By T.J. Buffenbarger
Speedway, IN – (01/19/1998) — Welcome to the first “Get Slideways” column for 1998. This weeks edition is being written from the Brickyard Crossing. (Boy is it cold out here on the 5th tee). There are lot of different things going on for the start of the 1998 season, so let’s get started.
This year’s trip down to Indy for the Thunder in the Dome XIV wasn’t quite as treacherous as last year’s six hour trip with solid ice from Coldwater to Indy with cars scattered everywhere. This year the trip only took four hours with only three cars in the ditch. From Ft. Wayne on everything was pretty smooth sailing.
Jim Hettinger waxed the competition at this year’s Thunder in the Dome here in Indianapolis. Jim was unable to hot lap or race in his heat. After winning the team USA feature from the 20th starting position, Hettinger then led every lap of the main event. I guess putting Jim on our logo for the dome was not a bad idea:-) It was a great effort from Hettinger and his team to put on a show for his huge cheering section along with the other fans
The dome is also time to see many friends for the first time since last fall. I had the pleasure of working with the crew from Racer’s Direct. D.O. Laycock and his crew did live chat all night from the Hoosier dome, and your’s truly logged on during the intermission before the main event. I recommend checking our their work: http://www.racersdirect.com.
Also the crew from http://www.turn2.com was covering all of the action. Between myself, D.O.’s crew, and turn two, the night was a small Midwest Internet racing summit. One thing everyone agrees with is the web is still growing, and the more we can help each other the stronger our sites will be. Too many things in racing are ruined by bickering, and by the looks of things this trend will not be hitting the open wheel websites anytime soon.
Other friends we were able to see were Janie Vogel from Midget Racing Magazine, Dave Argabright from National Speed Sport News, Mike O’Leary from NSSN, Dave and Amy from Fremont, Ohio, and Jimmy Hilligass from Indiana. Argabright reports that his book about the Little 500 is coming along nicely. I am looking forward to reading about this wonderful race.
For more news on the dome, and other racing check TJ’s notes in the latest news section.
Speaking of webmasters, if anyone out there has any questions about their websites you can feel free to ask here anytime. The more good sites we have promoting our sport on the web, the stronger the coverage will be. I’ve been doing this now for close to three years, and I still ask questions to other webmasters when I’m thinking of new pages.
Next week something really special is coming to the TJ Slideways page. I’m going to make my first radio appearance on Racing World. The show will run from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 EST. Then after the radio show we’re going to have a live chat with some of the guests from the show in our Open Wheel Chat room. Both the chat session and radio show will originate from the Barman’s Racing Garage in Fremont, Ohio. Barman’s garage has some great racing souvenirs, and will be the perfect location to originate our first on location chat of the season.
This will wrap up the first “Get Slideways” of 1998. Don’t forget to view the latest notes. News there includes a wrap up from the dome, some Indiana news, and more details on our live chat from Ohio next week. BE THERE!!! :-)