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SOS
Q&A with: Dean Reynolds
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If you've ever been in the pits or in the stands at an ESS race there is a guy running around doing everything. His name is Dean Reynolds and he does it all - driver's meetings, helping out announcers, driver interviews, Frisbee toss, you name it - he does it- and he has been doing so for many years. When he bleeds - he bleeds ESS blue and is extremely proud of an organization that he is a big part of - Here are Dean's thoughts on the ESS and the sport.
Pete Turford
President
Southern Ontario Sprints |
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| Where do you see the ESS in 2008? |
I think 2008 will be a good year for ESS, I actually can’t wait until it starts and it’s our 25th Anniversary! We have had a solid off season with the most important aspect was the signing of Lucas Oil as our Tour sponsor. Steve Snowden is such a big fan of dirt racing and we are proud to have the Lucas logo in with ESS, it’s the first time we have changed our logo in the 25 years!
We already have more races booked than last year with ESS returning to Black Rock to open our season, we’re going to Clinton County in Pa., we are back to Lebanon Valley for the first time in 21 years and we’re glad to have three shows
at Brockville with the last one being a first ever show with SOS. Other than Merrittville where it’s
our off year, we have every show from last season back on the schedule and so far we have sponsors to have most of our shows $2,000 to win or more. Our goal is to have all of them at 2 grand.
This season we will also see the return of Dan Kaszubinski and Doug Emery along with Brian McDonald, Anthony Cain, Lee Ladouceur, Chris Jones and Justin Harris going to try and do as much of the tour as they can. To go along with that, is that we haven’t lost a tour traveler from last year.
We hired Mike Mallett to be our announcer for this year and that will help in making the events run smoother for the fans. He will know the “ins” and “outs” of all the teams so the fans will be informed, plus he has some tricks up his sleeve. It will be a fun time each night.
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| Where do you see car counts in 2008? |
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We changed some rules for this season to bring in more teams. While we always welcomed new teams or teams from other clubs, it was so hard for them to compete with the handicap system we had. You basically had to start tail when you came in. ESS (which means the race teams) decided to eliminate the handicap system we had. We will be going to an open draw at all of our point shows, no matter what group or sanction you’re from you have a shot at starting up front in the heats and also the A-Main. You either sign up as an ESS member or just get a temp. license for that night. This is going to help in the car counts and also make it exciting. Not only will each track have all the ESS stars, but with the open draw you will have surprises in the pits. You won’t know who will show up. It’s something ESS had to do, it’s getting so hard to have 22-24 teams follow the entire tour so this will bring in more outsiders and were really looking forward to that! While that will help the car counts, we still have major point funds to reward the teams that do follow the tour. They are our nucleus and at seasons end, they will a bunch of money for their dedication.
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| How would you describe the relationship between the ESS and the other
360 sprint organizations? |
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What is great about all the 360 organizations is the relationship and the willingness to keep the rules as close as they can, there’s always talk among the clubs. That just keeps the cost down for teams if they do want to venture away and run another event. That is probably the biggest factor why the Canadian Nationals are so successful. It’s the location of the schedule at the end of the year when most point races are over and the rules package.
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| Where do you see 360 Sprint car racing in 10 years?
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I hope it still stays strong, it’s funny, back when ESS started there was just 7 or 8 sprint cars around. Now, the northeastern US and Canada is a hot bed for 360 racing. Might even be the strongest in any area and this is STILL modified country! I know myself and Chuck Miller aren’t going anywhere and we just dedicate much of our lives to ESS. It’s for good reason because we feel we have some of the best race teams around, they are so dedicated to the club and what we do. Our races are competitive, professional and yet we like to have fun as well. That’s has been a key to ESS from Dick Carbery to Chuck and myself, professional but FUN!! That’s because of the teams we have, we would go to war for them.
With that said, the key to the 360 racing is to keep the costs down, plain and simple. The technology is beyond what I can imagine, especially with the motors. If there’s a way to keep that contained, then 360’s will stay strong. The reason why sprint car racing has been appealing is that it is cheaper than running modifieds, heck some drivers come from sportsman and say they spend less with a sprint.
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| What are the biggest challenges to the ESS in
particular? |
Our biggest challenge is always to stay on top of your game, never get comfortable and that is probably why ESS is one of the most successful 360 organizations. Never take anything for granted, always keep an open ear and be willing to change. State of racing changes year by year, not just sprint car racing but all racing. Some of our rule changes have to do with the state of racing like the dropping of the handicap.
The other challenge that we attack is to give the gang as much money as we can, we all know racing is expensive and you have to keep the teams on the road. We have been doing that each year without any more cost to the promoters as well. Sylvain Mercier and myself have been very aggressive in getting sponsors for the club, then following up to make sure they get their investment worth and then some. We are happy to have such a great sponsorship fold (please take a look at our sponsor page on the website) and proud that every single penny that is brought in goes to the teams.
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Are you happy with the current state of the
ESS?
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This year I’m more confident with the state of ESS. Last season I just didn’t have a good feeling going in. The cost of travel caught up to us and in 25 years that was a first. I wasn’t happy with some of the car counts we were bringing but thankfully the promoters understood that it was an odd year for us. We told the promoters during the season that we were making changes to help them out for ’08 and hopefully we went in the right direction. I do have a good feeling this year, more shows, more teams, the signing of Lucas Oil and it’s not ending there. We have many new sponsors already on board and more to announce.
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What keeps you going - what keeps you interested?
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I just enjoy ESS, yes I bleed blue, Chuck Miller bleeds blue…our whole staff. We love the club and the teams. To see a race go safely with a full grandstands and a smiling promoter always keeps you going. Not to mention a beer or two, ok, maybe 12 afterwards. I like the travel and time away for the races, that keeps my interest up every year.
During my non racing time I like to play sports, a player coach for a softball team, have a dart team, I golf, play Texas Hold ‘em tournaments and also a season ticket holder for the local hockey team, the Syracuse Crunch. |
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Tell me the pavement rumors are just that - rumors!
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Rumors…nope. It’s the real deal and on the day that you sent me the questionaire, we have signed on to run wingless at the famed Oswego Speedway on Saturday, June 28th. Right now the plan is to run on the 3/8ths mile oval but we will do some testing in May to see which size track will work the best. But its set and it will be fun and unique.
The surprising aspect of the deal is the awesome response we got. There were only a few teams that didn’t want to hit the asphalt and if you don’t feel comfortable we totally understand. It will be a non-point, 20 car invitational with a full purse offered. To have ESS at such a historic oval is a great opportunity. We have a few details to work out, but it will be affordable and safe for the teams.
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What are your duties with the ESS, both at the track and away from it. |
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My title is Vice President. I guess I stayed around long enough (since 1993) so they had to give me one. I do handle the day to day activities. It’s not my fulltime job, that is selling cell phones for AT&T but since I have e-mail access either at work or through my phone I can do ESS “stuff” during the day. At night, I’ll spend about 2 or so hours on ESS doing contracts, proposals, press releases and other duties.
On race night I’ll gather the order of events first so our teams know when we have to be ready, I’ll do the drivers meeting and when we get ready for warm-ups Chuck heads up to the tower. He runs the show on race night and he is one of the best in the business. I’m just amazed at what he sees and he remembers everything! He will make calls that I totally missed and then you look at the videos later, he’s right on!
During the racing I will do the one-way radios and I actually do that from either the stands or near the stands. You can see a whole lot better than in those towers. After the races, I’m the contact for the teams if they have a question. About 30 minutes or so, it’s time to crack open a few Silver Bullets!
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You recently told me that in the 80's you used to go to ridiculous
number of races - tell us about those days and the numbers involved. |
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Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s I used to write for Area Auto Racing News (actually still do but only a few stores a year). I was the main writer for the DIRT modifieds like what Kevin Kovac did and now Brett Deyo. While the mods were my main focus I went anywhere there was a race. If it was within 3 hrs. from home on a weeknight, I went. Get back at 2 or 3 AM, back to work at 7, but I loved it! In 1991, I was third in the country for going to races, I went to 141. For about 4 or 5 years strait, I did over a 100 races.
Now with the added duties of ESS and hobbies about the only race I go to that’s not ESS is Super DIRT Week. It’s in my back yard and there’s just something about the mile. When ESS and URC ran the two events on the mile in 1999 and 2000 I thought that was the coolest deal. Now I’m happy to hit 30-35 races a year, ESS has allowed me to go to Knoxville and Eldora which might have never happened if I wasn’t working for the club. This little club has grown so much but Pete, as you know it’s a ton of work but dang it….It’s fun!!
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