Bigger and Biggest: Tracy Hines Tackles Terre Haute & DuQuoin
NEW CASTLE, Ind.—August 27, 2014— Last weekend, Tracy Hines competed on one of the smallest tracks he’ll face all season, the quarter-mile Kokomo Speedway in Indiana. This weekend, he’ll take on two of the largest, the half-mile Terre Haute Action Track in a Sprint Car and the one-mile DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in a Silver Crown machine.
Hines takes to the track on Friday, August 29 at the Terre Haute Action Track for the running of the Jim Hurtubise Classic for the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series. He will then head to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois for the Ted Horn 100 for the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series on Sunday, August 31.
“Terre Haute and DuQuoin are two of the most historic dirt tracks you can go to,” said Hines. “I’m proud to be able to say that I’ve won at both. We’ve been pretty strong on the bigger tracks this year with the sprint car, so that has us optimistic for Friday night. We’ve definitely been fast on the mile tracks this year in qualifying and that is the key, in order to start up front.”
This season, the veteran driver has made one start at the Terre Haute Action Track, finishing eighth in the Tony Hulman Classic on May 21, aboard The Carolina Nut Company DRC. He lined up fourth for that event at the half-mile, after winning the third heat race. Hines opened the night as the third-fastest driver in time trials. In his career at the Terre Haute Action Track, Hines has two wins with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series.
Hines is a two-time winner with the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series at DuQuoin, taking the checkered flag first in 2005 and repeating that feat in 2006. In his career at the one-mile dirt oval, the native of New Castle, Indiana, has eight top-10 finishes in Silver Crown competition, with seven of those being top-fives, including five podium finishes. Last season, Hines finished 14th at DuQuoin. With the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series in 2014, Hines has five top-five finishes in six races, piloting the Hughs Brothers/Midwest Sheet Metal Beast for Lightfoot Racing. He set fast time and finished third on the mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in May, and also was fastest in time trials at the Illinois State Fairgrounds earlier this month, before rain postponed the 100-lap Tony Bettenhausen Memorial.
Last weekend, Hines competed in the third edition of the Sprint Car Smackdown for the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series at Kokomo Speedway in his home state of Indiana. The opening night of action on Thursday, August 21, was postponed by rain and run in the afternoon on Saturday, August 23. Hines finished 14th in that main event, after racing his way through the B-main. On Friday, August 22, he also crossed the line 14th in the main event. The finale of the event was pushed back to Sunday, August 24, with Hines finishing 14th yet again.
“The Smackdown didn’t go how we had hoped,” he noted. “The weather was definitely a challenge, but everyone at the track did a great job and were able to make do with the tough hand they were dealt. We would have liked to have contended for three wins, but we got a little behind in qualifying on the first two nights and then had some bad luck as well and had to dig ourselves out of that.”
Entering the Jim Hurtubise Classic at the Terre Haute Action Track, Hines is eighth in points with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series. With the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series, the 2000 series champion is second in the standings as he chases his second series crown.
Tracy Hines Racing would like to thank Primary Sponsors: The Carolina Nut Company, Hansen’s Welding Inc, Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts, and MPHG Promotions Inc. Associate Sponsors for 2014 include: ProSource Professional Resources, Turbines Inc., Daum Crop Insurance, Parker Machinery, Stanton Racing Engines and Schipper Family Farms. Product Sponsors that are part of Tracy Hines Racing in 2014 include: Afco Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Autonet Mobile, Indy Race Parts, Bell Racing, Kenny’s Components, Race Bumpers, Hoosier Racing Tires, CSI Competition Suspension, Shadow Graphix, Driven Racing Oil, Sander Engineering, Hughs Brothers and Midwest Sheet Metal.
For more information on Tracy Hines Racing, visit http://www.tracyhinesracing.
Our Drivers – So Close and Yet so Far Away
I grew up in a different era of NASCAR and I’ve recently realized how much things have changed while I wasn’t paying attention. It feels as though I have awoken from a deep sleep, like in a fairy tale, and nothing is the same.
I look at my wall of autographs and I can almost feel the history behind the signatures. When I close my eyes I can remember walking up to drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Ken Schrader, Dick Trickle, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip; getting autographs and talking to them. They treated each fan, from the first to the last, as special and you felt appreciated. I was able to chat with drivers at local tracks, I learned so much and made friends with many.
This was a time when drivers didn’t have any more money than the fans, they were just like us. That was the appeal; they didn’t see themselves as heroes, they were racers. We paid for a ticket and they thanked us by signing autographs until there were no more fans in line. Fans were the car owners, fans were the sponsors, fans were important.
The NASCAR drivers sought out the fans, anxious to get their name out there. Along with winning races, that is what brought in the sponsors. Today the situation is reversed and the drivers are pretty much owned by the sponsors and their teams. NASCAR has become so commercialized, that the blue collar sport of yesterday has been lost.
The point I am trying to make is this; the drivers were accessible. It isn’t like today where you run the risk of being trampled by 500 fans trying to get Jimmie Johnson’s autograph when he only has an hour before being rushed away by his sponsor to another event.
I experienced this firsthand last year when I had a pass for a Nationwide race and thought I would see how hard it would be to get autographs. It was a frustrating experience to say the least. I was wearing a boot that went from my foot to my knee, due to an injury. I bravely stood in the area as drivers walked by and I assumed I would be given a little room because of my foot, I was wrong. Basically I was tackled more than Tony Romo on any given Sunday and I finally gave up. I got some autographs but it took me a week to recover from the ordeal.
That is when I began to wonder how disabled fans get autographs? How do fans that can’t afford to go to a race get them? How do older fans that can’t stand in lines for hours to attend an autograph session get them? There has to be an easier way for those fans that want to meet their favorite driver but are restricted.
Then it hit me. Perhaps I can submit an envelope with a picture and a self addressed envelope with postage already paid. Maybe that is now the best way to get an autograph. I did this years ago for a little boy who was unable to write to his hero; Dale Earnhardt Sr. Earnhardt not only sent him an autograph but other items as well.
I was stunned to discover that it’s not that simple anymore. You can no longer just send in a picture or a hero card and request an autograph. Most major teams schedule driver autograph sessions or you can purchase autographed items from their stores.
Pay for an autograph? Really? Something as simple as getting an autograph shouldn’t be so hard, should it?
Autographs are as important to the sport as the fan that will stand in line for hours to obtain them. I understand that, yes, the drivers are pulled around from place to place and do the best they can, but the fans are losing out and it’s the fans who put these drivers in the cars. The fans are the heart of NASCAR and having to pay for an autograph is ludicrous. As it stands now, there is a disconnect between the drivers and their fans.
I don’t think fans feel very important to NASCAR or the drivers today. Let’s get a show of hands. How many fans feel special these days? No show of hands needed, the empty seats say it all. Look at the stands now and then look at the stands back in the days of Tim Richmond, Harry Gant and Richard Petty. Where did the fans go?
It saddens me to see those empty seats and I worry about the state of the sport in general. Fans need to feel engaged again, need to know that the sport they love will listen to them and believe that each and every one of them is important. NASCAR needs to remember that without the fans, there is no NASCAR.
