SNOWBALLS ... ARE COMING!
400 Laps Grows to 500 -- by Ben Chandler
Happy Holidays everybody! Great turnout at the Evergreen Speedway banquet with plenty of Figure-8 presence, both on the big screen and at the Awards ceremony, as FEAR member Mike "Mr. Dizzy" Buse was inducted into the prestigious Evergreen Speedway Hall of Fame! Over the years many FEAR people have been so honored, going back to their first inductee, "Crazy" Carl Zaretzke, and later 3 former FEAR Presidents Gene Brookover, Lee Daily and Mick Tomlin, with wife Randi and even the Ruddell family. I was inducted myself a couple of years ago and proudly spoke, as I often do, about how the NASCAR "Super" division had "sprung from the loins" of FEAR back in the 80's! Congrats "Mr. Dizzy", and welcome to the 'HoF'! It was also announced at the banquet that our friend Vern Foster and his Lake Stevens printing business, Foster Press, is returning as the Ministock series primary sponsor. Vern returns as our webmaster in 2010, and I look forward to continued work with him on the track program, as well!
Speaking of sponsors, my good friend, former Figure-8 driver (and boss again) Cary Falk, generously offered to add some cash to the prize pool to insure a 2010 Snowball Enduro race. Our main concern was that the Stinger bumpers (and cars) should be allowed ... then Lex came up with the great idea of also adding a 150-lap Stinger-8 race before, and a 100-lap V-8 race AFTER the January 2nd Hornet Enduro, to make up a total of 500 laps! That should be great fun to watch, and be a part of ... and yes, the Stinger bumpers ARE legal in this Enduro. I ran all of these races before the bumper issue came up a couple of years ago, and it is great fun!
The Figure-8 rules have been posted on the ES webpage, MONTHS sooner than usual - thanks to the hard work of everyone at Johnson Productions. I haven't read the specifics, as my computer at work strangely seems to block track rules (but not porn)! But Marv tells me the Stinger clarifications we asked for late last summer, including allowing some front wheel camber and dashboard trimming, were added. It sounds like the Super-8 cars are adding some weight - not the 200 or 300 pounds first discussed, but 100 pounds - in an effort to level the field a bit by slowing down the faster new-style cars. There’s been lots of web chat on this subject on Racingwest, both for and against. The bottom line will be whether it somehow adds to the Super-8 car count, or kills it. No word on the Super-8 schedule for 2010, but it needs to be trimmed and spread out so you guys can cut some costs! And speaking of saving dough, I heard there was a big turnout for the first JZ Motorsports swap meet! Keep an eye out for the Rick Hagar swap meet early in January, and the Concept event later in the month. And finally, I have had a couple of comments about the latest Stinger-8 Champ's picture NOT appearing yet at the top of our homepage. That’s only because I'm still waiting for Seth to complete his '09 membership application and get it to me along with a picture. See you at the SNOWBALL! -BC