Hearing BAD rumors

[Billy Bob]

I have heard serious grumbling in the pits tonight about the Points Fund being cut and it is 2 weeks from the end of the year. The complaint is they raced all year knowing what they were racing for and now it is changing. If it is true it is very tacky and very bad for the owners credibility. I hope it isn't true. Right now it is just grumbling, but usually it ends up being true if it is in the pits where you hear it.

[herme]

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[shammy51]

You also forgot to mention that the banquet will also have a cash bar. As yoshiki1327 said"Be thankful Mike took the track over before the Whitecaps made it so we don't have a track to goto on a weekly basis!" Yep I'm thankful I just hopes he kisses me first ! The rate things are going I give Berlin 2 more years. Thank you.

[not good]

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[bean5]

Billy Bob...the rumor IS true, I have a copy of the letter from Mike himself. The points fund is being "pro rated" because of all the rain-outs (per Mike)...which I am confused by because I thought the sponsors put up the money for the points fund, so if they've already put up the money how can Mike take any of it away (ethically anyway) In addition, it is MANDATORY the driver be present at the banquet to get their year-end pay out and their trophy (never has been the case before). Mike also cut the ticket price by $5 BUT now it is a cash bar...not quite an even trade there.

And, shammy51, none of the drivers have even got a kiss yet so you are probably out of luck:(

[mjseiler]

Rumors, rumors, rumors... All I know was that the racing was good, yet the crowd was down Saturday at Berlin. 'Lots of other stuff going on in the area though. (Street Rod Nats, etc.) There are some potentially GREAT shows coming up at that track to finish out the season. Let's quit pregnant doggin' the place and support it before the snow flies...

[bean5]

mjseiler...the fans might think all is well at the track, but being involved in the racing program is an entire different perspective...and a very frustrating one. If you think the crowd was down last Saturday wait until next year, if Mike continues to run things the way he has been there won't be any cars left for the fans to come watch.

[lucky13]

I would think the crowd size had to do with the amount of other actvities. As said above, Street Rod Natls(Kalamazoo), Funny Car Natls (Martin), Allegan County Fair and a list of other small town festivals. Lots to do this weekend, and I'm sure the start of college football season had a few people in the stands or at home in front of the TV.
Hopefully the rumors are just that. I would presume that a call to the track owner could clear that up for anyone wondering.
Stan Town

[bean5]

To clear up the rumor mill...the attachment (if I got it to attach?) is the letter from Mike to the drivers about the pro-rating of the points fund money and the madatory banquet.

Attachments:

[chadreedfan]

Thanks for posting the letter and getting it out in the open. We fans like to be kept up to date, too.
What does everyone think about the Lions yesterday?

[BOYNE MIKE]

I would like to start by saying that I do not enjoy responding to accusations and or rumors regarding Berlin raceway etc. I have always said and I always will continue to say that my office is always open. If anybody needs any information all they need to do is get a hold of me and I will be glad to answer any questions you may have. With that being said, I'll start by answering some of the questions on this site. First of all, Berlin Raceway does not have a points fund sponsor and they have not had one since 2005 when Port City sponsored it. Each division does have a sponsor but the amount of money that they pay covers the promotion and the title recognition,and 10% of the points fund. The remaining 90% of The Point Fund money is earned every week by A) Gas Sales B)Tire Sales and C) FANS. With the amount of weeks that we have had off due to the weather, all of those sales are down. If we get lucky and have a good September and October there won't be any cuts in payouts. We will have to wait and see how the remainder of year pans out. So with this being my first year as track promoter, I am taking some hard hits with the amount of rain-outs etc. As far as the banquet goes, Hudsonville now has a liquor license and the Pinnacle Center has received a liquor license. With that being said, they have to sell by the glass and we can not have an open bar. If we had an open bar the price of the tickets would have gone up by a minimum of $10 and that would not be fair to those attending that do not drink alcohol. As far as race teams that have to appear at the banquet to receive money, this is something that you are seeing at a lot of tracks and many series going towards. In the past 2 years, we have seen a great decline in the amount of drivers that show up at the banquet. This is a night that is put aside for all the drivers to be recognized for their year of racing. When you have all the sponsors that help Berlin appearing and only have half the drivers it does not look good. We had to decide whether to have a banquet or seek an alternative route. As far as any other comments such as the ones about having no fans next year, etc. It is not even worth the time to address. I can assure you this, I am trying my best to make this track as successful as possible and being a promoter is a lot more challenging than anyone can imagine. I am going to end with this, something happened to me last Saturday night that tells me I am doing something right. Ron Flynn, promoter of Crystal Speedway, attended Saturday's races and made a point to come up to me and compliment me on how impressed he was with Berlin Raceway and how much he enjoyed the program. Again, I have said from day 1, I will make mistakes and continue to try to make the track more enjoyable for everyone.

thanks,

Mike B.

[town21]

i can understand cuting payout.... but if its advertised payout that is a line of crap. arena racing lost there butts last year they didnt rip anyone off on there points payout. if they was going by what they made the drivers would still be paying more than they do now!!! which is still to much but it was still payed!!

[Retaliation]

Don't know how long this will stay up, but here goes. I only edit the people who don't register. If you register then I know who you are. You sign in undder "Retaliation" and "Looking sideways" and it is the same IP address. 64.112.116.203. Now I will leave you post up and people can look and see who you are and form their own opinion. I am assuming that is OK with you. Let me know. If you notice the people whos posts are left up even if they are expressing an opinion, I leave it up. Register, grow some balls or quit bytching. Geo It is sad that this forum is so censored by George when a bad comment is made about Mike Blackmer. The reason a lot of people don't sign in under their real name to voice their frustation is because of the retaliation that would result in the pits next time they race. I know this will disappear quickly, but those in the pist know what I am talking about. (You don't have to register with your own name (look at the others in blue) Just register.

[yoshiki1327]

I'm not a racer, a crew member or car owner, just a fan who has been going to Berlin for 30+ yrs and have seen all 3 owners of the track. Chet did things his own way and no one ever complained much about him BUT yes there were complaints! The Whitecaps were given how long and nothing every changed except to continue to go down hill each yr. This yr Mike had taken over and NO ONE wants to give him time to change things they just want to throw him under the bus right away. I have not agreed with some of the things he has done this yr but again its his FIRST yr.

For Retaliation... it is a joke that you feel drivers can't post a name to their posts. If a driver or someone on their team has something bad they want to say they should have the balls to say it directly to Mike. I'm sure he would respect someone for saying it to him instead of being a coward and lie about who they are and trash talking him/the track. I would think the things drivers have to say would be a positive to help Mike with changes that may need to be made. It really truly gets old hearing all the bytching about things at the track. I honestly think that a lot of those who do bytch about Mike/Berlin have a bone with him from the start and no matter what he does would would still bytch.

[mjseiler]

I agree Yoshiki.... And as for "Bean"... keep it up... Pretty soon both us fans and you participants will be on the same side of the fence: WITH NO PLACE TO WATCH OR RACE. Berlin looks better than it EVER has, with more improvements to come. Did anyone notice that all the stands have been freshly painted? They never HAVE been painted, not even during Chet's "Golden Era". Speaking of Chet, even if he and his family were still at the helm, things wouldn't be much different than they are right now. The full weekly fields of the past that included the likes of Howe, the Sennekers, etc, etc, are gone forever because all those super stars retired eons ago. The packed stands that showed up for the ASA shows are gone because the REAL version of ASA is gone! There aren't a whole lot of things in short track racing that are as good as it was even ten years ago, and bringing Chet back wouldn't change that. Give Mike a chance....