THE HERO CARD STORE! PRESENTS--- 

LONG ISLAND MOTORSPORTS TOSSED FROM RIVERHEAD!!!

July 22, Long Beach, NY--- When we opened our email last Wednesday morning; we were greeted by the following email from Riverhead Raceway’s Bob Finan: 

Mike; 

     As per Barbara and Jim Cromarty your press credentials for yourself and any member of Long Island Motorpsorts.com have been rescinded. 

Bob Finan 

We immediately sent back an email to Bob acknowledging the email. We also requested whether or not Riverhead would continue to supply press releases to Long Island Motorsports News. He replied in the negative. 

Whether or not this is a temporary or permanent situation is unknown, as we didn’t ask. 

This appears to be in response to the column we wrote last week, which was semi-critical of some of the racing action last Saturday night (7/14/07) at Riverhead. To view that edition of Island Hopping, [CLICK HERE]. 

In that column, we were critical of two drivers, two racing divisions, the wasting of time when there 8 divisions racing, and some silliness behind the microphone by the assistant announcer. In reviewing that column, we looked for anywhere that we might have actually “hammered” anyone at the track, but couldn’t find one.  

So, let’s take a look at the overall situation. The simple fact is that Barbara and Jim Cromarty have every right to grant or deny media credentials to any person or media organization that they wish to. Riverhead Raceway is, after all, a facility open to the public, which is privately-owned. 

We have commented over the years on the goings-on at Riverhead the way we do at all other tracks that we’ve covered over the years; that being on the good or bad quality of the racing. At Riverhead, just as at all other facilities, there are nights of racing that are good, bad, and a combination of both. 

The Cromarty’s philosophy of the media, and by extension, those that work for them, are generally fairly simple; whatever you write, make sure that it’s positive. Unfortunately, that was very difficult to do last week. 

That’s not necessarily a bad philosophy, but certainly isn’t the best. Most (but not all) promoters have stated to us over the years that they don’t care what we write; just be accurate and fair, which is what we always strive to do. Of course, our style of writing tends to put us in conflict with Riverhead’s ‘powers that be’ from time to time. 

That being said, we’ve only gone out of our way three times over the years to hammer three drivers. Two of those were at Riverhead, while the third was at Waterford Speedbowl. 

As we stated in our last column, we attempt to write our columns from (and for) the fans’ perspective of what he/she sees on the track. We comment on what goes on in the pits if that has an affect on what the fan sees, such as a driver missing due to a suspension, illness, etc.  

It should be very strongly noted that we don’t make the racing action positive or negative; we merely report and comment on it. 

We believe that we’ve lived up to our own philosophy, in that what we wrote is what the fans observed and heard, as well as reflecting some of the fans’ frustration with the quality of racing in both the Late Model and Modified divisions. 

For that reason, we do not, and will not apologize to anyone for the column, and we stand by everything in it. By doing that, perhaps we’re ‘cutting our own throat’ of any hopes of regaining those credentials. If that’s the case, then so be it. 

We’ve never been able to write a column that was politically correct as others do. Nor are we criticizing any of those writers, for that is their writing style. Ricky Miller of the Gator Racing News, for example, has written his column for well over 30 years. His style serves him very well. 

However, we have held back on some of the things that we would like to have written; since that is the tacit agreement we have with Riverhead. In fact, we did on several occasions make a promise to two chief stewards that we wouldn’t hammer the track. 

Now or course, we could certainly sit back, and say, “Aha! The ropes that have tied our hands have been severed.” Then we could write anything we’d like, when we can legitimately hammer anyone or anything that we feel needs it. 

We have to admit that’s a big temptation, especially at this time. There have been situations over the years that we’ve witnessed with officials, drivers, employees, etc. that we have been sorely tempted to comment on. However, that is ‘old’ news, and not germane to what has happened this past week. Are we going to just start to lower the hammer for past deeds? Don’t hold your breath 

That would go against our own philosophy. Although we must admit that the temptation is certainly there. 

This is the 2^nd time we’ve been tossed. Several years ago we had our credentials revoked; not due to anything racing-related, but due to a personal problem we had with one person in particular. That has never been resolved, and don’t expect that either one of us will make any attempt to rectify that situation. 

When we were ‘tossed’ the first time, we simply bought our tickets, and sat in the stands, and still wrote our column. That brought one of the most amazing reactions that we’ve ever noted as journalists.  

We were somewhat baffled back then at the amount of drivers, crew-members, and spouses that made the trip out from the pits to where we normally sit in the backstretch. Those led to some of our best columns, as we seemed to obtain much more information for those columns than we might have otherwise. In fact, during that time we were denied access to the pits, there were several wives and girlfriends that even brought us food from the pits; one baking us cookies and brownies on a weekly basis. 

We’re not really surprised that we got tossed, as it seems that we’ve been on the edge over the years, and often wondered when the ‘Sword Of Damocles’ would fall. We have expected this for quite some time.  

When this happened the first time years ago, we were quite shocked, angry, etc. running the entire assortment of emotions. Our big surprise this time was what we felt when we opened Finan’s email. Instead of the emotions that we felt the first time, now we only felt an overwhelming sense of relief! 

Four things of note have happened over the past week that we didn’t expect. First, we received a call this past Thursday night by someone very familiar with Riverhead, its philosophy, and our writing. He made a very generous offer to anonymously pay for a NASCAR license, as well as pay for our weekly admission into the pits.  

We were very appreciatory, thanked him and turned him down. We explained that he is in a position where he may be one that we might turn our “hammer” on one day in the future. Of course, he understood. Since he reads our column, we just wanted to publicly thank him here. 

The second thing that happened was we called Promoter Jim Morton of Wall Township Speedway. We asked him whether we were credentialed just for the “Flash” Tour race this past spring or for the entire season. He replied that credentials were for the entire 2007 season. We then asked him about his philosophy about the media. 

Jim asked what we meant. We then informed him about Riverhead’s philosophy, and that we were tossed when we ran afoul of that policy. We also told him that our “poison pen” may be used at Wall, if we deemed it necessary. 

When he finally stopped laughing, Morton told us to make sure that whenever we came down to make certain that we stopped by his office to say hello. Hell of a guy, that Jim Morton… 

The third thing that we were very surprised about is that when it became public knowledge that were now ‘persona non gratis’, we didn’t note one single post about it on the local message board, unlike the first time. That was a shocker! 

Finally, someone who is very familiar with the situation here on Long Island called us, and suggested (in their very own very sarcastic way) that perhaps personnel at the track just weren’t used to us giving a compliment when the track added the One-On-One Spectator Drags to every Saturday night show for the rest of the season. 

This past Saturday, we were able to not have to spend an hour and 20 minutes each way back and forth to Riverhead. We enjoyed a rare day off during the season with nice weather with the family. 

So, our plan for upcoming Saturday nights are to visit one of the other tracks that we want to go to, not having to worry about being at Riverhead each and every week. So maybe we’ll be at Wall or Waterford or just hit a movie theater or maybe accept the invitations we receive to go out on a friend’s boat. At least we won’t have to go through the “drudgery” of having to write a column each and every week when we don’t attend a race. 

And, oh yeah--- Unless we are also being denied the right to purchase a ticket through the front gate, we’ll also make occasional trips to Riverhead, perhaps with a looser pen, and ready to write a column--- this time without the constraints that we’ve been under for the past decade. That could be fun--- especially for readers of this column.

 *****

Those are out thoughts this time.  What’s yours?   Questions, comments, and complaints will reach us at liracenews@hotmail.com. Until next time, Happy Motoring!

     Mike Fields has written for the Area Auto Racing News, Raceway Media Magazine, as well as being a contributing author for the book Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul.  He has also been a co-host of a weekly motorsports radio program, and a track announcer. Fields currently writes a weekly internet column, and is an occasional contributing columnist for the Riverhead Racer, the track program for Long Island's Riverhead Raceway.

     While not at his full-time job (babysitting his very rambunctious 4 1/2-year-old grandson), he is the owner of LMF Associates, in the nutrition and weight loss industry. He may be contacted by e-mail at info@LongIslandMotorsports.com, or by phone at (516) 376-4028.

Modified graphic by Tom Coufalik of www.pcracers.net.

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