In the 2000 season the issues of dirty driving and bad calls has stormed to the front of dirt track conversation. In the middle of all of the commotion is the track officials. I have to ask this question though, is it really their responsibility to keep the action on the track safe or fair?

It's my opinion that both are the responsibility of the drivers and the officials.

The official is a man (or woman, depending on the track) just like everyone else at the race track. He will make a mistake from time to time, and like any other official, he is always the one to blame. He hears all the complaints and gets insults every time someone doesn't agree with his decision. My point is how much pressure can a guy handle, and why do we put on the pressure. A lot of fans today get overwhelmed so much by the officials that I wonder if they came to the track to watch the races or harass the officials.

Now, during my trips to the races this season, I would have to say that I have seen a lot of decisions and actions by track officials that I didn't agree with. For example, at Jax Raceways, in a sportsman race two cars tangled in turn one causing the front car's rear end to be pulled loose from the car. The rear car that initiated the contact had his plastic nose piece torn up, it wasn't as bad as the dangling bump bars on the front car. After about two laps the front car was black flagged for debris hanging from his car, and sent to the pits. He lost two laps in the pits and ended up finishing 11th in a 14 car field. The car that initiated the contact was not black flagged. When the first caution flag came out the track official put on some gloves and pulled off the plastic nose piece till he cleared the front frame of the car. Rules state that the official can work on the car if it is anything he can do with his hands only, if it requires any type of tool the car must go to the pits.

Does the official work for that race team, I hear myself asking? No, he is a track official. If your car is torn up, you get black flagged if it poses any threat to the race. No official should be allowed to touch any car on the track. Bad call and it did cause a crowd reaction.

Later, in a Late Model race the first and second place cars were running two wide around the race track in a tense battle for the front spot. Now folks, rubbin's racing. I would much rather see to cars nudge and fight for track position than see them going around the track in a straight line. The two drivers battle side by side for about two laps when the second place car got a good run underneath going into turns one and two. Lining the bottom of the race track at Jax are 800 pound, white tractor tires. These tires were placed on the track to move the racing grove up off the apron of the race track and increase the length a little. Now these tires are not held in place so when they get hit they do move. The inside car ran down so low going into turn two that he side swiped the tractor tire with his left side, knocking sheet metal in on his left rear. He managed to keep his position inside of the leader and continued on through turns 3 & 4 of that lap. However, 3/4 of the way down the front straight his left rear tire blew and he spun into turn 1 bringing out a caution flag. The turn two official decided that the leader forced the second place car down into the tire causing him to cut his left rear. This decision sent the leader to the back of the field causing him to finish 7th with the dominant race car. The driver was penalized for pure American racing.

The blame goes on the officials.