Format

[MI Dirt Fan]

Sometimes the win itself is more prestigious than the payout. The World 100 is an example. The Chili Bowl. Even the the Duel in the Desert IMCA race at the Las Vegas dirt track. Only pays $7,777 but a couple hundred cars give or take show up.

They don't remember you for the x amount of dollars you won only what event you won.

[TUTY]

Only 1 guys wins the $100,000,$50,000,$30,000 that some of the bigger races pay. The rest of the purse is similar. 2 Night $20,000 win shows pay nothing Night 1 and $20,000 Night 2 and about $1000 To Start. This one pays $24,000 To Win over 2 nights.

[RaceEngineer]

No disrespect to anyone, but when we raced we went to race for the competition and glory. Money was secondary. i know racing for a living in this day and age is a different story, and a shame at that...

15th place is neither glorious nor a way to pay the bills.

[CIRF]

Actually The Chili Bowl draws more like 350 to 370 cars and sells out the 15,000 seats for what is now 6 nights. 85% of all the tickets sold are bought by people outside of the state of Oklahoma. It's not only the Super Bowl of midget racing, it's the Super Bowl of all dirt racing, with deference to The Knoxville Nationals.

Reason being is that winning it will literally make a drivers' career that hasn't already made it and drivers such as Christopher Bell, Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson (if he ever wins it) that have made it want it on their resume' since it is a legacy maker. The guys that win The Chili Bowl don't give a fat rats ass about the money. Winning it put McCreadie, Donnie Beechler and Billy Boat, among others, on the map. Winning it was the reason McCreadie got a NASCAR ride. Same goes for Kevin Swindell X 4.

Races such as The Chili Bowl and The Knoxville Nationals (the real one that's run in August) transcend money, although Knoxville is the largest winners payout for a yearly event in dirt racing, by far.

Just for the record the promoter of The Chili Bowl is Emmett Hahn. He said at a question and answer session at The Zink Ranch last January during Chili Bowl week that the rental alone for the Expo Center building is over a quarter of a million. That doesn't include all the labor and equipment hire to build the track, erect and disassemble the stands, clean up following the conclusion or the insurance and security. Emmett and Co. know how to run a show the size of The Chili Bowl and they make a good buck doing it. Not everyone could pull that deal off.

[spiderma4]

Actually The Chili Bowl draws more like 350 to 370 cars and sells out the 15,000 seats for what is now 6 nights. 85% of all the tickets sold are bought by people outside of the state of Oklahoma. It's not only the Super Bowl of midget racing, it's the Super Bowl of all dirt racing, with deference to The Knoxville Nationals.

Reason being is that winning it will literally make a drivers' career that hasn't already made it and drivers such as Christopher Bell, Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson (if he ever wins it) that have made it want it on their resume' since it is a legacy maker. The guys that win The Chili Bowl don't give a fat rats ass about the money. Winning it put McCreadie, Donnie Beechler and Billy Boat, among others, on the map. Winning it was the reason McCreadie got a NASCAR ride. Same goes for Kevin Swindell X 4.

Races such as The Chili Bowl and The Knoxville Nationals (the real one that's run in August) transcend money, although Knoxville is the largest winners payout for a yearly event in dirt racing, by far.

Just for the record the promoter of The Chili Bowl is Emmett Hahn. He said at a question and answer session at The Zink Ranch last January during Chili Bowl week that the rental alone for the Expo Center building is over a quarter of a million. That doesn't include all the labor and equipment hire to build the track, erect and disassemble the stands, clean up following the conclusion or the insurance and security. Emmett and Co. know how to run a show the size of The Chili Bowl and they make a good buck doing it. Not everyone could pull that deal off.

didn't epj get over 200,000 at the million race? thats alittle more to win than Knoxville. if they r paying that much for rent those first few years they had too losesome major money

[CIRF]

didn't epj get over 200,000 at the million race? thats alittle more to win than Knoxville. if they r paying that much for rent those first few years they had too losesome major money

When we're talking Knoxville Nationals we're talking about an elite and iconic annual event that has been around for nearly 60 years. If this "Million" race gimmick is still around in 6 or 7 years and is a stand alone benchmark event in dirt racing then we'll talk. Even then it won't be in a class with The Chili Bowl. Some of the best and most highly regarded drivers in the world want to win The Chili Bowl, not for the money, but for the prestige of being one of a very select and elite group of drivers that owns a Golden Driller. It's a career maker/legacy maker type of victory that elite drivers want desperately to have on their final resume' even if it paid only black eyes and a split lip!

[TerryM]

Where else are they going to race in November?

[Josh Bayko]

Where else are they going to race in November?

The 24 hours of EAMS.

[kidrock]

When we're talking Knoxville Nationals we're talking about an elite and iconic annual event that has been around for nearly 60 years. If this "Million" race gimmick is still around in 6 or 7 years and is a stand alone benchmark event in dirt racing then we'll talk. Even then it won't be in a class with The Chili Bowl. Some of the best and most highly regarded drivers in the world want to win The Chili Bowl, not for the money, but for the prestige of being one of a very select and elite group of drivers that owns a Golden Driller. It's a career maker/legacy maker type of victory that elite drivers want desperately to have on their final resume' even if it paid only black eyes and a split lip!

I thought gimmicks were only in Nascar lol

[dch191]

When we're talking Knoxville Nationals we're talking about an elite and iconic annual event that has been around for nearly 60 years. If this "Million" race gimmick is still around in 6 or 7 years and is a stand alone benchmark event in dirt racing then we'll talk. Even then it won't be in a class with The Chili Bowl. Some of the best and most highly regarded drivers in the world want to win The Chili Bowl, not for the money, but for the prestige of being one of a very select and elite group of drivers that owns a Golden Driller. It's a career maker/legacy maker type of victory that elite drivers want desperately to have on their final resume' even if it paid only black eyes and a split lip!

How’s a race that pays $100k+ and that paid more to win than any other dirt race this year a gimmick?

[CIRF]

I thought gimmicks were only in Nascar lol

They were only in NASCAR, Kid................until someone got the idea to hype an event as a million dollar payout that didn't even approach half that amount. If that ain't a gimmick then I reckon the definition of the word is unclear as is applied here! LOL! If the pre-race hype had been "we'll payout whatever amount we can get fans, drivers, car owners and sponsors, etc., to donate", which ended up being $405,879.00, then gimmick would perhaps have been a bit less applicable.

When Earl Baltes hyped a dirt late model race as The Eldora Million the A-main, in fact, paid $1,175,450.00 with a million dolllars being paid to Donnie Moran for winning the race.
A few years later when Earl hyped a wingless 410 sprint car event as The MOPAR Million the total purse was, in fact, $1,000,000.00. Not even a smidgen of ambiguity was contained in the hype of either of those races.

But, back to the point that was made earlier, which was that the ultimate garbage purse (someone else's words, not mine) is paid at an event that boasts very impressive attendance (15,000+ X 6 nights = 90,000+) and a huge car count (350 to 375 cars). The moral of the story: it's not the purse that compels drivers and car owners, it's the prestige, honor and national notoriety that comes with winning.

[ImCryn2]

Maybe I'm the dumb one here, but didn't they have a redraw? If so, how is that a straight up format?

[hucktyson]

The redraw was for the feature only once the track slowed down and widened out. And it was the top 6 redrawing ... after they are already locked In

[Highside Hustler25]

Their are a handful of races that are not defined by their purse. Some pay big and some do not.

Daytona
Indy
Pikes Peak
Le Mans
Chilli Bowl
Clarksville
Isle of Man

all races that it's about puting your name on the trophy. although a couple of em pay pretty well.

[93Nelson]

Real racers will just race.

Some of you should know that there are people outside of this forum that will go to any race and enjoy it and not b!tch about it like these forum "die hards".

Just go to races and enjoy yourself. Not that hard.