From the Editor – Justin Zoch

from the

EDITOR COMPETITIVE ACCESS

By Justin Zoch

THE SPORT OF AUTO RACING, particularly the dirt track faction, has done one thing better than almost any other sport over the years – provide up close access to the competitors. I would wager to bet that if you fell in love with racing as a child, it was in the pits postrace where you really felt that emotional pull that continues to get you to the track as an adult.

I just heard baseball promoter extraordinaire Mike Veeck (owner of our local Triple AAA affiliate Saint Paul Saints) on a local radio show talking about how baseball needs to have more fan interaction or it risks losing a generation. I thought, well, for all of auto racing’s problems, we’ve got that figured out as there are so many ways for fans to interact with drivers these days through pre-race autograph sessions, souvenir row, pre-event parties and even things like making more pit passes available to the general public. If you want to meet your hero and get a shirt or an autograph, it really just takes a tiny modicum of effort. Racing is the better for it.

Then, I was reading USAC and soon to be SRX racer Kody Swanson’s Ask the Driver section in this magazine later that night and it kind of stopped me in my tracks since I had been thinking about how good dirt track racing is at fan/ driver interaction. A reader submitted the question “If you could improve the world of open wheel racing in one aspect, what would it be?” and Kody’s answer, which you can read at length on page 28, really made me think.

“I think back to being a kid… if you missed the winner’s interview, it wasn’t because you were in your car on the way home, it was because you were lined up to get to the pits, and then you got to see the drivers get out in their driving suit, hot, sweaty, the cars are hot, and it completed the experience. You were there to see a competitor and you see got to see him in a competitive atmosphere. It was totally different to me as a kid getting an autograph from a driver in his suit, sweaty, talking to his crew about the race, about the track then it is at 3:30 in the afternoon from a driver in his street clothes. It’s just a different experience, a different interaction. I would love to capture that.”

Yes! Swanson nailed it. Autograph sessions and pit parties are great but that is all kind of sanctioned, professional interactions. I do remember as a kid with McDonald’s money burning a hole in my wallet seeking racers for t-shirts and trying to be one of the first people down to their trailer (particularly when the NCRA Northern Tour came through and there were guys like Tommie Estes Jr., Larry Neighbors, Aaron Berryhill and Gary Wright that had shirts no one else would have – no websites back then). That whole scene that Kody laid out is exactly what I loved about racing – the interaction, either joyous or tense, with the crew, the sweat (that long walk into the trailer to grab a drink, wipe their brow and collect themselves before interacting) and the energy of a postrace pit area.

Swanson also talks about the team aspect of it and there is no greater endorphin rush than when a powerful race car shuts off in a crowded pit area and a driver climbs from the car to greet the crew. It’s a tiny, intangible moment that happens up and down pit road every night but it is when all of the things we love about racing collide – emotion, noise, teamwork and even vulnerability – in a few magic moments.

While social media and afternoon access are great for promoting stars, it’s the little moments that Swanson recalls that shows off the true competitive nature and guts of our sport. I still remember as a child, after the races, racetrack announcers would frequently say something like “take your kids down to the pits and have them sit in those cars but be careful because they are still hot”. Damn, you knew right when you heard that warning that you were at some kind of crazy circus!