This is the lowest count I can remember since one season in the 90's
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This is the lowest count I can remember since one season in the 90's
Sad, but I don’t see how you can run a late model for 2000 to win. Maybe 1000 to start...ya. 2 grand ain’t crap anymore. Local Late model racing is in big trouble. Many places they don’t even have them anymore.
Pretty simple. If you are a weekly racer, you don't need a 50k engine or a new Horn to go race. Then 2k is just fine.
A little trailer and a pickup truck eat less too.
It's all about expectations and what you are willing to spend. More folks should be happy to run 5th with a $25k car than spend $90k for a chance to win a couple thousand.
It isn't the tracks fault you chose option B.
That said, Florence has done themselves no favors with the crates and then not running supers weekly. People are creatures of habit. When you never had to check the schedule, you knew what to expect. Now, you might show up to watch a show headlined by crates, but they will sell you a cheap hotdog as a consolation prize.
Farmer City drew only 12 for $3000 to win last Friday.
I’d say it has more to do with the fact that everyone knows you’re gonna have to tear the wall down run up front there now. I watched crazy John’s video. Track was slick as could be and they watered the top. All 8 cars running 3 inches from the wall, no local guy wants to do that for 25 laps
8 cars for 2 grand isnt anything out if todays norm...
I love Florence, it's probably my favorite track in my area. That being said, I remember when we would go there and race weekly a couple years ago, we would get one weekend a month where it wasn't hammer down on the cushion. Josh knows how to prep a race track no doubt. It just doesn't seem like much effort gets put into the weekly shows as it does when the north south rolls around. One part of it I understand, and the other I dont. The north south is that race tracks bread maker, you want it perfect for that race to keep people piling in. On the other hand, some of the locals are not going to come weekly if it's hard on equipment.
I sure miss the days of audie mcwilliams, jerry rice, jason jameson, cody mahoney and mike jewell running on a weekly show. Sure was fun.
If you think crates are the problem, you are not paying attention, if those guys were not racing crates they would be running mods or street stocks. People seem to forget the whole charm of dirt late model racing was watching the locals have a chance and beat the big names when they come in, as noted with drivers name in previous posts! Lucas Oil, WOO, and extremely top heavy purses are hurting the sport, deny it all you want! How many Bloomquist, Davenport, Owens, Pierce shirts were there, people dont even buy local racers shirts very often, sometimes at even half the cost of a Bloomquist shirt. When Overton won both Dreams and Davenports team went out and bought 2 brand new Longhorns the sport is in trouble. There are teams out there willing to spend a million dollars to make a dime or win at all cost. The decline is not going away, the corporate sponsors of the 2 big series is driving the out of control spending, shocks, engines, chassis and etc.
The Saturday night LM driver is a thing of the past. There are a lot of options for added purse shows. The LM is also expensive. 20-25 years ago especially at Florence the weekly shows were something and mostly those Sat drivers stayed at their local tracks. Not anymore. Everyone with a decent LM program is picking and choosing where to race for an added purse.
I still say LM is far from dead, it is just that it is less local than before. I liked the old days at Florence, but they are not returning LM wise for reasons stated above. Florence also has had at least four added purse shows canceled this year so far.
Exactly Buford, most of the corporate sponsors in Lucas Oil and WOO are whats driving the destruction. People who race crates would love to race a super, its just not in their budget.
Been hearing a lot of rumors lately about the North South being postponed because of the tire shortage. I have seen a ton of drivers looking for new 1350s on Facebook because their local dealers are out. Anyone else hear anything like this?
They could just mandate different tires. It would probably make things more interesting.