Love it or hate it, short-track racing always will need innovation
Racers are a very social bunch. There is no doubt about that. So when something newsworthy happens, or something out of the ordinary rears its head, people start to talk. Thanks to Facebook and other social-media outlets, the conversation can flow freely, even during the winter months.
As evidenced by PRI, new products start to show up during the offseason. Whether it’s something someone was testing through the year, or a product that was developed as a solution to a problem, PRI is the perfect time to debut it. This year was no different with a few new innovative products hitting the market. Of course, with innovation comes reaction. What’s great about PRI is that you, your fellow racer, your promoter, or your tech inspector can have an open discussion with the manufacturer. It gives you a chance to get an answer the most important question in racing: “What does it cost?”
Just like any other big decision by your promoter or tech inspector, information is key. Is there a major advantage to having this new product? Will it make other products obsolete? Will it create a trend? Will that trend hurt my racers and my car count? Those are other questions they can bring up to those displaying the new products. Ultimately, when all of the answers are satisfied, it’s time to make a decision on the product.
However, what we’ve seen now with social media is something that I think is a very dangerous road that short-track racing could be traveling down. Someone goes to the PRI Show, finds a product, either they don’t like it or they post minimal information on it. This lets the reactions fly. (I saw a few instances of this after this year’s show.) What happens next? Racers start to band together and put pressure on the promoter or tech guy to outlaw the product. Why? Because it’s unnecessary, it’s going to cost the racers money, and it’s a huge advantage—or at least that’s what the arguments are. Meanwhile, other racers, tech inspectors, and promoters got the actual scoop in person at the show. So where do we draw the line?
First and foremost, a lively debate is fine. That’s what this time of the year is all about. But the information has to be there first. I very easily elicited a response from a racer when I asked him about a product that I found at PRI. This particular product was being circulated around Facebook as something that was unnecessary, expensive, and should be made illegal. Can you guess his response? That kind of reaction is very seriously dangerous to our sport. Remember when head-and-neck devices first came onto the scene? Drivers considered them a luxury and fought to keep them from becoming mandatory.
I’m not saying every new product that hits the market place should be allowed into all circles of racing. It’s important that innovation comes through the mind and not through the wallet. There are some roads we just don’t need to venture down at this time. However, I think every product should get a fair shake in the debate forum. And, most importantly, both sides of the argument should be made. Innovation is what made short-track racing such a great sport. Without innovation we wouldn’t have what we have now.
Being from Wisconsin, I again have to go back to the example that some of our great racers left behind. There were no greater innovators in the sport than the likes of Dick Trickle, Marv Marzovka, Joe Shear, etc., etc. Their innovations set them apart from the rest of the pack, and surely made their competitors uneasy. However, they weren’t stifled, and kept innovating. They found all of the gray areas in the rulebook and came up with ways to find the advantage. To this day, they are still praised for what they achieved. It would be great to see that sort of freethinking come back to the sport again, instead of seeing it squashed by Facebook debates with stunted information.
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