We all have the ability to make a diffence

[nc mudcat]

Local asphalt track, Bowman Gray Stadium, has it figured out. 4 classes: modified, sportsman, street stock and stadium stock. Races start at 8:00. 11:30 curfew, and races are almost always finished early. All classes have great fields, stadium stock has so many cars they have to split into 2 features. If you want more time at the track, go early for practice and qualifying, or stay late and go to the pits. Tickets are $12 and you can bring a cooler in. Racing is absolutely terrible, but 15,000 fans (weekly average) say I am wrong!!! You don't need more classes to draw more cars; you need fewer classes, and the drivers will pick one that fits their budget. BGS advertises as "Nascar's first and longest running weekly track." Their 72nd season starts in April. Like it or not, they know how to run a program. And old farts like me can be home by midnight!

[Late_Model_Mark]

The few times we ran past midnite was the August SAS Governors Cup when we had a power outage and Nascar weekends The Nascar weekends run long due to high car counts and the Durrence Layne,now Crate Racing series on insisting of very long hot laps, long time trials, 498 B-mains (not really but you get the point) and they have so many cautions. I understand why they time trial but it is a show-dragger.

Normally we put the first car on the track at 7:00pm (heat and summer sun) and we usually wrap it up between 10:30pm and 11:00pm. That is hot laps, SLM qualifying, qualifying heat races and then features. Best run show in Alabama and most likely in the Southeast.



Late Model Mark
TST Announcer

[3 wide]

I'm not sure what weekend it was but I'll find out he was there in a brand new car an was the class of the field that is why he got protested.

[Krooser]

Two pavement tracks in WI are developing a high school class in association with local high schools. Neat idea.

[Rocky]

You need 9 classes with 4-5 in the pits...… For F sake okay. Now I have a little bit of a rant. When I was racing a mini stock POS Plymouth laser at Potomac.... I didn't have 4-5 people in the pits. IF that many showed up they were sitting in the bleachers for 12 bucks instead of paying 30 for a pit pass. When My Dad was racing at Auto City in the 80's/90's....You aren't gonna believe this but I had to wait UNTIL I was 14 just to get a pit pass. my brother did too.

We hem and haw and bich and cry about the cost of racing. It's the same amount of people that was there 30 years ago but now they're all at the back gate. 30 years ago there weren't little ones running around in the pit area for $30 a head. How about don't be a stupid a$$ and have the people that are basically just in the (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) way buy a ticket that costs half as much and sit in the bleachers? That will buy a can of gas for crying out loud.

How in the heck is little Tommy supposed to bring his buddy to see his dad race with a mandatory waiver and a $30 pit pass? He can't. that's how.

The big series aren't going anywhere but most race fans honestly don't care about that. The only people that care at that level are basically us. Our cheering section (that all sit's in the cheap seats) is about 15 or 20 deep, there's ONE other dude that travels to races. ONE. People used to go to see their friends and families race and they still do. They just mostly go pitside now.

I care about weekly racing way more than the big stuff because I live in a late model and racing in general backwater. I don't want to HAVE to travel to races and I ain't gonna pay to watch some spotty a$$ computer video feed. I want dirt in my gall dang mountain dew If I lived in Kentucky or something where traveling to big races didn't mean 9 hours one way, I might feel differently.

Okay the point.... You can cut your dang race day budget by 50 percent just by sending the kids off to the bleachers.