Well another month has come and gone, and we are heading into the final half of the season allready. So without wasting anymore time, let's get into this month's "Just My Thoughts".

1. Ch-Ch-Ch CHANGES - It was not very long ago that I was thinking a certain SK/Sunoco Modified driver was being overlooked for a GOOD ride on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Well, I guess fate works in strange ways. I am of course talking about Keith Rocco. When Jimmy Blewett vacated the seat of the TS Haulers #12, the opportunity knock came for Keith. I look for Keith to have success rather quickly. Top notch equipment paired with raw talent. You can argue all you want, but take this into consideration. Keith is Ted Christopher's #1 rival at any SK Type Modified track. IN MY OPINION, he will soon be doing so on the Tour as well. I will go out on a limb right now and say he WILL win in 2010 and will DEFINITELY win Rookie honors. Part two of the changes sees contraversial driver James Civali return to the Tour as the new driver of the Hillbilly Racing #79. MY PERSONAL FEELINGS here will most likely vary from most. I feel James is ready to come back and RACE not WRECK. The Hill's and company have one of the top cars on the Tour and spare no expenses keeping it that way. They demand success and should. Many people feel that James will be wreckless or even dangerous, I disagree. I personally feel there will be to many eyes on James. I mean come on, don't you think some other drivers would love that seat ? 

2. TELEVISION - Incase you have not read or heard, the Bristol Motor Speedway combination event broadcast on SPEED had over 300,000 viewers. I would have to say that those were DEFINITELY not just your regular Tour fan who could not attend the event. I personally have to thank SPEED for all their effort. I just hope that people who can make the television happen more often have seen that the audience can be there. Proper promotion and a "household name" driver or two could get this Tour to have EVERY event televised, or at least the "major" events at the Cup Series tracks. I am interested in finding out where the viewers were located. What areas that the Tour does NOT run in had the most viewers. This could be a good indication of where the Tour should look towards for additional events. There may also be potential sponsors in those areas. S

3. SPONSORSHIP - Speaking of sponsors, I think there are several companies being overlooked for potential sponsorship of television events or just race sponsorship in general. Casinos in the area of the track hosting the event should be sought after. There are "official" everythings (probably including underwear) of NASCAR. Let's get a few of these companies to put up some money for NASCAR's first division. Finally, how about EA Sports, they have the Tour on the games, why not put some dollars into them. 

In closing, I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has helped the Tour to get to where it is today. While the number of races may be down, we need to look at where we are racing. 25 years ago did anyone think we would be running on a mile infront of 40 to 50,000 fans. I know I never thought we would see a race at Bristol. With more and more reporters and websites promoting the Tour, and more involvement by Cup Series drivers the future seems pretty bright to me. We need to be thankfull for what we have, before we can gain more.

These are "Just My Thoughts" they may be different from yours and I would LOVE to see your responses. As always, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read. 

-WMT-  




-- Edited by WhelenModifiedTour on Monday 7th of September 2009 05:32:47 PM