SOD down hill

[OutlawDan]

SOD has really fell off the last 3-4 years.  Now if Daggett is there you know he will win it.  13 cars last night is a sign of things to come.  It's just too hard to travel anymore with the price of fuel.  The last 10 years of SOD can't compare to the first 10 years.

[nerfbarjr]

Uncle Nerfies top reasons for sod down hill.

1. Dustin Daggett, big fishy little pond ( & he has tracktion control ). not sure Y he cant leave the porch ( does not like gitting his butt whooopped on)more then a few times a year butt its driving the cars away and the promotors and fans have had enuf  i am sure itz not good 4 anybody involved. gotta give my boy dallman credit, at least he will go and race with some better competition instead of takin the easy road pickin on a bunch of jabronies & run the series down to nothing. he is going to have to go race somwhere else pritty soon as there will be no cars left......

2. Thats all the problums i see, i will throw a few cans of schlitz down the pipe & get back to you if sumthing else cums to me.

Tom

[OutlawDan]

I think Daggett has race with better competition than Dalman has.  Daggett was at the WoO show at attica, he raced with the WoO in Canada.  He also was at Eldora in the spring and for the Kings Royal.  I know what you mean by big fish in little pond.  It would be nice to see Daggett run Butler for the AllStars.

[OutlawDan]

Do you know if Dalman is running the Butler AllStar show?  Daggett ran Frmont a couple times too this year.

[GavinHunyady187]

I towed over 6800 miles last year to run the full series. At that rate for every $1/gal that fuel goes up, I lose about $1000. I need to trim about 1800 miles at $4/gal to get that $1000 back.

I like going to Canada and Ohio and all over, I think I get better faster racing against those guys... but at what price? It pretty much takes me a full calender year to get my waterfowl aligned to run a full season and save up the money to do it. I'll be back next year but I can't afford to tow all over and run the full series. I don't expect the series to cut back on account of the little guy like me, I mean these are sprint cars after all, but the decision should be made if it's going to stay (become) a blue collar series or if it's going to cater to the "professional" full time racer that has the time, manpower and money to do it all.

I suppose the question to ask if that if the schedule were to be trimmed to 15-18 races, would more people run all of the races? If all of those races were within 2hours of Lansing would more people run them? Maybe the answer is taking money from the top of the point fund and giving a franchise bonus like ISMA does. If you sign on to run the full schedule and you do it, you get paid a higher minimum purse. (its laid out up front, cut and dry, in black and white)
http://www.ismasupers.com/ISMA_2010_Car_Owner_Franchise_Agreement.pdf

Notes:
South Buxton is closer to me than Cherry
Owendale is the most level ground for the series and Dustin hasn't won there
Friday nights cost more (vacation, traffic, etc)
3 day weekends burn out the casual part-time crew members

[Doublezerofan]

I agree with you Gavin. Most importantly the part on paying more to those who engage in ALL the sod races on the schedule! Similar to nascars changing rules, SOD needs to revamp their rules. My personal opinion of a good one would be in order to win any SOD Championship you should have to be at every race (maybe allow one absence?), this would entice more to show up to the 1 or 2 tracks they may not like and give them a goal to achieve. Just an idea. I also agree with the costs involved in running a FULL schedule therefore I agree on changing the # of races and locations...but like you said, it's not fair to change it because a few can't afford it. BUT, SOD folks SHOULD have meetings to at least get the majority of racers' thoughts and input. Like the 1st guy on here said, it's pretty sad when there is a 13 car count for a respectable series. There should be more supporting racers than that, just my opinion.

[RacerX31]

I have been following SOD for over 25 years and agree that SOD has gone downhill the past few years. Car counts are down, the quality of the cars are down.  A lot of it has to do with the economy and the cost to travel to races that are far away.  Not to mention traveling to Canada and going through the border has to be a pain in the butt.

Everyone but that Nerfbar fellow has avoided the "elephant in the room" when it comes to one of the major problems with SOD and thats Daggett.  If SOD goes under, one of the main reasons will be because of him and his ego not liking getting beat by other guys and staying in the shallow end of the kiddie pool. If and WHEN SOD goes under, Dustin will have no choice but to go run with other series and tracks. I like Dustin I think he's a good kid and such AND he is undeniably one of the best drivers in the area.  Does he have to continue to prove that by whipping the same guys who have 1/4 to 1/2 the equipment every single week? A driver with his talents needs to be running Fremont, Attica, NRA, Allstars, etc, and not with SOD all the time. Promoters will start not booking SOD shows because really who wants to watch Dustin beat everyone every single time?  It gets old.  I have changed my mind about going to SOD races this year just because I don't want to watch Dustin pass the same cars and win again and hear him thank his car owners for the zillionth time. People will stop coming to shows because they'll be bored watching Dustin win yet AGAIN-yawn boring.  I give Dalman, Rutan, and Naida credit, at least they are going to race elsewhere, whether they finish up front or not, they are running with different people in different parts of the country and making them better drivers in the long run. Its not like Dustin does not have the money to go run elsewhere or the talent he has both. There's nothing SOD can do to stop him from coming. The only ones that can are the fans and Dustin himself.

Do the fans a favor, quit hitting the "Easy Button" and go race with others, Dustin.  Save SOD and save 360 racing in Michigan.

[dirtracer]

Car count at Winston has always been a tough sell to get guys to support. This track is by far the farthest the majority of SOD regulars have to travel to get too as the majority of regulars live in Central and Eastern MI and being a stand alone race with no other races scheduled on the weekend it is tough to justify going for one night. Plus on a Friday at a minimum a half day vacation from work for the driver, crew, etc.

While over the past several years car counts have went down for SOD and I think there are several different reasons why that is the case.  1) economy, 2) more series for drivers to participate in (MTS, AVSS, Must See), 3) drivers getting sponsors that want them to run different places (IN, Ohio, Canada), 4) fuel prices. There are quite a few guys who only run on Saturday nights or tracks close to their region.

After each season SOD usually conducts a survey of the top 10-15 drivers in the series to get feedback on changes that owners/drivers would like to see. Right now the SOD leadership is in a tough spot as the one thing I have heard is series sponsors really like the Canada and Ohio shows as it gives them more region covered but as you see those are the races that get the least amount of support.

I don’t think SOD is in jeopardy of folding but maybe they do need to look at what changes could benefit the racers and tracks in the future to build a stronger future and get more new people into the sport.

[CushionRider]

 you cant blame all of it on Dustin Daggett nerfie . Economy, fuel costs and travel times all have affected the series. When it come to Dustin(aka big elephant, fish (whatever) , he is a great racer and he puts a lot of fans in the stands. I dont agree with him  sticking around and racing with sod just to dominate the series every weekend though. Like someone said before dustin has the capability to go race with a tougher crowd where winning is more of a challenge and purses are larger. With the high dollar equipment he has, it cant be practical to be racing with sod for 1000 sometimes 1200 to win.  Im not saying that dustin should not be welcome to race with sod, he is a series champion and a great competitor but its does get old watching one driver dominate the series.

[dirtracer74]

A little defense for Dustin......

He enjoys racing with SOD, and enjoys racing with the teams of SOD. He is also very supportive of the series. When talking to fans, he talks very highly of the series, and his competitors. He is also not shy of telling people what he thinks. One fan asked him when he was gonna race at Merritt again. Dustin flat out told them, he will not race Merritt again until they book a SOD show.

This is a rough year everywhere. I went to Eldora last weekend and they had 40 cars total in the pits. Ben Rutan was the only car from Michigan that was there. Even Jackson Speedway with mini sprints is way down. Maybe 35-40 cars total each week lately. Late model counts are way down. Two years ago we averaged 20 or so lates at Mt. Pleasant every Friday. Now they are down to an average of about 12.

[14fan]

Duane-I am wondering what sugestions you might have for SOD?

You have been around a while have seen SOD in its hay day.

Thoughts?

[stagger]

Here at Knoville for the next week because we only race the easy shows. Haven't seen any of Nerfie's hero's here probably going to the really tuff MTS races at Merritt no cherry picking there.

[drdoug]

I have been sittin back waiting for you Stagger. You guys do a ton of traveling that some folks just don't seem to see. WoO shows in canada. Running WoO shows in Ohio. And now the K-ville 360 and 410 Nationals. The traveling expences alone are a real ass-kicker not to mention the equipment to stay competative. You guys have a long day ahead of you with the rain out last night. Go out there and kick some butt. And thanks from all the SOD fans for representing OUR series with such class. See you next week at the 410 Nationals.
Doc

[wrench00]

Hey Dustin kick some ass in Knoxville and give the michigan racers some support. Oh and as far as SOD going under its all mentioned above, if they want the series to be better have a centralized track or two that runs 75% of the shows and keeps the racers close to home. 4 hr trips to go racing cost alot of money and take alot of time and effort, not to mention that normal nights of racing can be very costly. One person can't ruin the series but it does set the bar very high for the rest of the drivers and in the end makes the rest of the teams that much better. Racing is tough and takes lots of time and dedication to succeed, if it didn't we'd all be Steve Kinsers.

Terry

[dirtracer74]

Duane-I am wondering what sugestions you might have for SOD?

You have been around a while have seen SOD in its hay day.

Thoughts?

Honestly, let Mike Strevel work his majic. Mike will be VERY good for this series. I agree that the schedule should be a little more localized, but where to draw the line is a tough deal. There are a lot of tracks within 2 hours of Lansing, and a couple more within 3 hours. I think it might be a good deal to stay away from Canada tracks, or at least as far as point races go. Open the schedule up for the big shows, but leave points out of it. I love South Buxton, and Ohswekon, but hate going over there.

This year, I planned to go to Indiana nearly every week with the mini sprint. Better competition, more cars, and friendlier people. (plus we can run the open class down there, but have to be 14 in Michigan) But the 4 hour drive (each way) is killing us. So, we built a motor just for the restricted class to finish the season here. Even though there are 4-6 cars is all. Oh well, driver turns 14 in March, so we will be good next year. But the travel was really wearing us down. 8 hours on the road to race 40 laps. In short, travel right now is horrid, for almost everyone.

Remember, whan I was around, I heard the same complaints about Kyle Sauder.