Why Short Track Scene has been banned from the Rattler 250

The above post from 2022 is important framing for the narrative journey I am unfortunately prepared to take you on this weekend.

Short Track Scene was fully staffed to provide short track enthusiasts across the country with editorial coverage of the $50,5050.50-to-win, 50th running of the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway. This was going to happen despite my not even being on-site due to my NASCAR Cup Series responsibilities at Darlington Raceway.

We have a tremendous team here now and I no longer have to do everything. I am tremendously grateful to everyone that has bought into my vision for independent short track commentary and journalism. We hope it has been additive to your fandom.

However, it has been expressed to our staff that Short Track Scene would not be allowed to provide any on-site coverage until I speak to Maleah Hill, the track’s operations manager, because I ‘owe her an apology.’

Up front, I would lose every ounce of credibility and self-respect the moment I exchange a baseless apology for access to an event. I may as well shut this website down the moment the industry believes they can buy my editorial discretion with access.

Wait, what?

So why is Short Track Scene seemingly banned from covering the Rattler 250 this weekend?

Backstory: Last summer, South Alabama Speedway created a contest in which it would pay $500 to the winner in challenging fans to come up with the logo for the 50th Rattler 250. We thought it was a good idea and even promoted it on the website. We love and support creatives!

The problem is that this design ultimately won the contest.

This was very clearly the result of the contest winner using a ChatGPT prompt and using whatever it spit out, which whatever, but at least be intellectually honest about it. My point of contention, that I expressed publicly, is that this was an affront to real creators and the work that goes into legitimate graphic design.

For the record, whoever was at the controls of the track’s Facebook page that day, conducted the tried and true aggrieved short track operator’s response of deleting comments they didn’t like from those who pointed out how the logo was conceived through ChatGPT.

A Short Track Scene reader wanted to know why his comments were being deleted.

Meanwhile, my solution was to reward actual creators who submitted designs by using it as part of Short Track Scene’s editorial coverage this weekend.

The track response from Ryan McCollough was as follows:

“John (Dykes) and staff voted. It’s that simple. If anyone doesn’t like the winning logo, then open your own race track, create an event and have people design a logo. The Dykes family wanted the FANS to be of the weekend, not necessarily full-time artists and designers. If that would have been the case, then SAS officials would have reached out to those artists individually.”

You have to understand: To me, this isn’t just an inconsequential $500 design contest. This is a principled stance regarding what I perceive as a deep slight to my friends who work from the highest levels down to the grassroots in creative positions.

Artificial Intelligence is a disrespect to their very contributions to our industry and I do not apologize for standing up for them. But at the end of the day, this is my opinion, and that is theirs but I do not have to retract or apologize for those opinions in order to earn the right for Short Track Scene to continue covering this event.

13 years of free editorial support

I will not apologize, beyond the ethical merits, because I have never asked South Alabama Speedway for gratitude. For 13 years, Short Track Scene has covered some of the most monumental modern moments in event history.

We were there when Kyle Grissom wanted to beat up Stephen Nasse for starting a massive pileup in 2015. We were there when Christopher Bell won that race and gave me one of the most memorable victory lane photographs ever. We were there for Ty Majeski winning this race for the first time, and when he did it with an engine block previously used by Dick Trickle, and the three other times. We were there when Harrison Burton came into his own in 2018.

You can find here a complete archive of every story written about the Rattler 250 since 2013. This is free advertising and support for an event that otherwise isn’t getting any of it from a mainstream reporter these days.

For the record, what did I get out of it? Well, I have lost over $10,000 overall since launching this website, because it was for the good of the industry to have someone with my national touring pedigree providing coverage of this discipline and the people in it. Short Track Scene’s coverage of Rattler 250 has never been supported with advertising partnerships.

Short track racing no longer has Speed51, Race22 or Racing America. Short Track Scene is it because I am willing to continue losing money to spotlight this world as a side project to my ever-expanding NASCAR work.

We cover this event because it’s extremely important and I candidly believe it needs to be given a spotlight that it seldom receives. Most importantly, my first, second and third goal every morning is to provide fans the coverage they want and deserve.

So why bother?

It’s also probably fair to say that we shouldn’t cover anyone that doesn’t want the coverage. There are too many short track events this weekend that would be more than pleased to receive the additional spotlight:

• South Boston Speedway Late Model Stock opener
• SMART Modified Tour at South Boston
• IHRA Stock Car Series opener at Pulaski County  

But most importantly, I want to explain why Short Track Scene isn’t at South Alabama Speedway given my personal longstanding support for this event and its racers while also taking another moment to tell creatives how much I support them.

I am not going to apologize for standing with creatives and using my editorial platform to do so and I am not trading access for an apology. South Alabama Speedway has made its opinions on Artificial Intelligence clear and so have I. It’s okay to agree to disagree.

We are better than that and so is South Alabama Speedway.