Fully Injected: All Star Roadies: The Untold Perspective

Column By: TYLER ALTMEYER / RPW – BUTLER, PA – The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will begin the next phase of their 2017 season on Sunday, April 9, at Atomic Speedway. To make things clearer, it was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 8, but an eerie forecast forced officials to move the event back one day allowing for extra drying time.

Atomic Speedway is certainly no stranger to weather unpredictability, losing or postponing multiple All Star programs in 2016. I think I speak for everyone when I say that avoiding a weather-induced headache at Atomic Speedway would be a great start to the month of April.

For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Tyler Altmeyer and I am the “PR Guy” for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. Since taking over this role in mid-2015, I’ve experienced more than I could ever imagine. As much as I would love to share all of the details, I don’t have the time, nor the ability to stay censored long enough during the telling of these tall tales. But, I will do my best in delivering the untold perspective; life as an “All Star Roadie” from my own point of view. Hopefully my experiences up and down the highway with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions are entertaining, but one thing is for certain: the fun we have is harmless, sometimes chaotic, but always memorable.

Anyhow, since returning home from sunny, north-central Florida where we spent nearly two weeks putting on programs at Bubba Raceway Park and Volusia Speedway Park, the All Star staff has been busy. Since we are all located in different areas of the country, some stationed in Pennsylvania, a few in Ohio, one in North Carolina, one in North Dakota, and two in Indiana, we have to coordinate a little differently than most companies. In most cases, I only interact with our Chief Operating Officer and announcer, mostly via email or group message. There are others involved, as well; our series owner, race director, series interns, and head tech official. Considering I have not picked up an actual wrench in at least six years, consulting with our head tech official is probably pointless, anyhow. To give you a better visual on my mechanical competence, those metal screw-things that hold on a mud cover are spelled “Dzus,” not “Zeus.” This isn’t the first time I’ve mixed up Greek Mythology and the Speedway Motors catalog.

We have regularly scheduled conference calls in which we discuss important conference call-worthy material. Most of the time I am not invited. I know this because co-workers will call and ask “are you on the conference call tomorrow morning?” No, I am not. Following the awkward phone conversation is usually a forwarded email that was already sent to most of the staff explaining the conference call. In all seriousness, I think the only good part of having to participate in a conference call is getting to tell people that you have a conference call. It’s the most important sounding phrase in the world. “I have a conference call.” It could be a conference call about grocery store coupons and people would still automatically assume you were someone important. “I’d love to join you and your mother for breakfast, but I have a conference call.” It’s basically a Get Out of Jail Free card.

April is a busy month for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. We have six programs over the span of four weekends, including a Central Pennsylvania triple-header on April 28-30 where we will challenge the Pennsylvania Posse on their home dirt. Before making the trek to Central Pennsylvania, the All Stars will crisscross sections Ohio. We will be visiting six different tracks during our April travels, all of which are repeats on my list of tracks visited all-time. To be honest, I have no idea how many tracks I’ve actually visited during my time as a “race chaser.” If I had to take an educated guess, I would say somewhere between 100 and 125. If you count all of the dirt tracks I built in my backyard while I was a kid, conducting events with a mixture of World of Outlaws mini-diecasts and Tonka trucks, then my list has to be somewhere close to 175. Most of the tracks I built would now fall in the “lost speedways” category, except the for the one I spray painted on my dad’s garage floor. My memory is hazy, but I don’t think anything good ever came out of that.

Anyhow, the month of April will tell a lot of tales for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. It will give our racers a true test of endurance, as well as give our fans the opportunity to witness what our roster is really capable of doing . The schedule is diverse, circling areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania like recently mentioned, which in turn will throw a little bit of everything at our race teams. We’ll be dueling with Ohio’s best for three straight weekends to kick off the month, following our Atomic Speedway visit with trips to Attica Raceway Park and Wayne County Speedway, respectively. Their accolades speak for themselves; action-packed venues with competitive local racers.

Three weeks in Ohio will be followed by three consecutive events in Pennsylvania; all three on half-miles, all during the same weekend. We will visit Williams Grove Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, and the Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway. Like the Ohio tracks, their reputations speak for themselves.

As an employee, it’s tough to imagine a better scenery for working with a series. All six tracks are within five hours of my home in Western Pennsylvania. Keeping that in mind, our first three events in April are all single-day programs, so if Mother Nature decides to intervene early, I’m not losing an entire day. Besides obvious factors like the local competitors and track sizes, I think the biggest difference between Ohio and Pennsylvania is the fanbase; the intensity of the fans and how they operate. I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of time in Central Pennsylvania before joining the All Star staff, and to no surprise for most of you, what I’ve come to notice is that the fans in Pennsylvania are intense. They are completely committed to their local racing scene. I met a gentleman recently who has not missed a Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway since 1991. The only thing I’ve done consistently since 1991 is avoid manual labor.

Seventeen drivers in total, including 11 Rookie of the Year candidates, will tackle the All Star tour in 2017; a true testament to our organization. Understanding the number of eligible rookies, it is probably easy for some to criticize our talent level and what we have to offer. Those in doubt should understand that if these numbers hold true throughout the duration of the season, and if our rookies can stay patient and keep from getting discouraged during tough times, especially in Posse Country, then I feel safe to say that the future is solid for the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. A series can only rely on its veteran talent pool for so long.

Hopefully things go well during the next four weekends. As long as Mother Nature cooperates, I have no doubt that we’ll have a successful April swing. Only time will tell.