | LegendsNation.com Exclusive - International News
Every year, corporations have to look at their product and performance from the prior year, evaluating what they have accomplished and what they might need improvement on. Speedway Motorsports Inc, the corporate owner of US Legend Cars International and INEX, is no exception. On Friday, February 25th, 2011, Don Hawk, Executive Vice President of US Legend Cars International and Vice President of Business Affairs for Speedway Motorsports, sat down with LegendsNation.com exclusively to break the news on many changes happening with US Legend Cars International and INEX, including staffing changes, new titles, the ?big race,? Nationals locations and a new website look for 2011.
In looking towards the future, Hawk reflected on the prior year, including what they did right and what they could improve on.
?2010 was a year we are proud of,? explained Hawk. ?We accomplished a lot of things we never thought we would accomplish. We had a million dollar race, and it went off quite successfully. We had a points fund that was $200,000.00 that went off well received. Thirdly, we were able to do some really special things like coming out with the brand-new Dirt Modified endeavor with Ray Evernham and Bruton Smith?s ingenuity and engineering prowess. From that perspective, we did a whole lot of things, but what we also learned during 2010 is that we need to make some changes. We need to become an incredibly more streamlined business. We need to be more customer friendly, competitor friendly, and we need to be more member friendly.?
Last season, Ken Ragan, who has been a part of US Legend Cars International for a number of years, left to move back to Georgia and run his son David?s car dealership. This week, Darrel Krentz, who was the Executive Director of INEX, is no longer a part of USLCI or INEX.
?Darrel Krentz is no longer with us, but we wish him the best,? said Hawk. ?There are no hard feelings that we know of either way. It was just time for a change. It isn?t just now that Darrel?s gone we are putting someone else in his place. It is a sequence of changes like a domino effect, because this thing needed to change in a lot of ways. We think it is positive for us and we are very excited about the opportunities we have.?
In looking at the totality of change needed for their business, there were four main parts USLCI, INEX and SMI had to address, and now there are four people in charge of each of those positions to streamline and make the business more efficient and successful.
?We are excited about four changes we made, the first of which is we made Richard Burke the Vice President and Controller. The finances, the budget, the forecast ? he is going to be in charge of it. It is his cup of tea.
?GE (Chapman) is the General Manager. He is in charge of putting cars together; putting engines together, and making sure they do not blow up and stay together as well as working on research and development projects.
?The other two changes are INEX related. We have moved Scott Reinhardt, to strengthen his position, to Executive Technical Director. He is the rules man. He is going to go by the book and stick by the book. He has done a great job and he has been here for years. He knows the rules and we are going to support him all we can. John Haggan is going to move into the role of Executive Competition Director."
The Reinhardt and Haggan combination has been put into place to make sure from the competition to tech side of INEX racing, everything is consistent.
?What we are going to have is the two phases of on the track and off the track with two guys that get along very well that I think will have incredibly consistent decisions,? explained Hawk. ?When they walk out of the room deciding whether or not a part or piece is good or bad, or if a race move is good or bad, they are going to walk out of one mind. I think that is really important.?
In the past, Krentz was in charge of many things, from the INEX competition side to the race director side at certain events. Haggan will not be in that position.
?The other thing I want to point out is that John Haggan is not a Race Director. Asking someone to run the show as a Race Director and be in charge of all the rules and regulations and competition is a lot to ask of anybody.?
While both Ragan and Krentz were more of the figureheads, or the faces at the race track that most people saw, Hawk explained that there are a lot of people behind the scenes working on the business, and even though they are gone, USLCI and INEX is moving forward to make sure their business model is headed in the right direction. In fact, both Chapman and Haggan have been at multiple events during the winter.
?The neat thing about this company is that it is a big company with Speedway Motorsports Incorporated. We have seen figureheads leave race tracks. They have come and gone, and you expect the worst, and you say ?wow, that wasn?t that bad.? Ken is a great guy. We still talk to him and still see him. We occasionally get a text, a phone call; no hard feelings whatsoever. Ken had a great opportunity to go run his son?s car dealership and it was a mutual agreement. Darrel Krentz has a ton of experience and a ton of friends on the track side. He has a ton of competitors that are friends.
?We have in our companies, over a period of years, there have been times we have to make changes. Sometimes you need to adjust and make changes, and sometimes people desire to do something else themselves. That is why we wish Ken the best, and we wish Darrel the best. We don?t want to see anybody do anything but do well, but we also need to progress our program. You can see with four moves made at the same time it isn?t something we thought of after a bad call or decision. It is none of that. We have changed everything from the finance department to the technical department to the competition department to the engine department. We are trying to put a new face on it.?
Another change to USLCI and INEX is their online presence. With a website that even some employees have a hard time looking at, they knew a change was needed. SMI has enlisted the services of Stix Fx Entertainment, owners of LegendsNation.com, to redesign a brand-new website that will enhance the end-user experience.
?We are going to ask Jason (Stix Fx Entertainment) to redesign our website at US Legends,? said Hawk. ?That was one of the decisions we made. We need a new website. The whole thing needs tweaking around the edges and we are excited. We have been talking about it for a couple weeks. Some key people in the industry, I am talking about key media people in the NASCAR world, highly recommended you (Stix Fx Entertainment) to set up this website and develop it so it is easier for us, our competitors and fans to get on there.? (for the full story on the new website, click here)
Changes at USLCI and INEX go well beyond what is happening in their Harrisburg, North Carolina, offices, or even online with their website. In fact, interest in what is happening with the cars and stars has piqued the interest of many folks, including other countries.
?This company does have the opportunity to grow,? said Hawk. ?Marcus Smith and I, along with Bruton Smith, met with the United States Ambassador to Singapore, who has an interest in our cars. I know some of the Americans who race our cars might not care, but we care, because if we continue to grow, it puts more money into the till, which allows everyone to race in a million dollar race. It can bring international competition and international money into that pool so that maybe it is bigger than a million dollar race someday.?
Last year, there were multiple things talked about prior to the season taking place, including the Legends Million event at Charlotte Motor Speedway (NC) and the large points fund. This year, news on those two items has been a bit hard to find, but there is a reason.
?The reason why we didn?t touch on the Million Dollar race or the points fund at the INEX banquet was that we knew we had a lot of changes coming. We didn?t want to announce things, then restructure it and re-announce it. I can tell you this. Contrary to two or three other people that told me that there was a big announcement coming out today, (and that) it?s a Million Dollar race announcement, it?s not. But what is coming out some day to you will be a special announcement of a very, very special race, but today it isn?t about a million dollar race, but we will have a very special race this year, I can assure you it will be very special. No one will forget it, and somebody will be financially very, very happy. So, that is element number one.
?Element number two is the points fund. It is going to be extremely exciting and extremely lucrative, but we just didn?t want to muddy the waters and have somebody institute it and somebody announce it and then all of a sudden other people have to implement it.?
So, will there be a Legends Million in 2011? If so, where will it be?
?There is a big event, a significant event, coming,? said Hawk. ?Do I want to call it the ?Million? yet or whatever yet? No, because we are actually working on a serious sponsor, so it may have a title name to it. What we would like to do is bundle it together.
?The big show will stay here in Charlotte. We are working with Marcus Smith and Christian Byrd (from Charlotte Motor Speedway) on that, and it is remaining confidential for now, but there will be a big show.?
Other items up in the air are locations for the Legends Asphalt Nationals and Bandolero Nationals. While the Legends Dirt Nationals have been announced to take place at Elko Speedway (MN) later this year, the other big shows are still in the works.
?We have recommendations that came in. We are analyzing those as well as looking at some of our own facilities, and whether or not we want to tie those in with big events that are already going on there. Maybe mom, dad, and the motorhome comes in, and, oh by the way, there may be a (NASCAR) Cup, Nationwide or Truck race, or IRL race, or drag race. Maybe part of the experience is that they buy their way in the back gate and they get their way in the front gate to watch the other show. We want to give them some reward for this thing. There are a lot of big things we are thinking about.
?We also want to give these four new leaders a chance to see if these places are the best places to go or if we should go somewhere else. We have some good offers from some good partners and good race tracks.?
Over the past few years, rumors have been flying around the Legends and Bandolero community that Bruton Smith of SMI hates USLCI and INEX, and has been finding a way to sell off the division of the company. While LN hasn?t printed the rumors, they have been out there, and now addressed.
?We appreciate what Legends Nation does for us. You don?t run around with rumors. You don?t run around with stuff until you verify facts. That is why we wanted to give you the lead scoop on some key changes in our company that we think are positive.
?We were on the seventh floor at Charlotte Motor Speedway yesterday with Marcus Smith, the COO of the company, his father, the chairman of the board of the company, meeting with the United States Ambassador of Singapore. The entire meeting was about Legends Cars, Bandoleros, Thunder Cars; I am telling you that Bruton is exact opposite of the rumors that he is disengaged with this business.?
The massive amount of changes to USLCI and INEX appear to be a step forward for the Legends Car portion of the Speedway Motorsports Inc. business. Streamlining the corporate side to make it flow better for all involved is critical to the direction of the 2011 USLCI and INEX business model.
?We are trying to take care of our partners, our tracks and our competitors better. Some people will say we stubbed our toe and made a mistake, others are going to say it is about time we made a change. We will see what happens. And, I am not talking about one person. We made four changes; and you (the new website with Stix Fx Entertainment) as a fifth. This was not emotional, or without a lot of thought. There was no sense messing with 2010, so we just decided to wait until now.
?We have a lot of exciting things happening. 2011 is a year we look forward to.?
Silence !!! I Keel You !!!
Is that crickets I hear ?
Breeep , Breeep , Breeep.