BobMiller

I agree. If you go through the father's facebook photos, it becomes obvious almost immediately that he's proud of his son. But the father is still active as a racer, so living a 2nd childhood through his son isn't happening. Something else you will see is that the kid is active in a lot of the photos working on cars at the track. Too often these days, younger kids know absolutely nothing about the mechanics of a race car and dad does all the work. That's not true here. I've never said that I support every 12 year old running Big Block Modifieds, but there are occasions where one stands out as having something special and holding them to a number isn't fair. We all agree that the race car world we live in is in trouble because of lack of interest by today's youth. There are too many other distractions that their friends are into that pulls attention away from what we do. So we get one of the rare circumstances of a young kid being really into racing and has the potential of hooking a lot of other young kids based on his success, and we scoff at it. Not only that, but we'll make up excuses to keep them away. I will keep on saying this... If a 12 year old kid can pass a skills test on the track with the people he will race against being his judges, THEY should decide, not us. And if the kid constantly screws up, they should have the right to reconvene.

Correct, because kids die every year all across the country in high school stick and ball sports from brain and cardio issues. WAY more than what die in racing accidents. A huge back and forth argument on social media right now is whether or not iRacing improves driving skills in the real world of racing. Those that don't race on computers say the claim is absurd. Those who do participate say it sharpens driving skills, and there are some professional drivers who vehemently defend it. Someone even recorded Rico Abreu driving a video game Sprint Car and his concentration level was intense. And that translates into today because a 12 year old probably is an iRacing addict. All I am trying to point out here is that in the entire world of different breeds of race cars, a northeast style dirt modified might possibly be the safest form of racing on the planet. In fact, I can't even remember the last time someone was killed as a result of collision/impact. This isn't 410 Sprint Car racing where we lose our most seasoned veterans and super heroes just about every year. And I get to witness some of this first hand with Alex Payne. I think Alex just turned 14, but he's been driving Sportsman for 2 years now. Dundee let him run at 12 and DIRTcar gave him a special license last year because he CAN drive. The kid is smooth, he's wicked fast and he's run his dad's big block a couple of times. He's still looking for his first big win and he will get it this year, I can feel it. I've told him that his level of aggression has been his nemesis. He runs for all he's worth to the front of the pack, but he's not always looking at every situation with both eyes open. Some times you have to check up a little to let a couple of mid packers sort themselves out. If not, you put yourself in the mess they are about to create and Alex has done this a few times when he was the fastest car on the track.

I agree, it SHOULDN'T happen, but it does. This was precisely the case when I tried watching SU Basketball a couple of years back when they advanced deep in March Madness that was being streamed on ESPN2 I believe. Using a Firestick, I found a pirated stream and could watch the game on my girlfriend's laptop. But the second I plugged in the HDMI cable to feed the TV, it buffered badly. And unplug the cable, the buffering went away.

We kill a lot of people in this sport, don't we?

Here we go with this again. If the kid has true talent and ability, that will prove itself and his competitors won't mind. If the kid is a nuisance and a detriment to the rest of the field, they'll vote him out. How come every other activity in the world can have child prodigies except racing? It makes me laugh when people are so willing to toss junior in a go kart and think nothing of it. I've seen bruises and abrasions, broken fingers, broken wrists, broken arms, broken collar bones, a cracked sternum and dislocated shoulders all from kart racing. But put him in a full roll cage with triple layer fire suits, Nomex underwear, flame out systems, full faced helmets, gloves and shoes, complete with a full containment seat... and everyone gets their panties in a wad.

It all depends on your budget and ISP. Frontier DSL is what I can afford even though last summer, Spectum tore up my yard to access underground conduit so they could continue their run of fiber down the last 1/2 mile of my road. Their service is in my yard, but I can't spare the difference between the two bills right now. I can watch HD streamed on DSL to a laptop using one of the internal media players. But I can't take HDMI out of the computer to HDMI in on my TV without major and unwatchable buffering. For the few times I would want that service each year, I can live without it.

It's not likely that anyone living within a reasonable traveling distance who has transportation and admission money would favor an internet broadcast over live attended viewing, however... Sometimes things beyond our control happen and attendance isn't an option. If Mommy has to work and Daddy has to stay home to watch the kids, we offer a high quality streaming service that's pretty hard to beat as an alternative. I won't say that Paul Cole's budget is limitless when it comes to upgrading or adding new things to his stream. Obviously he wants and needs to keep costs down. But he does listen to ideas, he comes up with his own, and he surprises the team now and then with a new toy that makes the broadcast better. I'm pretty sure that will be the case for the new season too. The best thing about this service is that Paul watches each one when he gets home and I know he watches what a lot of other services are doing. I really enjoy working with this team because it's fun.

I had a direct PA feed to my camera and was wearing a headset to hear them do it as it was happening. I'm surprised you can't see the camera bouncing around from me laughing, but I thought it was hysterical. It definitely caught me off guard. The only reason I even thought of that video was because I saw Joe Linebarier on facebook and friend requested him. I've tried to get Rick Eschelman to get a facebook account 100 times (even as late as theis past October) but he won't do it. I don't know what "professional" is any more. I watch Mike and Molly on primetime TV and can't believe what they get away with. I've heard Jim King say he fell on his ass over the PA, Shane Andrews tiptoes up to the edge all the time, drivers in interviews use light cusswords occasionally, and depending on the circumstance - they can get heavy. When Paul Szmal and Doug Elkins were a team at Brewerton, they used to get a little risky at times too. I watched an NFL football game last year where one guy was running for all he was worth down the sideline. One of his team members came across the field to help fend off an opponent who was catching up to the ball carrier, colliding with both and stopping the run. After shaking off the cobwebs, in disgust the ball carrier turned to his opponent and said "What da F&@#, nigga?!?!?!" and that was as audible as the commentators. Language doesn't offend me, but you know what does? Members of the clergy pretending to represent church and getting busted for sexual misconduct. But hey... that's just me.

Problem?

But it's true. I shot this video on Night #6 of the Winter Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park on February 8th, 2009. What we are looking at is the UMP Modified B Main. More than that, we are listening to announcers Joe Linebarier and Rick Eschelman having fun every time they call the progress of driver Ryan Aho in the 71a car.

That all depends on the model and make of the tablet. Mine was an extremely basic Android based Lenovo. For plug in features, it had a slot for a micro SD card, an earphone jack and the jack for the charger. That's it.

That was insane. Hopefully the push truck driver never pushed again.

I started going to Rolling Wheels weekly in 1976 until they went to specials only format in 1981. That's when I started going to Dundee weekly. I still am on a streak with Rolling Wheels though. Haven't missed a show there since I started going weekly.

A quick and funny story. I used to hit a bunch of the early spring events in PA between Speed Weeks and the NY season got started. I'd meet up with a bunch of my buddies down there and they were all Greg Hodnett fans. It's not fun sitting in the stands with your friends when you are all cheering for the same guy, so I picked Freddie Rahmer to cheer for. Most of the reason was because everyone else hated him. If you ever want to feel uncomfortable, be the only guy in the stands cheering for the number one villain of the PA Posse. And I admit... when on the mic, Rahmer can definitely rub you the wrong way. But then Bruce Ellis can too, so I don't know where to point the finger first. And here is where it gets funny. I was also (still am) a fan of Sammy Swindell, and NOBODY treats the press as bad as Sammy can. What made me a fan - and I will argue this with anyone - there is nobody more exciting behind the wheel of a sprint car than Sammy Swindell when he's fast. Nobody. I've seen him do wheel stands the entire length of both straights so high that the push bumper scrapes the track. Most guys burp the throttle and get the front end back down. Not Sammy... he rides it out. I've also seen Sammy hit the outside wall so hard that you'd think a part of it was stuck in his nerf bars and he was going to have to retire for the event. Not Sammy. He just mashes his foot to the floor until the car breaks or it blows up, and we've seen that too. Unfortunately, Sammy sometimes takes innocent victims with him and that even makes me mad.