Speaking of 305's...Silly season, sponsorships, condolences, putting rumors to rest, happenings, and Dancing With the Stars.

-Rumor has it there's a new 305 series in the works. It's allegedly being organized by former racer Gregg Bolte, and 13 teams are reported to be interested in running. They would use Junction Motor Speedway as their home track, but venture out and race at a few other venues as well.

This is all talk at this point, and I've seen nor read anything official about it.

A new sprint car series in this state is an intriguing prospect. Stay tuned.

-Once again Brad Brown's site www.ibracn.com is on top of all the silly season action.It was on his site that I first read about Paul McMahan being released from Tony Stewart Racing. With the addition of Donny Schatz to next year's stable at TSR, is reported to be interested in Kraig Kinser, Jason Solwold, and Tim Kaeding. No big surprises there.

I just want to know if Schatz will keep his 15 or if he'll go to TSR's traditional 20's numbering. Seems like the number on a driver's car is an important item these days.

-The 11H Selma Shell car will be parked for 2008 if they can't find additional sponsorship. That brings me to my next topic:

I was saddened to see that the sponsorship seminar organized by Gary Dominguez was cancelled due to lack of interest.

Allow me to mount my soap box.

It seems that no matter what type of car a local competitor drives, cost is the number one concern. Even at the most beginner level, it requires some money to get on the track and stay there.

All too often I hear complaints that tracks don't pay enough to off-set the ever increasing costs of going fast.

One solution to the lack of prize money is finding additional sponsors to incur some of the expenses.

I've always felt that a lot of local teams miss out on finding money that's out there because of a lack of knowledge on how to find a sponsor.

I know there are a lot of sponsors out there who don't expect a lot in return for their investment, or they're friends with the driver and want to help them out. I applaud people like that.

However, why limit your sponsorship search only to friends or businesses with whom you're familiar? Why not go after some bigger businesses locally, but develop a plan on how to work with them to provide a viable advertising and promotional tool?

I think there's money out there, you just have to go find it. That brings me to the seminar.

Gary Dominguez has done a lot for the sport of racing here in Nebraska. I think it's safe to say that he genuinely loves racing. He has been actively involved in helping the sport for many years.

When you have a great resource and supporter like that, I think it's unfortunate when people don't take advantage of what Gary is offering.

I realize that people have other things going on other than racing, but I feel it's their loss if they don't make an attempt to learn as much about finding sponsorships as possible.

Gary, I appreciate the effort and hope that you'll attempt to do something like this again.

Perhaps in the future we could figure out some ways to drum up a little more interest.

Ok, I feel a little better.

-My condolences to the family and friends of Arizona midget and sprint racer Alex Pruett, 20, who died in his sleep at his Arizona home last Saturday night.

-The Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame will hold an induction ceremony for their class of 2007 on Friday, October 12 at the Firefighters Reception Hall at 241 Victory Lane, near Speedway Motors. Tickets are $18 in advance at $20 at the door.

-There was a juicy rumor floating around at this year's Knoxville Nationals that weekly racing will not take place at the Knoxville Raceway during the 2008 season. I would put NO stock into that whatsoever.

-Two time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, according to my fiancée, has made the first cut on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars".

I don't watch Dancing with the Stars. However, if given the choice between watching that and a NASCAR race, I'll take the dancing.