A semi-regular stew of news, opinions and social media meanderings from the world of racing and even far beyond
#BrandNewDay
There’s new life being breathed into the Tri-Track Open Modified Series for the 2020 season and Modified race fans and race teams will be the ones rewarded for that.
Series officials have brought on new faces in series management in Nicole LaRose and Missy Pearl. What they will bring to the series – along with a plethora of new plans coming from the series operators – will stand as improvements that will make the event experience demonstratively more enjoyable and interesting for fans and competitors at every event next year.
#GoSeeTheLights
Listen, make the trip to Loudon for this, you won’t be disappointed.
#MakingAList
Dear Santa,
Please let there be a 2020 Thompson Speedway schedule under the Christmas Tree next week. Thank you.
#StopTheLies
Folks, we’ve preached this for years, and yet it never changes.
Why do so many people these days in short track racing think spreading dishonesty is better than actually just facing and dealing with the truth?
It’s a sad state of short track racing when so many people would rather see media outlets reporting sugarcoated lies than actual facts, but that’s what it’s come to.
And social media just does more damage every day. Take that back, it’s not social media that does the damage, it’s some of the people who think their voices have meaning on social media who do the actual damage.
Which brings us to the current state of the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. What does the future hold at the historic shoreline oval? After a dark 2019 at the venue, it’s unclear.
But spreading falsehoods about what’s currently happening or the future isn’t somehow going to help anything.
Obviously nobody in local racing is happy seeing the Speedbowl not operating, but spreading lies just cultivates more and more lies being spread.
Take the two examples above from two people who can typically be found using social media to portray themselves as having some inside knowledge that they don’t actually have.
The first, saying the Speedbowl is being leased. Nobody is leasing the track.
We get it, really, spread the lie that the track is being leased to somehow downplay the attachment to an owner facing immense legal issues. Well, saying the track is being leased is one billion percent false. It’s just a total and absolute lie.
And the next example is of a well known Modified team owner posting that an “OFFICIAL” race date has been set at the Speedbowl for 2020.
This is a race track that needs major construction completed before being operational again. And while management and ownership clearly hope to have that construction on track to have events in 2020, there are no guarantees, as the 2019 season there proved. Saying anything is “OFFICIAL” at a race track that currently isn’t even operational is beyond preposterous. It’s simply out and out lying.
This is the same team owner who in the winter of 2018 was on social media assuring people that he was privy to all the plans for the new grandstands at the track, and that they would most certainly be up before the start of the 2018 season. The pattern of lies just continues as the calendar years change.
Spreading lies or pushing false optimism only plants the seeds for more lies and more falsehoods to get legs to run. It does absolutely positively nothing to help make anything better. It only hurts the sport.
Even the management of the track has decided at this point the best route is to just stay quiet about anything happening. Nobody at the track is creating any false optimism, and yet somehow people on social media think they know more about what’s going on there than the track ownership and management do. Amazing how that happens.
There’s nothing wrong with being optimistic, but optimism doesn’t have to be laced with lies. Too many people in short track racing need to open their eyes to that fact.
#GettingItDone
Give credit where credit is due. Mike Parks and his Granite State Pro Stock Series put together a heck of a schedule for 2020.
#RidingShotgun
Pro Tip: If you’re a public relations director at a short track and you go on social media and trash the bulk of the already minimal amount of media outlets actually left covering short track racing, it’s not the greatest look when you then somehow act shocked and appalled when some of those same media outlets are then mildly critical of how you’ve performed your job. Simply put, if you can dish it out, learn how to take it.
#Avoid
It’s that time of year when Amazon Prime certainly comes in handy. Lotta Christmas shopping done there. But don’t let Amazon Prime Video get you on this sucker punch.
Ninety minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
In the realm of racing movies this one made Talladega Nights seem like it should have been awarded an Oscar for best picture.
John Travolta, Shania Twain, a painfully disjointed and predictable storyline and some brutally awful looking racing scenes. It doesn’t get much worse. Just don’t fall for it.
#MustSeeTV
We gave you the bad, now the good.
The Moody’s on Fox. Watch this. Like watch it right now.
I’m not joking around, go watch it right now. It’s that good.
Shawn,
Grow up I really thought we have put this BS past us but clearly not. For someone who has me blocked seems pretty weird to be stalking my social media like this. Do me a favor and leave me alone and if you would like to use my name contact me next time..any issues you have my email come to me directly.
Nicholas,
You posted something about the Speedbowl on Twitter (a very PUBLIC FORUM) and what you posted is a lie. 100 percent a lie. The Speedbowl is not being leased. That’s just a lie people like you spread to try to detach it somehow from Bruce Bemer. A part of this column is about people spreading lies about the Speedbowl. You’re one of those people. If you don’t want to be mentioned as someone who spreads lies about the Speedbowl, then don’t spread lies about the Speedbowl.
The Moody’s. Good lord. You are not wrong. A must watch and it is classic, yet a little more laid back Dennis Leary. Jay Baruchel is priceless as always and the mother is fantastic.
Some excellent thoughts. People have to be kept in check for spreading the lies. Calling them out is certainly an acceptable method. Not everybody is going to agree on the subject at hand. Some will be hopeful and optimistic, some will be disgruntled, and some still don’t know how to act or feel. But “sugarcoating” and spreading lies is damaging.
Some extra suggestive thoughts:
-How tasteless and outrageous the hashtag “bowlstrong” is.
-Any series that includes a highly unreliable and discreditable race track in their schedule is reflective to their own product.
-Holding an event at the current day Speedbowl as a tribute to some of the sport’s greatest heroes is off putting and counterproductive. I can’t agree with this. It’s cringeworthy. You want to honor the heroes do it at a facility that isn’t surrounded by controversy.
Call out the amoral shills and crush them.
It’s fun!!!!
Liar or stupid? Liar or stupid? Liar or stupid? Liar or stupid? Liar or stupid? Liar or stupid?
Look, Bemer owns the Speedbowl. The courts have joined the Speedbowl and Bemer together. Bemer is always referred to as the New London-Waterford Speedbowl owner whenever news about his legal problems are reported in the Constitutionally provided Free Press. He can’t do big deals right now, such as sell the track because his assets are posted, frozen, and he’s only allowed to do what is normal for day-to-day activities, per court order. So all you shills can go suck it.
That George guy tried the lease route and it was a bigly failure. That’s how things ended up with Serluca working directly for Bemer. Even that couldn’t work. The mess the track is in is all on Bemer, he should be the only one subject to that risk.
For god’s sakes. Why can’t everyone just shut their stinkin trap for once and just let things happen, good or bad. Each day I read articles, some good, some bad but the comments from this audience is just getting old and from the some people like permanent fixture “Doug” who is the reining king of 1st comment and most useless content. Talk about beating a dead horse folks, you’re the kings. And for the record, it is bad taste to call out or present someone’s own identity and then trash it publicly like this and then allow commenters the same opportunity. You can make the claim about public content but this is ridiculous. You are allowing a public attack on Mr. Fraulino and certainly doesn’t deserve that no matter his comment. Maybe create another forum and trash this page, its commenters and Shawn himself and see how that goes over.
Lightsout,
We can agree to disagree. Social media is a public forum, not a private conversation. If you want to use that very public forum to continually and knowingly disseminate misinformation about a subject then eventually you’ll be called out for it. Nobody puts a gun to anybody’s head and tells them they have to share lies on Facebook or Twitter. Irony is that in this instance he was using Twitter to respond negatively to someone else’s comment by arguing his point with a lie. So you’re saying it’s not alright for him to be called out but it’s alright for him to use lies to call out either people?
Yes, I too got sucked in by the name and watched Trading Paint and came away wondering how a guy with a resume like Travolta would end his career with a syrupy cauldron of cartoonish stereotypes like that. It’s was like Vinnie Barbarino spent his life racing and Saturday Night Fever never happened.
I’m worried. Racing is about fantasy, escapism and promotion. I’m loving this new feature that is more like a tangy stew of brutal truths and well deserved atta boys and girls but it does seem to be a change.. Are we witnessing a metamorphosis in the editorial policy of RaceDayCT. Or a frustrated owner getting sick of it all and ready to move on? I really hope it is not the latter.
I do get confused Mr. Courchesne about your disappointment with what appears on social media from time to time. Facebook is constructed in a way that fosters virtually any reality. This guy can say the track is leased and when someone corrects it…..poof…..gone. As well as blocked and prevented from ever saying the truth again. Meanwhile the people that want to believe the deception chime in with positive comments and the reality for the group is formed. Fans stumble upon the promotion including the falsehood, see the accolades, don’t see any correction and say yah boy that’s great. The felon has nothing to do with this wonderful event. I’m gonna mark that date down.
Facebook is literally millions and millions of people with complete censorship capable of forming any reality they like and accumulating others sharing the same reality with no competing truth at all.
Darkness nailed it and I can’t believe it got this far with no comment. Bill Slater and Ed Flemke used to promote a race at a reincarnated Speedbowl. Flemke was known for being smooth and consistent as he moved to the front. The Speedbowl is freak show owned by a disreputable convicted felon, run by a well meaning lifelong fan completely out of his depth probably because he’s the only one that would do it and a fan base and competitors kept in various degrees of confusion all the time.
Flemke, low drama. Speedbowl 100% drama.
Open up with gleaming new stands. Have races and enjoy. Using dead local heroes to promote a race under this particular set of circumstances is just wrong. And to the two guys many of you hold in extremely high esteem who’s brain child it is shame on you as well.
2+2=4
It will always be true.
Those that try to make facts look otherwise, are their own problem. And they are here for my entertainment.
Those that whine and complain about facts are pure comedy.
As long as the track stays closed, there is no other option but to talk about Bemer, his atrocious behavior and admitted acts, and how his deviant behavior and legal problems are the cause for the track not operating. The guy is doing all he can to fight off revealing his HIV status, which could end up costing him far more than a deluxe rebuilding of the Speedbowl. You people just don’t get it. He’s 65 years old and doing all he can to stay out of prison, for which he is looking at a ten year sentence. And if he does end up going to prison, his HIV status will need to be revealed. That could be if he plans to stay on the medical protocol that keeps him alive. Anybody know the status of Bemer’s disorderly conduct infraction, and how that impacts his freedom on bond? What about his fight to prevent revealing his HIV status? His legal bills over his human trafficking case has probably been orders of magnitude more than what it would cost to do a total deluxe reconstruction of the Speedbowl.
Lightsout, have you been lobbying all other Free Press media outlets to get them to stop reporting on Bruce Bemer and the Speedbowl?
Calling out lies is not a bad thing. Don’t like being called out? Don’t lie.
Mr. Fraulino, please tell us more about this lease arrangement. Who are all the entities involved with this lease? Where does Serluca fit in all this? It has been reported that he is not leasing the Speedbowl, that he works for some Bemer owned business entity. Please explain that for us. 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡. Who is leasing the place?
The track is not closed because people are talking about it. The people are talking about the track because it is closed, not operating, and there is no path to opening. All of that is open to discussion. And when someone lies about any of it, they are subject to be called out.
The last thing I want to see is racedayct.com turn into another primordial swamp populated with lying, self-serving cretins.
Lies hurt. That’s all that needs to be said. Some have reported seeing activity at the track, good news, BUT, are they working to ready the property for racing, or mothballs? Parking lot drainage, very very expensive. That old saying “dirt cheap” dirt is anything but cheap, and those who work with it command top dollar. Then there’s the plans, and geological surveys(because you need to know what lies beneath the dirt. Then the permit process, all of which happens before any dirt is moved(at least where I live). All of these things take time, and more importantly money, lots of money. If indeed Bemers assets have been frozen, no money, work eventually stops. I’ll believe that the Speedbowl has reopened after I read the race results, if any racers bother to show up
Rob P.
Well said. This has been a problem surrounding the subject of the Speedbowl going back to 2017 and the beginning of Bruce Bemer’s legal troubles.
And it’s not an indictment on the management or ownership. Yes, the management is definitely guilty of some missteps in overstating expectations over the last year or so, but even in their defense, they’ve realized that it’s best now to just not say anything rather than even try to place any timelines on anything.
And yet, even with track officials silent, there’s still a continual stream of individuals on social media trying to portray themselves as the wisdom holders of all the secret knowledge that is the Speedbowl. And in reality they are in most cases people just looking for attention by acting like they’re in the know, who think they’re helping matters by constantly spewing sugarcoated lies.
Yes, the Moody’s was an excellent show. I was anticipating watching it for weeks. Dennis Leary is awesome.
Part of the Bowls issue is signing all these agreements with touring series without releasing some sort of status update regarding 2020. They created all the questions and criticism themselves.
I don’t see an issue with calling out someone who is publicly putting out factually incorrect info. Bad info is bad info. Honestly, how do all these people have “inside info” when the track itself has no idea what tomorrow will bring. Wait and see at best.
Shawn, can you approach Serluca and ask if he would be interested in starting a public track rehab status, and you host it on racedayct?
It would be a typical plan, that lists all the tasks and interim objectives that need to be completed, leading up to opening day.
Things on the master plan would be sub plans such as:
Permitting – all necessary permitting would be listed, along with status.
Engineering – all design work to be considered, complete and approved. This would include new stands, concessions, lavs, etc.
Electrical – all the electrical service would be detailed and checked off as it is completed and approved.
Drainage – all lot improvements would be listed here and checked off as it is completed and approved.
Sewer – all code requirements listed and checked off as it is completed and approved.
Miscellaneous – All the other things not listed above, that will cost 💰 and take time..
All these things lead up to opening day.
For the sake of openness and transparency, this could be a great resource for the fans. And could also whack the shills off at the knees.
Will Mr. Serluca be willing to have his feet held to the proverbial fire? 🔥
Darealgoodfella,
It’s my understanding that at this point a decision has been made among ownership/management that the best plan going forward – at least for the time being – is staying quiet on all matters there. When they do decide to make any statements regarding progress it will be reported here.
Shawn, unfortunately Speedbowl officials have already violated their own silence policy by giving dates to Series Promoters, did they not think we wouldn’t see the Touring Series Press Release with hard Waterford dates? Would anybody schedule a BBQ at their house when the house isn’t even built yet?
All good but when your track is showing up on touring series schedules a public statement saying something/anything is required even if they acknowledge it’s not written in stone at this point. An honest statement would be the best route. Again they are feeding the monster themselves. A quick FB posts makes this go away.
Shawn, giving dates to various events is not staying quiet. When a race is announced and scheduled for a track that is not operational and does not appear will be operational any time in the future, the track is not being silent. Then again, what’s worse… turning away all potential races, or scheduling races with the risk of not being able to run them? By committing to dates, and it looks like eight so far, the track has implicitly published that it will be operating. And if there are eight events, they do need to be spaced out over more than eight weeks or consecutive weekends. Would a series schedule a race with the chances of running it being so low?
I can see it now… the track will deny any knowledge of races being scheduled at the facility.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
All great points. For whatever reason the management thinks the project could be completed and have to schedule events now. All completely in good faith. But they lose the messaging process.and bad things happen.
There is an alternative. Take the messaging back. Provide kernels of information on a steady basis. A lot of them. It doesn’t have to be big, detailed or make any promises. Simple little entries of basic stuff being done even if it’s boring. If a race is scheduled perhaps a brief generic promotional statement. Make the fans and competitors feel like they are a part of the process Own the territory between the big splashy confrontational video and compete radio silence one shovel full at a time.
It’s a private corporation. There is no expectation of full disclosure unless it can play a positive roll in public relations. People aren’t stupid. They know the score. The comment about being gun shy came across as sincere. You don’t have to be completely accurate in dribbling out information on a steady bases so much as genuine and sincere.