I'll almost guarantee it. At some point in your time as a racing fan, you've made the comment: "If I ran this place, (insert improvement here) would happen."

Of course, 99 percent of the time, none of us ever become race promoters, and we're just armchair quarterbacks in the stands. But there is that 1 percent.

"I really just want the racers to come back to Richmond," Joey Tackett said, "and if every once and a while, one comes through the gate, and tells us thank you, it’ll all be worth it."

Tac MORE

Upon first glance at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., I'll go ahead and rank it as one of the top 20 facilities in the country. And the racing the first two nights of the fourth annual Wild West Shootout has been solid as well.

From a fan's perspective, excellent concessions, parking, bleachers and suites help the track shine, and it doesn't hurt that the desert mountains offer a perfect backdrop for a racetrack a stone's throw from I-10 in southern Arizona. One more note on the parking — it's MORE

I’m not sure how exactly I’d describe it, but I know when I look in Joe Garrison’s eyes, he is as focused as I’ve ever seen him.

“I’m more excited about this year than I have been any other in a long time,” the co-founder of GRT Race Cars said.

Garrison has reason to be excited. Not only is he unveiling a new GRT in 2010, but for the first time in a long time, he’ll be hitting the road week in and week out with Jack Sullivan as the Greenbrier, Ark., driver wheels the GRT house car. MORE