The Speedway Expo, put on by Speedway Illustrated and sponsored by Sunoco, moved to a new venue and we went with some trepidation as we recalled the last time its predecessor, Racearama, tried a change of building and those recollections were not fond. And while the Mallory building on the grounds of the Big E Exposition seemed to be fairly well-suited for the show, it did come across as a bit more cramped than the Better Living Center. Photography was a challenge.

We got there just in time for the Media Seminar that covered pretty much every venue of print media: Karl Fredrickson from Speedway Illustrated, Lenny Sammons from Area Auto Racing News, Shawn Courschene from the Hartford Courant and Travis Barrett from Central Maine Newspapers. Each brought plenty of expertise and experience to the table to help race teams get into print.

The primary message delivered by all four panelists was to make a story that's compelling, interesting, and seek out whoever covers the area in question to bounce that message off of him or her. Writers can't write about stories they don't know about, and they certainly won't write a story on a cliche-ridden message that brings nothing original or interesting to the table. Drivers have to make themselves available to the media and openly answer any question asked. Even if it's not a flattering story, admitting a mistake and giving more than the usual cliches will pay off down the road when the writer is looking for more stories and knows that Bob Johnson in the Late Models has cooperated in the past.

Fredrickson suggested that those thinking they might have compelling stories for inclusion in the magazine to send a note giving the basics of the story to the editorial office along with a low-resolution JPG image via email.

Sammons suggested that drivers get to know the trade paper columnists who regularly cover each track and use them to tip off news stories and announcements so they can include them in their weekly columns.

Both daily paper writers stressed that at-track contact is the best way to get their attention and tip them off to any new developments with race teams. Tips can also be sent via email, but not via snail mail to the papers' offices: both admitted to going weeks without setting foot in the office as they have multiple beats to cover (Courschene also covers UConn football; Barrett is also Central Maine Newspaper's outdoors columnist).

We don't get to run into Dave Dion that much these days, as he has all but disappeared from the East Series. But when our paths do cross, as they did at the show, it's definitely going to be a good conversation. He was glad to see the series attracting more and more attention, but bemoaned the lack of good stories coming from it. It's no longer looked at as a goal to aspire to, he said, but just another step on the ladder to the big time. Martin Truex, Jr. and Ricky Craven advanced beyond Busch North, but both stuck around in the series for a few years and helped promote it both while in it and after moving on; will Joey Logano do the same? Will he have appreciated his brief time in the series after he's turned eighteen and started making the big bucks on the big stage?

Dion, far from being in the minority, is saddened by the state of motorsports today. Kids are being brought up the ladder so quickly, he said, and typically not given adequate time to show whether they have what it takes before getting yanked out of the ride in favor of the potential next big thing. Their days in the lower ranks are brief but with very good bought-and-paid-for equipment so they don't come out of the weekly series with compelling stories or tales of hardship. And because big-time racing has taught them to be nice-talking, clean-cut sponsors' dreams, which further reduces their being, for lack of a better word, interesting. When so much of local racing is about rivalries, having everyone wanting to be the good guy takes a lot of appeal away from the weekly wars.

Another former Busch North racer is also enjoying on-track success away from the series. Dave Darling gave the series a series effort for two or three years starting in 2000. His team them put Jerry Marquis in the car and, with some mechanical upgrades, ran a few races a year with some success, including a couple NHIS top-tens in 2006. Darling, in the meantime, hooked up with another team to go back to his roots, racing Pro Stocks at Seekonk Speedway, and has plenty of wins and a couple of championships to show for it. He may not miss the tour, what with its expense and traveling, but he did say he wouldn't mind only racing thirteen or fourteen times a year rather than every Saturday night.

We're encouraged at what Bobby MacArthur is doing to revitalize the former Star Speedway, which was in pretty tough shape the last time we went there in 2001 or 2002 and had only gotten worse after that. It's good to see capital improvements come to a track that was probably pretty close to death's door a year or two ago, and that it's healthy enough to host both Pro Stocks and Modifieds weekly. But when the display for what is now All Star Speedway includes the opportunity to buy T-shirts that say "I Love A.S.S.", well, come on now. Who's going to want to be seen in public wearing something like that?

Noticeably absent from the display floor at the Speedway Expo was Lime Rock Park. It's getting a re-pave this spring that'll cost it some of its spectator events during summer, so maybe that's why it opted not to come. Or maybe, what with its paving job being funded by sports car enthusiasts ponying up $100,000 each to join the Lime Rock Club that'll allow them plenty of open track days at the historic track's 1.53-mile road course, that trying and get regular racing fans to cough up $20 to $50 to see a show there isn't worth the effort.

We haven't stirred the pot like this in a while.

The cars on display were, as always very well done. Eddie MacDonald's car graced the show's entrance with a disturbing lack of lettering on it, though the plan is for the team to contest every race. Ted Marsh's car, numbered 08 with Camping World Series logos on it, was also near the front door. In the Sunoco display was Matt Kobyluck's No. 40 car. In the New Hampshire Motor Speedway display was Matt Kobyluck's No. 40 car, and in the NASCAR display was yet another Kobyluck car. Surely some other local team could have been convinced to bring a car to break up the sea of Mohegan Sun Chevrolets?

Rumor has it that Kobyluck will bring six cars to next year's show.

We go to the Speedway Expo to see people, though, and there were plenty of familiar faces we haven't seen since the banquet in December or, in some cases, at NHIS back in September. Spotted in the crowd were folks like Steve Tapley, who's embarking on an aggressive testing and racing schedule working with Mike Olsen and Max Dumarey at Fadden Racing as they attempt ARCA and Camping World West races in addition to the full East Series schedule. A fair representation of what's left of the East Series Mini-Media was present including Penny Aicardi, Ken Spring, and Howie Hodge.

Back in the old days we'd leave Racearama knowing that three weeks later we'd be in the stands at Riverside Park Speedway getting the season started. It's not like that these days, but the Speedway Expo is a good wake-up call to those who've been slacking on finding readable racing content over the course of the winter that it's time to go back to work and start working on stories for the 2008 season. I wonder who that might be referring to?