Holy Positivity, Batman!

In just a few short days, fans lucky enough to make the trip down to sunny Florida will be able to hear the idyllic sound of big-block motors come to life. There's not much comparable to that first race of the year, from the aroma of burning racing fuel, the shimmering, fresh, new liveries. Personally, I even grow to miss that thin layer of dust in your beer or on your french fries by the time the winter comes to an end. For you fans lucky enough to be able to quench your cravings built up after a long off-season

Unfortunately, if you're like most of us, we've got another four weeks (or longer) until we can feed our addiction. Our appetite will have to settle for an appetizer of watching/listening to the races on DirtVision, and frequenting our favorite publications or websites for results and photos from the DIRTcar Nationals.

Whether you're going to Volusia or not, technically, the off-season is officially coming to a close. Obviously, quite a few tracks/series have yet to release schedules, drivers have yet to announce plans, but when race cars start hitting the track, I consider that the beginning of the end of the off-season.

And what an off-season we've experienced. We, as humans, find it much easier to be negative than positive. It's why we call companies to complain when they mess something up, and rarely call when they do everything they're asked of. It's just human nature, and (despite what some people seem to think) it isn't an internet/message board thing, or a race fan thing. Despite this, there really isn't much negative to speak about this off-season, so we're going to focus on all the positives we've got going for 2012.

Let me first apologize if this appears to turn into a list, but a seemingly endless supply of positive news has graced the dirt modified racing world, starting all the way back in September when Grandview Speedway announced the 2012 Freedom 76er would pay an astounding $50,000 to the winner. Fans have been asking for a Super DIRT Week-like purse at a short track for years, and they finally get their wish in 2012.

Grandview wasn't done with the announcements. The annual Forrest Rogers Memorial could potentially see a major increase as well. If a Grandview regular wins the Forrest Rogers Memorial, they'll receive $20,000 to win, while if an invader wins they'll receive the normal $10,000.

Next to announce a significant purse increase was Brett Deyo and Penn Can Speedway for the Clash at the Can. The Clash at the Can will make Penn Can Speedway history in 2012, as the winner of this year's edition of the race will receive $10,000 to win, the highest paying race in Penn Can history.

Speaking of purse increases, Big Diamond Speedway and Can Am Motorsports Park made drastic weekly purse increases. Big Diamond Speedway will pay an amazing $2,750 weekly winner's purse for the small block modified, while Can Am Motorports Park ups their winner's purse to $1,500 to win.

Trying to get the track back to its glory days of the past, Can Am Motorsports Park has also announced multiple higher-paying mid week shows throughout the season. I-88 has recently an aggressive schedule as well with two of the highest paying races in the history of the track with the Wade Decker Memorial as well as the RoC Dirt Tour event.

No tracks that ran modifieds full-time in 2011 will be dropping the division in 2012, but 2 historic tracks have added modifieds to the weekly card. Bridgeport Speedway welcomes back the big-block modifeds under the helm of Doug Hoffman. Not only will Hoffman bring the big-blocks back weekly, he'll also introduce the innovative "Poker Series" which will bring more high-profile races to the big 5/8 mile than in recent years.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway has brought back the dirt and the modifieds under the leadership of Howie Commander for this year. A big 2-day opening weekend is already scheduled, as is an invasion from the Super DIRTcar Series. A final schedule is currently being finalized.

Black Rock Speedway is another former popular modified track that dropped the division in recent years. While the modifieds won't be a weekly attraction at Black Rock, they're on the schedule more than in recent years with 5 appearances, including a $6,000 to win race in October and a $5,000 to win RoC Dirt Tour event in July.

Even a new Series was formed, as DIRTcar announced a DIRT/Asphalt 4 race mini-series, with races held at Dunn Tire Raceway Park and Airborne Speedway. Each race will pay at least $3,000 to win.

Roaring Knob Speedway will host modifieds for the first time in a few years in 2012 as they have scheduled a BRP Tour race, while I-96 Speedway in Michigan is currently negotiating bringing the Super DIRTcar Series into town because of high interest from fans and the track owner. And of course, we've all seen the Bubba Raceway Park wants the modifieds in 2013 to replace the USAC sprints.

While the Super DIRTcar Series schedule has yet to be announced, it will have at least new tracks on the schedule with Albany-Saratoga Speedway and Ransomville Speedway joining the fold. Most exciting though, is that Cayuga County Fair Speedway, worst case scenario, will be part of the Super DIRTcar Series schedule and run a handful of times.

The RoC Dirt Tour added new tracks Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Black Rock Speedway, Bridgeport Speedway, and I-88 Speedway to its 2012 line up. The only track not to return to the schedule was Big Diamond Speedway.

Despite it looking like modifieds may not return to Hagerstown at all in 2012, the Octoberfest event has been replaced with the "Fall Brawl" which will be a 50-lap $10,000 to win feature race.

To top it all off, we've still go the SEF 200 ($50,000 to win) and Nationwide 150 ($20,000 to win) at the NY State Fairgrounds, Fulton Speedway hopes the weather cooperates this year to run the Outlaw 200 ($20,000 to win), Eastern States will once again be at Orange County Fair Speedway for the Eastern States 200 ($20,000 to win), Mr. Dirt Track USA ($17,500 to win) will be run at Lebanon Valley Speedway,New Egypt Speedway once again will hos the Friends of Mike ($15,000 to win), Utica Rome, despite being for sale, will have the Victoria 100 and New Yorker 100 (both $10,000 to win), Big Diamond Speedway will once again host the Coalcracker ($10,000 to win), the Alex Friesen Summer Nationals ($10,000 to win) will once again be at Ransomville Speedway, and I'm sure I'm probably missing one.

These are just some of the bigger announcements we've seen throughout the year, series and high paying races are also planned at Volusia, Charlotte, Fonda, Five Mile Point, Merrittville, Brewerton, Accord, Mercer, Sharon, Lernerville, Delaware, Lincoln, Selinsgrove, Little Valley, Brighton, RPM, Rolling Wheels, Woodhull, Sportsmans, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Point is, with all this positivity heading towards 2012, I just wanted to take a moment to thank all the promotors, track owners, or anyone that has contributed towards this off-season filled with positivity. I haven't been this excited for a racing season to get here in a long time.

**Again, sorry if this was hard to read... since this is just a blog, I just write as I think, and don't really look it over afterwards, which I'm sure can make it read choppy. Thanks for reading though!