POSTED January 5, 2002

Lots of banquet ticket orders came in this week and it looks like it will be one of largest ever again this year! A reminder that the Awards Banquet is Saturday, February 9 and tickets are now $25 each. 1099's are in the mail. We are required by the IRS to send a 1099 to anyone making $600 or more during 2001. Two have already come back-Eric Goff and Scott Baker-so if you have an address for either please email me! Thanks! We actually beat the deadline again this year-we have until the end of January to get the 1099's out and we had them in the mail before the end of December! 

Received an email from Jessica Degoede this week asking for 3 registration forms-herself, her father and her sister! Sounds like that family intends to do some serious racing in 2002! Jessica has always considered Mottville her "home track" and she was our 1999 Mottville Stock Rookie of the Year!

Want to talk some more about our track staff this week. Bill Crapo is our Director of Grounds and Maintenance and he really does a terrific job. I believe he took over this position just after mid-season in 2001 and he really kept the grounds looking terrific! We have a very old garden tractor that Bill has managed to nurse along. I figured the tractor was shot about two years ago and got a back-up tractor ready but so far have not needed it! The grounds at the track are really rough and terribly hard on mowers! While Bill's main job is mowing he also does a little bit of everything maintenance wise and drives the wrecker or push truck from time to time and is around on Thursdays for practice. He also finds time to drive a Thunder Car! 

Carol Wilbur started running our concession stand about 3 years ago. I remember one Thursday night at practice and talking to Vic Krontz and Tom Pearson about the fact we had no one to run the stand for Saturday night and Vic said Carol wanted to do it. We hired her on the spot and later she got Becky Moore, her sister, to help out. Now between them they split the time in the stand and both are big race fans to boot! 

Saw an ad on our bulletin board for a turn key Pro Stock for $7500! When you think about it, the Pro Stock class is our top class for 2002 and spending $7500 total for a contending car is a real good deal! Pro-stocks should be running for somewhere between $200 and $400 to win most nights and compared to a $60,000 late model running for $600 to win that is really a good deal!

Each month for the past 11 years I have received a promoter's newsletter titled "Racing Promotion Monthly." It is for racing promoters and has a lot of good ideas in it although more for larger operations than Mottville. Still over the years I have picked up several good ideas from it. This past issue just came this week and there was a long article on race tracks and the current recession and the prospects for the 2002 season. They summed up the article by stating: Promoters who see through the folly of big purse, fancy race car myths and rededicate themselves to economy weekly racing, reducing purses and whatever else is necessary to insure they are in black will prosper." Well guess what folks it has only taken the rest of the racing industry about 4 years to catch up with Mottville! I feel we are ideally suited to be most successful during the current economic times we find ourselves in! With the lowest operating expenses of any track around and Thunder Car and Mini-Thunder Cars for support classes for our Mottville Stocks and Pro-Stocks we are ready to go! 

As I write this Larry Birk and Bryan Whitaker just left my office! We spent about an hour talking about racing for 2002 and Larry registered the MS 97 and Bryan the TC 97 for 2002! Larry is having his engine freshened and might miss the first night or two of 2002 but he says he is going for the 2002 MS track championship! Later in the season he plans on adding a Mini-Thunder Car! Larry reports his foot is now healed and he feels great! Also his daughter Michelle had a baby girl December 19 and Larry is now a grandfather at the tender age of 38! Michelle plans on marrying Richard Barngrover soon and Larry says Barngrover will be back in MS at Mottville! Bryan is from Kentucky and now lives in Argos and raced in Kentucky on dirt. His TC is a 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, 2 door, and is about ready to roll! He says it will be ready for opening night March 2! Bryan says he has a lot of family and friends who plan on coming to Mottville to cheer him on in 2002! Well these two really have me excited about 2002! 

Banquet is now only 5 weeks away and racing action only 8! I am excited about it! 
How about you???