STAFFORD – The words came with excitement from a longtime Modified racing fan walking the midway at Stafford Motor Speedway Friday afternoon.
“My boy Ron Silk is gonna make it two big wins in a row Saturday at Monadnock,” the fan exclaimed. When told that Silk wasn’t actually going to the event, the reaction from the fan was hardly unexpected, but very unfortunate.
“Their website says he’s going to be there, I looked this morning.” the fan said.
Promoting special event “one-off” type races like the Open Modified race scheduled to take place Saturday at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. can be a tricky task.
Any promoter involved in hyping up an event in an effort to get fans in attendance needs to have somewhat of a carnival barker mentality of spewing a lot of loud information in the hopes of just grabbing attention and getting the patron to at least examine what their product is.
And nobody can fault Gary Knight, the organizer of Saturday’s inaugural Winchester 200 at Monadnock. Knight, who created the Modified Tour Series “sanctioning body” last fall, has done a fine job of using traditional advertising, word of mouth, the internet and the tools of social media these days to try to get the word out about his event, not only to prospective teams, but also to fans.
But promoting something that isn’t going to happen as possibly happening is really dirty pool.
This was very clear last year when the Tri-Track Open Modified Racing Series ran the first of its two races at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. The first event was a special Sunday show at the track.
In the weeks leading up to the event, series promoters had spread the word that Tommy Barrett Jr. would be competing in the event. It was really a great aspect of promotion for the event. Barrett had lost his ride earlier in the season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour because of an arrest in April 2015 and had only raced in one other Open Modified show after the arrest.
Barrett coming to the Speedbowl was a nice hype token for race organizers. The problem was, after it became clear that Barrett was not going to race in the event, organizers chose to keep the information hushed.
The September event at the Speedbowl was scheduled for Sunday, with the track running a regular weekly show the night before. And throughout the afternoon and evening at the Speedbowl, announcers hyped Barrett coming to the track the next day. Those in the know knew by Thursday of that week that Barrett was not going to be racing in the show. Management of the Tri-Track Series knew it. And yet they stood idly by and let unknowing announcers continue the hype of what event organizers knew was a false promotion.
On Sunday many fans in attendance were asking the question: “Where is Tommy Barrett Jr.?” They got duped.
There have been many names bandied around for expected arrival at Saturday’s Winchester 200 at Monadnock. The problem being, it’s one thing to promote that someone might be interested, it’s another to give the false impression that someone is committed.
Having a rundown of names on your website titled “Winchester 200 Roster” that includes many names that event organizers know won’t be there is just unfair promoting.
As of Friday afternoon many fans of Modified racing were still looking at the “roster” as who they thought was going to be there.
As of Friday afternoon, three former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champions – Todd Szegedy, Ron Silk and Donny Lia – were still listed on the “roster” for the event. None of them will be attending. It’s not that they never intended to. They were expected to, but all of their teams made decisions on their own not to attend. And it was known as of Wednesday that none of those three will be attending.
And the former Whelen Modified Tour champions were just three of at least six on the “roster” that organizers knew this week would not be coming. Changing a listing of drivers on a website should take a few minutes at most.
On Friday at Stafford Speedway fans and even those involved with race teams were still mentioning the “list of drivers online” when it came to the event. Some saying their decision to attend was because of those names. Names that were not going, that race organizers know aren’t going.
Nobody is knocking the effort Knight has made to make this event happen. And there’s no denying that big money races for Modifieds can only help short track racing in the Northeast. But using false promotion is the wrong way to do things.
There are people that live by the “fool me once” credo. And if and when Knight does another event, promoting with another phantom “roster”, people who feel they got duped this time will remember and Modified racing overall will suffer for it, and that’s really unfortunate.
This type of marketing is deceptive at best. I consider it out and out fraud. For all NASCAR’s faults at least they seem to keep an updated entry list posted, unlike one series down here that refused to post one at all. When questioned, the response was something to the effect that it can change so we don’t bother to post one. I guess that’s one way of hiding low car counts and a lack of “big name”
drivers attending. Promoters….give your paying fans the correct information they might surprise you. One thing is for certain…if you fool me once with this kinda crap you won’t get a second chance.
Future?
The future is NOW!!!!
Looks like this promoter is living up to his reputation and the commensurate low expectations.
Good luck!!!!
Same can be said for the VMRS at stafford. No TC. But he’s on the entry sheet.
It is people like you who bash promoters and just plain do a lousy job of reporting on racing that are a big problem! I will not defend Knights position on telling of the ones he knows of who are not going as that may be true! I will tell you this though you are a piece of rubbish for bad mouthing anything the TRI- TRACK series has done! That series has been because of the hard work of a few good men and they have done all they could to put a good race on for the fans and be honest with the drivers! If all you know how to do is start trouble and cause problems why don’t find another playground to do your dirty deeds cause frankly nobody respects what you have to say!
Just because a driver is on the entry list doesn’t mean he or she will be there.
Entries are filed well in advance of the race. Happens to every series.
Lots of times a promoter will post an ad or flyer with drivers on them who won’t be there.
Silk could go, blow an engine in warm ups and go home, what’s the difference?
Hey Patrick Tetreault, If you didn’t notice, this is kinda Shawn’s playground and if you don’t respect him as you state, then feel free to exit the sand box, stage left. He stated facts of what has gone on and what the ramifications are. What Knight and Co. has done has been flagrant. Reporting that Barrett was advertised as a starter well after they knew he would not compete makes the TriTrack Series guilty of the same thing, perhaps on a more limited basis-nothing wrong with stating facts. Maybe for the next race in the new series, Mr. Knight will claim that Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr. and Ricky Bobby are entered for the event. When one person or entity erodes credibility of race promoters, it affects which competitors might decide to stick their necks out. That lead to fans becoming skeptical about making the trip and buying tickets and a vicious cycle emerges. If promoters can’t be believed concerning who is racing, can they be believed that they will be paying out prize money. Mr Eames pretty well destroyed Waterford using that tactic. Stuff happens and plans change, but an updated website or a fresh press release is all it takes to be above board with fans.
So does this mean that Preece is the only Big Dog that will be there? Just give him the $15,000.
Wow! Shawn once again has blown the lid off of the hidden tricks of race promotion.
I’m not sure if MTS had drivers send in their entries like the Tri Track Series does but if you sent in your entry it’s fair game to announce that you’re entered in the event.
What a great idea to post this blog the day before the event. You should really think about going back to covering women’s basketball.
I’m not supporting Knight but don’t you think it is wrong to try to destroy a tracks live gate by making these kinds of statements true or not. If you read his statements carefully there is bias in it no doubt! The Tri Track Series has been a breathe of fresh air for the fans and competitors but yet this story that has nothing to do with them was somehow used to slam their efforts as well! True Mod race fans do not appreciate this kind of journalism! I seriously doubt I’m the 1st to think his writings are awful and normally I wouldn’t comment but I’ve been to every Tri Track race and watched Jim and his men bust their ass to put a show on that makes us all happy and find it nothing short of disgraceful and disrespectful as a true MOD fan to hear someone attack them!
Well, now I know for sure that this event is just another VMRS race, but with a bigger purse.
No big deal, racing won’t be any better.
Looks like this can end up being a Preece vs Hirschman match race.
Soooo…., a news/media outlet shouldn’t post facts????
Hey Shawn its Chris from NH.Have not posted in awhile.Keep up the GREAT work I love your website
This entire article is mutiny on modified racing and it’s supporting tracks. This is a direct slap in the face to Mr. Knight and the owners of the Monadnock Speedway. Loading people up with this nonsense is only hurting the modified racing scene. I do not agree with Shawn’s tactic of creating an article on what a fan says when we all know the truth. Entry cards mean nothing. If you want to find out who’s racing that night, take a walk through the pits and I’m sure most of these drivers have FB pages that can expose some info on where they are or are not going racing. Shawn, you’re not helping, you’re hurting. On the flip side, Gary should not be touting his rooster until he makes phone calls to these teams and they commit and even then, it’s not a sure deal but I would have to believe Gary is reading what is in black and white and laying right in front of him.
The Tri Track Series is a joke just like Knight’s scam is.
I go to at least 60 – 70 races a year all over the Northeast, but I steer clear of any Tri Track races, just like I avoid anything having to do with Knight.
The Tri Track deal is nothing more than a couple egocentrics who want a small crowd to pat themselves on the back, and don’t have a clue (or care) how to properly promote and stage a race.
I have been attending races for over 40 years, and in all that time I have never seen so many so-called promoters in the Northeast outright lie about who will be racing to try and lure a few more fans to attend their events.
The GSPSS is doing the same crap by promoting at least 3 drivers for their event at WMMP, that GSPSS officials know will be racing at the Star PASS North race instead.
The problem is that it’s too easy to be a crappy promoter these days.
I couldn’t agree more with Patrick. First, if teams paid registration fee’s then let them post on Facebook to their fans that they decided not to go after all. I’m OK with him listing teams that paid registration. As for the Tri-Track Series, they had 40 cars show up that day and an awesome field of drivers. One decided not to go. They are not mis-leading the public. The Tri-Track group has been really good for the modified teams even making sure the smaller dollar teams get paid to race. Grouping them in this article was not right. Oh well, I’m off to Monadnock today to see an open competition show. It will be like the old days, it will be a surprise to who rolls in. In any case I would rather go to these type of shows than what I saw at the Spring Sizzler. Fastest in the front single file all day.
NH Mod Fan,
Most of the teams on that list DID not pay any early entry fee. They indicated interest, they did not pay any entry fees.
PT Jr. says, “I’m not supporting Knight but don’t you think it is wrong to try to destroy a tracks live gate by making these kinds of statements true or not.”
Wow, you don’t want to know facts? And you want to make sure nobody else does?
The promoter is destroying the tracks live gate by promoting something that is not going to happen: Silk, Szegedy, Lia. This event is nothing more than a VMRS race, with a couple guests such as Preece and Hirschman, if they show up. Reporting what the promoter is doing is not a bad thing. NOT reporting what the promoter is doing is a bad thing.
Wait till the local crowd sees not much more than the VMRS regulars.
If teams didn’t pay a registration fee than I agree they should not be listed!
Shawn, I don’t think the Tri-Track should be included into this conversation. They have done a really good job with these open shows. For a driver absent here and there compared to who has has been at their shows doesn’t compare. Their credibility to put on a show and pay the teams is top notch.
NH Mod Fan,
The majority of the drivers/teams on that “roster” did not pay any registration/entry fee. They either filled out a pre-registration form (simply indicating interest in participating) or indicated in person or by phone to organizers that they were interested. As far as the Tri-Track series, I’m not knocking them in the column in general for any promotion they do, just using that one incident as an example of using false promotion of something you know is not going to happen. It left a bad taste in the mouth of many patrons at the Speedbowl.
As a consumer, don’t I have a right to know what I’m buying? For a $30 ticket, I want to have a good idea about who will be there. Not sure how Shawn or anybody else is hurting the gate by notifying folks that the drivers advertised to be there aren’t going to be there. There are folks driving in from Long Island as we speak with an expectation that drivers will be there. Imagine their surprise if they haven’t been paying attention to this board.
In all honestly, the purses are great for the drivers no doubt but as a fan I don’t care if they are racing for a box of donuts. The entry list is everything! I want to see the guys I want to see race. You think the TC fans or the Preece fans or the Coby fans don’t make a decision about attending a race based on whether or not their guy is entered?? Come on now people. At the end of the day, these organizers only need to report the truth and good things will happen. We as ticket buyers have a right to know what we are buying though.
Roster #1: TC, Preece, Coby, Lia, Santos, Silk, Pennink, Blewett, Szegedy, Pitkat, Solomito
Roster #2: VMRS regulars.
This event is roster #2.
Get it? It’s nothing more than an unofficial MRS event. Even regular MRS events have an occasional Tour invader.
If you notice, NASCAR racing posts no information about purses and winnings anymore. It’s all about the roster.
I check the roster to see what cars are showing up for that is what makes or breaks the event.
There is a huge difference between having a driverteam no show (it happens) and lying to your customers after you KNOW that they won’t attend. #lying vs #s-happens
Lying to customers is bad business and stupid. If a promotion lies to me, I will never go back.
If you want to make a splash with an open show like this, it has to take place at a track like Stafford or Thompson, one of the main tracks for modified racing. No offense to Monadnock, but it is an off-Broadway location and MRS is the home team.
You don’t see NFL games at high school fields, NHL games at local rinks, MLB games on sandlots, or NBA games at high school gyms, all for a good reason.
This has nothing to do with heart and soul, effort, blood and sweat of the promoter. The promoter is taking a risk, all his risk. I am not gambling on going to this event. I’m not spending my money to reward effort. I want results and all efforts do not achieve acceptable results. This is turning out to be a race populated with MRS teams and the usual couple of invaders. No big deal at all.
If I want to support a cause, I donate to things that address autism, drug addiction, alcoholism, cancer research, cardiac health, education, etc.
Results are in, 22 cars. Did someday call that, 22 cars? Goodale and Pennink(#16) are here. Won’t need a last chance race. Heats should go by fast as everyone is in the show. Looks like feature is at 8:30, maybe earlier. Not too many VMRS guys either. Just a handful from each series and Monadnock weekly guys. MTS facebook page has been silent for three days now. Overall, a decent field, not spectacular by any means though.
Whole bunch of hype in NH this weekend for 22 cars. See yall at open wheel Wednesday.
According to speed 51, there are 22 cars on hand. So if you go by just a numbers standpoint, complete flop.
Why even write this? You’re saying realistically that if you were PR for a seires and a big name driver at first registered for your race then backed out a few days before the race you would put out an article saying “–Insert Driver Here– Isn’t going to the race this weekend”? no way you would be fired as fast as cup cars at Daytona. Drivers are busy or sometimes look at the situation and feel it’s not worth going to the race anymore but if they said they were going and the seires reported what was AT THE TIME true you can’t bash them for that
My opinion stop posting articles that bash seires,etc and report on things that really matter in racing. Obviously you have a lot of time on your hands to write this up…
Hey Jeff, 22 is not 35. Read… this was hyped, supposed to have been 35 cars. Off by 13 cars.
This isn’t bashing, simply discussing the facts.
Jeff, are you saying that PR is expected to BS?
Jeff, sadly PR is expected to BS. And calling out PR for, er, doing their job, is not bashing.
Preece wins!!!!!
Yes Shawn, why did you write this? This article is the reason why 20 more cars didn’t show up. Thanks for ruining what was suppose to be the biggest modified event of the year. You should know by now nobody wants to read about facts….. And by the way I actually saw some posts somewhere that they were thinking high 40’s for a car count, never mind 35.
Just got home 1/2 hr ago.Indeed a disappointing turnout for such a haul,but still a good show hirschman,preece,goodale,pastreyak,pennick,hinkley all put on a good show.It seems even in a race like this some people enter and get lapped every 15 laps.if people are noncompetitive and there are no points involved,why aren’t they black flagged.they are in the way out there
Now lets see in the coming days and weeks if stories of non-payment, or lower than expected payment to drivers start to emerge.
Larry Cirillo himself said you would need at least 35 entries to make that race work. I guess Knight even pulled the wool over his eyes too.
I find it interesting that the RaceDayCT weekly poll asking people to predict the winner of the Winchester 200 included a few drivers(seuss, mckennedy, jankowiak) that weren’t at the race. Shouldn’t this website be commented on in an article being brought to task for misleading fans. I think these promoters have a difficult time figuring out who will be at these open shows. Pass at star had Joey Pole registered for their race last night, when most people knew he would be chasing points at the Act race at Waterford. He filed an entry for the original show but could not make the rescheduled makeup. Stafford had TC and Kirk Alexander listed for their Valenti event Friday and they were not in attendance. These things happen, I don’t rely on posted entry lists and race day schedules as they often are incorrect or subject to change.
What I don’t understand is what it takes to get modified teams to show up to an open event show. If 15k to win and 1k to start gets an almost full field of 22 cars, how do we get a great field of Mods to one of these open shows. I am thinking maybe if it was held on a different night where drivers aren’t committed to running for points either at the beginning or end of the season a race like this may be successful. Then again teams may be out of money not have their cars together and cold weather may hurt the gate. I applaud this promoter, tritrack and seekonk for giving mod fans and drivers these special events to go to. It would be great to see all the best modified drivers battle it out in one event but sadly I dont think we will ever see it happen.
Pole isn’t running for ACT Tour points, Waterford was the first ACT Tour race of the season for him, and PASS wasn’t using him to promote the race at Star, the GSPSS on the other hand were using 3 drivers (Shaw, Davis, and Griffin) to promote their race at WMMP, when they knew over a week before hand those drivers would be racing at Star.
It’s not too difficult for a race like this to just use PAID ENTRY fees to promote who was coming, not make up a list like Knight did.
Also, if you want teams to support a race like this, than you better get someone who the teams & fans trust to promote it, and has a good track record. Knight’s reputation thus far has been to over-promise and under-deliver with the tour type mods at Claremont.
cg, to get the Big Dogs to show up, it is about three things: location, location, location. Then the purse is also important.
A first time event for this promoter was also not a strong point.
But if you are going to do a modified open show and want the big dogs to show up, the event had better take place at track that is a regular venue for the big dogs. Run the same tires and rules as the big dogs regularly run.
Then they will show up and take the gloves off.
Mckennedy and Jankowiak were there dummy.
Rich, you say this article is the reason 20 or more cars didn’t show. So you are saying there were 20 cars loaded up on Friday when the article was written who read Shawn’s article and then changed their mind about attending? Even though there was $150 entry fee involved. The article didn’t seem to scare away fans, it was a very good crowd.
If only stafford would run an open show….
The one fatal floor for this event car count wise was allowing unlimited tires. When you have certain teams bolting stickers on everytime the car goes out on the track..
I’m a little late to the party, but I have some feedback. While you did speak with fact, you attempted to tarnish a race by exaggerating the unknown. What’s more is you used fact to voice your opinion and not spread an actual news story, which will also ‘scare fans away’ as you wrote. There’s also no coverage on your site of anything to do with the race afterwards, which tells me that you personally do not support this race or series, much like TTOMS. That right there will scare more fans away than a promoter naming names (and big names DID show), you are doing nothing more than steering people away as if it was your only goal. Stick to covering the news, let the races play their course and then voice your opinion. From the sounds of it, it was a great show, a lot better than you intentionally made it sound.
I think American Racer tires being one of the few “sponsors” for this race played a role in allowing unlimited tires.
$150.00 entry fee seemed steep as well.
When you are using SK lights to fill the field, I guess the race wasn’t as big as the promoters hoped it would be.
my bad. Was Seus there? I imagine he wasn’t or you would have mentioned him too. 1 for 3 is a .333 batting avg which is pretty good for the mlb. I didn’t make it to the show. I scanned the results late last night and must have missed them. Still my point was, it is difficult to know who is going to be at these shows. The writer made a point of indicating the promoters advertise drivers will be at an event then they don’t show as being deceptive and dishonest then he did the same thing with his poll. I don’t think the writer intentionally misled his readers. He prepared the poll using the best information available at the time he put his pole together which I believe the promoters do most of the time with their entry lists.
Nice to see Preece back in the area for some Mod racing. Preece was the show at Stafford Friday night in the SK’s. I think he said in the interview he is only going to be back for a couple of other stafford shows which is a shame.
Matt,
There was copious amounts of news stories promoting this event for months on this website. And there was a story posted this morning reporting the results. It was a column stating an opinion about a practice that is not a good one. It had nothing to do with anything but that act of using deceptive marketing to attract fans. Simple as that.
Matt, you probably hate Consumer Reports for revealing fraud and crappy products. Again, if an entity did not try to get over with deception, misleading, fraud, etc., then there would be no problem. Hey Matt, if I told you that big steak you had for dinner was horsemeat instead of Angus rib eye, would you be mad at me or the clown that sold it to you?
Shawn, any idea on what the composition of the field was, as in the kind of cars: NWMT, MRS, ROC, SK, SK light, etc.?
The article you mention was not posted at the time of my comment. But “column stating an opinion” is still an opinion, Shawn. All due respect, stabbing at something new is only going to hurt it, not help. You also voiced an opinion about a race that hadn’t run, when much of who would show was still unknown. As media you in a way promote the series, and implying your disapproval of the series because of how promotors advertise to hype an event only harms it. Bad press steers people away just as much as the politics. Me personally only wants the news, and I’m sure I speak for many when I say if we wanted your opinion we’d just add you on Facebook. I assumed this was about news and not so much Op-ed’s and blog posts, but my misjudgement.
Matt, if Shawn “promotes” by practicing deliberate ignorance, then people will be upset for not being informed. Shawn does a pretty good job. Just because he reports on things some would prefer were never disclosed just shows that it needs to be reported.
Matt said, “As media you in a way promote the series, …” Matt, that is so wrong. Media does not promote. Media reports. When media omits, it is then being biased. If Shawn were to not report the dubious nature of things associated with this event, then he could be accused of bias, favoritism, and negligence. If you don’t like the bad news, too bad.
But we now know so much more about you and your morals.
NH Mark, I was being completely sarcastic, which many of my posts are. It is hard to tell though sometimes from just reading print. Matt, is this your first time on this site? If so then I understand your confusion. I believe it was Sid from “Sids View” that began calling Shawn “blogger boy” years ago. Shawn can correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think he takes it in a derogatory way. Now I don’t know anything about media and a media code of conduct or whatever, but I don’t see how Shawn is suppose to be some sort of promoter for anything. Doesn’t this new series have their own promoters and public relations person? Again, Shawn can correct me if I’m wrong. I will say I’m sure this series isn’t the only one to be misleading to promote their product. Look at what Thompson is doing with the Rocco vs Rocco thing in the late models. Was Keith planning on being there last week? Did they ask him if he would be before making that video of the whole “rivalry” ? The way they were pushing it you would think the only reason to even attend the races last Wednesday was to see Keith and Jeff take each other out again and then Keith doesn’t even show up.
dareal u call yourself a MOD fan and you cant tell by the FINISH who was WHAT type car?
Open events like this MUST be at Stafford or Thompson. An OPEN event is to get the best of the best to show up. An itty-bitty track like Monadnock really doesn’t allow modifieds to show what they can do. Monadnock and other bullrings are really two turn tracks, sharp left and not-so-sharp left. Thompson and Stafford also have straightaways.
But let’s be real… are there really enough cars out there that are in the class of the NWMT 2, 4, 6, and 44 to produce a field of 35+ like cars?
Well I can tell you the car that finished 10th, 6 laps down was an SK lite car, so they couldn’t even get a full field of tour type modifieds.
…and try to sell me that people were paying $30 a head to see how badly a few tour guys could beat up on SK lite cars.
YES PLENTY OF CARS, u have the mindset that only few teams can win, WRONG
Monadnock Speedway is just fine. Thompson has run several different type of open shows in last 10yrs, all of them failed and no longer exist. Seekonk is a bullring and it’s the most successful open show going. Also. All I’ve been hearing about lately is how boring the various Stafford tour shows are. So why would an open show there be different?
dareal: Open shows at stafford and thompson would not bring big car counts. With the longer straightaways these track require competitive engines. Decent car counts at open shows rely on different engine options that racers from different tracks/series to show up. You can be competitive at bullring tracks without a full blown tour type engine (See Matt Hirschman). Nobody would bother showing up for a stafford/thompson open show.
I would much rather watch 25 cars at Monadnock than at Thompson or Stafford I would rather watch paint dry than watch drivers drive around hoping the guy in front of then makes a mistake so they can get by. Monadnock is clearly a 2 groove race track where as the other 2 are follow the leader just because the speeds are faster does not translate to a better race. You can pass someone at Monadnock without moving them if you are faster!
GGGBBB: I know and agree, BUT Stafford and Thompson are THE tracks for mods right now. Monadnock is off-off-off-Broadway. It’s a great local track, it’s a staple for the MRS (which is just barely more than a semi-organized open tour series.) Simply running more races dramatically increases your chances of being the MRS Champ. Very few actually run the entire season.
Any engine would be competitive at a bullring, and this shows every time. Agree. A bullring does not need horsepower, so just about any engine will do. And I also thought long ago that a track like Stafford or Thompson would be dominated by the usual cars that dominate at those tracks, and that would make many teams decide to not even bother.
I’m trying not to dwell on the carnival barker element of the this event, and come up with a good reason why this big $$$ event did not draw more premium teams. I have no choice but to conclude that this event was not aimed at the NWMT crowd. The bullring is not the mainstay of the NWMT, it is a sideshow.
But like I said earlier, are there enough cars in the Northeast (NWMT, ROC, VMRS, ???) that are in the class of the 2, 3, 4, 6, 16 that can fill a field, even send good cars home? Like it used to happen back in the day. GGGBBB, I agree with you totally about the competitive engine perspective, and it was something I ranted about when the SPEC was showing up. There isn’t even parity among SPEC engines, it’s ridiculous. The SPEC is unaffordable to the tight budget teams that buy used equipment, such as used built engines, and when those built engines are no longer serviceable, what is going to happen? Check with engine builders… how many new built Tour motor have been sold in the last couple years?