low car and fan counts,,why?

[Bloomerdirtking]

100% agree with kazual and the culture of today. When i grew up my city of Muncie had Borg Warner transmission, a Chevy plant and a Delco plant. New Castle a Chrysler plant to our south and Anderson had Delco and Guide Lamp plants. It was a car nuts heaven. My dad, my uncles, my grandpa, their friends all had good jobs. All had killer cars. Everywhere was Cudas, Road Runners, Chevelles, Corvettes, Mustangs, GTO's, etc. Kids couldn't wait to get those jobs and the cars that came with them. Then the merry go-round came to a halt, and so did the culture with it. (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) shame.

[zyoung25]

The car crowd is out there, it's just not the same as it was back then. I wasn't around in those days, but boy do I wish was. It seems like the younger crowd is more into foreign or diesel stuff than the domestic muscle. You wouldn't believe the kids that are out there that don't know what a hemi is.

[WisWildManFan]

I would love to see some weekly tracks do a claim on the winner's car in the lower divisions... or if you win 80% of the features in a given year in a lower division you have to move up. I would love to get a car on the track but financially it doesn't make sense to go spend 8-10k on a car to run for $200 to win. Not to mention there will be a guy that spends 20k to win that $200 that i will never ever beat unless he wrecks or has an issue. I'm too competitive to spend the money to run 2nd every week. Hobby mods were supposed to be a good beginner class but that has turned into a joke as well. Put a claim on street stocks and hobby mods to where people won't want to outspend the rest of the field by double.

[kazual]

WisWildmanFan

Not sure efforts to quell spending more than you can win will matter much. Fishing tournament guys spend many thousands on boats, tackle, travel, or whatever to fish for a few hundred dollars. Horse show people spend mega wads to mostly compete for a trophy. All in the name of winning, cost be d——-d! If not being able to win as much as you spend would make a difference we would have already seen it in racing.

[ShawnStreet]

I can only speak for myself, but there was a time when I was at a dirt track every single weekend. When my wife and I had our daughters, I couldn’t wait to take them. However, when I did start taking them, they were sound asleep by the time any racing got started. They quickly figured out that sitting in the same spot, watching the water truck/packing truck make 600 laps and then falling asleep was not a good way to spend a Saturday night. For the past five years, I’ve been the pastor of a church and when you have somewhere to be on Sunday mornings, spending all night at a dirt track just doesn’t happen anymore.

Prior to becoming a pastor, I worked in various media outlets, including public relations. Honestly, having that background and seeing how our sport promotes itself has done more to kill my obsession for the sport than any 3am, caution filled, one lane race ever could. I guess my #1 complaint with that is, why do two or three guys design, maintain and update every single website in dirt racing? Why does every single press release say the exact same thing other than the individual names being different? Creativity is dead and it is taking the sport with it to the grave.

[WisWildManFan]

valid examples kazual but I still think money is more important in motor sports compared to anything else.

[RiffRaf67]

Rocky's right. It aint just dirt tracks that have a decline in live attendance, saw a stat yesterday that MLB was down 14% this year. Also read last year that overall, college football was down 30%, with only the big schools staying even. We've seen it in all the other motor sports as well: Indy car first, NHRA and then NapCar.

Its not just a dirt track problem and I dont think its a promotion problem either, when ALL venues are struggling to gain attendance. I know there are people here that will cite all kinds of statistics to the contrary, but I feel its too easy to stay home and stream any of these live events (or watch them tomorrow) and that's what hurts the attendance. PPV and video replays are not going away so lets hope those services are going to be enough to keep the events occurring in the first place. Dirt doesnt have the TV revenue that the other sports have so its going to be especially tough to keep the doors open in the future.

I hang out with my friends at the race track. My millennial son hangs out with his on the computer. Every now and then me and my buddies will band together and rent a PPV together. Every now and then my son and his friends will go out to eat together....

[fairlaniac]

Cell Phones

People have found more money and time to put out for their smart phones. A few years ago you got a free phone. no people are paying up to $1000 for a smart phone. Add your 50G plan and people have no money. Now people spend time on Facebook. You can check on your phone the amount of time spent on an app. You'd be surprised at the amount of time and avid Facebook users puts in each week. Typically more time than a three hour race evening. Not just racing but many spectator events are down. I'll bet some people spend more time here in a week than the time to attend a real race. Cell/Smart phone is why in my opinion.

[Mason87]

You guys are right on the other sports losing attendance, the difference to me is that local racing is still affordable 10 to 1f for a regular show and 30 for a special isn't bad. So they should be able to promote, advertise and put on a well managed show and the people would come back. The reason nfl and others are down their greed has priced the average fan out with outrageous ticket and food prices.

[One Man Gang]

It’s all Dog eat Dog basically, especially when Quarterbacks make a million dollars a game, baseball players signing 300 million dollar contracts, NBA players getting paid 200 million to dribble a ball up and down the court and then race cars costing a life savings to run a year. They making the money but it’s sapping the he!! out of our wallets to watch it. I’ll keep going as long as tracks are open and I can get there but it’s costing more and more every year to see less.

[kazual]

WiscWildman

You may well be correct. There’s something novel about the passion racers have for their sport. Good thread and discussion.

[waaac77]

Since it's all about the money would there be any way that weekly tracks and national tours could incorporate a salary cap type of deal where it would level out the field a bit while also avoiding running spec cars like NASCRAP?

[dirtcrazy4u]

WOW. If you read what some of you have posted it's no wonder what's wrong. From communism , you sir need help, to just about all the most off the wall chit I have ever read. I think the most obvious is fans want a 3 class night of racing good food and get it over early. The promotors that don't get it. Stop going. Myself, I'm done with screven, great racing, but it is the most miss managed place I have ever been to in 50 yrs of attending dirt racing. WoO first heat never hits the track on any scheduled time and they want you to spend money on there food. Pass, my choice.

[ShawnStreet]

To add to the discussion about other forms of entertainment suffering as well.. I think it goes back to what I said earlier, creativity is dead. Movies are suffering. But honestly, how many completely original movies have been released in the past few years? Everything is either a complete rip off of something that came before it, a reboot or a sequel. Concerts are suffering because everyone is trying to do the show that KISS did in 1976. I mean, does country music need pyro and dudes flying around the stage? College football looks like it is gonna come down between Clemson, ‘Bama, Oklahoma, Ohio State and/or Georgia. The same as last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. The NFL used to have bitter rivals fighting for the big trophy. Raiders/Steelers, Cowboys/49ers, etc. Now you have the Patriots and everyone else fighting for second. Like the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. We’ve seen this before, so we are seeking something we’ve never seen before. Not to make this political, but that was why Trump hit a homerun with so many people. It was new and something we’ve never really saw before. Promoters that promote and bring in new ideas will succeed.

[JimBo]

Great discussion here and some very valid points except for the obvious sarcastic comment blaming it on communist lol. Sure the cost for weekly racers is out of range for most. To many classes, promoters are lazy, bla bla bla. Weekly shows are dead in my area for Late Models. Meanwhile I have a big screen TV with a stereo hooked up to it and I can sit in my Lazy Boy enjoying a cold beer from the nearby fridge and watch racing on MavTV, Lucas Oil TV, or stream a LM Dirt on Dirt broadcast. Or I could drive an hour to the local track and watch B Mods, EMods, 5-10 pure stocks and 5 or 6 Late Models and be back home in bed by 12:30-1:00 AM. I use to be go weekly but I would just as soon stay at home and hit 2 or 3 Lucas or WOO shows a year 3-4 hours from my house. I guess I'm part of the problem of low fan counts.