MW Racing News : Midwest Racing : New Paris Speedway : Kalamazoo Speedway : Berlin Speedway : Tony Talks 1-23-11 Tony Talks 1-23-11 ================================================================================ Tony Eldridge on 23/01/2012 10:10:00 Well race fans it is the middle of January and the weather has been just crazy! I did enjoy the rain and thunder last night. Well lets start off with some good news for many as the phone calls and emails just never seem to stop. We will do the web shows again !!!!! They will start next Thursday. We will announce all the details at the Michiana Speed Zone Banquet. We know we will be at the Red Bird in Bristol and Double Ds in Goshen and will have some funny shows lined up to get folks back into the racing mood !!! If you would like to be a guest on the show let me know and we will work you in. The New Paris Speedway Banquet was a huge success. Standing room only for the first time in a while with well over 200 people in attendance and that was with out the late models being there. I find it funny that we had a few complaints about having the late models else where how ever with the crowd on hand it would have been a mess and no seats. With the crowd on hand it was a good time for all. The crowd was surprisingly quiet on the night which is far from normal for New Paris folks. Awards went to the top 5 in pure stocks with Eric Kiser taking home the championship trophy. David Pointon won sportsman of the year, Bobby Mac took home the hard luck award and Bryon Kiser won the most improved driver award. Mini stocks saw the top 20 take home an award. Sportsman award went to Ryan Shrock, hard luck award went to Bobby Laughter, and most improved went to Kevin Allen. In the street stocks we took care of the top 25 in points with Bobby Schisler being the 6 time champion. Hard luck went to Mike Swihart, sportsman award to Doug Chillcut, and most improved went to Jason Schlabach. New Paris had 45 drivers with perfect attendance in 2011!!! Some tracks did not manage to get 45 cars a night and we had 45 who never missed a night. Those drivers all got a plaque for their efforts as well. The last award given out was the Pat Riley Memorial Award. This award is given out to a person who shows care and compassion, respect and understanding, helpfulness and love to the sport and the track just as Pat did before he passed away. This year it was my honor to present such an award to Richard Humes of Rheda Motor Co. Richard works hard to help drivers keep cars on the track and goes above and beyond week in and week out. I know Pat would be very pleased with such an award going to such a good guy! New Paris will have open house April 21st and Opening night April 28th. Thank You to all who came to the banquet and we look forward to 2012! Well hosting a banquet is no easy task and I have learned that the hard way. From selling tickets to getting the food and place is just a nightmare. Then you have to order awards and get door prizes and on and on and on!!!! With the first ever Michiana Speed Zone Banquet coming up this Saturday Jan 28th at Boscos in Goshen I have learned a lot. I am now ready to host the banquet and see a lot of great people come out to sit in one room and talk racing! We started with 175 tickets for sale to this banquet and have sold every ticket!!!! What an awesome deal. We have nearly 200 door prizes and some awesome stuff to give away. From a $300 radiator, to $200 Simpson Race belts, to window nets, t shirts, gloves, oil, and hats!!! Gift certs to SCW, Del Taco, and Which Hammer Tattoo. New Paris Speedway, Mottville Speedway, Plymouth Speedway, and Kalamazoo Speedway passes for race nights. Every one will be happy with what they win. The food is being brought in by Golden Corral of Warsaw and Steve will do us good. We will have a cash bar as well. I would come early to get seats as doors will open at 5 pm SHARP. You must have a ticket to enter so do not forget yours. We will hand out $10,000 in points fund money to the Late Model drivers and $5000 in prizes to everyone else. We have over 75 awards to hand out as well. These are not just plaques but some neat and unique awards. I am thankful for all of our award sponsors and door prize sponsors who have made this banquet a huge event. We will host track champions from 5 tracks as well as the Sizzler winners CRA drivers, MCR Dwarf drivers, Sprint car drivers, and many more will all gather as well as owners from Kalamazoo, M 40, and New Paris Speedways. We will have coverage of the event on mwracingnews.com for those who could not make it. Well moving right along M 40 Speedway is gearing up for one of the biggest years under the current owners. With Michiana Speed Zone coming in to film weekly and new Co-promoter Scott Feaster and Race Director Tony Eldridge things will be better than ever. Kevin, Scott, and I have talked and we will focus on our weekly classes in 2012. The only big show will be the Big Gun Shoot Out which was moved to June. We will have one of the biggest Big Guns ever. A lot of talk and posts about the new ABC class. Some folks do not understand the point and some folks just like to disagree. Either way is fine with me as folks are talking about M 40!!! ABC works like this ..... yes there are rules to the class and yes they allow more cars to come in and race. What it also allows is everyone to race with out changing the race car. You can come from any local track and race in the ABC class. The class really helps the field fillers. Last year at M 40 a lot of guys could not afford to spend the money to keep up in pure stocks and pro stocks. They come weekly to run for 5th on back and it gets to be no fun. With ABC they will race against guys of the same speed and have a chance to win races. Not everyone has money or knowledge to get faster and they try their best every week. This program will allow for an equal playing field of all cars. The pro stocks from last year will still be top dogs in the A main. The talk is allowing all the extras will hurt the M 40 guys. We allowed it last year on a few nights and all but one night an M 40 driver won. All we ask is you give us a try and see how it works. Sand bagging is the other issue being brought up and I can answer that very easily. We will clock not only the leader but the top 5 in each race will be on the clock. So 5th place could be black flagged for speeding. This will take sand bagging out of the picture. Next item is points and we are working on this and open for ideas. We have have three champs in the class or give the same points to each race and allowing any driver to be a champ. We will have it worked out in a few weeks. Mini stocks will run a good rules package and should draw full fields of cars each week and same goes for the fwds. So this year you will want to make your HOME FOR FRIDAY NIGHT RACING THE M 40 SPEEDWAY. Well race fans thats about all for now so in the words of Jerry Cannon " Until next time race fans we will see you at the races" !!!