The real world is pretty tough at the moment.The past three months have been tumultuous and difficult for those of us involved with producing and contributing to this magazine.
The real world is pretty tough at the moment.
The past three months have been tumultuous and difficult for those of us involved with producing and contributing to this magazine. The loss in October of founder and longtime editor Doug Auld — a dear friend — along with assorted forces beyond anyone‘s control have made for long days and sleepless nights.
Doug poured his heart and soul into this publication. He worked late nights and made many personal sacrifices to keep the magazine alive through the inevitable ups and downs of business.
Several weeks have passed since he left us, but it‘s still difficult to accept the fact that Doug is gone. I keep expecting the phone to ring, leading to another epic two-hour conversation about racing and the world at large. There were countless such conversations over the past 20-plus years; it is surreal to contemplate never having another.
When Doug launched SprintCar & Midget in early 2002, he formed a company: Wheels-Up Publishing. From the beginning Doug worked to project the image of a solid, successful business entity. However, the company was ultimately just … Doug. Like countless small businesses, Doug‘s operation was basically a one-man band. That is not an easy path; when you‘re out on that wire every day, trying to survive, you realize it‘s a long way to fall. And there is no net.
For 16 years Doug walked that high-wire every day, all alone. In 2017, he sold the magazine to Turn 3 Media, the folks who publish SPEED SPORT. He continued as eEditor, and although he was able to relinquish some of the workload he never stopped worrying about the next issue of the magazine. Through our many conversations the strain in his voice became more evident as he navigated an increasingly difficult business landscape.
God Bless You, Doug. You gave far more to this world than you ever got back, and maybe that‘s how you wanted it. Your impact on the sport is, literally, beyond measure. You left far more friends than you ever realized and you enhanced the lives of everyone associated with SprintCar & Midget, including the readers.
Irreplaceable. That was Doug Auld.
The business climate of January 2022 is unlike anything we‘ve ever experienced. Elements such as rampant inflation and an unsettled labor market have created an undercurrent of instability that makes for hectic and stressful days.
I grabbed lunch at a local drive-through the other day, a big chain with locations all over the Midwest. The lady at the window said I‘d have to wait a minute for my drink and could I pull forward? Turns out they were out of drink cups, because…well, they couldn‘t get them. An employee had hurried down the street to the wholesale club and brought back a box of Styrofoam cups. They would use those and hope a delivery truck came along soon.
If a massive chain with lots of money can‘t keep basic paper cups in stock, it speaks volumes of our current situation.
I‘m looking at this through a little different lens these days, but it doesn‘t make it any less unsettling. Over the past couple of years, I have begun to dial back my day-to-day workload — or at least have tried to — and I‘m not directly involved with managing anything other than my own book publishing and distribution. But it‘s impossible to ignore what‘s happening and the impact it‘s had on our corner of the world.
For example, we‘ve seen postage and shipping rates jump several times this year as the USPS and freight companies struggle to keep up with inflation. The paper supply has been jumbled throughout the year, and the industry is just like everyone else — they are short of help and not certain they will have the material they need to keep the mills running next week. All of this has seriously impacted their ability to deliver product to their customers and that‘s only one piece of the publishing puzzle.
As you see with this double issue of SprintCar & Midget and SPEED SPORT, the decision was made to merge the two publications. There are questions about how it will impact subscribers, I‘m sure. But I‘m asking you to please be patient as the folks at Turn 3 Media work through the process.
I‘m only a contributor; I write the story and send it in. But I‘ve watched as Mike Kerchner and his staff worked 20-hour days these past couple of months trying to meet a production schedule that was turned upside down with the passing of one of our mutual best friends.
The good news is that we‘re still able to hold this magazine in our hands, experiencing the sport together through the printed word. The commitment to the best open-wheel racing content available remains, though, the delivery mechanism has changed.
If there was ever a time to be a patient, kind race person, this is it. These publications have given decades of enjoyment to all of us and it would be good to keep that in mind as we face an unsettled and rapidly changing business landscape.