What went right at your racetrack this past weekend? In this day of Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, or any of the social media outlets we can all find out and discover what went wrong at a racetrack. On any given weekend we can read the track was too rough, the track was too heavy, the track was too dry, the track was too slick, the official calls were horrible, the flagman doesn’t know what he is doing, my hotdog was cold, the track ticket was too much money, pit passes are too high, the announcer talks too much, the announcer doesn’t talk enough, the announcer has not done his or her homework, the national anthem was too long, they did not tech the racecars enough, they tech the racecars too much, that is not performance enhancing why have that rule, the line to get in was too long, the ticket takers are too slow, they have not mowed the parking lot in forever, this track has mosquitoes large enough to carry off small animals, etc. etc. etc.

So I ask again what went right at your racetrack this past weekend? Who has the courage to start putting on any of these social media sites what went right at your racetrack? Who is man or woman enough to change the course of social media and more specifically our sport. Who can break the cycle of negative reporting, negative complaining, and following what the original media (television, newspaper, radio) created reporting bad news. A local television station is trying to report daily on something good that has occurred in the area, but they recognize this has been tried before and usually fails, why?

Why, because we all like to read about someone else’s misery, so we first have to stop living in someone else’s misery. That is one of the problems with social media someone makes a negative comment and then the dog pile mentality takes over, that is why people now say, where did you get that information the internet? In our sport we are dealing with human beings, making relationships, and those are the things we should be talking about, writing about, and publishing about.

So what went right at your favorite racetrack this past weekend? In the last 22 years of being a racetrack official, the seven years before that of being a racecar driver and owner, the 29 years before that of being a fan in the stands, there are nights that no matter what everything seems to go wrong (usually associated with a full moon), there are nights everything goes right (usually two of these per year per track), and then there are the majority of the races which are middle of the road (good and bad things happening in equal proportions).

So what went right at your favorite racetrack this past weekend? Maybe I got to see my favorite race driver, I got to visit with my racing family, the track was a challenge but to be expected because of the weather, the track was awesome, the car count was great, I got to see this many races for my money, the ticket takers/sellers were very nice and pleasant and welcomed me to the track, the food was good, the wait in the concession line was short, the tow company was on the ball tonight, the safety crew was right there immediately after each incident, the racing was awesome there were battles all the way through the field, the last lap pass was amazing, the winning driver gave my son/daughter his trophy, I got twenty autographs, the lady at the pay window was very nice and got help when I questioned the finish then the scorers were nice in explaining how the finish occurred, the tech crew explained the rule to me so I could understand, the racing facility was very clean and well kept, you can tell this owner has pride in his facility, that racecar driver is a sportsman he loaned me parts for my car so I could race, the racetrack owner gave my child a trophy, the announcers were very informative, the opening ceremony was awesome honoring our vets and first responders, the children’s races at intermission were very entertaining, the speeding up the race show was very much appreciated so us fans were not there until the early morning, there are so many ways to broadcast what went right at your racetrack this past weekend.

So once again I ask what went right at your racetrack this weekend?