lmao 
Dave the Dirt Hater is way out to lunch on this one.
“Wider, sweeping turns” … East Bay is very close to the same dimensions as OSW. It’s considered one of the Top 10 dirt tracks in the country.
Until recently reconfigured, turn 4 at Ocala was never considered wide & sweeping by any driver that put the hammer down in that corner.
“Can’t run 3 wide”… there is a track in Illinois that is only 1/5 mile, and THEY can go 3 wide with full-blown Late Models & Modifiers. Why is that impossible at OSWs 1/3 or 3/8…?
Dave… we get it that you hate the idea, but putting out false ideas doesn’t help any solution.
Here’s another idea why dirt WOULD work… Sponsorship. Sponsors put money in front of CROWDS of people, not handfuls of them. They love the new & exciting thing in town. Nothing new or exciting is gonna happen to that track. The damage is done, the reputation stinks, and the support isn’t there from top to bottom.
I see 2 options, and they both involve a shovel:
Dig the hole & shove it in.
Or, dig up the asphalt and give a brand new birth to a dying girl.
Hate Dirt? Not really. I just love winged Sprints on dirt. False idea’s? I would like nothing better than see it go. Just advertising would be a Great concept. I’d be willing to say no more that 1/10 of 1% of the people in the Central Florida have not ever heard of Speed World let alone know that there is even a track here. All the years that the track has been here (and I have been going since day 1), I have maybe seen/heard any advertising just a handful of times anything west of Alafayla Trail in at least the last 30 years. And where are you going to draw the cars from for dirt? And why did they reconfigure the turn at Ocala? Tell you all, Let’s go Downtown Orlando some Friday night and survey the people. Then on a Saturday let’s go and survey neighborhoods starting from Downtown and head East, West, North and South as far as you can go. Now this would take A BUNCH of people. And how many do you think would show up to do just this? If this was a dirt track then everyone would be saying to change it over to Asphalt.
The only way OSW becomes dirt is if Ozzy is out of the picture for both Circle AND Drag Racing at OSW. If he goes dirt that means no more drifting. If he goes dirt then all that dirt in the air floats over to the dragstrip and onto the track. He won’t even pay to get the turn two lights and scoreboard fixed, but he’s going to pay to reconfigure the track to dirt (over asphalt he just laid down in the infield), buy graders, water trucks and other equipment and pay to constantly maintain the surface? I’d be up for dirt for OSW if that’s what it wohld take to keep it alive, but Ozzy ain’t gonna do it.
I heard the problem over there is all the people on the internets. Not sure if it’s true, but that’s what I heard.
LOL ! It’s definately part of the problem. If it wasn’t , how would everyone on here know the track has been struggling ? It’s for damn sure they didn’t hear it at the track because only a handful ever went .
Who is Dora?
Kat–Dora Thorne (see “Circus County” thread). She brought a coupla cars to Citrus County Speedway lately.
Sometimes am so obtuse even I don’t know what I am talking about…
LANGUAGE!!!
Did you hear about the fish that swam into a wall ?
He also said “damn”.
Language?
English, please.
Freakin Homerun EZ
So who rembers when Billy owned the track and it opened in March and he closed it in may for many years.
The cars and fans didn’t go.
Billy was interested in the drag strip only.
He got a new GM every year for 10 years.
Remind you of anything??
Sometimes a track has to get to the bottom to come back and I think its there now.
A new face and a some new ideas now would work. Everyone has thrown some mud on the track and it can only get better from here.
I think that Butch Carr was a good idea and if they would have given it a little time would have worked.
Someone step up to the plate and swing at it. It is ready for a great comeback now.
Don62
Someone with money.
Two years ago, De Soto was a basket case. It wasn’t much better last year, but in 2014 it is taking flight.
Two years ago, Showtime was resurrected from the dead. It was slim pickins for the first few weeks, but they steadily built and improved.
A couple years ago, Melbourne Motorsports Park rose from a mudhole in a field. When they were running, they drew a solid field of junkers that were built in a hurry, and only raced there. The fans came out too, and in surprising numbers.
Motorsports is still alive and healthy in the US. The Speedworld oval can come back to life. In my opinion, it won’t come back to life without major changes to the whole presentation. There is no hope in trying to recreate the show from better days. It has to look different than the past(IE: Showtime’s mini stocks), it has to be fast and exciting (pavement sprints, figure 8’s), it has to draw in new fans (audio drags, supermoto), and don’t forget passionate racers who don’t expect to get rich (shifter karts, super bikes, etc.) The most important building block? It needs to be carried for a while by someone with money.
A difficult task? Yes! But not impossible.
I completely agree with Boneman. Someone who can absorb the losses needs to show the fan and driver that the track is moving forward and will be there week in and week out. No bogus rainouts, give each class a chance to show they are sustainable and appreciated. I think new and different classes is a good idea especially the sprint car part as they have rarely been a frequent participant. What the hell Citrus is running off racers in all classes so you now have cars that were not previously available. As I have previously said I am a dirt guy first have always seen quality racing every time I went to OSW.
This year is done…Now is the time for the promoter to plan for next year.Showtime and Desoto already have the 2015 schedules out.That is how a business is run.
I hate to put a damper on all of this wishful thinking, i’d love to see OSW come back and prosper too. But truth is, as long as the current owner or lessee, ( I’m not sure which one Ozzy is ) runs the show, racing as we know it at OSW is done. Not just for the time being, but forever. The dragstrip will prosper, the oval will become a venue for car shows and drifting competition. This months track manager wasn’t hired because of his extensive knowledge of oval track racing, he knows drifting and tuner cars ( imports ).
As others have pointed out, the place hasn’t really even been maintained very well, much less any big improvements being made. It’s no longer going to be a stock car track as long as Ozzy is in charge. He doesn’t seem to think that oval racing makes sense, and he’s not about to spend any meaningful money to find out any different.
So let’s all start planning for a future without OSW, because the future is now.
As painful as the truth may be, I have to agree with you 100% on this one, Matt.
I just wanted somewhere to post this.
Cuz I’m all about that Bass bout that Bass, no worries.