PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- When we all were kids we never wanted the summers to end. We all knew that the next summer would not be this much fun. We never wanted our baseball games that we played in the field at the end of the street to end.

For some reason, as we get older, it doesn’t change. As a matter of fact, for me it gets worse. I have been 29 years old now for a few years, and for some reason I don’t want that to change either. I tried coming up with several solutions to hang on to what I felt was a tradition at my home.

Over the years, I have accomplished several things in racing. Some people would think it would be bringing NASCAR to Ohio with a great team? NO. Some people would say it would be drag racing Darrell Waltrip at the dragsters in front of Daytona Speedway? By the way, he beat me bad. HAHA.

No the highlight to everything I have ever done in racing was 2 years ago when I returned to Painesville Speedway and walked my son around the same place my dad walked me around. You see, Painesville is like my summer night I never want to end. The night was flying by while I was showing my son the groove, and showing my son the X…yes where I got hit and where I hit others. I just didn’t want it to end.

At every race track I have ever attended, there has been change. I know 99.9% of you understand that change just stinks. But we must go through it. Yes, owners need to make money to stay in business. But they don’t want to have to eliminate tradition in the process. No owner wants to send away something that has been a tradition, and despite what you may think, these owners are like all of the rest. They have spent a lot of money to start a business, and at this point it’s not working with a few cars in one division.

The goal is to keep our place we call home open for our kids to walk with their kids. I would never want things to just end the way they did in my house with a division just being shut down. No race track in the world could survive with 10-12 cars. It is not ruthless or mean, it’s just business. Maybe it’s time to say enough and just maybe get that last big race in for you fans that have supported us over the years.

Maybe it’s time for all of us to recognize that every race track in Ohio will have change this year, and some will do this every week until something works. Only time will tell, but it’s time to accept these changes and go back home and support a new division that will be at Painesville Speedway for your kids to race in while you help them with their race car. Now that is a memory and a tradition nobody can take away.