Seekonk Speedway in Mass. is doing a Wed show with 45 Modifieds entered, $10,000 to win, $1000 to the B-Main winner, and tons of bonuses like longest tow.
THATS a SHOW.
I will never get why Fla doesn’t even TRY.
Midvale’s July 3rd Main Event Series show (a Thursday night) brought 34 outlaw Late Models, 27 open-wheel Modifieds, over 30 Compacts, and about 27 Street/Hobby Stocks.
Packed house. 100 laps. Started 24 Late Models in the feature.
[QUOTE=Frasson118;148081]Seekonk Speedway in Mass. is doing a Wed show with 45 Modifieds entered, $10,000 to win, $1000 to the B-Main winner, and tons of bonuses like longest tow.
THATS a SHOW.
I will never get why Fla doesn’t even TRY.[/QUOTE]
NSS has had many mid week shows im the last 15 years.
None of them have done very good.
Citrus did 3 of them and 1 was good.
Many tracks in florida have tried and lost on mid week shows.
In the great north the racing season is 10 to 12 weeks long so they fan is looking for more shows.
I florida there are plenty of tracks with at least 35 and some 42 weeks of racing. a mid week show is just another race on the wrong night.
OKJ your turn
don62
“Racing season is 10-12 weeks long”…
Once again, The Don is clueless.
Don… other than the mid-week tie in with the 400 weekend, show me ANY shows that NSS has tried. The last real attempt at off-night shows, was back when the Powell Memorial was done on Tuesdays (?)
It works VERY well in many places… it has nothing to do with the length of the season, but has EVERYTHING to do with not having any competition for either competitors or fans.
Still, nobody down here GETS that.
They work here
[B][I]They definitly work up this way. Last night at Autodrome Drummond, there was 40+ Northeastern Dirt Big Block Modifieds, 40+ Sportsman, 29 Mini Sprint, and 4000+ race fans.
And Monday night at Granby, basically same car counts, but more fans.[/I][/B]
Waterford Speedbowl here in CT does Wednesday Shows on a weekly basis… The place is ALWAYS absolutely jammed full of people, $8 per person, and 20 cars + per division…
Side note… SidsView will be at Seekonk tonight 
We are making our return for this show after a short little hiatus. Look for a video Friday-ish, maybe even Thursday Night. They are only starting 26 cars for the 10k race tonight so there WILL be a B Main.
When is the last time you heard of an asphalt show with a B main?
[QUOTE=Phil Jacques;148099]Waterford Speedbowl here in CT does Wednesday Shows on a weekly basis… The place is ALWAYS absolutely jammed full of people, $8 per person, and 20 cars + per division…
Side note… SidsView will be at Seekonk tonight We are making our return for this show after a short little hiatus. Look for a video Friday-ish, maybe even Thursday Night. They are only starting 26 cars for the 10k race tonight so there WILL be a B Main.
When is the last time you heard of an asphalt show with a B main?[/QUOTE]The Eddie Brann Memorial does them every year. The last two years if I remember correctly both had (2) B mains.
That’s great to hear. Very rare that B mains are run on asphalt anymore though.
I have ideas how to split the 6 or 7 active tracks up over a couple days that might help car counts all around and allow some guys to run multiple times per week should they chose. But it’s not likely any of the tracks would ever entertain the idea of changing days.
Just seems counterproductive to me for EVERYONE to run on 1 night… 6 or 7 tracks averaging 7-10 cars per division most night… Imagine if you ran 2 tracks Fri, 2 tracks Sat, 2 tracks Sun… Or something of that nature.
Phil,
Seems like the folks in the grandstands are Saturday-night-trained.
Speedworld has run Fridays forever and even that is a struggle for them (although, to be fair, they also have had other “issues” as well).
But my question is-- Does the multi-night model assume that folks will go two nights a week, or that folks that cannot or will not make a Saturday night show will attend mid week?
Either way, it is a stretch for me to believe that would be viable in Florida.
I would suggest the mid-week shows are in areas that have more–and more passionate fans–than Fl.
The problem is costs have skyrocketed and most people scrape money together just to run one or two nights out of the month. Imagine them trying to do that twice on one weekend.
[QUOTE=Don Nerone;148089]NSS has had many mid week shows im the last 15 years.
None of them have done very good.
Citrus did 3 of them and 1 was good.
Many tracks in florida have tried and lost on mid week shows.
In the great north the racing season is 10 to 12 weeks long so they fan is looking for more shows.
I florida there are plenty of tracks with at least 35 and some 42 weeks of racing. a mid week show is just another race on the wrong night.
OKJ your turn
don62[/QUOTE]
Since mid-week races seem to work well elsewhere, maybe the problem in Florida is the promoters not being very good at promoting.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;148104]Phil,
Seems like the folks in the grandstands are Saturday-night-trained.
Speedworld has run Fridays forever and even that is a struggle for them (although, to be fair, they also have had other “issues” as well).
But my question is-- Does the multi-night model assume that folks will go two nights a week, or that folks that cannot or will not make a Saturday night show will attend mid week?
Either way, it is a stretch for me to believe that would be viable in Florida.
I would suggest the mid-week shows are in areas that have more–and more passionate fans–than Fl.[/QUOTE]
To me, Speedworld is not a fair comparison. OldSchool I am under the impression you are just a fan and not involved in any of the behind the scenes activities that teams go through? Speedworld seems to have had a bad reputation for a long time now for whatever reason. I never really dove deep into finding out what it is but everything I have always heard hangs a black cloud over that place in general. So I don’t think OSW can be used as a comparison.
My opinion… $12 adults, $8 kids ages 6-12, 5 and under FREE is a good ticket price model. I don’t know avg. ticket prices down there but if it’s higher than those prices maybe tracks should give it a shot and see what happens.
The Speedbowl dropped prices from $18 to $12 one night these year and doubled attendance. I am sure the fans are out there, but the economy is not allowing them to spend $80 for 1 night of racing. I spend $120 per weekend when I am not racing just in tickets to travel around to different tracks. The diehards will attend more races if there is the ability to attend more than one race per week.
I can’t speak for drivers, but I bet a number of guys would love the opportunity to run more than once a week sometimes when they can afford it. I know it comes down to money once again, but if the ability is there, it may work in everyone’s favor. I am not saying it would immediately fix everything, but another thing it would definitely help is rainouts. If one track gets rained out, you can still have the opportunity to race elsewhere the next day if there are multiple days of racing.
Just my thoughts. Usually they are a little out in left field lol
I would agree with that in general… My general assessment while I was in FL last week was that there is no advertising really outside of Social Media and this Forum. Advertising like that only reaches the same people over and over, not new potential customers. I went to NSS Saturday night, spent most of the day in New Smyrna and never heard a thing about the race. Spent some time in other areas of the state near other tracks during the week as well and never saw or heard a peep about racing.
You guys live there so you could tell me better, do ANY of the tracks post flyers, do radio or tv ads etc? Or do they only advertise on Social Media and Karnac? Now I am curious…
0 Rogers Jr, Tom
06 Hinckley, Les
2 Malave, Jeff
3 Preece, Ryan
6 Fournier, Colbey
6MA Pitkat, Woody
7 Vigeant, Kurt
9 Barrett, Tommy
12 Annarummo, Todd
13 Masse, Stephen
15 Pasteryak, Chris
16 Cerazolo, Todd
20 Coby, Doug
20 Zachem, Max
21 Perry, Dennis
21 Bonsignore, Justin
21 James, Kyle
23 Douglas, Michael
25 Galko, Matt
25 Pennink, Rowan
31 Monahan, Shawn
33 Richardi, Rob
35 Ramstrom, Derek
36 Bolton, Chris
38 Sapienza, Dave
40 Swanson, Matthew
41 Fredrickson, Karl
45 Estrella, Scott
50 Hirschman, Matt
50 Medeiros Jr, Carl
52 Santos, Bobby
69 Dolan, Jim
69 Agugliaro, Jason
71 Cantara, Josh
71 Newcomb Jr, Paul
72 Potrzebowski, Terry
73 McKennedy, Jonathan
73x Jankowiak, Andy
76 Annarummo, Vinnie
79 Dion, Branden
80 Houlihan, Dick
85 Szegedy, Todd
88 Alexander, Kirk
92 Nocella, Anthony
97 Fortin, John
99 Savary, Richard
XX Summers, Rob
Up to 47 Cars!
PJ,
I am a fan, but then, no fans, no track, so seems like that perspective is a valid one.
Have worked with Teams in the pits along the way and have been to many pre-race meetings, providing insight into how promoters work.
Finally, Yoho wears his heart on his sleeve and is one of my favorite parts of the “Showtime Experience”.
It seems like promoters and owners are individualists–that is, rugged individualists–that generally prefer to do things “their way”, even if the results are questionable.
And fair enough, they put in the time, it is their deal.
Further, seems like with most things in this sport, it takes money–and boatloads of it–to see if something will “work”.
Like the Speedworld “fix”, the recipe for mid-week racing is simple:
>Start with lots-O-cash. Pay big purses.
>Find out what the weekly car count shakes out to be.
>Then find out what the weekly spectator count shakes out to be. Without the first two steps, the third one is kind of predictable…
>Finally, count your cash to see if you are ahead or behind.
“Seekonk Speedway in Mass. is doing a Wed show with 45 Modifieds entered, $10,000 to win.”–Frasson
Yep, there it is now!
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;148116]PJ,
I am a fan, but then, no fans, no track, so seems like that perspective is a valid one.
Have worked with Teams in the pits along the way and have been to many pre-race meetings, providing insight into how promoters work.
Finally, Yoho wears his heart on his sleeve and is one of my favorite parts of the “Showtime Experience”.
It seems like promoters and owners are individualists–that is, rugged individualists–that generally prefer to do things “their way”, even if the results are questionable.
And fair enough, they put in the time, it is their deal.
Further, seems like with most things in this sport, it takes money–and boatloads of it–to see if something will “work”.
Like the Speedworld “fix”, the recipe for mid-week racing is simple:
>Start with lots-O-cash. Pay big purses.
>Find out what the weekly car count shakes out to be.
>Then find out what the weekly spectator count shakes out to be. Without the first two steps, the third one is kind of predictable…
>Finally, count your cash to see if you are ahead or behind.[/QUOTE]
I will tell you what I know is certain… Donny (OSW Manager) is trying his best to make the place work and make it better. He wants the racing to be a success. If he didn’t he wouldn’t have run this year. He told me this point blank. Why put the effort into something you don’t care about?
Unfortunately, I firmly believe that as long as Ozzy is involved there, there will always be a noose around the financial neck of the oval track. The minute they start to lose big money, he will kick the box out from under it and hang the place. Just the impression I get from discussions I have had with people.
The second “half” of the season is going to be a true test for the Oval there… $5 gate prices will surely attract people, but the lack of pay past 10th finishing position surely deters a number of drivers.
If anyone has any suggestions to help OSW, Donny is more than approachable… Give him a call at the track, I would be willing to bet he will gladly take the time to talk to you and take any suggestions. He’s a great dude.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;148117]“Seekonk Speedway in Mass. is doing a Wed show with 45 Modifieds entered, $10,000 to win.”–Frasson
Yep, there it is now![/QUOTE]
This money is raised by 1 person. James Schaffer who is running the Tri Track Series. This was a 3 race series that is minimum 10,000 to win each race plus lap sponsorships and bonuses etc. If you had seen the groundpounding this guy does to get this done, it’s almost a full time job in and of itself. More tracks could benefit from someone like James, but the days of big purses in each event are long gone.
Thompson Speedway is the highest paying “weekly” track around here these days… $1500 to win modifieds, $1000 to win Late Models, $550 to win Street Stocks, $300 to win Mini Stocks… They have a lot of big track sponsors like Xtra Mart, Monster Energy, Budweister, Draco Racing Springs etc putting up purse money. Not directly out of pocket of the track every week. I said it before… If tracks could find a weekly title sponsor, or individual event sponsors to help with purses, contingency awards etc, anything to help with purse money, it would help the tracks out financially and allow them to do more. Thompson is the only track up here that does it, and shocker… They have the most cars…
Now, I don’t think purses should be crazy through the roof, but I do believe that the winner should always break even on their normal weekly racing cost + $50-$100 in pocket at each event for each division. That’s how Thompson works and everyone loves it… But then again, I am comparing down there to up here which isn’t fair. The economic standing of each area is completely different and creates unique challenges.
I bet if purses down there were structured differently, more cars would show up, but it would require a lot of extra work by promoters and track owners as well as the inclusion of sponsors. It’s much easier said than done. Dishing out more money to the purse can bury a track fast if they aren’t getting that money as income from somewhere…
“Give [Donny] a call at the track…”–Phil
Thanks for the suggestion, Donny sounds like a great guy.
The competition side appeals more to me. At one time, worked at least one night a week on a car, then spent 1-2 nights at the track. Also felt lame compared to the time the others put in.
Now, am just trying to keep up with life. Would not rule out another trip or two to the pits (at one time was a mechanic for a living and still work on my own {old} stuff).
All dat said, am grateful for this forum and attempt to be a polite “catalyst of ideas” for the folks that do put in the long hours.