don’t hate on Flyers just because all they had in your day were stone tablets lol
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;157942]Ummmmmmmmmm, the joke, sir, was/is that this clown thread that is beyond all over the map is named after…you.
I was a-trying to be polite. However, in lib-speak, you “made” me spell it out for you.
Burp.[/QUOTE]
This thread certainly isn’t what Rick was going for i’m sure. He was just trying to be argumentative, but then everybody jumped in and…wait a minute, you’re just trying to deflect attention away from your “problem”. Classic!
What’s the big deal about an extra entry? First of all if you don’t have a top car you ain’t gonna take the win right? If you can’t afford $100 then you have no business racing against 50/75k $ cars anyway. Tracks are a business. Business’s are in business to make money. Let’s look at this 1500 fans x 20$=$30000 . That’s not enough to pay for the purses for the night. Let alone everything else. Taxes, electric, payroll, upkeep, landscaping/mowing, purses. If you don’t like it then don’t race there.
It’s part of a larger conversation that just spilled over into here. There are no less than 2 other posts that this one carried on from. We are thread vagabonds apparently lol
It’[s not about the entry. If they want to charge entry for big races or make tires/fuel mandatory for big races. That is fair. But for a weekly show, slab fees, entry fees and other things hurt the little guys, which is what this is about. This isn’t specifically about one series or division, this is an overall deal and problem. As I said earlier in this post. Tracks are taking the easy way out and not putting the effort in to make an honest profit by getting cars in the pits and people in the stands. They just tack on extra fees to those who are already there and try to make money that way. That mentality will only survive so long…
I know I only took part of your quote, and I am not being a smart ass or a troll here, I am asking a serious question; What paved track in Florida pulls 1500 fans ever?
I doubt Sunshine or Desoto will do that this weekend for the big races they’re putting on.
[QUOTE=Scott Prentice;157955]I know I only took part of your quote, and I am not being a smart ass or a troll here, I am asking a serious question; What paved track in Florida pulls 1500 fans ever?
I doubt Sunshine or Desoto will do that this weekend for the big races they’re putting on.[/QUOTE]
You did my trolling for me, thanks Scott! lol 
Hat’s off to you Rick Day yu called him out and he replied with dim bulb,.Mean while back at the farm 6pages and 2,ooo plus hits later old jack would be laughing his ass off, BTW for all you race fans out there I here this Saturday at showtime they are having a pretty big mod race this weekend hope to see everyone there
[QUOTE=Scott Prentice;157955]I know I only took part of your quote, and I am not being a smart ass or a troll here, I am asking a serious question; What paved track in Florida pulls 1500 fans ever?
I doubt Sunshine or Desoto will do that this weekend for the big races they’re putting on.[/QUOTE]
That’s my point exactly. In order for tracks to survive they have to make it somewhere. I grew up racing at New smyrna and have going been there since I was in elementary. So 30+ yrs. there is so many things to do now a days besides racing. I for one only go about 5-6 times a year now. I go hunting more in my down time. Sponsors especially for local tracks are hard to come by nowadays. ( good money ones) . Inflation has sky rocketed to the point that costs are crazy as hell. Just my two cents.
Tracks absolutely have the power to help control costs with rule adjustments to make it easier for us to compete more often. They just need to be willing to work on it. That takes effort and cooperation. They seem to rather take the easy way out.
Check out the season opener at Orange County Speedway in NY,51 modifieds competing in 6 heats and 3 consis in an attempt to qualify in the 28 car feature…Doubt any of them were whining about tire and motor rules.lol
[QUOTE=kendo;158145]Check out the season opener at Orange County Speedway in NY,51 modifieds competing in 6 heats and 3 consis in an attempt to qualify in the 28 car feature…Doubt any of them were whining about tire and motor rules.lol
http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/results.html[/QUOTE]
Impressive, but tire and motor rules in dirt racing are far more sensible than a lot of asphalt divisions which goes right back down to being the tracks fault for allowing things to get so carried away. Why do we keep going in circles to the same conclusion here?
"Why do we keep going in circles to the same conclusion here? "–PJ
Really? I thought you Nawtherners knew everything.
It’s because there are no right hand turns on the track, yo. 
[QUOTE=kendo;158145]Check out the season opener at Orange County Speedway in NY,51 modifieds competing in 6 heats and 3 consis in an attempt to qualify in the 28 car feature…Doubt any of them were whining about tire and motor rules.lol
http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/results.html[/QUOTE]
To be fair that is NOT a weekly OCFS show…that is a special show put on by the best promoter in the land at this time, Brett Deyo. The total purse for this race was $33,957 not counting free product awards. No paved track in Florida could get 50 cars if they paid double that purse.
All though that is true,more than half of those drivers are regulars at that track,many of which I used to watch when I went to that track weekly over 20 years ago.I also notice 2nd and 3rd generation names.
My point of the post is simply that there is big money up north and no money down here,all though some will always dispute it.
The weekly payoff for a feature win 25 years ago was $2000
Low purse=small car counts=crappy shows=no fans=try to make ends meet off back gate=failure
I haven’t been on here in months… First thing I see is six pages of the exact same discussion I commented on last time…
Racing is NO different than any other HOBBY. Take fishing for example, you have your diehards that it would take a cat 5 hurricane to keep them off the water, then you have your hobbiest who like to do it but also have a dozen other choices on any given weekend. That’s how racing used to be, out a 20-25 car field 10-12 were your diehard’s and the rest were newbies and hobbiest…
The “sport” has priced itself out of the “hobby” category at all levels. Cost is relative to the class you’re in. I promise you the guy running the 4 cyl is spending the same amount of his income (percentage wise) as the guy racing his modified.
There are two reasons we are here; One is racing is the ONLY sport where money can get you to the top regardless of talent. If I have 10 million dollars I could be racing for a top Cup team tomorrow. If I had a 100 million dollars they still wouldn’t let me near the Tampa Bay pitching mound… That’s a problem that will never go away.
The other issue is obviously the cost to the racer. I’ve said it 100 times on here, we know the promoter’s can’t pay more, but they can make it cheaper and make this a hobby again. $30 just to walk in the gate is more than any working class family can afford. Track rental, testing and practice nights do ABSOLUTELY nothing to help the show on Saturday. All it does is further separate the haves and the have not’s… and further drive up the cost to compete, fuel, tires, wear and tear on motors and brakes etc. It’s so simple to fix too. Back when we had 20 plus car fields there were only 4-5 divisions. Now we have sometimes 10 on one night, so you’ve taken you’re potential driver pool and split it twice as many ways. These days they wanna create a class for every kinda car someone can dream up with NO plan to get new people into the sport, so if you create a new class all you’re doing is pulling drivers from another division…
End rant… but man I could go on and on… Take this from a guy who has one of the fastest Late models in Florida sitting in a garage on jack stands… And there are dozens like me who still LOVE this sport/HOBBY but have said enough is enough.
[QUOTE=kendo;158160]All though that is true,more than half of those drivers are regulars at that track,many of which I used to watch when I went to that track weekly over 20 years ago.I also notice 2nd and 3rd generation names.
My point of the post is simply that there is big money up north and no money down here,all though some will always dispute it.
The weekly payoff for a feature win 25 years ago was $2000
Low purse=small car counts=crappy shows=no fans=try to make ends meet off back gate=failure[/QUOTE]
I’ve said it before and I will say it again… I’ve seen just as many big money rigs down there with the SLM, PLM etc etc etc as we have up here. There is big money everywhere. FL is just not as big of a racing area as we are. Why that is, I have no clue but these tracks and promoters need to work at finding out how to get the interest not just charging stupid fees and such just to make a buck and not put any real effort in.
Also, if you compare economic state of FL to that of areas in the Mid West, it is very very similar, yet they seem to have no problem pulling good car counts and have huge haulers and massive crowds etc. It’s just the general interest in FL is not focused on racing the way it seems to be in other parts of the country. There is no magical solution to fix that, but there are things that are 100% proven to work elsewhere in the country that you guys can try to help, but everyone seems so afraid of change down there.
[QUOTE=Mike Bresnahan;158170]I haven’t been on here in months… First thing I see is six pages of the exact same discussion I commented on last time…
Racing is NO different than any other HOBBY. Take fishing for example, you have your diehards that it would take a cat 5 hurricane to keep them off the water, then you have your hobbiest who like to do it but also have a dozen other choices on any given weekend. That’s how racing used to be, out a 20-25 car field 10-12 were your diehard’s and the rest were newbies and hobbiest…
The “sport” has priced itself out of the “hobby” category at all levels. Cost is relative to the class you’re in. I promise you the guy running the 4 cyl is spending the same amount of his income (percentage wise) as the guy racing his modified.
There are two reasons we are here; One is racing is the ONLY sport where money can get you to the top regardless of talent. If I have 10 million dollars I could be racing for a top Cup team tomorrow. If I had a 100 million dollars they still wouldn’t let me near the Tampa Bay pitching mound… That’s a problem that will never go away.
The other issue is obviously the cost to the racer. I’ve said it 100 times on here, we know the promoter’s can’t pay more, but they can make it cheaper and make this a hobby again. $30 just to walk in the gate is more than any working class family can afford. Track rental, testing and practice nights do ABSOLUTELY nothing to help the show on Saturday. All it does is further separate the haves and the have not’s… and further drive up the cost to compete, fuel, tires, wear and tear on motors and brakes etc. It’s so simple to fix too. Back when we had 20 plus car fields there were only 4-5 divisions. Now we have sometimes 10 on one night, so you’ve taken you’re potential driver pool and split it twice as many ways. These days they wanna create a class for every kinda car someone can dream up with NO plan to get new people into the sport, so if you create a new class all you’re doing is pulling drivers from another division…
End rant… but man I could go on and on… Take this from a guy who has one of the fastest Late models in Florida sitting in a garage on jack stands… And there are dozens like me who still LOVE this sport/HOBBY but have said enough is enough.[/QUOTE]
The problem I see (everywhere, not just in FL) is you have people who have never owned a racecar in charge of these tracks. They don’t truly understand what we spend just to get to the track so they don’t really understand in general what it takes.
I agree 1000% with the fact that there are way too many divisions. It’s a liberal pussification where one guy complains that he can’t afford to race in the divisions he is in competitively so they split off a division just for them. Take all the V8 bomber/pure/street etc type cars, make 1 division… All the 4cyl cars, make another, all the modifieds, make another, take the LLM and Sportsman, there’s 4 divisions and take the SLM and PLM there is 5 divisions. That is ALL that is needed. Not these 16 different offshoot rookie 4s and mod minis or bombers and street stocks and strickly stocks etc. Start combining divisions and your car counts will immediately jump. Sure it will hurt some guys who can’t afford to keep up, but over time they will either adjust or move to a division they can better afford. Sorry about your bad luck you should have thought harder about where you could afford to be competitive in the first place if that’s what you want.
Tracks do also charge too much to get in. $20 for the pits, $12 adults $8 kids/seniors for the stands is all it should ever be. Pair that with an affordable beer and concession stand and you have absolutely hands down the most affordable entertainment in FL right now.
Regarding practice nights. They should be abolished. An open practice before the season opener to shake down the car and make sure all is good is all that should be done.
As far as costs being relative to your class… Tracks are not strict enough with a lot of things which causes costs to get out of hand… I know someone that spent $6500 on a bomber type division engine… WHY? Stuff like that is something that needs to be fixed everywhere… FAST!
[QUOTE=Mike Bresnahan;158170]I haven’t been on here in months… First thing I see is six pages of the exact same discussion I commented on last time…
Racing is NO different than any other HOBBY. Take fishing for example, you have your diehards that it would take a cat 5 hurricane to keep them off the water, then you have your hobbiest who like to do it but also have a dozen other choices on any given weekend. That’s how racing used to be, out a 20-25 car field 10-12 were your diehard’s and the rest were newbies and hobbiest…
The “sport” has priced itself out of the “hobby” category at all levels. Cost is relative to the class you’re in. I promise you the guy running the 4 cyl is spending the same amount of his income (percentage wise) as the guy racing his modified.
There are two reasons we are here; One is racing is the ONLY sport where money can get you to the top regardless of talent. If I have 10 million dollars I could be racing for a top Cup team tomorrow. If I had a 100 million dollars they still wouldn’t let me near the Tampa Bay pitching mound… That’s a problem that will never go away.
The other issue is obviously the cost to the racer. I’ve said it 100 times on here, we know the promoter’s can’t pay more, but they can make it cheaper and make this a hobby again. $30 just to walk in the gate is more than any working class family can afford. Track rental, testing and practice nights do ABSOLUTELY nothing to help the show on Saturday. All it does is further separate the haves and the have not’s… and further drive up the cost to compete, fuel, tires, wear and tear on motors and brakes etc. It’s so simple to fix too. Back when we had 20 plus car fields there were only 4-5 divisions. Now we have sometimes 10 on one night, so you’ve taken you’re potential driver pool and split it twice as many ways. These days they wanna create a class for every kinda car someone can dream up with NO plan to get new people into the sport, so if you create a new class all you’re doing is pulling drivers from another division…
End rant… but man I could go on and on… Take this from a guy who has one of the fastest Late models in Florida sitting in a garage on jack stands… And there are dozens like me who still LOVE this sport/HOBBY but have said enough is enough.[/QUOTE]
There ya go! That is the best description of what has gone on that I have seen posted on here.
I agree… It’s just sad that his vision is the minority and not the majority in FL… Thing’s could be so much better and different. 
[QUOTE=Phil Jacques;158172]The problem I see (everywhere, not just in FL) is you have people who have never owned a racecar in charge of these tracks. They don’t truly understand what we spend just to get to the track so they don’t really understand in general what it takes.
![/QUOTE]
LMAO,Tell that to the women who promotes VSP,Tell that to the successful business partners that just bought Putnam County Speedway.
Have you ever actually owned a business?