Charles Price, a 21-year old from Redlands, set fastest qualifying time in the featured SLM division in a 27-car field. The SLM main event thrilled fans with two and three-wide racing throughout the 50-lap main event. With a five-car inversion, the winner started fifth and took second on lap 20. He shot past race-long leader Kevin Thompson, the pole starter, on lap 34 in the inside groove at turn four. Price led the final 16 laps in the 2007 Irwindale track championship Ford Fusion that Rip Michels drove for Bob Bruncati's Sunrise Ford of Fontana. Owner/driver Dave Eshleman, the former mayor of Fontana, bought the car following the 2007 season and gave Price the best ride of his career. Price rewarded Eshleman with a dominating performance in their debut.
Charles Price, some twenty one year old from Upland, where did he come from you might say. Besides racing at Perris Speedway in his dad sponsored cars he has someone most never even heard of. A couple of years back his dad sold most of what he had and bought a couple of BUSCH cars and did what he could in the West Series. They showed up with the smallest trailer in the pit area, and had more problems with a boarrowed motor and went out and drove the wheels off that car. Nobody notice but that kid with a car that was so far off passed more cars than any that night, the engine gave up near midway if I recall but I was sure that kid had talent. Over the past couple of years I lost touch with his dad and really didn't keep up with his racing, I wish I had and could have helped him along some way. Thanks Dave for giving Charles a chance, he's got talent and seems to be a good guy as well.
WHERE HAS OUR RACING GONE
NASCAR CEO Brian France said last week that the circuit is “getting back to basics” in focusing on its longtime fans - “we’re going to embrace the past” - and we’ve had all the change the sport can stand.” That little comment was in USA Today January 23rd. I wonder what brain thrust decided that, just maybe the drop in ratings the past couple of years had something to do with that statement, you think.
Then I picked up a copy of Cycle News and on the cover it reads “Controversy In Supercross” The mainstay of Supercross as well as most forms of motorcycle racing comes from Factory support.
Seems that the power at the AMA decided to change the ground rules without consulting with the motorcycle Distributors about the changes, no big deal it’s my ball go play someplace else if you don’t like it.
Then I read that the International Governing Body FIM has decided to reduce the engine size for the top Motocross/Supercross from 450 to 350 without any feedback from the factories involved. Nothing new here!
Does anybody remember USAC as an Indy car Sanctioning body, how about CART, remember that debacle.
How about the rise of Karting in the 70’s and the near demise in the mid 80’s and the struggles since.
It seems no forms of motor racing is off limits to the wall street suits - a BA degree in business does not trump a good track owner. Racing has always been profitable to the real racers and promoters.
I remember having dinner a number of years ago with Carl Kinser (of World of Outlaw fame) and the topic came up how the real founders of the Outlaw Tour - the drivers and teams were left out in the cold when Ted Johnson incorporated the name and went from being the business manager to becoming the president and almost ran it into the ground before selling it off.
I think it’s time for the fans and racers of motorsports to step up and say we want our sport back.
I want the old Phoenix International Raceway back with the Copper World Classic in it’s original form and ticket prices that are affordable, I would just as soon watch a Cup race at North Wilkesboro or Darlington with the out dated rest rooms than sit in the stands at the new Atlanta Motor Speedway with its cookie cutter design, give us a true championship back, I can follow the series for 35 races and I don‘t care if Gordon is 400 points ahead I want the champion to be the one with the most points. The Chase means nothing to me, just a name, last years champion was Jeff Gordon.
So now my real point, Bill France Sr. was a racer and an organizer, he saw a need and filled it.
But it was the racers (many from the west coast) that made NASCAR happen and I think France never forgot that fact. He was hands on, a true risk taker.
What ever happened to cars being able to race up and down the state same rules same cars weather late models, sprint cars, or go karts you want car counts get back to the basics.
I’m getting mad now, when I look back over the past 45 years I’ve seen it all and I’m not going to take it anymore.
No more broadcasters reading scripts, no more pretty faces, no more bone head pit reporters, it’s time for the networks to step back with pushing this political correctness on us and give us real racers, people that know racing.
What about getting what you want by working for it and earning a chance at the big time. Tiger Woods, James Stewart, Shirley Muldowney, Wendell Scott, Rajo Jack and countless other so called minorities did it the old fashion way of working hard. Sure I wanted to be a fireman when I was a Kid, just maybe not bad enough.
Till next time.
If your looking for some history check out www.stockcarreunion.com
Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner
New Book on a Motorsports Pioneer Launches February 12 in Daytona Beach
Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner, a Biography Remembering One of Auto Racing's Great Promoters and NASCAR Owner
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.,February 11, 2008 - Few fans of auto racing might know the name Ed Otto. However, it is safe to say the sport would be a very different place if it were not for the cigar-chewing, super-promoter from New Jersey. Now, through detailed research, interviews and personal memories, Ed Otto's son Edgar and co-writer Joann Biondi introduce this little known motorsports leader in Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner. In exploring Otto's professional life, Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner surveys the explosive years of auto racing from the 1930s through the 1970s, a time that set the stage for the phenomenal growth which NASCAR enjoys today. Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner is available for purchase at www.Coastal181.com.
Otto was a true pioneer of auto racing, bringing some of the greatest innovations the sport has ever known. The dapper promoter, whose hallmark greeting was "Hello, Sucker", was the first to utilize television to broadcast races, the first to incorporate airplanes to transport race cars from one event to another and he encouraged the use of shoulder harnesses in race cars. However, it is possible that his greatest mark was left on NASCAR. As one of the few "outsiders" to be invited into NASCAR's inner-circle, Otto joined the stock car racing organization's original owners group as a silent partner with a 20 percent stake in 1949. In 1954 that share grew to 40 percent making him an equal partner with Bill France, Sr. Otto held that role until leaving NASCAR in 1963.
Among his many accomplishments with NASCAR, Otto was the first to take the organization "national", out of its traditional Southern roots. He was the first to promote a NASCAR race out of the country (July 1, 1952 at Stamford Park, Niagara Falls, Canada) and the first to promote a NASCAR race with foreign cars (Langhorne (PA) Speedway, July 21, 1953). Otto promoted NASCAR's first road racing event which was held on a temporary course laid out at the Linden (N.J.) Airport (June 13, 1954) and its longest race, a 12 hour endurance event also on the Linden course (August 22, 1954). He promoted "The King" Richard Petty's first Cup race in 1958 and NASCAR's first visit to Watkins Glen. The underappreciated legend also sat side-by-side with "Big Bill" France 50 years ago this month when a neck-to-neck finish demanded the two partners determine the first winner of the Daytona 500 in 1959.
Otto's innovations also extended to the business of NASCAR. He formulated the plan to take on the American Automobile Association (AAA) with the creation of the NASCAR Auto Association which provided travel benefits for national members. This move brought in much needed funds to the organization in its formative years. He also moved NASCAR into California by bringing promoter Bob Barkheimer into the fold in the 1950s.
Otto's reach extended beyond stock car racing as well. It was a meeting between he and President Eisenhower which helped stem a federally-mandated ban on racing in 1955. Otto set a historic precedent in 1951 by stopping a unionization attempt by the AFL of race car drivers; a move which helped end future attempts to unionize NASCAR. Otto promoted the first motorsports event at Yankee Stadium (motorcycles) and the Polo Grounds in the Bronx. He brought the first Winter Nationals to Florida in the 1960s co- promoting the event under a joint NASCAR and Wally Parks banner. Ed Otto died in 1996 and was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 2002.
Otto's history and the history of the sport go hand-in- hand. Adding to the great variety of true, behind-the- scenes, little-known and long-forgotten stories are extensive and insightful interviews with Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Mel Larson, Francis Flock, Cotton Owens, Hershel McGriff, Humpy Wheeler, Jay Signore, Linda Vaughn and many others. A read that is as quick as the races that Otto promoted, Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner helps paint the real story of the time and how it influenced the events of today.
Ed Otto, NASCAR's Silent Partner is being published by Coastal 181 and is available for sale at www.Coastal181.com.
A recipient of the Ernst & Young Florida Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Edgar Otto is the founder of more than a dozen businesses. He began racing at the age of 68-first in a Davy Allison 28 Busch Lumina and later in a Petty Dodge-and has competed in the stock car division of the Historic Sportscar Racing series at Sebring, Daytona, and Watkins Glenn. He lives in Boca Raton, Fla. with his wife Nina. For more information visit www.OttoMotorsports.com.
A former newspaper reporter and college professor, Joann Biondi is the author of ten books. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Miami Herald, USA Today, and National Geographic Traveler among other outlets. She specializes in oral histories and biographies, and can be reached at www.your-story.net .
Located in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Coastal 181 opened for business in 2001 and is dedicated to offering racing books, videos and specialty items to the racing community.
