You maybe right it might make a good dirt track but the state doesnt need another one. We need tracks willing to promote the product and that would help some but is not the whole issue. 30 schedule races a year is crazy in this day is to much .
The overall costs to run dirt are less than they are on asphalt. Its easier to keep cars coming back week after week.
I grew up on asphalt racing, and when I see a great show, it is very exciting. But it IS a dying breed. The costs to do it can’t be afforded forever. Tire costs alone are a major problem.
OSW needs (in my repetitive opinion) to go dirt. There are a bunch of reasons why, but the first on the list is that the track needs something entirely different than what has been on a decline for years.
Shake it up… Roll the dice. It’s time to think outside of the same old thinking.
Just make it a slick track like the Lil 500 kart track. Then you can drive it like dirt, don’t have to prep it, and the dust won’t bother the spectators.
Weekly racing there is dead. Face it people.
If I was the man in charge,
- I would shut the weekly program down. It’s all over but the crying.
- Continue Crash-A-Rama twice a year with Enduros
- Have a few special event races on SATURDAY night with FUPS touring series and include higher car count local classes. Include TABARA a few times a year.
- Tell the NASCAR sanction goodbye.
- Bring in the tour mods, TABARA, and Florida modifieds during speed week.
[QUOTE=UREZ2PASS;128240]Weekly racing there is dead. Face it people.
If I was the man in charge,
- I would shut the weekly program down. It’s all over but the crying.
- Continue Crash-A-Rama twice a year with Enduros
- Have a few special event races on SATURDAY night with FUPS touring series and include higher car count local classes. Include TABARA a few times a year.
- Tell the NASCAR sanction goodbye.
- Bring in the tour mods, TABARA, and Florida modifieds during speed week.[/QUOTE]
Glad you are not in charge… I like the weekly races
I agree, I’m glad I’m not in charge too. So how would you make the track successful and profitable for the owner if you were in charge ?
Car counts for dirt are healthy only to say they All race on sat Night. Ocala and VSP are about 50 per Putnam 35 to 40…WWWAY better than NSS and ORL combined. Think of this, Super Late Model pratice after pratice after pratice I never understood why these tracks run these guys for 4hrs before the event starts.I heard David Rogers say for the G.Cup race he will loose money due to tires…Super Stock cars sell for 5000 to 9000 They were bombers in the day running around 2000grand!!These two tracks have derailed somewhere.
I can’t speak to the new owner of Orlando, but I sure know the problem with all of the other new track owners in Florida. Money. Why these people think a race track can go from loosing money for the previous owner, to a bonanza for them without having the money to bankroll it correctly for a year or two i’ll never know.
You can’t take over a track that’s been neglected badly( as most short tracks on the market have been ) without money in your pocket to pay for upgrades, advertising, purses, salaries, etc. for a couple of years out at least. Instead, theses guys come in with the best intentions and little else. A race track isn’t a small corner coffee shop you can get into for nothing and run it yourself on a shoestring until it takes off. These new owners always come in, spend some money, don’t see an immediate return, find out they really need to spend big money to make it work, don’t have big money, and the tracks keep going under. It doesn’t take long before the fans and the racers just stop trying to go there.
[QUOTE=Don Nerone;128132]So we see every one on here telling the owners whats missing at the tracks.
here is some of the things that havent seemed to work so far
OSW
Clean and new restrooms
OSW built new ones in the grandstands for the women.$20,000 worth
The purse was doubbled
Had the best web site
Had a full time person on the phone
Now a new promoter
new officals
new nights
different adv
All of these things are good ideas but still nothing has changed.
There has to be a reason to go spend ur hard earned money and just another race wont do it in these hard times.
The race fan can get a lot more for there time and money on there couch at home!
As a old racer told me one time
If there isent enything hapning them make something happen.
The fan that you nead is a new young group of people that dont know that this board is here.
If the track has to make it with only these fans it over already
Come on take a big swing andvuse a big bat.
It time to Rockem Sockem Stock car race…
try som thing new.
Good luck
don62[/QUOTE]
It doesn’t really take something new, it really only takes common sense everyday business practices. The phones need to be answered during normal business hour, and by a real person. Those hours by the way are 8-5 Monday through Saturday. If you can’t do it, hire someone for minimum wage who can.
Track owners need to sit in the stands and look around. Are the grandstands painted, splinter free, boards actually connected to the frame at both ends? Do the speakers all work and are there enough of them? Are the restrooms clean and odor free? Are there enough restrooms? Are the lines at the food stands too long? Is the wait for food too long? Are the track facilities including signs and billboards freshly painted and lettered? Are the front or back gate lines too long? Is the wait to get in the front or back gate too long?
Is grass mowed, weeds removed? Is the catch fencing, or any fencing faded, falling down? Are the pits really laid out correctly? Are they ready for additional cars during special events or are they just going to be crammed into every available piece of ground because it’s always been done that way?
Look around your track and then take a close look at photos of Martinsville.
Then take a look at EVERY other entertainment venue in your area. You’ll see what brings people to an event. And you’ll see why people don’t bother coming to your events.
[QUOTE=Matt Albee;128261]I can’t speak to the new owner of Orlando, but I sure know the problem with all of the other new track owners in Florida. Money. Why these people think a race track can go from loosing money for the previous owner, to a bonanza for them without having the money to bankroll it correctly for a year or two i’ll never know.
You can’t take over a track that’s been neglected badly( as most short tracks on the market have been ) without money in your pocket to pay for upgrades, advertising, purses, salaries, etc. for a couple of years out at least. Instead, theses guys come in with the best intentions and little else. A race track isn’t a small corner coffee shop you can get into for nothing and run it yourself on a shoestring until it takes off. These new owners always come in, spend some money, don’t see an immediate return, find out they really need to spend big money to make it work, don’t have big money, and the tracks keep going under. It doesn’t take long before the fans and the racers just stop trying to go there.[/QUOTE]
EXACTLY ! That’s why I say cancel weekly racing and have only special events that are profitable. When the economy improves substantially and fans are accustom to quality racing, then a strong weekly program can return. It’s in a death spiral now and it’s time to pull the parachute and recover.
Making Orlando a dirt track might work there, in fact it probably would. But we’re just about dirt tracked out in Florida. There’s only just so much demand for dirt track racing, and central/north Florida is pretty much saturated at the moment.
Get off the dirt thing. What are us guys with asphalt cars suppose to do with our cars then. Everyone says it’s cheaper to run a dirt car. Has anyone seen the engine out of a dirt car after about half the season of eating dirt? Not to mention all the suspension parts. And chassis are only good for maybe, maybe 2 seasons after all the flexing they do. I’ve worked on a dirt car before and it’s not fun. A lot of cleaning and maintaince every week. Makes a good show, but not cheaper to run.
Not on Friday nite 
DD38 says “what are we supposed to do with our asphalt cars?”
The answer is… RUN THEM. This is the problem Dave. There ARE a lot of asphalt cars around, but most are on jack stands collecting dust. If they were out there running, we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all.
How many times per year do you bring your cars out? Maybe 6-8 times a year? And that is only at OSW. I can’t recall your cars going anywhere else in years.
The track can’t make decisions on the opinions of people who don’t support them in the first place. If you came out 30 times a year instead of 1/4 of that, your opinion would carry more weight.
PS - Good point Kendo. For an 8:00 show, there is no real need to be out there early. A lot of racers with dirt cars could get there by 7:00 or so, which is within realistic range for a bunch of people to get there.
I’d love to see a dirt track run on Fridays. OSW is the place that could happen.
Lets see…Enough late model classes to make your head spin,$0 to win in a strictly stock after spending $100 to get your family in the pits,$400 to win in an asphalt modified on Hoosiers and race fuel OR $300 to win in a dirt thunder stock running pump gas and DOT street tires??? Easy to see why thunder stocks are pulling 18-20 cars at all 3 dirt tracks while NSS & OSW only have 35 cars in the pits…
Being close to I-95,if NSS or OSW switched to dirt on Friday nite they would draw cars from all 3 tracks north of them plus potential racers south of them…At this point the only thing they have to lose is a few diehard asphalt racing fans…
[QUOTE=Frasson118;128234]The overall costs to run dirt are less than they are on asphalt. Its easier to keep cars coming back week after week.
I grew up on asphalt racing, and when I see a great show, it is very exciting. But it IS a dying breed. The costs to do it can’t be afforded forever. Tire costs alone are a major problem.
.[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%…Nothing like watching 24 ground pounding open header asphalt modifieds scream by you…4 heats,2 consi’s and a feature,it is what I grew up with,but those days are long gone.
I just finished putting a car together…I can hear NSS from my house but I am going dirt racing and it isn’t because of the rest rooms!!!
:ernaehrung004:
Everyone compares Florida car counts to those up north. Whats the main difference in the programs? The first one that I see is we now pretty much race all year around in Florida. Theres not much of an “offseason” to rebuild our junk, spend time with our families and just generally recover… There’s always another race, so when a guy reaches his limit, he skips a race, now he’s out of the points and theres no urgency to get going again. He takes up golf, buys a boat or whatever that doesn’t take up 11 mos of his time while keeping him broke in the process…
Up north the weather forces them into a tighter box and gives them time to recoup and recharge. By the time spring comes around they’re chomping at the bit to get going and before they know it theres snow on the ground and they’re parked again.
I agree Mike…
Wish our tracks would ALL close from June to August. Too hot and too rainy…Cooler weather seems to make for better racing…problem is the track owners/leasees would still have to pay their bills…
Having the summer off would help drivers and owners fix things up but at the same time make it hard to survive. They are not doing this as a hobby. This is how they make their living. Maybe race every other week? Just a thought.
Even some of our SLM racers race for a living… they support their families racing. soooooooo…Catch-22…
I’ll take an asphalt show over dirt anytime, even for sprints and midgets. But I love dirt racing too. But I don’t see any Florida dirt tracks packing the grandstands for weekly shows either, so there’s obviously a lot more to it than just dirt vs. asphalt.
Jerry mentions all of the asphalt cars on jackstands and i’m wondering why that is. Well actually i’m not really wondering because I’ve seen it discussed on message boards all over the net. When asked why their asphalt cars are parked, the racers say they don’t get paid enough/it costs too much to race. They don’t say they’re parked so the local track is forced to lay down dirt.
It still comes down to track owners investing the time and money to make the fans want to come out for the races. And it still comes down to the racers being paid a much higher purse. Don mentioned that Orlando doubled their purse, but it would have to be quadrupled to even be close to where it should be. How can a track owner possibly do that? Hire some very good people to go out and get sponsors to pay the bigger purses.
By the way, the back gate costs aren’t what’s driving racers away. Those prices are painful no doubt, but if your budget is that tight you should really park the car for awhile. I’m not being a smart ass here, I don’t want to see anyone have to park because they can’t afford it. But the back gate price, the price of race gas, the price of food, the price of licenses, etc. aren’t enough to run a racer off . Now the tires are another story.