The Dirt Late Models brought 63 cars to Volusia.
Ocala had around 30 Sprint cars a few weeks back.
Citrus, Desoto and Charlotte County tracks usually have about 20-25 SLM cars.
But yet the “premier” Sunbelt Series can only bring 12? Do all the other racers live in some magical county where the recession hasn’t hit yet? The economy only sucks for the Sunbelt teams?
In general, car counts are off everywhere, but not at the level of the Sunbelt deal. Blame the economy all you want to, but you are barking up the wrong tree. Try blaming the outrageous fees that are associated with Sunbelt… starting with practice sessions that cost $200.00 per car (not to mention the set of tires, the half tank of racing fuel, and 100 laps closer to sending your motor back to Progressive for a rebuild). How about Hotel rooms for the whole team? 2 days worth of meals for everyone. How about skipping a day of work to make it up there for practice.
And if you choose NOT to spend Friday blowing a ton of money for ZERO return, then you can spend another $1000.00 for tires, fuel and entry fees, all for the priveledge of watching Russell and Anderson’s back bumpers as they run away from you. They have team owners and sponsors who are willing to pony up the budget to spend every dollar that Sunbelt/Columbia is willing to let them spend. And that is TOO many dollars.
Gone are the days when a guy could wake up on Saturday morning, change the rear-end gear, and haul to some out-of-town track, and have some kind of a chance to perform well.
The racers with a big budget are ALLOWED to outspend all of the lesser-budgeted teams, to the point where they say “why bother?”
When it comes to Sunbelt, and why it ISN’T working, I think it’s time to look out for the health of the entire class. Quit worrying about how to suck every dime possible out of the pockets that CAN afford it, and start figuring out how to get a few dimes out of the pockets that can BARELY afford it.
Blaming the economy is just plain bullshit!