Lucas 2022 Schedule

[Crossbones]

I was thinking the same thing. Back in the HAT days, the 10,000 to win races were the 100 lap, 2 day shows. You'd have qualifying and Heats on Friday, and B mains and Feature on Saturday. If you think about it, this was actually very good for the promoters/tracks. You had 2 days of admission (albeit Friday was cheaper) and 2 days of concession sales and souvenir sales.
They only paid 5,000 for the 50 lappers.

No way!! 100 lap races are terrible with few exceptions! Two day shows are even worse especially for fans.

The trend seems to be 40 laps now and thats about right IMO.

[LM1]

I love how Fairbury does the PDC, good show for the fans and not as much wear and tear on equipment for the teams. 25 lap qualifying features on Friday with no heat races. I used to love how Cedar Lake did the USA Nationals back when it was a 2 day show as well - time trials and 20 lap heat races Friday, each heat race was like a mini feature.

[TS FAN]

Dirt LM racing is alive and well. Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but there are plenty of LM racing everywhere. Now as far as the series like Lucas and Woo, I am surprised to some degree how many teams still follow them.

Dirt LM racing at local tracks has slowed down because weekly purses are competing every week with an assortment of added purse races in their areas. I have been around racing for seventy years and its healthier now than its ever been.

As a final thought, the days of large car counts are going to remain limited. Reason, drivers have other opportunities to run for added purses the same days as the big shows. Maybe the World 100 might be the last race where most promoters choose not to compete against it, but even that seems to be changing

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Dirt LM racing is alive and well. Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but there are plenty of LM racing everywhere. Now as far as the series like Lucas and Woo, I am surprised to some degree how many teams still follow them.

Dirt LM racing at local tracks has slowed down because weekly purses are competing every week with an assortment of added purse races in their areas. I have been around racing for seventy years and its healthier now than its ever been.

As a final thought, the days of large car counts are going to remain limited. Reason, drivers have other opportunities to run for added purses the same days as the big shows. Maybe the World 100 might be the last race where most promoters choose not to compete against it, but even that seems to be changing

You are fortunate to live in an area where it's not dead, but even there, I can't agree at all. When you have 10 cars taking the green at Florence Speedway, something is very wrong.

That's not even taking into account places in the Southeast where large super counts became large limited counts became meager 604 fields.

[TUTY]

Keep paying $10,000 to win but add $10,000 to the rest of the purse. My god everyone needs to make more money to keep running.

[zyoung25]

I had a car owner tell me it cost 5-7k a weekend to unload his race car on the lucas tour. We're talking traveling to, pit passes, full paid crew, etc. Granted they haven't fielded a car now for a few years, but it gives ya an idea of what it costs to run a race team. Their shop wasn't in a ideal location for most races.

The guy I helped regionally would make a few hundred bucks when he won moler on a normal night (1200.) His shop was about 30mins away from moler.

[0_VodooChild_0]

I feel they already had such an upper hand, I'm unsure what it changes.

Other than the fact that WoO & LOLMDS are going to work together & stop scheduling on top of each???? Would be great to see all the top drivers show up for EVERY super late model special.

[champion24]

O Would be great to see all the top drivers show up for EVERY super late model special.

That's a dream, but NOT happening! The World 100 is probably the closest we get now.

[ZERO25]

I had a car owner tell me it cost 5-7k a weekend to unload his race car on the lucas tour. We're talking traveling to, pit passes, full paid crew, etc. Granted they haven't fielded a car now for a few years, but it gives ya an idea of what it costs to run a race team. Their shop wasn't in a ideal location for most races.

The guy I helped regionally would make a few hundred bucks when he won moler on a normal night (1200.) His shop was about 30mins away from moler.

In Rigsby's interview with Mark Richards, Richards said it cost his team $5k per race!

[thexfactor0210]

In Rigsby's interview with Mark Richards, Richards said it cost his team $5k per race!

That is on the high end I believe. They have 3 full time crew members and a full time paid driver. If you look at some guys they own their stuff and dont need to pay a driver and maybe have one paid crew guy.

[ZERO25]

That is on the high end I believe. They have 3 full time crew members and a full time paid driver. If you look at some guys they own their stuff and dont need to pay a driver and maybe have one paid crew guy.

He said in 2019, he paid them 400k in salaries, not counting the employees at the shop! His shop/toter expenses was another 200k!

[Finnfan25]

I guess I'm the exception, but from where I live in central Kentucky, every Lucas Oil or WoO race (or any big late model race for that matter) in a 4 hour drive from me is packed to the point it's difficult to even find a decent seat or sometimes a seat at all (and I arrive when the gates open), and I won't even get into trying to park and get out. So much so that I rarely go anymore (even though I'm recently retired) in the post-Covid world. The reason I'm the exception is I'd GLADLY pay twice or more what I've been paying just to get the crowd down to a manageable size. I know this will probably ruffle some feathers, but that's just my opinion. Everyone keeps talking about running fans off, but it seems like every race I've been to in the past few years they announce a record crowd. Even if that's not the case I personally SURE haven't noticed any crowds dwindling.

[zooker25]

He said in 2019, he paid them 400k in salaries, not counting the employees at the shop! His shop/toter expenses was another 200k!

Any idea when Eastbay Winter nationals are?

[MRM]

There are a number of team owners and drivers not thrilled with this year's schedule. Many of them think the Midwest road trips should be combined together like this weekend and next weekend. They've made several trips that way only to get rained out.

[Pennsboro32]

There are a number of team owners and drivers not thrilled with this year's schedule. Many of them think the Midwest road trips should be combined together like this weekend and next weekend. They've made several trips that way only to get rained out.

As they should. That's a long ways to go for most teams, even if you don't get rained out.

[TS FAN]

There are a number of team owners and drivers not thrilled with this year's schedule. Many of them think the Midwest road trips should be combined together like this weekend and next weekend. They've made several trips that way only to get rained out.

i agree this is a huge problem. Going forward this problem is going to have to be addressed. BTW, WOO in Jackson Minn had 18 cars for a 10,000 and 20,000 show for example. With rain lurking around the midwest I am sure this didn't help things

[Josh Bayko]

i agree this is a huge problem. Going forward this problem is going to have to be addressed. BTW, WOO in Jackson Minn had 18 cars for a 10,000 and 20,000 show for example. With rain lurking around the midwest I am sure this didn't help things

Jackson is a really tough sell for late model touring races because there are no supers to speak of in that part of the world. They could pay 100k on weekend with no Lucas races and the car counts would still be less than 30.

[MRM]

Jackson is a really tough sell for late model touring races because there are no supers to speak of in that part of the world. They could pay 100k on weekend with no Lucas races and the car counts would still be less than 30.

What's the benefit of going to a place like that? I scratch my head when I see some of these series going into these dead zones. At least Lucas stopped going to New York when the tracks up there couldn't draw full fields.

[Josh Bayko]

What's the benefit of going to a place like that? I scratch my head when I see some of these series going into these dead zones. At least Lucas stopped going to New York when the tracks up there couldn't draw full fields.

The benefit is to the sanction. They collect the sanction fee regardless of car count. On the track’s end, it must draw some crowd if they’re willing to pony up all that cash for like 15 cars.

[castone]

anyone know the sanction fee a track has to pay for Lucas and WoO ?