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Bubba Pollard is starting to feel disillusioned by the current state of asphalt Late Model racing.

The reigning All-American 400 winner has long been a vocal advocate for lowering costs and generating constructive criticism but has reached a point where the status quo has started to drive him away from the discipline he loves.

The 29-year-old has reached a crossroads in his life where he’s content to spend time at home since his marriage and the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth McMillan. He still enjoys the sport but has devoted additional time to racing on dirt at his home track in Senoia, Georgia.

The reason is simple — he wants someone to listen to his pleas to change the current direction of Super Late Model racing but hasn’t had success.

“I’m just going to race when I want to race,” Pollard said of his 2017 plans. “If I want to sit at home, I’m going to sit at home. I’ll pick and choose wherever I want to go — go to new places or at least try to. Race some different things and have some fun.

“I mean, I’m getting old in it now. I love racing but just like this tire deal. It’s just driven me to not care much anymore. It’s just, I love racing and to see the sport get ruined because of these stupid ass rules is pretty crazy.”

He was referring to the tire rule at CRA Speefest that mandated four Hoosier F-40s rather than the standard F-45 tire used in the Deep South and at the Snowball Derby last December.

“This is the F40 and just a different compound,” Pollard explained. “We don’t run it – we run it once a year down here. It costs everybody money, so once again, everything here goes back to wasting money.”

READ MORE: Stephen Nasse isn’t backing down over Snowball Derby tirade

Pollard made headlines last summer by proposing the formation of a council of teams and promoters to meet each off-season to share ideas needed to advance the growth of asphalt racing. In theory, such a meeting could take place at the Performance Racing Industry trade show in December but that event went by without such a meeting.

Pollard believes tour and track promoters could do a much better job of reaching out to drivers to make sure they are satisfied. He thought his suggestion was catching on last fall but was let down by the lack of progress.

“People are all talk,” Pollard said. “They don’t do anything. They don’t do anything. Ain’t nobody gonna do anything. The CRA ain’t gonna do anything. The (Southern) Super Series ain’t gonna do anything. Nobody is going to do anything. None of them stepped up. You’ve got to cut the cost of this shit or no one is going to be here.

“Short track racing ain’t gonna live long at this rate and I’m the only one that’s got the balls to stand up and admit that.”

Each of the major East Coast SLM tours experienced a severe drop-off in full-time participation last season. In fact, only three drivers raced the full SSS and CRA seasons respectively; and two from PASS South.

PASS North had eight full-time drivers and the ARCA Midwest Tour had seven for what it’s worth.
The one exception to Pollard’s gripe has been Kern County Raceway’s Winter Showdown and the SRL Southwest Tour. The 2014 Southern Super Series champion praised tour and track GM Larry Collins for his willingness to call drivers and have conversations about the sport.

“Yeah man, you go out there and the people out west are awesome,” Pollard said. “That series is awesome. The people that run that deal, put it together, they want to see you come. They do the best they can and they work hard.

“You know, its fun going out there and running with those guys.”

Pollard is the two-time reigning winner of the Winter Showdown and is looking forward to returning in two weeks to defend that crown. But beyond that, Pollard isn’t sure what he wants to do this season. Much of it probably depends on the response to his continued pleas to communicate.

Time will tell.

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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