Casebolt

[W2Racing09]

Kromulous and W2 are correct!! Some of these builders are over pricing these cars and making a killing!! They better make it now because they are ultimately going to kill the sport down the road in a few years! $70,000 car to maybe win a couple of $10,000 races! If their lucky!! Eventually, it's all going to come to a head and sooner than later. Some of these owners might have money to burn and just enjoy the sport! But, they are not stupid to continue losing thousands and thousands of dollars each year. Plus, some of the local tracks can't get enough late models to fill a decent feature! I wonder why?? I don't see the track owners ponying up big money on a regular basis for the win and clear thru the field to keep guys running!! So, it all rests on the builders and engine makers!! Long term, they are pricing themselves right out of the sport! make it now!! Because it won't be there later!

That is right unfortunately. I used to blame the engine builders for the high prices more so than anything else. But with $40k rollers coming out of WV, and the Carolinas (and even IA now) the sport is in trouble on both ends (to the point where Crates don't really help either because you are still dropping $60k on a new CLM). To support these kind of expenses the sport needs to grow 30-40% in popularity. At that point tracks would be getting tons of fans weekly and can afford to pay $2-$3k weekly. If these National Tours want cars to continue following when they are running $100k+ cars then the purses need to increase also to $15k/$2k.

[Kromulous]

Exactly right.

Big name sponsors, TV coverage etc always ups the ante. The scale is sliding to the right at an alarming rate and the sport is pricing more and more people out every day.

A lot of people think i am crazy for saying it, but NASCAR followed the exact same path. Soon as the money comes in, the sport has to pay the price.

[FlatTire]

Totally agree with the price concerns on new cars. There are only a select few that can afford $40,000 late models rollers. There is no "lower" class late model racer left and the "middle" class late model racer is in danger of extinction. With the new inflated prices for a top car, the gap between the haves and have not's will continue to widen. Eventually it will effect those at the top because they need the middle class teams to have a full field.

Also, the fact that Longhorn or Black Diamond refuse to sell you a car that isn't a complete roller won't help either.

Its doesn't matter if you are selling houses, food, clothing, or racecars... you need a strong middle class for long term sustainability.

The only good thing to all of it is if you want a good used car that isn't a Longhorn or Black Diamond then there are plenty of really nice cars out there for dirt cheap!

On a side note, its interesting how the price of a top engine used to be far more than a top car. Now days they are pretty even.

[W2Racing09]

Totally agree with the price concerns on new cars. There are only a select few that can afford $40,000 late models rollers. There is no "lower" class late model racer left and the "middle" class late model racer is in danger of extinction. With the new inflated prices for a top car, the gap between the haves and have not's will continue to widen. Eventually it will effect those at the top because they need the middle class teams to have a full field.

Also, the fact that Longhorn or Black Diamond refuse to sell you a car that isn't a complete roller won't help either.

Its doesn't matter if you are selling houses, food, clothing, or racecars... you need a strong middle class for long term sustainability.

The only good thing to all of it is if you want a good used car that isn't a Longhorn or Black Diamond then there are plenty of really nice cars out there for dirt cheap!

On a side note, its interesting how the price of a top engine used to be far more than a top car. Now days they are pretty even.

The sad thing is when you say that the price of a top engine "used to be far more" than a top car you are referring to a time that was about 2-3 years ago. A brand new roller has increased from what? $30k to $40k in 3 years? To me $25-$30k is a reasonable rate for a full roller new Late Model. Throw in a Crate motor and trans and what not and you are on track with brand new best of the best stuff for $35-$40k, that means used good stuff like a 1-2 year old chassis and fresh 604 will run you $20k. That is reasonable. Right now I'm seeing CLMs selling race ready near $50k that are USED! Crazy.

Thanks,
Jeff.