Just would like some feedback why no one wants to come to Desoto. And Scott Garrity i know your car is wounded. Last night only two true sportsmen cars and a fill in car showed up. Thanks to Mark Nelson and Darrin Ellis. I just don’t get it. Scott Jackman was there to talk to some sportsmen drivers about a new series needless to say that didn’t look to good. I know that citrus was running and had 20 cars and looks like most of them are from around there. But what about all the other sportsmen not scheduled to race or PGS drivers that haven’t raced in two months and were canceled due to water in the parking lot. We all could lose another track here in Florida if we don’t support it. And i’m sure if we get another sportmen series Desoto would be one of the racetracks we would want to come to. What do you think?
That’s not an excuse
With all the recent talk about getting the sportsman class a series at different tracks one would think that the cars would be coming out to support any races being put on by any track! If your a racer you race to race not to be opionated about a certain track or promoter. Bottom line folks is that if you don’t support these tracks they won’t make it in this economy we currently live in. If a series is re-started in 2013 where do you think your going to race at, yes Desoto would host races if they see the good cars counts. Auburndale, Citrus, Showtime, Orlando, NSS, have all expressed interest in the early talks of giving you sportsman guys a series. As we proceed with talks we need to see cars counts climb at the local tracks for weekly races not just extra distance shows and not be selective in which tracks you support or don’t support!
Rick Williams
FL United Promoters Series
I’m going to be brutally honest here. I ran every race Desoto had for Sportsman in 2011. I had planned on running every race in 2012. After the first race with the same rules as 2011 John was talked into going to “Outlaw Rules” by New Hampshire car owner Jim Daley (who owns 5 Sportsman cars). I was not happy with this decision because I run an underpowered Crate and will not ever show up to a racetrack when I feel that I have no chance to win. No motor rules at a fast track like Desoto made me feel like I had no chance to win there anymore with the “Outlaw Rules”. I also was not very happy with all the rules being changed after one race into the season. I can understand why Jim wanted these rules because only 2 of his 5 cars are legal to run at tracks in FL. Well the weather got warmer and Jim went back up north and kinda left John holding the bag. He still has 2 cars running in FL but even those two are not showing up at Desoto anymore. While the car counts at Desoto weren’t great last year we were still drawing 8 or 9 cars a race. The “Outlaw Rules” killed that. We could have built on the car counts from last year since 2011 was the first time that John had Sportsman back as a regular division in a few years, so it was a work in progress. The fact that there was a problem with rough riding in the first event of the year with Jim’s drivers and Mark Peterson (not pointing fingers here, just naming the players involved) didn’t help matters either since it was clear that the “Outlaw Rules” were Jim’s idea straight from the rulebook from Star Speedway in Epping NH. As for people having problems with John, I have no knowledge of that since last year was the first year I have run at Desoto. I can tell you that I had one of the most fun years of racing in my life last year at Desoto. I found John and the entire staff at Desoto to be very hospitable, accomodating and friendly. I want everyone to know that I have no problem whatsoever with John and actually found him to be one of the only promoters I have ever talked to that would sit down and be 100% honest with you. When I was helping with the Sportsman Challenge Series trying to put together dates, John offered us the most dates and was by far the easiest to work with. If John would go back to his 2011 rules or adopt the all-inclusive Sportsman Challenge rules I would definitely return to run at Desoto for as many dates as I could afford to do so in 2012 (as would other racers, I’m sure). Bending my front clip has definitely put a major dent in my racing budget but I also want to support Orlando Speedworld for their 50 lapper for Sportsman on October 19th because Barbara Pierce has worked hard to make that happen. I hope this answers some questions for people.
I am trying to get things together to go over on Thurs to do some practicing. I am bringing another sportsman owner as well. I am trying… Just money is really tight rght now.
If John would chime in here let me know if we could bring our cars Thurs or another day this week would be awesome.
im sure john will let u come practice best bet is to contact little johnny his num is 941 527 5050 in case john doesnt get on and back to u quick enough not sure if he reads every poat unless he made it lol men geez lol btw this is kim thanks
Thanks Kim, I will call him tomorrow.
What’s with the “men geez” thing? lol