Commentary by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Salisbury, NC(September 1, 2010) -- Since it's been a while since I've put my opinions out there, I figured that on the heels of Rodney Cook's disqualification it was time to get my thoughts on that situation and other things that have been on my mind this season out there.

You guys know by now, that even when I'm writing something for everyone to see, I don't mince words ... I'm not going to back down now despite the fact that for much of this season and through some pretty interesting situations I've remained quiet. My silence ends now ... hopefully I won't piss too many people off with my latest opinions.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS ...
Let's start with Ace Speedway as this season has unquestionably been one of the more successful runs in the tracks recent history. First of all, Brad Allen has kept his position as General Manager throughout this season, something we haven't seen too much of at Ace in recent seasons. Second, Allen has done an incredible job, despite stepping into one of the toughest jobs he could think of doing ... I'll be the first to say I thought he'd fail at the job, because in general racers don't make great promoters.

I'll say it again, so you understand ... I think Brad Allen has done an incredible job in a tough position at Ace Speedway, but enough with the high praise. The only strikes against Allen has been in the last month where he first made the decision to make a "Chase" to the championship in all divisions. OK, before he calls and corrects me, it wasn't exactly a chase as they basically took a drivers best 10 races and then set up a four race series to decide it all and while that sounds fair in theory, it went all wrong, right out of the gate.

First they announce that they were doing this when the Late Model Stock Car division, the tracks bread and butter division wasn't racing and many drivers learned about this second hand. As if it wasn't enough of a pill to swallow deciding to do this, it took the third place driver and dropped him back behind a competitor that didn't even support the track all season. Rodney Cook went from leading by a good margin to having Dustin Rumley, who missed three races this season due to a crash nipping at his heels ... Bobby Griffin fell from third in the points having supported the track all season to fifth in the standings.

It was simply a bad move by what I would consider the best management in racing this season ... While Allen turned Ace around for much of this season, he's come under a firestorm of criticism since making this move. For Cook the "best ten finishes" didn't hurt him greatly, but when the driver was determined to have been competing with an illegal spindle on August 27th, it stripped the driver of his championship, that he'd worked all season and not that one night to obtain.

The decision to change the points effectively put Rumley within striking distance of Cook, which was undeserved due to him missing three races and allowed one-race to dictate the championship. I'm disappointed for Cook, who deserves to be the champion, but I'm equally as disappointed for Rumley or Jason Payne, who both could mathematically win the championship next Friday in the final. I'm disappointed for those two drivers because no matter what happens they'll always remember that they didn't earn the championship and rather the track gave it to them.

It's a disappointing way to end the season for the drivers, the management and the track itself, whose future is somewhat in doubt. Ace Speedway is one of my favorite tracks and again I'll say, Brad Allen has done the best job of any management at Ace in years and this year better than pretty much any track. Decisions at the end of the season hopefully won't be what people remember going into this off-season, but at the same time, it's going to be hard for whoever wins the championship to even forget how he got that trophy.

HOLLOW CHAMPIONSHIP ...
Things happen over the course of a season of racing that make the end result not as desirable for one driver or another or even not what the track or series would have liked to have seen happen. The Ace Speedway scenario above, the incident that caused Nate Monteith to leave Lonesome Pine, while leading the championship standings, Philip Morris' departure from Motor Mile Speedway earlier this season and other incidents leave drivers with championships that wouldn't have neccesarily won it otherwise.

Some of those situations are better examples and while it's nice to be the champion, no matter what, it would be better to earn it while racing against the best of the best in the business and not get it by default. This year when the curtain closes on the UARA-STARS Series at Rockingham Speedway, Coleman Pressley will likely walk away with the championship trophy, but will he view it as a hollow championship?

Pressley's had a great season, but his lone victory has to be a thorn in his side when the man chasing him for the championship is his roommate, Brennan Poole, who has been to victory lane five times this season. Poole would have six wins, but an issue in technical inspection following his fourth win of the season at Tri-County Motor Speedway took a win away from the young driver and also flushed much of his championship hopes down the drain.

Poole was disqualified from the win at Tri-County for illegal heads, which fit all the gauges and templates, but did not pass a visual inspection. I'm not claiming to know anything about the heads, right or wrong, nor am I saying that he shouldn't have been disqualified, because I'm not even going to claim to know the right answer. However, that disqualification subsequently cost the driver the championship and while I think that would have been acceptable had the driver faded into the night, the facts stand that he returned to the UARA-STARS Series and has since won in every start, but one.

Pressley's championship will almost certainly feel hollow when the season is done, given that Poole has returned to dominate him and the rest of the tours drivers and could easily win the series' final two races. Pressley and Poole are roommates, but they've had their issues this season as the two have been the top dogs in the series all season and it's hard to have two prize fighters living under the same roof. Emotions spilled over between the two following contact that sent Pressley spinning at Lonesome Pine around the midpoint in the season and put Poole in victory lane, but since then the two have patched things up and seem to be getting along.

Last year, when Pressley won at Concord in the season finale, right after the two had moved in together, he jokingly laid his winning trophy on Poole's bed before he got home, as the rookie had yet to win a race. This year following the season's final race Pressley at Rockingham, if he wins the championship over Poole, who led the points until his disqualification at Tri-County, he may well feel obligated to lay his championship trophy in Poole's bed once again, but this time he may not be joking.

It's unfortunate for Pressley, who has worked hard this season to try and become the champion, that the series officials(right or wrong) affected the outcome of the championship and the young man may forever have to live with the fact that he didn't win the championship, but yet had it laid in his lap. Pressley however still has two races in which he could go out and reclaim his throne as the UARA-STARS Series champion and walk away with something to be proud of and if he could win out the rest of this season and shut Poole out of victory lane, he could quiet the critics, who believe this is Poole's championship.

Poole's dominant season hasn't gone unnoticed and if he can win(or finish ahead of Pressley) the final two races of the season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on September 25th and Rockingham Speedway on October 9th, many people will remember his performances with an asterick beside of Pressley's name as champion of the UARA-STARS Series.

LAST TICKET ...
This season on the short track front and especially around the Late Model Stock Car contingent has been one of uncertainty. There's uncertainty swirling around about many of the area tracks from Ace to Tri-County, Orange County and many more. The economy hasn't been kind to racing this season and it's hard for me to believe that some racers, who we all knew had plenty of coin to come out and play have stayed at home and saved their money.

That has led to tracks having subpar or worse car counts such as Tri-County Motor Speedway, where the track rarely broke the double-digit mark on Late Models and eventually saw every division fall to having fewer than ten cars. It's a bad state for any track to be in, but especially one that has had trouble in the past staying open due to neighbors complaining about the noise and traffic. Tri-County made it to their season finale under the direction of Dominick Casola, who took over the track his father owns amid a firestorm of controversy that led to General Manager, Rita Martin quitting.

It was a tough season for all short tracks, but all of us racers have got to be hoping that the winter months doesn't help us to lose one or more of our favorite local tracks. Hopefully none of them have punched their last ticket and will be here for us to support and enjoy again next season.

THAT'S IT ...
OK ... so hopefully I haven't pissed too many people off, but the bottom line is, that this is my opinion, I'm not saying that I'm right or wrong and you all are entitled to your opinion(if you've got an opinion, send it to me langley@RACE22.com). I think that overall this season will be one to remember for many reasons, but one to forget ... maybe even for a champion or two.
 
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