BUZZ SODEMAN MORE COLUMNS Advertisement

I'm sure that many of my loyal readers were wondering if I had been banned from the Pahrump Valley Speedway when I didn't occupy my usual seat in the far north end of the bleachers June 23 and June 30.

If any of you have had the experience of trying to get last minute air fares, you can imagine the problems encountered two weeks ago when my brother-in-law called and said, "The doctor says you need to get here as soon as possible."

Catching a flight out of Vegas at 1 a.m. Sunday and arriving in Saginaw, Mich., at 5 p.m. and seeing my mother-in-law in pain and the throes of agony, slowly passing on, was a bit more than the Buzzman and his wife, Kathie, could handle.

Kathie's mother passed away the next day, choosing to die in peace without all of her children hovering over her, as the paperwork was being prepared for her stay in hospice.

The next week and the following week passed in a blur of meeting family friends, and tying up loose ends. It was truly an Irish wake with a festive meal and libation following interment. Then the party switched to my brother-in-law's house and continued through the weekend. There's a lot to be said when you're taken to your final resting place and the hearse has your name in the window, sharing the same name as that of the funeral home.

I'm told that I missed the bulk of the sweltering heat wave, and I was elated by the sound of thunder, pouring rain, lightning, and hail that I was treated to back in Michigan.

Both Kathie and I handled the humidity quite well considering that the highest we've experienced here is probably close to just 30 percent. And instead of watching race cars, I enjoyed the constant parade of grandchildren, both my brother-in-laws and mine.

In a long distance phone call to Marie Wujek, I was made aware of George Starks, a sports writer visiting from Ohio.

Car count has steadily decreased since the days when Robert Bolling operated the track. You can ask any racer or fan and they will provide as many possible answers as the entire car count for the June 30 races.

I have to agree that car count in the Midwest is always mind-blowing, but for the first time, I couldn't cram a race into what was a tightly packed agenda. I do know that even with the extremely poor economy that is sweeping the state of Michigan, that the 30-40 modifieds is considered low. Crystal Speedway easily draws about 50-70 Modifieds for a regular show.

Every promoter since Bolling has scheduled too many races without a break and both of those promoters have raced and know that the racers operate on a very limited budget or no budget at all. There is nothing wrong with racing every other weekend.

We have a favorable climate that would allow for a much longer season than those back in the Midwest, where racers are able to arrive for afternoon races without interference from their employers. If you decide to run week after week after week, then allow some classes the luxury of having a week or two to recuperate.

If there is one thing that I have learned about Pahrump's racing fans that is that they are loyal to a fault. They have sat through the extremes of heat and cold, blustery winds and nary a weed tickler breeze.

They have sat mesmerized by a handful of cars when I would have been demanding my money back. I don't know, maybe it's the beer or the lack of anything else to do in this town.

I agree with Starks about the promoter racing - I don't like it either and Joe Rogers Jr. knows it. Having viewed his trophy case, he certainly doesn't need another trophy gathering dust and the addition of his stable of cars only enhances the classes by one car apiece.

A quick check on promoters in Michigan finds none racing at the tracks that they promote. In recent history, the only track that had a promoter racing at his track was Sonny Wahl and he no longer is the head honcho at Mohave Valley Raceway.

You think that the demise of participants at MVR was due in fact to his racing at what once was his track?

I don't like it, some of the fans don't like it and many of the racers don't like it, but I'm not paying the bills and making decisions that could be based on bias or an on track incident.

I agree with Rogers' assessment of the modified division. I would rather see quality than quantity.On any given night I would have put my money on a Jeff Talley, a Jeff Tooley, a Donny Berger, a Dave Jurist or a Leland Hibdon - who's Jay Rode and what white stallion did he arrive in town upon? (For the record, Talley, Berger and Jurist raced and only Jurist was able to get to the finish because mechanical problems and accidents knocked out the rest).