Mississippi Thunder — $50,000 to win

[Morgs153]

I'll be going all three days. Very fortunate for me we have family in Winona to stay with and I'll take the nephew and great nephews to the races as a treat for them putting me up. Couldn't work out better.

The good thing about this track is that the operator is a former racer himself and he and his staff really work to deliver a great racing surface. I've gone to a bunch of specials at MTS and the track has always been top notch. The facility keeps improving and the people who work at the track are some of the best I've experienced.

The undercard event is the USMTS mods and they also put on a great show.

[Raceready]

I'll be going all three days. Very fortunate for me we have family in Winona to stay with and I'll take the nephew and great nephews to the races as a treat for them putting me up. Couldn't work out better.The good thing about this track is that the operator is a former racer himself and he and his staff really work to deliver a great racing surface. I've gone to a bunch of specials at MTS and the track has always been top notch. The facility keeps improving and the people who work at the track are some of the best I've experienced.The undercard event is the USMTS mods and they also put on a great show.

Lucky for you ! Hope you have a good time !

[huskerdirt]

For those wanting to watch both USMTS and WoO. You’ll need a DV sub and a RacinDirt sub. As usual DV playing hard ball here.

[Mud]

eau claire is 60 miles from fountain city and has dozens of motels. See map quest.

[TUTY]

Good car count with 38 Late Models and 73 USMTS Modifieds. Bobby Pierce wins the Late Models and Lucas Schott wins the Modifieds. Great track !!

[dirty-white-boy]

Good car count with 38 Late Models and 73 USMTS Modifieds. Bobby Pierce wins the Late Models and Lucas Schott wins the Modifieds. Great track !!

What did I miss that was so great last night? First heat was racy with 3 lead changes. Other 3 heats were BORING! Bmains were as expected, boring. Pole winner drove away led every lap. Typical DirtVision does not show what Rick is watching on the track but apparently Dillard passed a few cars. 49 pulled off. Boom faded.

Dirtvision apparently wont even show the mods racing at their race. We had to watch boring Bristol again.

This stuff has gotten way too predictable

[Fast Wheels]

It’s because nobody cares about $50k anymore. There are so many $50k races. These promoters are going to lose a lot of money doing this.


A WoO race paying $50k and drawing 30 some drivers (that can afford to travel) isn’t much more than a $5k race was 10 years ago. Then there’s XR losing all that money to get mediocre counts of big names. One night $22k races drawing mediocre fields.


Low car counts and unrealistic purses to get these low car counts does not bode well for the future. Fans are getting NOTHING from these high dollar races except high ticket prices. Low car counts for the purse. Same awful formats. Shorter races laps.

[Pennsboro32]

There’s not a ton of late models anymore. The FLO races getting almost 50 cars are good car counts for mid week shows.

[huskerdirt]

The car count at 50k shows aren’t gonna be much to brag about this year because the sport has inflated the purses and it really only helps the top end guys. It’s great the show me finally got to 50k to win. But it’s still 2k to start, that’s not helping pull anymore teams to these races. If you got a 50k to win show, be happy if get more than 40.

The streaming services are running the sport now. Long term I don’t think it’s for the greater good of the sport, it might even be the downfall of it in 5-10 years.

[Highside Hustler25]

The xr series shows pay $2500 to start but you're right. That number needs to go up.

[Fast Wheels]

Also these 50k races are still only snall 24ish car features. If all the money is paid to only 24 drivers there isn’t going to be many more cars than that.

IMO these 50k races are ego driven (having a high dollar first place race). They definitely are not designed to be better events for fans or pay more money to the race teams that are needed to create interesting car counts.

[ride height]

Outlaws and Big boy modifieds…that’s good bank for the buck.

[dirtcrazy4u]

What's the deal with Boom. Did he start a rent a ride program ? Bringing B Shepp in to try and figure out what's wrong with his cars ? None of the team 99 cars are competitive. Hummmm ! Josh better look for his life work.

[waaac77]

Care to elaborate on just how exactly PPV will be the downfall? Lol

[zyoung25]

Care to elaborate on just how exactly PPV will be the downfall? Lol

It will kill weekly racing if everyone can sit at the house and watch the big names on tv. Local tracks will starve eventually without the support of the fans and streaming services. It will roll down hill from there. Racers will run out of places to race closer to home, which will lead to guys getting out of the sport.

It's common sense.

[huskerdirt]

Care to elaborate on just how exactly PPV will be the downfall? Lol

Streaming money is why we are having an influx of 50k to win shows and some of these other big races. But most aren’t really paying through the field. It’s all Dolly Parton purses. So it really benefits the top runners. When the costs of the sport get higher and only a handful are making more money. The little guy will get pushed out. That’s just natural.

I’m looking forward to the Boone/Deer Creek head to head. Both races won’t even get full fields because they are 180 miles apart.

[weatherman85]

It will kill weekly racing if everyone can sit at the house and watch the big names on tv. Local tracks will starve eventually without the support of the fans and streaming services. It will roll down hill from there. Racers will run out of places to race closer to home, which will lead to guys getting out of the sport.

It's common sense.

I agree with you to a large extent, but at the same time a lot of my local tracks need to up their game to make it rewarding to show up in person. Sick and tired of 8-10 divisions and crappy track conditions that produce nothing but dust storms by the 2nd feature. Not to mention the endless qualifying. Why should I go sit through this when I can hop on the internet and stream a decent race at another part of the country or fast forward through the boring train show?

While I've never required large car counts to say a race or show was good, I totally agree with why you are seeing mild car counts at higher paying shows now. We all know these days when you go to a race that realistically only 4-5 guys have a legit shot at winning it. You want higher car counts then turn that 50k race into a 25k to win race and spread that other 25k through the field better and not so top heavy. Inflation and supply chain issues are also playing a big factor.

[ZERO25]

It will kill weekly racing if everyone can sit at the house and watch the big names on tv. Local tracks will starve eventually without the support of the fans and streaming services. It will roll down hill from there. Racers will run out of places to race closer to home, which will lead to guys getting out of the sport.

It's common sense.

I dunno about that. I figure that i spend about $1500 a year streaming races. I really dont think the avg Sat nite fan is willing to spend that kinda money. I still support my local tracks and watch the streamed races during the week. Obviously, I do watch the bigger shows live streamed.

It would be interesting if Rigsby would share their demographics!

[zyoung25]

I agree with you to a large extent, but at the same time a lot of my local tracks need to up their game to make it rewarding to show up in person. Sick and tired of 8-10 divisions and crappy track conditions that produce nothing but dust storms by the 2nd feature. Not to mention the endless qualifying. Why should I go sit through this when I can hop on the internet and stream a decent race at another part of the country or fast forward through the boring train show?.

Tracks like are just being greedy and will eventually hang themselves by trying to take in as much gate money as they can on a weekly basis, nobody should want to sit through all of that. I live in a area where all of my local are actually worth going too and are sensible when it comes to stuff like this. It would be sad to see any of them close because of lack of support.

[AllenK]

I liked how they were already working on the track while J.D. was being interviewed in victory lane. Awesome stuff. Hopefully tonight will be even better for the 50k to win.