2007TheInkHasGoneDry.htm

 

THE INK HAS GONE DRY
By Jack Taylor
 

(5-1-07) I borrowed the same headline I used in 1972 when I was compelled to close down a small newspaper that I was publishing at Taylorville, Illinois. The original story was based on the fact that my newspaper was closing down due to a failure to financially survive in supplying sports news to the State of Illinois on high school athletics. It operated in the 70’s and served a purpose of the times and was met with wide approval by college coaches, high school coaches, players, and fans. The reason for that editorial was that I could no longer continue to supply a service that I dearly loved.

Thirty- seven years later, the same headline has reared its head once more as I regretfully have to tell people in writing that the ink has again run dry. But the culprit this time is years of inhaling the dust of numerous dirt racetracks over the Midwest, and the constant addiction to smoking, which has ruled my life for at least 60 years. Now that you know my dirty little secrets, I will attempt to close out my report of the running of the 14th Annual David Richardson Memorial race at Vermilion County Speedway.  

Some of the following is a little tongue-in-cheek writing to explain the perils of waiting for mother nature to release her rainy grip on dirt track racing in the Midwest. 

We arrived at Vermilion County Fairgrounds on Thursday and began to erect our Midwest Dirt Track Facts.Com hospitality tent where we hoped to welcome
visitors such as drivers, fans, and friends who might stop to exchange racing stories with us. 

Friday began with news funneling in that Kankakee race track, where the expected running of a Modified event to salute 2006 National UMP Champion, Dan Hamstra, and create some excitement for the drivers who might eventually travel to the Richardson Memorial on Sunday, was cancelled by rain and was not going to happen.  Later more news came thru the grapevine informing us that Farmer City Raceway had met with the same fate and it was not going to happen. There went another close-by track with more drivers who might have filtered into the Danville track on Sunday. Meanwhile track promoter, Bill Nelson, continued making his methodical laps around the V.C. track during the day packing it in and thanking the heavens for supplying him with needed moisture that had kept tracks dry for days. We were able to talk him off the tractor and corner him to talk with us about the upcoming event on Sunday.

Following is our conversation with Bill Nelson in our media tent Friday afternoon.

Our staff photographer had only been on assignment for one day, and her salary was small.

MDTF   Bill, how many years do you remember being involved in the Richardson?
NELSON  About as long as you have, Jack. I think I have seen twelve of them.  I was sponsoring and working with Steve Hillard’s team during the first few years. He drove a wicked modified and won the UMP National Championship when I was with him, but in five tries, we couldn’t win the Richardson. I think the best we could do was fifth one year. This has always been an elusive title for many drivers over the years. Only Denny Schwartz has won it twice. We have had several National champs here many years. Guys like Jimmy Owens, Jeff Martin, Jeff Leka, Dan Hamstra, and others. It’s quite a prominent list over the years. I’m glad to be involved in it.

NELSON   When Phil Richardson started this race years ago, I don’t think he realized it would become this big. Then Bill Marietta took over and it continued to grow in size and notoriety. Now I’m honored to be a part of the Richardson and our plans are to keep adding incentives and purse money to induce drivers to keep filling the pits to keep the fans on the edge of their seats for exciting racing. I think we had 141 cars in the pits one year. Vermilion County Speedway has always been a leader in modified racing and I hope to continue that prestige. In the two years since I have been involved as a promoter, we have also added some open wheel events and some special event late model races, so we are trying to have races the fans will enjoy the most. Jean and I appreciate the fan support we get and we will do our best to please them.  We sold the Northern All Stars racing division last year to be able to devote more time to the local track and concentrate on the driver and fan base here.

MDTF   I meant to ask you about that. Why did you drop the Northern All Stars?

NELSON   We enjoyed the traveling to different tracks and meeting drivers all over, but we needed to concentrate locally. I still have a silent partner. The track promoter at Clarksville, Tenn., William Scroggins, is with us on some things.
 

MDTF   What is your plans if you get rain Sunday? It looks as if it might be bad all weekend.

NELSON  I’ll keep trying to pack the track and keep it ready for racing. I’ll watch the weather reports later. With the price of gas for traveling right now, I’ll make a decision early enough to keep fans and drivers from wasting gas. But I hope that doesn’t happen.

MDTF   Thanks for spending some time with us, Bill. Tell Jean hello. And I’m looking forward to the 14th Annual Richardson Memorial.

Saturday came and it was wet. We ate breakfast at Phil Richardson’s Moose Lodge where he directs the racing there since he retired from VCS. The noon parade to honor VCS in downtown Danville was cancelled. Stopped at Bargain Bills wholesale store where another retired promoter dwells now and returned to the media center to await more weather reports. As the afternoon turned to evening, we welcomed racing loyalists stopping by to visit including the flagman for VCS. He was returning from nearby Benton County Speedway where he also flags the races. They had just cancelled for the night and it was not going to happen there.   Another potential track with drivers heading to VCS. And only minutes later we were informed that Charleston Speedway had surrendered to the skies after running 3 heat races. For them, it was not going to happen. Later, we heard Macon Speedway had also succumbed. Again, it did not happen.

We conversed around the campfire Saturday night before retiring. It rained throughout the night and upon arising, the first visitor at the media center was Bill Nelson with the news no one wanted to hear. It was not going to happen.  

Nelson said he would reschedule the race for a later date, so the 14th Annual Richardson Memorial will happen. I ventured to VCS thinking the inkwell was pretty dry for me, so I will leave it at that.