GOV CUP - Purse Increase / Format Changes

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
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[SIZE=“4”]Format Change, Purse Increase & Unobstructed View for
45th Annual Florida Governor’s Cup 200[/SIZE]

(10.27.10 - New Smyrna Speedway) FASCAR Officials and New Smyrna Speedway Management are excited to announce that the purse for the 45th Annual Florida Governor’s Cup presented by Bright House Networks has been increased from $275.00 to start to $600.00 to start thanks to the Lap Money that has already been collected.

Laps are still being sold for the November 20th race for $100.00ea., with 100% of the lap money collected being distributed throughout the field. To date, only 67 of the 200 laps have been sold.

The Purse as of the date of this press release will pay $5,000.00 to the winner and the entire purse will be increased as additional laps are sold.

Lap Sponsors will receive mentions over the PA throughout the two-day event as well as listing in the Official Souvenir Program and on the Lap Sponsor Sign located at the main entrance to the Speedway.

In addition to the Purse increase, Officials also announced a Format Change that is intended to help reduce some of the costs associated with a 200 lap race. Instead of live Pit Stops requiring full pit crews, this year’s event will feature a half-way break to allow teams to change tires, add fuel, and make any adjustments they need to their cars.

Fans will also enjoy a first-ever unobstructed view of the racing surface for Saturday night’s events as all race cars will be pitted outside of the infield for the first time ever, utilizing the turn four and backstretch pit areas. The infield will be used as a last resort for overflow for open trailers only, allowing fans in almost any seat to view the entire high-banked half-mile surface.

This year’s Florida Governor’s Cup Weekend will once again feature a two-day format with the 50 Lap Limited Late Model race presented by Discount Propane and 25 lap features for the Mini-Stocks, Super Stocks and E-Modifieds on Friday night November 19th with practice rounds for the Super Late Models throughout the night. Then on Saturday November 20th the 45th Annual Florida Governor’s Cup 200 for the Super Late Models presented by Bright House Networks along with 25 lap features for the Sportsman, Pro-Trucks and Strictly Stocks.

For more information regarding the event including Pre-Entries, Schedules, Past History, Lap Sponsors and more, please visit www.NewSmyrnaSpeedway.org/governorscup.

If you would like to purchase laps, please contact Kim Brown at 386-427-4129 or cell phone 386-547-2879. Payment options are Cash, Check, Money Order, MasterCard or Visa.

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Good moves!

“Instead of live Pit Stops requiring full pit crews, this year’s event will feature a half-way break to allow teams to change tires, add fuel, and make any adjustments they need to their cars.”

This makes a lot of sense $ wise. Personally,I’ve never seen the attraction of watching pit stops in short-track racing. At the cup level I understand,but…

“Fans will also enjoy a first-ever unobstructed view of the racing surface for Saturday night’s events as all race cars will be pitted outside of the infield for the first time ever, utilizing the turn four and backstretch pit areas. The infield will be used as a last resort for overflow for open trailers only, allowing fans in almost any seat to view the entire high-banked half-mile surface.”

Now THIS is “fan-friendly” - just as it should be!

Hell, that gives me an idea - how about a class for late models that come to the track on open trailers? Ok, just kidding - but you get the point…

Thanks and a tip of the fiberglass fedora to whoever came up w/these changes. Some heads-up thinking, for sure.

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Gotta agree with Mr. Beach Bum, these are productive changes that will do nothing but help the show.

I see that the pit area in turn 4 has expanded a bit toward the end of the stands. I’ve always like that: the fans in that corner can look through (or over) the fence and get up close to the activity pitside.

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Hey Voice, first, those are great things to hear all the way around.

Second, if you havent already, be sure that the Speed51 guys post this on their site. I am guessing that will happen anyhow because of the realtionship, with them covering it, etc.

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Yes this Press Release was sent to Speed51 first so we expect it up shortly.

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Hey Mark check your pm’s…

have a great day…

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Can’t argue with the changes strictly on a money angle, and as a member of a “low budget” team I see the benefit.

But as a fan and crew member, I’ll miss the one race per year that allowed both the venue and oppportunity to perform a pit stop ala Nascar. It introduces both strategy and teamwork as a primary factor in winning. I’ve seen Big Name drivers flush their races down the toilet because their rented crew put left and rights on the wrong side of the car!?! We’ve almost won the race with a slower car because of tire or fuel strategy, or just plain faster pit stops. The only other race with anything similar is the Derby, and that is in a class by itself.

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Having the rigs parked outside isn’t exactly a “first time ever” deal… they did it at the PASS race in January of last season. I LOVED it, and could see NO reasons why it couldn’t happen more often.

GREAT DECISION…!!!

On the other hand, I fell that having a half-way break will ruin the competition level. A big part of the fun in this race, is seeing different guys, with different strategies, all having to come through the field at least once. With this format, it will stagnate the whole field. you won’t see much passing after the first few laps.

And PLEASE tell me there will be some sort on inversion. If not, this race will be won from the first 2 rows, and those positions will be decided in the first 25 laps or so. After that, it will be follow-the-leader for the other 175 laps.

One thumb up, one thumb down…

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Thats a point I hadnt thought of - having guys coming through the field post pit stop is inevitably one of the more interesting aspects of that race - maybe it is offset by more people coming to race due to not needing a full crew? Don’t know - doubt it though.

Maybe the leader pulls a number for the inversion for the second half?

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I saw a GREAT format at Nashville one time, and always thought it would work well here. in their case, it was a 150 lap, not 200, but here’s how they did it:

Qualify and invert the top 10 cars… run 75 laps
Re-invert the top 8… run 50 laps
Invert the top 6 again… run 25 laps

Lowest point total (one point for each finishing position… 1 for a win, 10 for 10th place, etc…) gets the overall win (indivudual segments don’t carry their own purse, just the overall totals)

Jeff Green won this event, with Fast Time, 2 wins and a 2nd. Had to work his ASS off to get it.

It wouldn’t work on a bullring, but would be spectacular at New Smyrna.

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Actually if the REALLY wanted to do it up right…

Qualify the cars on Saturday afternoon and lock in the top 20 qualifiers… Golden Gate used to start them straight up and I feel that is OK for a 200 lap race… Again, no pit stops were needed or required at The Gate, so an inversion would be OK at NSS, but not if they are doing regular pit stops…

Once qualifying is over, run a big nighttime show… At Golden Gate it would always be the last point race of the year for the Sprints, 6 Cylinder and Bombers, but NSS could run Trucks, Sportsman, Mods etc. or maybe even bring in the TBARA for their final race of the year…

Go back to running the race on SUNDAY AFTERNOON… Real race fans WILL show up, especially if the thing is promoted properly… Run a pair (OK probably just one) last chance race to set the remainder of the field and start no more than 36 cars, if you can get that many… The Gate ran two last chance races, the first setting the last eight starters on the inside row and the second the last eight on the outside row… At Golden Gate, each of these races could have been a 25 lap feature at any track in the country… Of course from '63 thru the 80’s the race drew fields of 50-100 cars each year… THOSE WERE REALLY GREAT DAYS… Man, do I miss that place and the first Sunday of November (the traditional date of the Governor’s Cup)

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I agree with the half way pit stops…the best part of the race is the different strategies and watching the guys come back through the field…this will hurt the overall racing unless there is an invert at the halfway point…

hopefully there will be 10-12 really good cars that can race together up front.
Dave they are bringing in other classes this year for a 2 day show which I really like…while everyone loves TBARA at NSS, me included, there would be two negatives to them being there for the gov cup weekend…they would diminish the super latemodel name because they are so much faster and they make the track unraceable for other cars…I don’t know if it the tires, the amount of rubber they put down or if has something to do with the alcohol they run or a combo of everything, but they ruin the track for whoever is racing after them. I have driven a modified and a latemodel when they have been there and the car goes to junk,(not that my car is ever great) and not just mine.

Anyway, atleast they are doing things to try and change things up a bit…

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I agree with Frass, Eliminating the haulers from the infield is great but a half way break kill the strategy aspect of the show…

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They should eliminate the haulers every week during the season as well . open trailers only in the infield . whatever the format is its going to be a great two days !

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Why change some that works?

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I agree with thumbs up/thumbs down.

I was on the fence about going this year, but halfway breaks are a deal killer for me. I have no desire to watch everyone stroke for 100 laps, then make adjustments, then ride for some more until it gets to be around 20 to go.

I was always fascinated by pit strategy with this race, it always seemed if you could get a caution around lap 125 that was the way to go.

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I think the race needs to be run straight thru without a brake. There are alot of people that use different stradigies to make themselves competative. It’s also fun to watch them come back up thru the field:ernaehrung004:

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Not sure, but I wonder if maybe this was done to encourage participation from the racers from the FAST series. Many of these cars would not run a dry brake system for any other races, so this would be a big one time expense for them. On the other hand, the website listed 34 pre-entries the day this change was announced. It would seem car count is not a problem, so what was the real reason??

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Nobody has thought about the safety aspect of us doing hot pit stops
once a year. I myself have taken a gas bath from a quick fill can that I
was not used to using. We don’t require fire suits or helmets for our crews.
I think we have been very lucky so far not hurting any one on pit road over the
years but our luck can run out at any time if we keep pushing it.
And it is a lot cheaper with less crew and fancy pit equipment.
And I do agree it does effect the race quaility.

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Why not just go and make a 100 lap race. That way you could cut out 1 set of tires and extra gas if it is a cost saving factor. Like someone said I don’t care to see the cars stroke for the first 100 laps knowing they have a break half way.