IMO this is a total shame. That the misinformed and uncomprehending can spout their uneducated misinformation on the internet to affect individuals/events who are putting an effort forth to give racers a place to run their cars. I have only attended 3 DRO events but I was able to see first hand the predicament that Jeff was involved with at his events. He brought a series to tracks but ultimately the track operators had the last say on what took place and when. Some examples of misinformation:
Pay cut before final round - 1 car in final did not qualify and was inserted as alternate so he gets no qualifying money only round money, just as it is always done. Team didn't understand so they complain and call it a pay cut on the internet.
Car inserted into field without an official timed run - been done forever by all associations if the car made an attempt, just inserted at the bottom with a n/t. Just an effort to improve the show and give a team an opportunity.
Official records are recognized at the end of events, not during so that only one is set per event for each category. A real idiot/computer racer has a profanity laced tirade on the internet over Jeff not announcing to the world in the middle of an event that a team has set a new record even though it was only provisional at the time. And he becomes deadly silent the next day as the event finishes up and the world can see how stupid he was.
I have seen ladders adjusted by the tracks to minimize their payouts and Jeff is just the messenger. Sometimes Jeff and Jok need to adjust ladders in the staging lanes as teams cannot respond to the call to the lanes.
Guys agree at a driver's/track owner's meeting about the adjusted program because of lack of entries, then feel the announcer's banter to stir up the crowd supercedes the agreement in the meeting. People outside of team members who are not at the entire meeting report incomplete information and blame Jeff, who also was not at the entire meeting.
I would like to thank Jeff Burke for his efforts in putting on the DRO series. I agree the pay was not the best and there was confusion at times, but it had the possibility of growing into something big if everyone had pitched in and supported the program instead of the efforts to bring it down. But in reality it is only history repeating itself.