Something New, or Old

            November 25, Chico, CA--- Well the NASCAR season is over, what to do now. I can honesty say I didn’t really pay much attention to the last few races; I just didn’t feel the excitement. Maybe that is just me, but I just don’t get the chase thing. I miss the old days of racing. Not that I am really old enough to remember the 80’s or earlier days of NASCAR, but I have tons of old tapes and videos of the old guys running. The history of NASCAR is more exciting then the present, well at least to me. So when I was messing around online, in one of the many racing forums I go to, I came across this new series starting up in May of 2008. Called OSRCT, Old School Racing Championship Tour. I have to admit, at first I thought, yeah right what is this about, but after going to the site, OSRCT.com, I was very surprised to see what this was about. Old school drivers back on the track, in some short track Saturday night racing. There is a God, and he is a stockcar fan! 

            So I called one of the founders of this “New” Old School series and I loved what I heard. Not only is this a series for the legends of NASCAR but drivers from other forms of racing. Drivers that are eligible include NASCAR CUP, Busch, and Truck race winners, series champs from ACRA, CART, and Indy Car, and any previous Indy 500 winners that are not currently running full time in any other series.  

            Races will be run like this:  Wednesday, Thursdays, or Fridays, on short tracks ¾ of a mile or smaller, for driver safety. They will be held nearby a NASCAR event the following Saturday or Sunday. Races will be 100 laps or less. The season kicks off on

May 18^th 2008 at the Concord Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina with a 10 race schedule.  A champion will be crowned at the New Smyrna Speedway in February of 2009. 

            The format will be a little different then what some of us normally see but just as fun. Drivers are only able to compete in 6 of the 10 races in the season. The best five of a drivers six races will be put toward their points for the year. After 10 regular season races, the top 10 in drivers points will advance to the Championship race. The drivers 11^th and further in points will have a “Last Chance Race” the night before the “Championship Race”. The top 10 drivers in the Last Chance Race will go to the Championship race, to determine the Champ of the OSRCT. 

            What I like about this series is the charity part of it. Each driver is racing for a charity of their choice, and for themselves. The drivers will have the logo of what charity they are running for on the side of their cars. To get some more info I called Gene Weaver, founder of OSRCT. 

Don Runkle: Now you and your brother started this series, what gave you guys the idea for this? 

Gene Weaver:  My brother has been racing for about 25 years, and I have been a team owner, he and I in the ARCA series for about 9 years now, and we go down to Daytona all the time, our father raced, its been in our blood for a long time. I know a lot of these racers from way back when, and we go back and forth to a lot of races and talked about this, and we always wondered what these old guys are doing now. I was sitting watching the Daytona 500 last year, with Darrell Waltrip announcing, and he said about 15 times, “I wish I was rubbing fenders with these guys”. My thought was, well, why aren’t you?! We put this series together answering that question. I sat up till about 3 AM after the race and came up with the answers. I wanted to come up with the answers to not make this series fail. Lots of people have tried this before, and what didn’t make it work was a grueling schedule, they raced many times a week. The cars were hard to adjust, the drivers didn’t like them. That was one of the answers I came up with, what would make these guys want to do this again? Make a car that they could say “its pushing like a truck, fix it!”  And we can do that. We have cars that we feel are safe, that is what kept some of these guys from doing this, safety. So that’s basically how we came up with this, after the Daytona 500 and thought how can we make this work? 

Don Runkle: You were talking about the safety part of it, is that why you decided to stick to short tracks? 

Gene Weaver: That’s exactly the reason, we have been asked to go to the “Rock” again, Andy Hillenburg asked us to go there, and we refused that…. 

Don Runkle: Now that was one of the tracks I know some fans wanted to see you go to… 

Gene Weaver: Its just too fast for this series, and we really don’t want to get these guys hurt, that’s why they will run with us, some of these guys that still compete run in the back of the field, at Daytona, and Talladega, they don’t want to get in the big one, these young driver have no fear, and these other guys know this. 

Don Runkle: Now the cars you guys will be running, are they compared to NASCAR Cup cars or what? 

Gene Weaver: They are exactly what a Busch North car is. The only difference is the nose and tail will be fiberglass, and they will be, right now, generic cars. If we get a manufacture, like Ford or Chevy then they will all be that. If someone partners with us then that’s what we will go with. 

Don Runkle: Hoosiers or Goodyear? 

Gene Weaver: UMM Maybe! Same situation. 

Don Runkle: Any chance of having both? 

Gene Weaver: No we can’t do that, because of the drivers. Everything needs to be the same, if someone gets Hoosiers and wins, then someone going to think were cheating. These guys are so competitive, it’s unreal, and some of these guys want to inspect the other cars after the race! I’m not lying! It’s unreal.  

Don Runkle:  I really don’t want to compare this to another series, but it’s going to be kind of like IROC, right? 

Gene Weaver: Yes, in a way, but more exciting to watch. It’s not going to be guys going nose to tail for most of the race, and then pass near the end. If they would have gone to short tracks and gone fender to fender, I think it would have been a fun series. Which is why I can’t wait for these guys, this is where most of these guys started, short tracks. It’s what they love. 

Don Runkle:   So is there a main series sponsor yet, what’s being worked out on that? 

Gene Weaver: We are working on a title sponsor, it’s been pushed up some, so we will see, its probably going to be a fast-food chain, but…. well, I will leave it at that. 

Don Runkle: Ok, we look forward to that. So the first race is in 2008, in May right? 

Gene Weaver: Yes, that’s right, it’s at Concord, during NASCAR all-star week, the night after. The all-star race is on a Saturday night; our first race is the next day on Sunday. 

Don Runkle: So how are you working it as far as the crews that work on the cars and all that? 

Gene Weaver: We have guys like Butch Fedewa that are going to help us with setups, and stuff like that, and other drivers too, we have guys coming out of the woodwork to help us with this. For things like setup, and testing and such. During the race there are only a couple of things that these drivers are going to be able to adjust, the cars will be setup before the race, we will have a test then qualifying, and if the drivers want to change something, they can only do tire pressure and wedge. There should not be a lot of adjustments needed and we want to make it simple. These cars will all be the same, shocks the same, tires, everything the same. There will be a crew for each car, 2 guys for each car. We will get local guys from the tracks we go to, and go to the pit crews from the local teams and get guys for the cars that way.  

Don Runkle: How will cars, for the drivers be picked? 

Gene Weaver: At noon before the race drivers will pick pills, for what car they will be in. They will always be the same number but different cars depending on which one they pick. That’s the only way we could do it, these guys are so competitive, that’s the only way they would have us do it. These guys are amazing, they want to be sure all the cars are the same.  

Don Runkle: I really don’t want to ask a question that compares you guys to NASCAR, but it’s hard to talk about a stock car series without saying it, but as far as the rules go, with the “lucky dog” the green, white, checkered, things of that nature, are you going that way with this? 

Gene Weaver: Heck No! We are doing it more like a Saturday night short track rules. Cautions laps will not count, we are running two 50 laps races, the first 50 laps will be for the charity race. The second 50 laps will be for the drivers. 

Don Runkle: Well I have to ask…. Any chance of the King, Richard Petty getting in one of these? 

Gene Weaver: No, not at all, we haven’t talked to him, but I have heard many times that he will not get back in a race car because of health reasons not because of anything else. He has taken so many concussions I don’t think he wants to take that chance again. Randy Lajoie is dong all of our safety work too, by the way. 

Don Runkle: The big question, are we going to see this on T.V.? Maybe Speed Channel? 

Gene Weaver: Umm, well, I can’t answer that right now, I can say that we hope it will be. That’s the first thing most everyone says is can “I watch this on T.V.?”  Who wouldn’t want to watch it? I get chills just thinking about it, getting these guys back on the track, these drivers are my hero’s, and my dad’s hero’s, and my brothers. We are working on that, yeah. I can say if anyone wants to see this on Speed or whatever, call Speed, send emails and tell them “we want to see this!” and if they see that fans want to see it then it will be there.  

Don Runkle: Now what price are we looking at to go see this at the tracks? 

Gene Weaver: We will hold all ticket prices under $25. Also we will have a half hour autographs sessions before the races for the fans.  It will cost $5 for people and all the money from that will go to charity.  

Don Runkle: That will be great for fans to meet and shake the hands of some of these drivers. 

Gene Weaver: Yes, and the charity that this money will go to is “Retired Racers Foundation” The principles of this company are starting a Retired Racers Foundation, and some of the people that have agreed to be on the board Cathy Venturini, Dave Marcus, Mrs. Nemechek, will be on the board, Joe’s mother, Mrs. Schrader, she has agreed also. The money we raise, they will decide who gets this money, a racer that needs the money that may be in a bad way, or something. When we started looking for drivers, we were surprised on how these guys are living now. Some are hard off.  

Don Runkle: That has not been something that has have a lot of attention, drivers that are bad off because of injuries or whatever it may be. 

Gene Weaver: And that’s what we are trying to do, and this is not just for a NASCAR driver, it’s for any driver that needs it, any driver that needs help or something.  

Don Runkle: That will be great. I see that there is a dirt track on the schedule too! 

Gene Weaver:  Eldora, yeah, wow! We thought can we do this? I mean we race ARCA and they did it, so yeah it can easily be done. 

Don Runkle: Well I really want to thank you for taking the time for me. 

Gene Weaver: Sure, no problem, also we are looking for car sponsorship, presenting sponsors, race sponsors, our whole budget for a year is less then what it takes for a Busch team. We are looking for things for like a pole award, halfway leader, hard charger, things like that. We were going to do one for Rookie of the Year, but that won’t work here. These guys are far from rookies! 

 

             I know that I can’t wait for OSRCT to start, and I hope it is around for a while. If you want more info on OSRCT go check out their website at OSRCT.COM, you can also find contact info, a drivers list, and the full schedule, there.  

Don Runkle

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 Runkle has worked for Causey Motorsports in Hampton, Va. for 4 years, was a part-time Crew Chief for Rette Causey,  driver of #33 INEX/Legends car in 2005 at Langley Speedway in Virginia, as well as being a crew member for Brad Causey in Grand Stock division at Langley Speedway.  He's currently the webmaster of CauseyRacing.com.

Runkle has been racing "online" for about 5 years, served in the US Navy as a Gunners Mate in the Navy Seabees and is currently living in Chico, Ca. in the beautiful North Valley of California, with his even more beautiful wife, Kristina. God Bless all of the troops serving around the world!

For any question, comments, complaints, or just to say “Hi” please feel free to email him at Runksix3@gmail.com. Don welcomes anything you have to say and will get back to you. If you have something you would like for Don to cover, let him know.  And as always, thanks for reading his column.