Priorities changed. More important things to spend time and money on.
I still go watch at local tracks and will race again. Just not sure when.
Sounds like alot got tired of the favoritism at the tracks. That just not work at all and eventually the racer gets tired of being passed over and just says the heck with it. I know everyone says they don’t have a track “golden boy” but they do whether they want to admit it or not. The good old days would see racecars hauled in on an open trailer or maybe even a tow dolly but very few had enclosed haulers especially the lower class cars. Now look around and what do you see, Strictly Stocks being in enclosed haulers and the guy who has very little money, already feels like he does not have a chance in heck to win.
Too many things got out of control and when the tracks realized what was happening, it was too late to fix alot of them. Don’t get me wrong, 90% of the racers race because they love it but then again, probably 50% of them are going in the hole just to race which hurts them and their families. How many times was I asked to borrow $10 to get home for gas because they had spent every penny that night just to race.
I loved racing back in the early 90’s when we had more open trailers than not. The only time we saw big haulers and lots of money was when we had the World Series at New Smyrna and those guys came with haulers and extra cars and plenty of money.
Melbourne Motorsports Park’s dirt track seems to be where it is going. Does not cost an arm and leg to race, one set price to get in and watch, and it is just old fashion fun. Kindof like the enduros that SpeedWorld ran many years ago with just junk cars and would switch the direction of the race at one point. There were racers you never ever saw unless that race was run.
And there was a time when you could take your family out to the races on a Friday or Saturday night and take along your food and drinks and sit in the stands and have a picnic watching the races. The highlight of the night would be to buy a fried elephant ear. But then someone figured out that to let these families do this, the track was losing money and food and drinks were outlawed and you had to buy the track food and when that happened, you lost alot of fans because it took everything they had to just pay to get in but they did not have the money for the track food.
I remember many a weekend night stopping at the closest store to the track and getting bread, sandwitch meat, drinks and chips for the night. And the kids never ever complained that they wanted track food instead, they were just happy to be at the track seeing some of their favorite racers.
You can’t bring back those days but you can learn from them also. Ask yourself where did the fun go?? And can you bring any of it back?? One of the best nights I ever had was at Sugar Hill Speedway (now Hendry County) when the Classic Cars ran there and the pit stands were the back of a huge semi-trailer. People were extremely nice and acted like they had known you for years. That was fun.
Sorry, I get carried away when it comes to racing and why people quit. All they need do is open their eyes and start asking the drivers, crews, and fans what is different now. You might be surprised at the answers. You might just find alot of Bruce Everett fans in the crowd and Bruce was a dedicated racer all his life.
Economic mostly so I couldn’t afford to be competitive, but I was also tired of working on the car/truck alone for over 20 years. Don’t miss it. Doing other stuff now. 
Surf’s up in Costa Rica!
spent a lot of time in rehab (hospital) to stop. still taking my meds to stay way.
I spend my money on bait and gas for the boat.
I come on here to get a fix on why i shouldent go anymore.
Thanks for the help Jerry…lol
Don62
I race at Melbourne. Bought the car ready to go full cage seat for 600. Costs 20 to race 10for you 10 for the car. They run every other week and that helps with the money a LOT!!! Run about 8 times and have put about 200 more in repairs/safety upgrades like a new seat and fuel cell 2 fuel pumps. That’s it.
:huepfen024:::huepfen024::huepfen024:
My driver got way to old for a superlate. Once they get past 15 they start to lose their edge. Wife was against having another.