By Kevin Ramsell
It’s the start of a new year, which means many of us have announced some resolutions and have already failed on those resolutions. I was going to work out more in 2009, but my health club was closed on New Year’s Day, so that I idea was shot.

I got to thinking what if short track racing had their version of resolutions for this year. Here are some ideas.

Resolve to make your racing facility more fan friendly and racer friendly than you have done in the past. There are many short tracks that do provide great customer service all across the board, and there are some that need to improve. In this economy, customer service is one area that you can easily win the returning customer week after week.

This just doesn’t go for the racing program on the track, but the service they receive at the concession stands to the person selling and ripping the ticket when they enter. Remember, this could be a year where we could see new fans, first impressions go a long way to creating a solid customer base. This also can be said in the pits as well. Treat everyone fair, be consistent with the rules and give the respect to the competitors that you expect as a track owner and/or an official.

Resolve not to re-write your rulebook every year. There is absolutely nothing wrong with leaving the same rules as last year, unless you are improving something in the area of safety.

Remember this, when you make a change in the rules its going to cost your competitors some money to make those changes. If you had a good and fair rules package last year, why do you need to re-write them?

If this economy is going to teach us anything, that is to keep things simple in 2009.

Resolve to race what you can afford to race. So many times, I have seen drivers compete what is outside of their budget. The result, the car sits in the garage, a cornfield or in someone’s backyard.

Local racing works by the fact that many tracks have different divisions that fit the budget of anyone who wants to race. The “Weekend Warrior” is just someone who has a hobby of racing on the weekends. The local tracks are there for that, not for full-time competitors who show up their expensive haulers and such. Open trailers rule at the local tracks. Race what you can afford, have fun doing it and keep it as a hobby if that is what you can afford.

Resolve that many tracks operate on a limited budget and they can use your volunteer help to promote the track. This means offering to put your race car in parades, on display at parking lots, etc. Offer to hand out track brochures and flyers. The more people they get in the stands, the stronger the track becomes financially and the better the payoff will get. Sadly, it will not happen overnight but it could improve as the season goes on.

For the tracks, yes you are on a limited budget, but anything wrong with giving those who help a free pit pass for the night as a way of saying thank you for their time and effort? A lot of times doing small things will pay off with huge dividends.

And finally, resolve to have a positive outlook this season. Yes we could sit here and be doom and gloom about everything. We can read articles about NASCAR teams leaving or cutting their staff because sponsors budgets etc. What may hurt one end cannot hurt the other end.

Think about it, if a NASCAR sponsor can’t afford the costs to be involved but yet they still want the racing demographic, they can save some money by helping on the regional and local level. They will get the same fans, not in the mass that they were before, but they can do it on a budget that they can afford and would fit right in to the regional and local level to thrive and be successful.

Just because the 800lb. gorilla may be seeing some issues, don’t assume that those problems will funnel down. Remember this; local racing is more affordable for a family of four then going to a Cup race.

Make the most of 2009, have fun and be positive.