Wing Side Up

By Bob Gangwer

“Pointing Fingers Instead of Waving Hands”

(Reprinted from Wailing with Wing Side Up LIVE internet radio show)

Oswego, NY 6/21/09…I have read with curiosity the message boards the last couple of days since I got home.  I was pleased to see the accolades laid upon my friend Randy Burch after his win, for he surely deserved them and the pats on the back were definitely something that was needed for that family.

However, once I got beyond the niceties, I wasn’t too surprised to see a couple of people flaming the Oswego teams that didn’t tow to the County.  I laid pretty low on the treacherous territory of the Lancaster debacle and figured it’d die a quiet death once the season really got going.  Of course I full well knew that behind the scenes there were still issues brewing, but I think some stuff should be left on the down low and the voyeuristic fan doesn’t always need to know the dirtiest secrets of what’s going on.

This time however, I’m going to stand up tall On the Soapbox and say something that may be controversial, it may piss a few people off and it may keep me from being welcome around a few campfires.  So be it.  You guys woke me up from my roadtripping induced slumber so I’m going to shout it out before I lose anymore sleep over it.

I’ve got to be honest and say that this whole argument was bound to happen with this MSA/Oswego Wing deal.  I personally will state right here that I don’t think it’s as good for supers as many think or thought it was supposed to be.  In fact I’ve said it several times before that it was going to cause issues, it’s just taken a couple of years for the warning seeds that I planted to start bearing the fruit of reality.  It doesn’t mean that I won’t go and support the teams and tracks that are choosing to run.  What it does mean that several of us, myself included, saw the handwriting on the wall. The lay fan, or the overly enthusiastic, and unrealistic person may have been deceived, but many of us that follow the DIVISION instead of just factions of it, knew that it would all boil to a head.

I’ll also say that the schedule for July for the MSA is ludicrous.  There’s too much traveling for too little money, too close together before the biggest paying show of the season for the MSA teams that is right in their own backyard…uhhh..that would be the Hy-Miler Supermodfied Nationals folks.  Wait, that’s an ISMA show isn’t it?  As a matter of fact it is, but, forget it,  I’m not going to explain that one.  So yes that’s right, you heard it.  I said the MSA schedule has too many out of town dates and no breakes. I also said the schedule is bound to create stress, pressure, and arguments as we get into the thick of the season and stuff starts getting wrecked, wore out, and broken.  That doesn’t even take into consideration the cost to travel.  It will be a testament to all involved not to be ripping each other’s heads off before we get to August.

Ok back to where this was going.  Do I think that a certain team from Oswego, who’s family has a stake in Oswego Speedway should have been the first car to sign in to any of these ‘Challenges’?  Absolutely, if for no other reason than perception and good will towards the MSA teams that made the tow to NY.  With that said,  I applaud that team for standing their ground for whatever reason and not making the tow.  Now I don’t know all the reasons why they didn’t go.  And I’m going to say that 95% of you don’t either.  So I’m not going to speculate and as far as I’m concerned neither should you.  Leave em alone and let them do their thing.  Move on and bitch about the Stanley Cup, World Series, Super Bowl, or some other sport if it bugs you that bad.

Here’s an idea, instead of lambasting a team for not being there, how about congratulating Randy?  While it’s easy to scream foul have you thought about a way to tell Gene Gibson, who finally was able to finish a race and did so on tires with flat spots from the crash at Toledo, how  you are glad he ran?   Maybe people were too busy worrying about who wasn’t there to see that Charlie Schultz broke a 9 year old track record, Stephen Gioia III was second quick, Jason Spaulding got a race in without breaking down, or that Bobby Dawson’s crew completely rebuilt the front end and he finished in the top five.

Here’s one thing I know for sure, it’s not ANYONE’S job, from fan, to track owner, to official, to sanction to dictate where a car could, should, or ought to run regardless of ANY of the circumstances.  It’s up to the owners and drivers to decided where, when and how to race their supers.  In fact I’m pretty sure that’s what made Oswego great in the beginning. When guys from MI, OH, the eastern seaboard, and Canada CHOSE to race at Oswego or anywhere else for the first 40 years of the DIVISION, nobody dictated to them, (including fans), that they should be in any particular place at any particular time, for any particular reason.   They looked at a trade paper; they opened up their wallet, picked up an atlas and decided if it was worth it to them to go.  Why is it not ok to still do that and isn’t it the same way that we as fans decided when, where, and how to go to a supermodified show?

Finally, while people are quick to point out what teams may not have been at any of these races,  I have to wonder, where were you?

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