Let's Try This---

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
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Obituary for Orlando Speedworld— and this might have been used for
Hialeah Speedway, West Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway, Golden Gate Raceway, Vero Beach Speedway, Eau Galle Raceway, on and on-----

—They are burying an old friend today in east Orlando. Don’t bother sending flowers. There won’t be any funeral. There is no casket. The body is badly decomposed, so there will be no visitation. Do yourself a favor, don’t try to sneak a glimpse.

You’ll be better off remembering this old Raceway as it was in the past, the way she was when she was alive, with droves of fans eagerly awaiting a show, and pits full of racers and machines awaiting to entertain. The posters and Bud/Pepsi signs everywhere flapping in the wind. The huge, voices over the airwaves squalking time trail results 2 hours before the start, and the roar of engines/cars circling and practicing, the smell of popcorn and cigars, all anticipating a great night of local short-track stock car racing.

A generation of semi/local race fans will be sent away, racers selling their machines, and a once beehive of activity is now shuttered.-----------

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Am I missing something??? Is it closing for good? First I heard about it.

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Relax Dave. Roger is just expressing his frustration in a bitter way.

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But if anyone knows about digging holes… it’s Roger!!

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Let me assure you it is no joking matter!!! I am sitting here at a multi million dollar facility that very well could have that obit!!! And it is a shame…imagine …well you do not have to imagine…I can give you names and numbers of a ton of folks that wished they could see the lights on and hear the noise here! They have NO choice…we are in DIRT country! If you do not like dirt you have to travel 6 hours to see asphalt racing! It may not be what you want…or maybe you do not feel that you are getting what you want out of it…but the alternative is not a good one!

As far as this garbage of putting dirt on it…GIVE ME A BREAK! Everyone thinks that is the answer to everything! Dirt and asphalt run in cycles…yes, dirt has been up more than asphalt here lately! If the cycle thing was not true then why have tracks been paved…and paved and put back etc etc! If there was no future in asphalt then Ocala would have never been paved…or how about Volusia…member when??? While I am sure there was some kind of politics involed they went to asphalt for a reason.

Everyone can sit back and just wait for that “golden” moment when they get to say “I told ya so” …and there are a LOT of them out there! Of course when it happens…or if it happens…everyone will be up in arms and wailing and gnashing teeth! Go ahead…pout act like toddlers and refuse to go! Get on here and point out every thing that “you” do not like! It is all good! Wait til your track goes under…then what are you going to do??? Nobody forces you to go! But if you do not go…let others have the chance to go …negativity is like a cancer!!! It spreads quickly and usually ends up bad!

I know that things are not what they should be…there was quite the hubub about purse…well the purse raised at FASCAR hmmmmm NOTHING! Everyone still complains and says the tracks are doing nothing and etc etc! I will bet you that even with Bubba’s purse it will not be a full season and someone will mention that they need to raise the purse…HECK…one guy already questioned the pit pass…HOLY CROW!!!

Could it be that there are some folks that are just not race fans anymore??? You know when a person smokes, they love it! But when they quit smoking they want to make it miserable for everyone else that enjoys it!

OK…I ranted…got names and phone numbers of folks if you want to call them to see what it is really like when their track died!

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True, it goes in cycles. When Nascar was setting the world on fire10-20 years ago, several tracks wanted to get in on the asphalt craze. Volusia did it for a Busch series race. Flemington did it for a Truck series race. Not sure why Ocala did it, but their dirt track, car counts and fan attendance were all pretty bad… they HAD to do something. St. Augustine paved their track

See any pattern here though? Other than Ocala (ask Mike Peters if switching BACK to dirt SAVED his investment), all the others have switched back or closed completely.

Try another angle… Bruton Smith could afford the finest asphalt short-track any of us have ever seen. Yet, he built DIRT tracks on the same property as his Charlotte & Texas Superspeedways. Why??? He knows that even HE can’t make money on an asphalt short track. Bristol couldn’t get more than a few thousand people in the stands for an All-Pro series race… but when he covered it with dirt, over 60,000 fans came out to see Late Models, and another huge crowd came to watch the WoO Sprints.

Think all you want about my opinions on this subject, but the FACT is, nationwide, dirt track car counts, attendance, purses, big-money shows, full-time professionals… are healthier by a very wide margin. But as usual, why would anyone in Florida want to try something that’s already proven to work.

There are a few asphalt tracks that still do very well… locally Citrus & Charlotte Cty’s do well, but every other track is hurting very badly. Nationally, Oswego, Thompson, Stafford, Irwindale, 5-Flags (not sure about their weekly counts) and I’m sure others, all do pretty well, with a good fan base and healthy car counts.

My rantings on here aren’t totally directed at OSW, but at asphalt racing in general. Too many classes, not enough cars, too many look exactly like the other 4 divisions, no crowd, very little passing (thank radios and spotters for that problem)… and not much excitement.

Rusty is even helping to prove my point (although I don’t think it was his plan to…). Monroe Speedway didn’t make it, at least partially, because the fact that it’s PAVED track, but in dirt track country. Who’s to say this is an Asphalt-preferential area??? It just might be a dirt-track area, but nobody nearby has tried (and don’t use that little dirt track next to OSW as a piss-poor example of how it was tried). I don’t see asphalt racers crawling out of the woodwork to make this place the success it could (and should) be.

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What a shame

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Orlando’s car count seems to be picking up, don’t know about the stands. But I would HATE to see that track go away. It is a good track and everyone says it is a fun track to race on. I think the first time I went there was 1992 maybe early 92 and I feel in love there with round track racing. Before then, I was a drag strip girl and went there instead. But once I went to Orlando round track, I was hooked. We went every Friday night to Orlando and Saturday to New Smyrna and as a family, had a blast. Would pack our sandwitch meats, chips, drinks and go for a great night.

I know now you can’t do that and it does cost more to go but if you love it, go to it. Don’t let Orlando go down the tubes please.

What we all need to do is support our local tracks, not tear them down, and be proud of them. If I did have money to go, I would but right now I just don’t but I would if I could. So PLEASE DON’T BURY HER YET.

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Good points…however

To clear up the Monroe deal…We had a better car count than most dirt tracks in the area and way better fan count…YES this IS dirt country but hard surface was making it’s presence known!

What did this place in…and it would do a dirt track in as well was the $30,000 a month mortgage payment and the $8000 month property taxes!

Now let me ask you this…what do you think OSW would do as a dirt track??? I personally think it would be much worse!!! Here is why! You have to have a GOOD track prep person…who would that be??? There are more than enough dirt tracks operating now, I think it would be a waste of good dirt to cover the place! She WILL come back!!! Mark my words!!!

I was there Friday…show was VERY good! AND I paid to get in…I went looking for problems…and trust me there were some…like everyone else is going to have! But I did notice there was soap in the bathroom!!! LOL

Enjoy racing where ever you go!!! :slight_smile: