Thirteen years ago, there was no coverage of the NASCAR Busch North Series online. The whole internet thing was a relatively new phenomenom for most people, so this should come as no surprise. NASCAR Online was just a year old and finding its feet with no coverage of the regional touring series that I can recall. We'd been going to a handful of Busch North races for the past couple of years and started this site with bare-basic information that was barely better than nothing.

Fast forward to the end of 2008 and things had changed quite a bit. We'd been going to every race for over ten years, including every Showdown held. At each of these races, whenever cars were on the track, we were there to shoot pictures while it was going on and then reported the results when it was over. We'd interview drivers and write feature articles, post a couple hundred photos after the races, and keep up with news, stats, and eventually lap-by-lap race coverage for those who couldn't make it to the races - which was more and more people considering how far-flung the races have become.

But it's time for a change.

The series has been quite a bit different starting around 2005 when races were scheduled down south like Motor Mile Speedway and, later, Greenville-Pickens Speedway. More and more old-guard teams started dropping out, and with them, some of the friends we've made over the preceding years. We've been fortunate enough to make new friends as those who moved along went away, but the cumulative effect of those who are no longer there is difficult to ignore.

NASCAR's handling of the series, and those who work in and around it, have decreased the fun factor at the track. We miss some of those who have disappeared in the last couple years: Lee Roy, Al Robinson, Jeremy Davidson, Gerry and Roxanne Craig, and apparently now Paul Schaefer. Others who have stepped in to fill the roles occupied by these professionals have done their job well and treated us cordially, but it certainly isn't nearly as fun as it used to be.

We love being at the track. Whether it's a test day, or Thursday at New Hampshire, or even the three days spent at Watkins Glen, we've always been there, always happy to be there, always ready to go to work. The ride to the track usually isn't that bad, either, though the only reason I say this is because I sleep through most of it. However, the ride back from the track, usually done in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes involving a stop which means we don't get back into town until the afternoon following a race, are really beginning to wear. Combine this with sixteen? twenty-four? more? hours of work between words and pictures that has to be done once we get home, and that's when the enthusiasm begins to lag. I'm about to reclaim some sunny Sundays and looking forward to it.

We've picked up a new hobby in the last eighteen months and I know this might be a funny concept for those on the outside to wrap their minds around, but there's a fairly active community surrounding Miata ownership. Last year we went to a get-together in Myrtle Beach and had a great time. We'll do that one again this spring but the granddaddy happens later in the year when a few hundred of us like-minded individuals will gather to celebrate the Miata's 20th anniversary in Dallas. That happens over Memorial Day weekend and it's going to take a few days to prepare, never mind a couple-three days to drive down there, so you know we won't be at Iowa Speedway the weekend before.

The plan right now is to be at four races in 2009, mostly those that are relatively close to home or allow us to mix in a family visit relatively nearby. We expect to be at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Lime Rock Park, and Dover International Speedway. We might adjust that schedule along the way, but there are a number of tracks that we're actually looking forward to not going to, which rules out a late decision to do another full season.

We'll keep EastSeries.com up, posting results and press releases, and we'll cover those races we will be at in the manner you've become accustomed to with words and pictures. It's just going to happen a lot less frequently.

We're confident that someone, perhaps NASCAR, will step up and fill the void we'll be leaving. They did something passing for lap-by-lap coverage at the Showdown, and they can probably do that for every race even if they don't have four people working that angle in the pressbox.

We understand it'll be a bit strange for us to know that cars will be on the track at the second race of the year and we won't be there to see it. It'll be strange for readers of this site to know that the first practice has just ended and there won't be any times posted. But there will be others to take our place and maybe they will even do a better job at it. Don't worry about us, we've got plenty of fun stuff planned for ourselves away from the racetrack.