As many of you know, this past weekend, Tim Harris of Harris Racing Promotions had organized and promoted a race for minicups and Baby Grands at Dixie Motor Speedway in Michigan.  Most notable was the claimed purse of $75,000. 

At the event, during the running of the minicup race, Tim informed everyone that his sponsor had backed out and in fact there was no money whatsoever to pay any purse.  In fact, there was no money to pay the track crew, ambulance service, wrecker service, etc.  As you can imagine, this was a tremendous disappointment to everyone at the event who had spent the time and money to be there.

I'm writing this letter to tell some amazing stories about MMRA racers who attended the event.  For example, Chester McDowell who had towed all the way from Missouri offered to pitch in $500 to help pay track expenses if the Baby Grand racers wanted to still run an event.  Nick Proffitt came into town early and spent a whole day helping to promote the race on local radio programs, and also meeting with the safety crew so they would be better able to protect our racers.  Curt Roehm and his team were working until 2 am every night for a week to bring out a car that was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  Eric Denemark came up with 3 cars because he wanted to make the show as successful as possible.  Dwight Laxton towed from Missouri to help out several teams.  Steve Verbeke came to the race right in the middle of moving from Michigan to North Carolina.  After racing her Late Model Friday night at Nashville, Lindsay Daniels drove all night straight through to be at the event.

Every one of these racers had gone above and beyond to help out and it would have been natural for them to scream, threaten, or attack Tim Harris.  Not a single one did.  In fact, I was amazed at the self control and class shown by our racers when they were faced with a very tough situation. 

Moving forward, this event shows yet again that in racing it it easy to make claims and promises, but that doesn't mean they will happen.  As such, the integrity of the organizing body is critical.  MMRA has delivered on every promise we've made, and we have the cancelled checks to prove it.  We appreciate the trust our racers have placed in us, and we will continue to deliver what we promise.

Pete Neimeier
President, MMRA