Well it is now official ...

I just lost my freelance writing gig for The Hamilton Spectator. I used to write a weekly NASCAR Column for them during the racing season. I thought they were just limited with their space due to their coverage of the Olympics but I was wrong, their freelance budget was significantly cut this year and I was one of the first to go.

Oh well, to be honest with you after the market bottomed out last year I thought I was a goner, but they held on to me for the entire season except for a few missed weeks due to illness and the US Open so I consider myself lucky to have been writing for them at all this past year.

With that being said anyone know of any local papers looking for a freelance NASCAR scrib?

There’s not many links to my stuff left over at their site, but here is one about last year’s All-Star race that I like because I got to talk a little bit about the history of the event itself.

I’ve really got to thank Rick Hughes over at The Spec for having the vision of bringing a Blogger into the fold. I never had a contract with him, all we had a handshake deal that lasted almost two years - kind of unheard of in this day and age isn’t it? But that’s what it was.

After my first article for him, Rick emailed me and told me to stop trying to sound like a reporter, “I want your voice not what you think it should be for a newspaper” he wrote. After that I ran with it and aside from a few changes to my original work due to space restrictions he and his associate editors left my work alone.

I really appreciate the opportunity Rick gave me I really enjoyed my time writing for The Spec and you never know I just might end up back there again one day, especially if the Canadian Motor Speedway becomes a reality.