Is Atomic Buckeye purse sufficient for a "Crown Jewel"?

[johnE]

I don't have the purse structure of other "Crown Jewels" in front of me, but for a $50K to win purse this one seems way too top heavy. $3K to start is adequate but finish in top 5 and only make a grand more than last place seems out of balance. It would be better for the sport to pay $40K to win and spread the other $10K around the top ten.

And Dirt on Dirt hedged their bet, backing off a little from calling this race a new "Crown Jewel."

And the announced format change for next year will help distribute the purse money more widely.

[Josh Bayko]

The purse is great, but crown jewel is a very overused term in late model racing. A race shouldn't be declared a crown jewel until it has a deep history and becomes one of those "must win before retiring" races.

[PennDirt]

Because DoD says so.

[Highside Hustler25]

The purse is great, but crown jewel is a very overused term in late model racing. A race shouldn't be declared a crown jewel until it has a deep history and becomes one of those "must win before retiring" races.

Well said.

[MRM]

The purse is great, but crown jewel is a very overused term in late model racing. A race shouldn't be declared a crown jewel until it has a deep history and becomes one of those "must win before retiring" races.

Totally agree.

[dirtdobber45]

Im with Josh when its been around 5 or 10 years then you can call it a crown jewel

[W2Racing09]

When I build purses for the Modified shows that I promote I always try to stay with one rule: the start money should be 10% of the win money. If you can't afford to do that, then you are paying too much up top.

The current purse is: $151, 300.00

In my opinion this race would still have garnered a lot of attention (just as much if not more than they already got) if the payout was like this:

1. $32,000
2. $20,000
3. $12,000
4. $9,000
5. $8,000
6. $7,000
7. $6,000
8. $5,000
9. $4,500
10. $4,000
11. $3,850
12. $3,700
13. $3,600
14. $3,500
15. $3,400
16. $3,300
17. $3,275
18. $3,250
19. $3,225
20. $3,200
21. $3,200
22. $3,200
23. $3,200
24. $3,200
26. $3,200

It's an extra $10k total (keep in mind I have no experience scheduling a race with even close to $10k in total purse so my opinion means pretty much nothing) but to me it looks a lot more attractive to drivers (if you finish from 3-5 you are essentially getting paid what you would get for winning a regular WoO/LOLMDS show, and if you finish in the top 10 you are getting the pay for winning a big regional show). It does keep with my general rule of 10% of the winners share to last place.

I know it does not always work out that it can be done that way (I have a race on my schedule this year that is $1000 to win, and $80 to start just because a track decided to add $200 to the top of an $800 to win, $80 to start purse) but it is what I try for. I could imagine it would be even more important in some of these bigger events where those guys finishing 5-10 are some of the best drivers in the country and deserve to be paid well.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Aces&Eights]

$50K is a Crown Jewel to me. Needs to be 100 laps but that much dough gets your attention. JMO.

[Drop Shock]

I think the payout needs to be tweeted. Erb finished 5th and got $4000, while O'neal made 1 lap and got $3000. That's why there were a lot of cars in the infield before halfway. Just doesn't make a lot of financial sense for a guy to bounce around for 75 laps to make a couple hundred more dollars than they would of they had pulled in after a few laps.

[Aluminium Block]

They probably would have gotten the same car and fan count for $25,000 to win and $2,000 to start. They threw a lot of extra money at it with no real result.

[zyoung25]

They probably would have gotten the same car and fan count for $25,000 to win and $2,000 to start. They threw a lot of extra money at it with no real result.

I beg to differ. Weather is what killed this race. My dad decided to stay home because of the colder temps. I know that's just one person, wonder how many others felt the same way? I'd say several. There was a lot more people there for the Buckeye spring race than there was for this one. The weather was perfect that, and they had 42 cars if I remember right. A weekend when the weather was gonna a be like it should've been. 60+ lates and mods both, and the stands are slammed with fans.