NASCAR schedule move creates conflict with Scorcher event at Volunteer

[Returning to Dirt]

https://insidedirtracing.com/nascar-...-at-volunteer/

The NASCAR change creates a conflict with the Scorcher

[brsteg]

I'm sure they will get it moved to Wednesday.

[champion24]

So much for "our Nascar schedule is set in stone for years" I've heard! Can't recall a Nascar event being moved like this. Down time at Bristol must have played a part in this. Logic would say we'll dirt race on Wed. night, but we'll have to see. I hope to see all races that week!

[golddirt]

So much for grass roots racing, NASCAR just showing true colors

[Centeroff]

Goldie locks, your onto something. NASCAR has the time to sit and worry about what the ultimate series is doing scheduling a race so close to them. Bill France took it super personal and decided to show who’s boss. Just so you know, NASCAR started grass roots racing on the dirt and on beaches. Without NASCAR what would American racers have as far as goals? NASCAR is as far as you can go in racing and NASCAR is good for all forms of racing. Either way I will be at the scorcher because trucks running 80mph around Eldora just doesn’t do it for me. Trucks single file on the top with a couple decent sliders. We’ve all watched that movie.

[NormP]

NASCAR being as far as you can go in racing is of course an opinion. Lots of Indy car drivers and F1 drivers would disagree with you. Lots of other series drivers think their form of racing is as far as you can go.

I'd drive 200 miles past a NASCAR race as fast as I could to go to a Pirelli World Challenge race.

[Centeroff]

I’m talking paydays. NASCAR is where the money is and also I don’t see many DLM drivers having a dream of running F1 cars

[BloomerHarvickFan]

I really think this is a panic move by Nascar. Has anyone seen the crowds lately? They are not good. I suspect we'll see a lot more "bunching" of events on the Nascar schedule to try to draw as many fans as possible. From their perspective, it makes perfect sense to run the Truck Race on Thursday. I'm sure they are hoping to sell more Thursday, Friday, Saturday tickets, thinking that people are more likely to come to all 3 with them back to back to back.
Now, will this work? That remains to be seen. I will say though, if you choose a Truck Race over a SLM race at Bull's Gap, you probably aren't much of a dirt fan anyway.
I guess where the Gap would lose out is with fans who are going to all 3 nights at Bristol, and look for something fun to do on their off night. I can see that.

[MRM]

Sadly, Bristol has hosed The Gap for a few years now. The night race was moved ahead by a week a couple of years ago to allow more time to get things ready for the UT-Va Tech football game. Bulls Gap lost their Lucas date because of that with the new weekend being the same weekend as the Topless 100 at Batesville. But Bristol and NASCAR has not moved back to the last weekend in August. And now, they move the truck race to Thursday. I know NASCAR could care less about Bulls Gap or any other track. I guess the big Food City Race Night in downtown Bristol is no more as well.

[brsteg]

Sadly, Bristol has hosed The Gap for a few years now. The night race was moved ahead by a week a couple of years ago to allow more time to get things ready for the UT-Va Tech football game. Bulls Gap lost their Lucas date because of that with the new weekend being the same weekend as the Topless 100 at Batesville. But Bristol and NASCAR has not moved back to the last weekend in August. And now, they move the truck race to Thursday. I know NASCAR could care less about Bulls Gap or any other track. I guess the big Food City Race Night in downtown Bristol is no more as well.

Moving the night race up a week really pee'd me off. Needs to go back to its traditional date and stay there.

[9kchas24]

I think I'd roll the dice and go with keeping the Gap race on Thursday night... Many folks that go to NASCAR ( which is less & less all the time ) won't come earlier just to see the dirt show.. And having it mid-week would hurt dirt teams and dirt fans that possibly can only do a long weekend, and NOT a mid-week Weds show..

[KAOS]

Not arguing that NASCAR is Bigger but IMCA was founded in 1915 33 years before NASCAR and their website shows they awarded a sprint car champion as far back as 1925 so I think if you are going to give NASCAR credit for dirt racing you would also have to give some of that to IMCA as well.

[WisWildManFan]

Just run the trucks at the same time as xfinity cars... Problem solved

[CageFaraday]

Not arguing that NASCAR is Bigger but IMCA was founded in 1915 33 years before NASCAR and their website shows they awarded a sprint car champion as far back as 1925 so I think if you are going to give NASCAR credit for dirt racing you would also have to give some of that to IMCA as well.

Thankyou! I was gonna say it but you beat me to it. NASCAR did NOT invent racing of any kind, they just repackaged and marketed it a bit better for a while, but those good times are gone for them and I for one applaud anyone or organization that defies that particular beast.

[Mud Packer]

Unfortunately, NASCRAP turned away from the fans that brought them into mainstream America. The men and women who were blue collar workers and planned to see the best racing there was to see. However, the folks at NASCAR decided to reach out to the younger crowd with all of their fancy promotions and gimmicks all the while turning their backs on the folks who brought them from the redneck, moonshine toting bunch to filling the stands for each and every race on the schedule in the 1990's and beyond.

At that time all of the hotels, restaurants and other needed services started the price gouging so that the middle class folks decided that enough was enough. I remember when we were on a waiting list to get tickets for Bristol. You could now walk up to the ticket window on race day and get a seat in about any section you wanted on race day. At Talladege, Daytona and Michigan they have taken out large sections of seats and also use tarps to cover other grandstand seating that they know they won't sell. They give the same BS that they are adding wider seats for greater comfort for their fans. They didn't give a rats azz when they packed us in like sardines back in the heyday.

They catered to the TV networks and their big money while trying to equalize all of the cars so that the racing became boring and the fans started staying at home while watching on TV. The product they produced was so bad and many turned the TV off or to other events and never came back.

We used to take 8 guys to 6 or 7 races each and every year. The motor home now leaves the parking lot with 5 guys at the most for one weekend at Talladega each year. They basically lost a group of guys who were always excited about going racing. They lost me for sure and I won't be back. I now spend that money on the short tracks all over mid America.

I tried to take in the truck race at Eldora the past few years. I didn't go last year but I went the night before to watch the Big Block Modifieds from out east run. I seldom get to see them race and I promised I wouldn't return again after the fiasco of the night before the truck race last year. They had two different practice sessions for the trucks and they absolutely ruined any kind of racing surface with that nonsense. I left before the Big Block feature and was glad I did. It was a total waste of time and the fans that I knew who stayed wished they wouldn't have.

The Big Blocks aren't returning this year and I'm sure that they decided not to waste all that time towing long hours to race at a track that was horrible. Eldora and NASCRAP did them no favors.

[MI Dirt Fan]

Just out of curiosity. Why does it matter?

[brsteg]

I tried to take in the truck race at Eldora the past few years. I didn't go last year but I went the night before to watch the Big Block Modifieds from out east run. I seldom get to see them race and I promised I wouldn't return again after the fiasco of the night before the truck race last year. They had two different practice sessions for the trucks and they absolutely ruined any kind of racing surface with that nonsense. I left before the Big Block feature and was glad I did. It was a total waste of time and the fans that I knew who stayed wished they wouldn't have.

The Big Blocks aren't returning this year and I'm sure that they decided not to waste all that time towing long hours to race at a track that was horrible. Eldora and NASCRAP did them no favors.

Which year? 2016 or 2017?

2016 they had the track awful and had 60-80 big blocks (I forget how many but a lot.) All those cars supporting and just wanting to be at Eldora and they had just junk to race on. It was sad to be honest.
But they completely re-worked the track (painful time kill); however I quite enjoyed the feature race that they put on.

Last year (2017) much fewer teams showed up; had to be previous years track conditions being major reason. But the track was in fine shape. Not best, but it was fine. Racing did seem ho-hum the entire night including the feature.

A guy at the North-South 100 that was from the North East told me that the big blocks weren't coming back, but that was set in stone before the 2017 race.

[brsteg]

Eldora should bring the late models back for the Tuesday Night Tailgate. But actually pay them a decent purse that is worth showing up for. Would maybe still be room to have Mods on the Tuesday card only.

[NormP]

Eldora should bring the late models back for the Tuesday Night Tailgate. But actually pay them a decent purse that is worth showing up for. Would maybe still be room to have Mods on the Tuesday card only.

I've not been to Eldora as many times as a lot of you, so someone with more experience than me can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me they are only interested in paying a decent late model purse twice a year.

[brsteg]

I've not been to Eldora as many times as a lot of you, so someone with more experience than me can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me they are only interested in paying a decent late model purse twice a year.

Well I'd argue that those 2 are more than decent. A couple of the races this year had some more money thrown at them; a $5K and a $3K I think without checking.

Tuesday Tailgate I believe was only $2K when it was late models.