A few bits of news and notes from the annual driver's meeting.

OPENING
Firstly, Jerry Wilcox spoke. He went over last year, saying how well it went, weather was good, finished on the good side of the ledger etc etc...as well as thanked all the sponsors.

Introduced a couple new sponsors, mainly Exeter Toyota. Unveiled new Camry pace car, and spoke briefly about Delaware being the first track in Canada with a link to Toyota Racing.

All the major division sponsors from last year will be returning.

Talked about a few new events for the year...those of us that saw the schedule posted a while ago know this stuff already...Vintages are back, OSCAAR Don Biederman memorial on the 6th of Sept.

Spoke of the possibility of hosting a NASCAR Race of Champions event, where they get in a few ex NASCAR Stars in for a day to do autographs and a short exhibition race. Said Jerry - "Its an expensive show, so we're not sure if we'll do it yet."

New Payout Info

Then came the slideshow and the interesting news: In a nutshell, they're basically eliminating the year end payout, and increasing the weekly purses. Each division sees and increase in payout, from 1st all the way down to 28th. (When you look at the numbers, they don't necesarily sound like a huge increase, but if you look at it right across the board, the total purse increase is quite substantial.)

LM Feature
2007 - 1st $1000 / 28th $100
2008 - 1st-$1200 / 28th $140

SS Feature
2007 - 1st $325 / 28th $50
2008 - 1st $350 / 28th $65

Mod Feature
2007 - 1st $600 / 28th $50
2008 - 1st $650 / 28th $90

Truck Feature
2007 - 1st $250 / 28th $45
2008 - 1st $310 / 28th $60

One note was added at the end: There will be a year end payout, basically contingency money and 50/50 money.

Story in the Paper

In a nutshell, Delaware is now free to invest or find investors to overhaul the speedway. A long term lease agreement has been reached, and this was the major stumbling block in upgrading the facility. The timeline for improvements is yet to be determined.

Chaos Cars

A few race formats were announced, with the caveat that nothing's etched in stone. Possibilities include:

- Fig 8 barrel race on frontstretch
- "Fishing race" (Each car drags a chain with a tire on the end...last car with tire still on wins)
- Balloon Race (Balloons are taped to rear bumpers. Object: break everyone else's balloons)
- Bucket race (Each car has a bucket of water on the hood)
- "The Nilestown Classic" (Every car goes around once. Once you get to the start finish line, you have to stop, and a crew member has to eat a whole hotdog before you can go again) This one got some laughs. Jerry told about how he won one of those races by 2 laps at Nilestown in the old days.
- Slalom race (Gotta go in and out between buckets on frontstretch)
- Stopsign/Flagpole race (have to go once around each obstacle on the track)

I think I got them all.  😉

Other News

- There will be a regular sit-down, dinner, dance, bring-your-friends banquet at the end of the year. Most likely at a new banquet hall in Ailsa Craig.

- The APC 300 will remain a 1 day event, though racing is planned for the entire weekend. LM teams will have open practice if the do show on Saturday.

- They're looking at a transponder system. If its implemented, transponders can be rented for $200 a year OR $25 per event. This is still in the planning stages yet and may not happen this year.

- There'll be no more "I'll pay you next week" entries in the back gate. Apparently that became a problem this past year.

- "Gold Cards" will be available for $500. This is a photo ID card that gets you in the pits/track for every event all year long. They are non-transferrable. If you don't want to do that, all the prices and procedures for driver/crew members will be the same as last year.

Q and A

Then the floor was opened to questions, and 2 main issues were brought up.

-Some guys don't like the handicapping system. Kirk Hooker even went so far as to suggest drawing random starting spots for heats. Talked a little about that, and it was agreed that whatever system gets used will be readily avaible to everyone and not be "shrouded in mystery"

-Then got into a debate about crate engines in enduro. Should they be claimable, and do they even belong in enduro? I don't feel any conclusions were reached, but it does seem that they will remain an option for enduros.

So...I think that's the bases covered. If I missed anything, yell it out.

Shadow out.