Any truth to the rumor the Champaign County Fairgrounds in Illinois is building a 1/4 mile stock car track?
Got this off of Former Modified racer Mark Tullis Racing Facebook page. Apparently it was on the news tonight in his area.
It's also on the Champaign County Facebook page.
The only question I have is what makes them think they can succeed in an area where Vermilion County Speedway is having a he!! of a time doing so.....
If they are then I wish them luck because they must know something nobody else does. They can't run Friday against Farmer City and wouldn't do any better on Saturday against Fairbury. And Danville apparently struggled with Sunday, so what's left...special events? I don't see the investment being worth the outcome. If I read correctly LaSalle had 6 SLM's for their regular season opener. That's a trophy dash, not a feature! Did I read where Ponderosa Speedway had something like 5 SLM's so they just used it as a practice night? And Brownstown, IN had only 10 SLM's? One of the most historic tracks in the country in one of the most competitive areas...and only 10! No promoter is going to keep paying standard purses with low car counts. So where does that leave the racer? And then the fan? We need to stop worrying about the "weather" and start worrying about "whether or not" their are going to be any cars to watch. Somethings gotta change.
If you go to the Fairboards FB page it states they are biulding a 1/4 mi dirt track to hold stockcar races during the fair. Charleston Speedway is promoting the event on July 24th. The classes will be factory stocks and hornets.
I think they can for fair but not nightly because of Carl H..be to much noise and Carl pays them a lot of money for lot and Carl paid too have the parking lot paved for Carl to use,,,
I will have to say you are spot on with your post. There are fewer and fewer cars every year. Remember when we used to say oh we have a good car count tonight win have 30 cars and its going to be tough to make the feature. Then a couple of years after that we said wow we have a good car count here tonight we have 20 cars. Then a couple more years after that and we are saying wow we only have 8 to 10 cars tonight and realized oh Chit our sports in trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheJet-09
Car counts are only part of the equation. The cure for car counts won't be found by tracks running under the UMP banner. Between the SN, ALMS, and the WoO and Lucas shows in the area the well funded SLM teams don't need to race weekly shows. Some tracks have tried crates. Crates are not the answer for LM car counts or poor attendance. If weekly LM racing is going to survive in IL promoters need to go with WISSOTA type rules.
Fans are another part of the equation.
It appears Champaign is only going to run during the fair, but if they were to run weekly they would have a huge advantage over VCS or FCR (or Kankakee for that matter). FCR struggles to get fans. It's tough to bring a track back to prosperity once it's been on the brink of death. I've always liked VCS but the main reason it struggles is it's location. Danville used to have a strong manufacturing base with good wages. Those jobs are long gone (this is one of the problems with Kankakee too). The local economy is much better in Champaign.
Yes, our sport is in serious trouble here in IL. Promoters are not doing what needs to be done....and if they did racers and fans would complain. Other than Tri-City and FALS promoters should be working looking at some serious changes......LM rules similar (or the same as) WISSOTA. A sportsman class with modern stock appearing bodies with a crate engine option running on Hoosier Dirt Bozz tires OR the I-mod class, and an affordable entry level hornet class.
Then they'd need to get off their asses and do something to attract new fans to the sport rather than fight amongst themselves for the same few fans.
Your right pops there are other factors that have contributed to low car counts. I know people like to say the promoters are not doing enough to attract new fans but, some are trying new things and they are still having trouble getting fans through the gate. Some ideas sound really good and sound like they would work but, they don't and then some do.
I agree if they keep running under the UMP banner it's not going to get better. just my opinion.
From my understanding of what promoter Jim Campbell and his assistant Dean Hite said, the track will strictly run during the Champaign County Fair, as it is too close to Carle Hospital to run regularly.
Carle Hospital Is why they stopped racing there years ago..Quote:
Originally Posted by 72Dubya