Here's the latest on the October 12 Runwhatyoubrung race at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex:

1. 25% of the spectator gate goes to Montcalm County Toys for Tots. This is the kickoff event for their 2002 Christmas season fundraising activities. They will also be collecting new, still-wrapped toys at the event. U.S. Marines will be on hand to receive donations and to raise the flag prior to the race.

2. 50% of the spectator gate goes to the racers based SOLELY on their qualifying time. The faster people get exponentially more than the slower people. EVERYBODY gets money BUT (and this is a BIG but), if there isn't much of a crowd, there won't be much money AND no matter how much money there is, once you divide it a whole bunch of times so that EVERY racer gets some, the checks will be small. That's almost a guarantee. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from coming; I just don't want any misunderstanding. Are we hoping for a big crowd?

3. Nitro guys... I need your help here ... IF YOU ARE COMING, I NEED TO KNOW BY FRIDAY NOON! It changes my insurance costs significantly if there is even one car there on some low % of nitro. I probably am not going to pay the extra if I don't believe any nitro burners are coming. Boy would I hate to have someone drag their car all the way from some corner of God's green earth to get there and then find out they couldn't run simply because the insurance doesn't cover it. I have to have my policy bought by Friday afternoon so LET ME KNOW! Even if it isn't your car and you know that someone is coming, please let me know.

4. The Christmas tree is "instant green." This is NOT the pro tree; this is NO ambers at all! It's just like street racing except there are clocks! The pre-stage and stage will light like normal but when the starter pushes the magic button, the tree goes instantly to green. I'm not positive how the deep-staging thing will work but for the time being I am assuming there will be no deep-staging.

5. Somewhere along the way, I must have implied that this was a nostalgia only race but that is not true nor was it ever. I would be happy as a pig in mud if we had 200 true nostalgia cars show up but honestly, we'll take whoever registers as long as they pass safety tech. What IS nostalgic is our concept of "anything goes" hence the name RunWhatYouBrung. What IS nostalgic is that just like in the beginning, we aim to get draft-age males onto the drag strip and off of the street racing scene. If some of those boys have relatively new imported cars, well maybe that doesn't fit my exact idea of what is best for the U.S.A., but I know FOR SURE that a 16 year old going 120 m.p.h. on the street is NOT good for America and that goes REGARDLESS of what country and year his/her car was made in. What IS nostalgic is that ALL the racing is heads-up. And one more thing that's nostalgia, there's not a dial-in in sight!