North Georgia Speedway results 9-10-11

[JustDirt]

I think some of you are not giving the people in the stands enough credit. Most are very knowledgeable about what classes are out there and which ones they came to see. I also believe most come to see the SLM because most get up and leave after the SLM run. It's the class every dirt racer wants to be in someday. Alot of tracks want run the Supers till last so they can sell all the hot dogs. Personally, when all the SLM are gone, I'm going fishin!

[B_K]

North Georgia will NEVER succeed with the inconsistentcy that surrounds it. This year, you never knew if they were running from week to week, nor did you know what rules to go by, or what classes were running. Anyone attempting to make a track work in this economy is to be commended, but people never knew what was going on from week to week.That's not a condemnation of the Ellis family, the Youngs, the staff or anyone. It's just the truth. All envolved walked into a less then ideal situation, and gave it a shot. Maybe with the offseason coming up, if they give it a go next year, they'll have plenty of time to get things planned out and structured. Late models weekly with the crowds that I saw when I was there will not work. Times are tough, and the place has lost some people's trust. That's tough to come back from.


Look at the tracks that still do well, Dixie, Rome, TST etc. They all have had the same promoters, same schedules, same thing every year. It might not knock you down, but you never have to question what's going on. In this sport that goes a long way.

[RacedudeGa]

In my opinion the problems @ North Ga this year started even before the season began. They had a person who held the lease who didnt have the financial backing to run the track and it wasnt until the last min that he was able to get someone to pay the bills for him. By then a lot of the racers had made their cars legal for other tracks. Then he pissed them off by not letting them have any say in the decisions. I dont blame them for taking their money and leaving.

After taking a month to get the lease away from him the owners were able to to bring in another "Promoter" and another person to provide the money to keep the track open. I'm sure losing money had a lot to do with the fact they didnt run some weeks.

All these things leave uncertainty with the fans & drivers so they started going elsewhere and once they have done that it's really hard to get them back. Its a shame because North Ga is great track with a great history but that doenst pay the bills. Its going to take someone who has deep pockets and is willing to lose money for a while to be able get the track back to being the place it once was. One thing that hurts them is the fact that most people arent willing to make a big investment in something they dont own. Maybe its time for the owners to think about selling the track to someone who is willing to make the investment to return it to what it once was.

[chrisd4]

garacedude i see your point but how bout letting the ellis famliy lease the track for twenty years cause ive got to know kelly and kevin young this year they are by far the nicest people you would want to work for they want ngs to make it and so does mr ellis but maybe next year they will have a great year full of fans and cars its been up and down way to much this year to have a good strong year for the track. i for one think mr ellis and crew can turn ngs around but they need to have the place open every weekend cause mr ellis didnt get to were he is today by making bullchit deals out here in the world. i like working for him and his wife they are good people who i do stand behind and support like you said its gonna take someone who can set the money to the side and say we got the money now lets get ngs back to were she needs to be.i think mr ellis if he wants to put up with the bullchit will do whatever it takes to be successful

[RacedudeGa]

chrisd4- i have never met Mr Ellis and wouldnt know him if he were standing right in front of me so i cant say what kind of person he is. I do agree that he couldnt be a successful enough businessman to have the money to run the track by making bad calls. A long term lease would probably be the best thing for the track owners & whoever has the lease. That way they know whatever improvements they make will pay off for them in the long run. I also hope they can turn things around because i hate to see another track shut down. Maybe they can take the winter to regroup and come back next year with a better game plan that will be successful for them. Best of luck to them !

[B_K]

In my opinion the problems @ North Ga this year started even before the season began. They had a person who held the lease who didnt have the financial backing to run the track and it wasnt until the last min that he was able to get someone to pay the bills for him. By then a lot of the racers had made their cars legal for other tracks. Then he pissed them off by not letting them have any say in the decisions. I dont blame them for taking their money and leaving.

After taking a month to get the lease away from him the owners were able to to bring in another "Promoter" and another person to provide the money to keep the track open. I'm sure losing money had a lot to do with the fact they didnt run some weeks.

All these things leave uncertainty with the fans & drivers so they started going elsewhere and once they have done that it's really hard to get them back. Its a shame because North Ga is great track with a great history but that doenst pay the bills. Its going to take someone who has deep pockets and is willing to lose money for a while to be able get the track back to being the place it once was. One thing that hurts them is the fact that most people arent willing to make a big investment in something they dont own. Maybe its time for the owners to think about selling the track to someone who is willing to make the investment to return it to what it once was.

Bingo, and I've been saying that for a couple of years now. You have to know going in that the first year is probably going to be a loss. It has to be someone with the pockets and stomach to withstand that, gain some trust, have some consistent shows, and build it back up. It will be a process, not an overnight rebirth.


Look at Boyd's, for the longest time, that place was a dump and a joke. Gar and the Harvey's have turned that place into a good track. They do have some demographic advantage as they are within 20 miles of 200,000+ people, but as a whole, that place has done a complete transformation over the last few years. It did not happen overnight, but it did happen.

[merc123]

My question is...if you think you can do better why aren't you?

I know it takes something to run a track, but I don't know what that something is. I have ideas and I let the people running the track know what they are. You can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink. Sometimes the water is bad and the horse can't drink it anyway. The fact that folks are trying to make it work is better than no one trying.

You need two things to have a successful tracks...fans and cars. Without either you have neither. It's whatever you do to bring both of them in.

Boyd's and Dixie both have a larger pool of folks to draw crowds from. What does Rome's count look like? Is it comparable to NGS? I haven't been so I don't know. What about Cleveland?

What has happened to the surrounding cities in the past 5 years around NGS? Carpet mill layoffs. That's big. You went from making $300/week to making $120/week unemployment if you're lucky. Just can't afford the admission to take the family.

If NGS has a pool of 500,000 potential customers, and 1/2 are laid off, that's only 250,000. If Dixie has a pool of 2,000,000 customers and 1/2 are laid off that's still 1,000,000 left.

Here's some stats for ya'll from 2010 census report...this is supposedly how many folks live in these counties and I tried to get surrounding counties that are pretty close to each track.

Boyd's:
Hamilton 336463
Bradley 98963
Whitfield 102599
Catoosa 63942
Murray 36528
Walker 68756
Polk 16825
TOTAL 724,076

NGS
Whitfield 102599
Gordon 55186
Bartow 100157
Floyd 96317
TOTAL 354,259

Dixie
Cherokee 214346
Cobb 688078
Pickens 29431
TOTAL 931,855


Rome and Dalton have 13.1% unemployment rates, which is higher than most of the other cities around Boyd's and Dixie. The economy is only a partial puzzle though. Before the Ellis' took over it took about 3 or 4 weeks in to the season for me to see what I considered a good amount of fans in the stands. With it opening and closing and the uncertainty I'm sure a lot of fans stopped coming. It could be because they went to another track or maybe they don't know it's back open? 100's of factors contribute.

[ozzie 35]

Where the track is, is not as important as the product on the track.Dixie is succesfull , not because of it's location (even though it's a good one), but because Mike Swims saw the need to make the track part of the community.A big portion of the fans are college age kids.He embraces the local schools,the local churches ,and the local politicians. The track is looked at like any other business on Main st. There is more to running a race track than opening the gates.I have been going to Dixie since 1971 and there have been years when they didn't do well,but they kept at it until they found a formula that works.It seems like there is a good group running N GA now ,but like someone else said, it's going to take time and patience to gain peoples trust and build a following.it's my opinion that the fastest way to do that is to form an alliance with Boyds, running there rules ,and hopefully most of there cars too. I know it's exspensive to race two nights a week for some competitors ,but i think doing this would make N GA an attractive allternative to Cleveland on Saturday night.N GA has most of the ingredients for a succesfull race track,they just need time,patience,and oh yea, money.I wish them all the best. There is nothing worse for a racer,than a closed race track,wheather you race there or not.It's like loosing a friend.

[acetone]

Where the track is, is not as important as the product on the track.Dixie is succesfull , not because of it's location (even though it's a good one), but because Mike Swims saw the need to make the track part of the community.A big portion of the fans are college age kids.He embraces the local schools,the local churches ,and the local politicians. The track is looked at like any other business on Main st. There is more to running a race track than opening the gates.I have been going to Dixie since 1971 and there have been years when they didn't do well,but they kept at it until they found a formula that works.It seems like there is a good group running N GA now ,but like someone else said, it's going to take time and patience to gain peoples trust and build a following.it's my opinion that the fastest way to do that is to form an alliance with Boyds, running there rules ,and hopefully most of there cars too. I know it's exspensive to race two nights a week for some competitors ,but i think doing this would make N GA an attractive allternative to Cleveland on Saturday night.N GA has most of the ingredients for a succesfull race track,they just need time,patience,and oh yea, money.I wish them all the best. There is nothing worse for a racer,than a closed race track,wheather you race there or not.It's like loosing a friend.

so what does cleveland have to do with it.? thats right, no thread about n. ga is complete without talking about cleveland. rome has large crowds becauce they only race a few times a year. i know i try to go each time they race. race fans know when a track is racing, does not matter how many times it opens or closes. i was at n ga last week becauce cleveland was not racing. maybe one or two cars that race all the time were there. dont know what is up but was surprised by that.

[ThinkGreen]

Maybe the promoter should try advertising his events in spanish, they make up over 50% of the ElWhitfield population. And when they make some money maybe they can built a ladies rest room that isn't nasty and doesn't stink. Until then, we will continue to go to Dixie.
(note) You could save money on Parrot food by getting rid of your Parrot named Skinny39. Good luck and maybe you should ask Marshall for some tips on how to run a track or maybe turn it over to B K. Have a nice day.

[ozzie 35]

so what does cleveland have to do with it.? thats right, no thread about n. ga is complete without talking about cleveland. rome has large crowds becauce they only race a few times a year. i know i try to go each time they race. race fans know when a track is racing, does not matter how many times it opens or closes. i was at n ga last week becauce cleveland was not racing. maybe one or two cars that race all the time were there. dont know what is up but was surprised by that.

It has everything to do with Cleveland,and I don't mean it in a negative way.It's about competing in the marketplace.Like it or not , racing is a product ,or show.N Ga has to compete for marketshare in the industry,just like any other business. I mentioned Cleveland ,because they run on the same night as N Ga and are competing for some of the same cars and fans.If N Ga aligns themselves with Boyds ,maybe they can get some of those cars and fans that might otherwise go to Cleveland.It's not a knock on Cleveland ,it's just a business stratagy. More cars,and more fans equal more money for the track owner.Back in the 80's Dixie and West Atlanta had the same situation.They both had loyal fans and drivers ,but there was a percentage of fans and drivers that went back and forth.Thats what Cleveland hs to do with this.N Ga is on the bottom rght now and they have to fight their way back to the top.I for one, hope they get there.

[acetone]

It has everything to do with Cleveland,and I don't mean it in a negative way.It's about competing in the marketplace.Like it or not , racing is a product ,or show.N Ga has to compete for marketshare in the industry,just like any other business. I mentioned Cleveland ,because they run on the same night as N Ga and are competing for some of the same cars and fans.If N Ga aligns themselves with Boyds ,maybe they can get some of those cars and fans that might otherwise go to Cleveland.It's not a knock on Cleveland ,it's just a business stratagy. More cars,and more fans equal more money for the track owner.Back in the 80's Dixie and West Atlanta had the same situation.They both had loyal fans and drivers ,but there was a percentage of fans and drivers that went back and forth.Thats what Cleveland hs to do with this.N Ga is on the bottom rght now and they have to fight their way back to the top.I for one, hope they get there.

fair enough. to bad cleveland and n ga dont take turns running every other saturday with the same rules and have a points system that combines both tracks. when one or the other is closed, i dont really see that many cars from one track to another. i live in cleveland, track is 5 miles from my house, n ga is right under 40. not a very long drive really. i know people that quit going to the races becauce they cant afford it. dont see how they could be that hard up. money for ciggs though, go figure. i know next week i will go to smokey mountain becauce they are having sas. if i lived 5 miles from n. ga that would be my home track. just count how many tracks race on saturday night in a 150 mile radius of your home track. the number will shock you

[upaginit in North GA]

Opinions

I guess everyone has opinions, so here goes mine. I live within 9 miles of NGS, but hardly ever attend races there. My first race back there in many years was the Thursday night show a month or so back that was won by Dale McDowell. It has not changed a bit to me, the first racing did not get underway until 945 pm.

I go to a lot of dirt track races (Eldora, Batesville, Bulls Gap, Tazewell, Dixie, Rome, DTWC, Volusia, Cherokee, East Alabama, Florence, etc.) and I like it as much as anyone else, however I as most other fans like it to get started on time and move forward, NGS never has and probably never will do that.

Boyd's is a fantastic place to watch a dirt track race, I realize they have a curfew, but they start, they keep it moving, they get it over, and the fans get home.

Cleveland is just as organized when I attend a race there, which is SRRS, VRS, SAS. They get going, when one group comes off the track, the next bunch is rolling on the track.

I wish them (NGS) well as far making a go of it, but I think it will be a difficult road until it is organized and the show starts on time, keeps moving, and the fans get home at a decent hour. JMO

[got2win]

I think some of you are not giving the people in the stands enough credit. Most are very knowledgeable about what classes are out there and which ones they came to see. I also believe most come to see the SLM because most get up and leave after the SLM run. It's the class every dirt racer wants to be in someday. Alot of tracks want run the Supers till last so they can sell all the hot dogs. Personally, when all the SLM are gone, I'm going fishin!

You want go fishing because you are a true race fan. All of the real racers will make the switch to steel heads or crates and run for the same money as they do now. Rick Hixson, Kevin Gibson, Lamar Scoggins, Riley Hickman, Jamie Perry, Ronnie Johnson, and a hole lot more run them now at Boyds and Cleveland and even North Georgia when they pay more money and they put on just as good a race as any local super show around. Racing is all about the drivers putting on a show whether it is 600 HP or 800 Hp with the right drivers in it it is still the same.