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Good point I have 2 grandsons now one will be 3 in 10 days the other is little over 10 months don't cost me a thing to play with them they live 1/2 mile away race car is 20 miles away what do you think I do.Lol
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I used to go to the races and 20 bucks got me in the gate. I'd get to my seat then go grab some food, 2 fish or hot sausage sandwiches, fries and a drink. After finishing my food, I got my 50/50 tickets, my area auto racing news or speed sport, sometimes both. Go sit and look thru the paper, eating peanuts, and if I needed another drink that 20 dollar bill would cover it.
The funny thing is the purses 20 years ago are the same as today.
So what's the problem in today's racing ? Promotors that are greedy. I still go to select races, but that 20 has been replaced by a 50 to 100.00 dollar bill.
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There is no promotion in our area,,,,open gates,,,collect $$,,go home..It sucks to say the least. No colorful bill boards,,no kids carrying checkered flags,,,no souveneirs,,,no programs,,,half of the announcers never tell you anything about the drivers ETC,,car makes,engine used,,sponsors,,their names It is terrible. No rules,,no tech,,all they want is your $30 and you can race what you brought
We build fast race cars,,not race cars fast!
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I went to a show Sun. afternoon - advertised for 2:00. By 5:00, we had seen endless qualifying laps, but only one bomber race. And then they announced that there would be a 45 min. (actually over 60) intermission. Various types of BS followed, with Super LMs on the track at 8:00.
In the record heat, the popsicle guy was the only winner.
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It seems that the tracks that invest in a strong weekly program with a few special events still do well. The 4 tracks that come to mind are Gas city, Knoxville, Attica and Williams Grove. Those 4 tracks have a strong weekly turnout, a large group of locals, feeder classes to ensure future development of the bigger classes.
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Another example, Eldora probably has 30 plus modifieds that would race there weekly if the track open in the summer at all. Earl Baltes once said, I make enough off the world 100 to pay all the bills and purses for the entire year.
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Many reasons for low car count and no easy answer to fix it. I'm not saying it can't be turned around but, it's not going to be easy that's for sure. Need to get back to 3 or 4 max classes and promoters like Earl. We don't care who you are. Your going to follow our rules or your going to hit the road kind of promoters. In Rules that might mean car rules or racing formats. Not sure the answer to rein in the cars I will leave that to the experts who know's what it would take to cut cost if that's even possible.
I helped out at a track for a couple of years and watch the promoter try different things to get fans back in the stands to no avail. The track was well prepared on a weekly basis and the show was over in a timely fashion so, that wasn't the problem. UMP ruin the street stocks and the drivers ruin the 4 cylinder class with so much cheating and car counts started to dwindle in both classes. They went from having 20 to 25 street stocks 12 to 16 and 30 to 40 4 cylinder down to 20, then 10. The A mods went from 35 to 12 to 15 and when you loose the car counts you loose the fans. I'm not saying this happened at all track but, it has at the majority of them in this area.
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Some tracks are updated and put on a good show with decent food, fan admission, drivers pay, and GOOD TRACK PREP. (FALS).This kind of tracks will survive and prosper, the others will stay open but struggle and eventually close. A lot of local LM drivers can't afford the cost of racing against top finance drivers for the same purse money 15 yrs. ago. Tracks have to make money to survive but to many prompters are greedy and don't care about putting on a good show for the fans. Look at Nascar its going down big time, and its all about the money. Dirt track racing is still an exciting sport, its losing its fan base because it was suppose to be down home racing. Down home boys can't afford it anymore.
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Gator your dead on, We all might think WOO and Lucas oil series has been great for the sport. It has done just the opposite, it has taken away most of the parity in racing, it caused local teams to spend money they could never recover to compete with the touring guys, leaving the 9 to 5 ers asking themselves why are we investing this kind of money with no real chance of a return on the investment. When does the madness, how high will motors go, whats the next shock package? It has gotten insane. People seem to forget the more drivers racing, the more fans in the stands, All these guys that quit racing probably had 10 to 15 family and friends watching them, when the drivers are gone, the family and friends soon followed.
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 Originally Posted by gator 49
Some tracks are updated and put on a good show with decent food, fan admission, drivers pay, and GOOD TRACK PREP. (FALS).This kind of tracks will survive and prosper, the others will stay open but struggle and eventually close. A lot of local LM drivers can't afford the cost of racing against top finance drivers for the same purse money 15 yrs. ago. Tracks have to make money to survive but to many prompters are greedy and don't care about putting on a good show for the fans. Look at Nascar its going down big time, and its all about the money. Dirt track racing is still an exciting sport, its losing its fan base because it was suppose to be down home racing. Down home boys can't afford it anymore.
If promoters were truly greedy they wouldn't be running a race track.
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Cost is the number one issue. Everything from admission to pay out to race car costs. There's cheap at home things to do now like Netflix. Number 2 reason is people live busy lives and work way to much to survive and simply don't go out to do things like the races anymore. Its easier to stay home and watch tv or play video games. Number 3 reason is people just aren't car enthusiasts anymore, especially young people. 85% of your regular Saturday night short tracks are hurting these days because of these reasons I think.
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At my local track what is called econo bomber has Rockets and other big chassis with 602s. We are talking 30 grand cars racing for 350 to win . Here I am with a home made 3 link clip racing against them. Kinda like taking a knife to a gun fight. The 602 class which was supposed to be the savior for little guys has a Rocket xr1 a Longhorn and a Krptoyinte winning most of the time sometimes a little guy sneaks in a win . I thought the 602 class was gonna use up old late model chassis yeah right. We Racers as a lot are stupid we spend more than we got but theirs always somebody with more money to outrun you then we complain knowing full well if we had it we would spend it to. Bottom line its about money.
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Originally Posted by RW57
At my local track what is called econo bomber has Rockets and other big chassis with 602s. We are talking 30 grand cars racing for 350 to win . Here I am with a home made 3 link clip racing against them. Kinda like taking a knife to a gun fight. The 602 class which was supposed to be the savior for little guys has a Rocket xr1 a Longhorn and a Krptoyinte winning most of the time sometimes a little guy sneaks in a win . I thought the 602 class was gonna use up old late model chassis yeah right. We Racers as a lot are stupid we spend more than we got but theirs always somebody with more money to outrun you then we complain knowing full well if we had it we would spend it to. Bottom line its about money.
You are 100% correct. Few people can stick to a reasonable budget if they are not winning. Few can work harder or smarter when they think handing over the credit card will produce instant results.
Modern Day Wedge Racing
Florence -2
Atomic - 1
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Handing over the credit card takes a lot less time than trying to make it yourself, and as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, some racers barely have enough free time to do weekly maintenance let alone fabricate stuff.
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Originally Posted by mcarter815
Handing over the credit card takes a lot less time than trying to make it yourself, and as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, some racers barely have enough free time to do weekly maintenance let alone fabricate stuff.
Winter leaves a racer with a lot of time to make his car faster. Instead, he just calls Shinston.
Modern Day Wedge Racing
Florence -2
Atomic - 1
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More likely he sells the car and go does a less stressful hobby.
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Lazy promoters who only use Facebook as their way of getting the word out is no help. Tracks who post results solely on Facebook is not helping either.
Late Model Mark
TST Announcer
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I asked about building a clone 602 first tear down on me any time anywhere it's right they reseal other head timing cover oil pan i reassemble without paying some body 5 or 6 hundred plus to put on a dam head gasket.I was told by the former Nesmith owner who I have known for years that I was probably one of the 3 or 4 people in my area that was capable of doing my own engines. My point is I've got a clone hanging on my engine stand that I have less than 1500$ in I want to race but I don't have close to 4 grand for a new 602.The hard working diy racer can not compete anymore against cubic dollars. We are out here we just need some help. Problem is nobody gives a dam about us so we just walk away that's where your cars are that's where your people are that came when they raced.Can it be saved I really don't know.
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Reasons for smaller crowds. 1try to see how many classes they can run like 8.10. 2 under worked an one lane race tracks. 3 lets race all night 2 or 3 am 4 why do promoters this day an time when they run a big super race feel like they have to pay more money in ever class 5 why don't they run super big race one week crates the next week an so on that way you don't wear your race track out an you got something different ever week.
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Race while you can and get the g'kids in kart racing. 
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