I just received my May 2007 issue of Slant Six Racing News and was saddened to read the "Times are Changing" editorial. If you don't subscribe to this great newsletter, you should but it may be short-lived. This quarterly newsletter is the only "link" as to what is happening with our mutual slant6 racing events throughout the entire US. The "tone" of this issue is that there may be some changes or elimination of Seymour's "labor of love" due to many reasons. It is few that will drive all the way across the US to participate and financially sponsor many of our slant6 events. If we loose this fine newsletter, and/or Seymour leadership, it most likely will not be replaced. I am sure Seymour would appreciated your personal contact just to let him know we support all his efforts on our behalfs and hopefully, he will consent to continue to publish many more years of Slant Six Racing News in its present format.

I won't get my SSRN for probably another couple weeks, so I'll just go ahead and call Seymour. Thanks for the "Heads Up".

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

What is the contact information to Seymour and the SSRN?

bwhitejr

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'72 Duster (Performance 360)
'83 Ramcharger (Performance 318)
'80 TrailDuster (360)
'80 D-150 Truck (See Below)
CompCams 252S, Holley 390cfm, Offy manifold
Ported, Polished and Gasket Matched
P4286813 Springs,0.040 Overbore,
0.090 Shaved Head

On the back of the slant 6 racing newsletter is Seymours address and phone number. If you don't recieve the newsletter, please contact Seymour and he will send out a compliementary copy for you.
Seymour Peterson
2513 Princeton Ct.
St. Louis Park, MN 55416

(952) 929-0508


He would appreciate hearing from ALL OF YOU...We need ideas how to "kick start" our slant6 racing program and make 2008 a better year
as far a attendance.. Example: Pittsburgh....total of five cars..If we throw out Romeo who drove all the way from Nevada we could have had only four cars... No wonder Seymour has reasons to be concerned..I do too..

Yeah, only 5 cars at Valdosta, Ga. and that had a $500 purse on Sat and a $1000 purse on Sun.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

This was a really off year for Pittsburgh, who has had 12 cars in 2 of the past 3 years. We had as many as 5 regulars who didn't show due to family reasons and personal obligations as well as a one month change in the race date. It's also a different 'climate' here than out in California.

The western racers have some big advantages at the moment.
Cheap race entry fees compared to entering Classic events, it's not as hard to get someone to pay $15 bucks for 3 trials and at least one round of eliminations as it is at $50.

They have also got a lot of pent up energy, as those guys have not had any race other than vegas to show of their stuff. Out here, we've had 4 or more years of regular races. The field of racers and their cars has matured, so that when several of the previous years winners show up, you can be pretty sure you won't get past the first round. Not impossible, but it can feel that way for a new guy.

Another factor of the Classic events is the overbearing focus on V-8 power. Shirts/Slogans like "Go fast or Go home" are leaving possible new entrants 'gun shy' to take out the stock cars that might be real contenders with a few years of interest, but still only run in the 15 to 17 second range with modifications.
While out on the west coast, many of the cars are 20 second stock built cars, and it seems like the inliners group is very welcoming rather than turning their nose up or constantly bombarding car owners with comments like "it's only a six?"

I don't know how to fix it exactly, but I do know, they are doing something right out west. I think moving away from the Classic events with some of the races may help more than the damage due to lost prize money. Doubt the classic events will offer much money next year anyway based on race attendance.

Another factor is the loss of a few sponsors. For example, Cox brothers has dropped off the map for the past 2 years, while they have been distracted by other life issues. At one time, they where a BIG player and no one has been able to fill those shoes.

Seymour just has the wind knocked out of him. He will come around with a little bit of help from the rest of the group. We need to lead ourselves when we can to lighten his load and let him know that there are many of us that are still very interested.

We somehow need to get Seymour into the digital age! This would allow articles and pictures to be more easily submitted and give others a chance to help him organize and publish the newsletter.

I know for a fact that several have offered to make color photo pages for the newsletter, but Seymour's current system doesn't allow for insertion of these pages in the hard copy newsletters. Postage has got to be a killer. Anybody got a web space and some software for group revision of a publication? I know chuck doesn't have time to set it up. Maybe if we offered some money?

One possible document format is OpenOffice , This would work like 'microsoft publisher', but is free. The recent versions of OpenOffice will allow for output in PDF format which is easy to read and pretty good for sending to the print shop.

Just throwing out ideas. First we talk about it, then we got to do something. I've got a few hours a week, any other takers?

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

Paul, I think you are dead on about the need for a sponsor. It is hard to find racers willing to tow 3-5 hrs away for a slim chance to will $50. I would like to see some change on how the point system works. Maybe even splitting the points into 2 different classes. Foot brake and electronics class or street car and drag car class. I know that there are guys out there that won't show up to race because they are afraid they can't compete with cars running delay boxes, or just embarrassed to run against a faster car. As far as the Pittsburgh race goes the schedule change crushed us. We can have 12-14 or more cars show up if we could find a race sponsor for next year. Maybe add point and cash bonuses for quick E.T or a street car and long haul bonus. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this can be done for the entire points series. Anyone else have any ideas?

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At risk of sounding like a bootlicker, the best thing to happen to West coast slant six racing is Wayne Erickson. His phone call encouragement got myself and several others into racing these motors, especially us with slower cars. Cheerleading and "attaboy"s really keep the interest level up even with high travel costs.
Now back to this thread...
Would hate to see SSRN fall by the wayside so am encouraged by fact that Seymour now owns a DIGITAL camera. Sounds like with the right support/guidance he can be coaxed into the electronic communication age. We need to offer whatever help we can (even $) to help keep SSRN alive in whatever drection Seymour wants to go. Write or give him a call.
Paul

Myself personally, I just plain can't afford to drag my car all over like I used to. Couple that with the fact that I am tired of getting treated like a second class citizen at Monster Mopar, and the big entry fees for a small purse at the Classics and you can see where I am coming from. Classic Events treats us pretty well at the track, but without a sponsor the purse really sucks. Too bad they don't lower the entry fees to match the payout. Same deal at Monster Mopar. Payout is better, but they use us purely for space filler. 1 time run at 10 am and then sit all day to run round robin at night just isn't my idea of a fun time.

Seymour moving the Chicago race to Martin didn't do much for me either. I can understand why though since I have the only fast Slant car in the Chicago area. With Martin he is trying to suck the guys out of Ohio in.

I actually enjoy going to Vegas and helping everyone else a lot more than dragging my junk around. I really still haven't gotten the desire to race back yet. I've only had my junk out twice, normally by this time I would have been out a dozen times.

I am still wishy-washy about Martin and St. Louis. I would like to go to Martin, it is a nice little track and closer than Gateway. However, if I can't crap some money, I'll prolly ride the bike out and help Mike at the Divisionals.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I've been trying to call Seymour with no luck. It is always busy. Hopefully that is a good sign that lots of other folks are calling him with encouragement.

I don't have any input about the various races since I can't go anyway, but I certainly agree that getting SSRN more digitized would help Seymour and anyone else willing to help out. I'm technically incompetent, but I have offered to help Seymour in what ever way I can.

I like the idea of having a system that would allow networking to put the newsletter together. I'm sure Seymour would like to have help, but probably will have a hard time getting himself to delegate since this has been such a labor of love for him for so long. There are probably several folks here with the technical savvy to help get Seymour and SSRN into the digital age and then several more who can help put things together.

I'll keep trying to get ahold of Seymour.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Just a thought...

Perhaps Seymour could approach a local school (or vocational - technical school) to look for assistance.

If he could find the right teacher (in journalism or media or computers) who was willing to take this on as an ongoing project... it would be a win-win for SSRN and the classroom that gets to help create a real publication.

-Mac

I think the main issue is that he is getting tired of shouldering essentially the WHOLE burden of the newsletter.

He has been doing it for 10 years, and on his own for about 5, with a few articles from several folks. I have written two so far, incl in recent issue about Oz trip. I'll write another for the next issue.

How many people want to help out with writing stories, or getting it to press? He suggested an e-publication on this site, which would be feasible, but not his cup o' tea.

I was also a little saddened by the tone of the newsletter. Car counts are indeed way down on the East side of the country. What can we do about it?? Fresh blood is the name of the game, in my book, and that's what the West Coasters have lots of right now.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

The hardest thing we have to overcome is getting "newbies" out to the races. When we promote our West Coast races, I try to contact as many as I can from the membership list which is on our website. Any new "joiner" that has a listed address from anywhere from Northern, Central Calif. , Oregon and Washington is contacted via PM. We let them know about upcoming slant6 events and invite them to join our group. It is important to do as much as you can to get them to the track. We tell them that they can join us and just run for testntune or for times only if they prefer. We also stress that we have many completely stock slant6 cars that show up and also let them know that the wives/girlfriends are welcome and make good "racers". Many think that since they are going to a drag race, they have to have a "drag car"...Once they get to the track they find out that you can have fun bringing any slant6 car. After running a few 20+ times and seeing what others are running, quite a few will want to run just a little faster. The next time you see them, they may have split exhaust or headers....two or four barrel carb, different gearing ect. The membership list is a great way for those Southern state and Eastern state track representives to contact people about their upcoming races with no expense and very little time.

The excuse that entry fees are too high... We have been successful working with the track management and getting them to lower the entry fee just for our slant6 group. At Redding, instead of the usual $40.00, they reduced our group fees to just $10.00 per car. We convinced them that we would run our own show...we set up our own ladders after drawing from the hat and we don't ask the track to pay for any payouts or trophies. We are "self suffient"...It is a win win situation for the track as they get the entrance fees from all the "support group" and also the concessions will get some extra $$ by our group showing up. We have explained to them that we are trying to build up our slant6 program and once we have a good base of permanent racers, we can down-the-road increase the entry fees just a little. Many of the smaller tracks need cars...and they are happy to have the support of our small group . Why not contact the track management and try to get them to lower the entry fee?

Speaking of $$..we had good luck taking some of the payout monies and giving anyone first time slant6 "invitee" $50.00 cash..they did this at Vegas a few years ago and it really helped and was a big hit. Might even want to ear-mark $25.00 for any slant6 car that shows up who travels more than say 100 miles or more...

You need to take care of the slower, and novice racers. We sometimes split half the field into two groups...16 second and slower and the other the faster cars. It is a lot more fun for the slower cars to race against each other and get some "seat time"...We do this on the first day of racing and then on the second, we all go into the hat and draw for the ladder for the final and points race.

Make it fun for all..have a area that all can "pit together" and break "bread and drink" after the races. The track management will usually accomidate this request. Again, they want our cars to show up and if asked will usually accomidate most request. At Medford this past month, we convinced them to let us run our own show on Saturday and asked for our own lanes, parking ect. They gave us three lanes and all the prime parking along the race track and even the shaded areas under the trees. This was a first time event for our slant6 group so they didn't know what to expect either..again they wanted cars to show up and liked the way our group was organized . All spent money at the track and the track was out nothing as we had our own purse and did our own ladders, ect. If you don't ask..nothing will happen.. Work with the local track management..

Make it fun for all..I can't express this enought...The "newbies" are the ones that will make it work so take car of them once they have gotten over the "fear" of first time "racing". Help them with their cars..offer advice when ask and "praise" them when they do better and better and they will. I will use "R.J" as a example. Last year at Redding he showed up with his family and was a nearly stock Dart. He got over the "butterflies" of the first race and each time trial, got better and better on his reaction time. The next race, he had a set of dutra duals on his Dart instead of the first time 19 second runs, now was running in the 17's. This time he won a few rounds in eliminations. This past race at Medford, the car now had a four barrel and electronic ignition...He won the entire final race on Sunday...winning $300.00 plus trophy. He also was the winner of the slower grouping and also won $25.00 extra for the best reaction time during the finals. Of yes, he also won $$ going to the semi's on Saturdays races...

Make if fun for the racers...we offer some $$ incentives which can be won by any of the cars...Best Reaction time during the finals wins $25.00.
Anyone who eliminates the winner of the previous race wins $25.00 . Watch out Glen Terry..you have a "target on your back" and anyone that takes him out at next race, wins $25.00. You can be creative and do many things that make it more fun for all.

Don't front load your prize money..spread it out to as many as you can..If we have 16 cars, any car that wins just one round wins $$$. It doesn't have to be much and we offer $25.00. No need to pay out say $500.00 to win..use that money to spread out to as many as you can.. We offer $200.00 to win..$100.00 for runner up ..$50.00 for each of the semi's and $25.00 for 5th through 8th. It doesn't take a large amount of money to make it fun for all...and make it fun for all.

Get on the phone and call potential sponsors and don't ask for the "world". See you you can get "gift certificates" in lieu of cash..that usually works and ask for small amounts..Say $100.00 or $50.00 certificates.

These are just "my thoughts" and I hope all of our group will contact Seymour and let him know as our concerns about the decline in car attendance. Keep the ideas and messages coming..

Wayne from Killer Bee Headquarters

That's it right there for us here in the Midwest. There just aren't any cars period. I have tried my best to get nOObs out, and had a couple lined up for the Chicago race, and then the plug is pulled and the race went to Michigan. I offered to trailer a car to Martin, but the guy just plain could not afford to spend the money for taking a car and his family for 2 days.

Another problem I have had in keeping nOObs interested is getting them to quit worrying about racing the box cars. They seem to think they can not beat a box car, even though our race results show otherwise.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Personal experience speaks loudest, despite statistics. For a "nOOb" it's discouraging to face an experienced driver in a "computer-enhanced" dedicated race car.
I like the idea of separating street cars and race cars, especially since it gives you a better chance of having someone to "race" against. What I mean is, my most exciting races have been against cars that were as fast (slow?) as mine.
Running neck and neck adds so much to the experience, even if you are still only racing the clock.
Watching the other car leave in your rearview mirror and chase you down just emphasizes how slow YOUR car is and is discouraging.
Of course, with small turnouts, it doesn't make sense to split them up, so it's kind of a catch-22.
Spreading out the prize money is also appealing to the first-round fodder, giving stronger incentive to participate.
I am limited in how much time and money I can invest in my toys and playing with them, but I will continue to make it to at least two of the NC races each year.

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O==\=/==O

"A mechanic is Somebody."
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