not going to count 5 Flags in this because it is in it’s own world both physically and promotionally- LoL
Desoto-Sunshine-Auburndale-New Smyrna-Bronson, and car counts are marginal at best.
Hialeah-West Palm-Golden Gate-Volusia(paved)-Lakeland-Columbia, gone, gone, gone… and we might as well add Charlotte county and Citrus to that list
3 of 'em were paved and now dirt again=>Volusia-Ocala-Columbia
and what about the TBARA??? oh nothing, nevermind…
then you have the Brighthouse series host track runs SLM against the series itself? WTF? is it REALLY any wonder why things are the way they are? :fragend005:
pavement circle track racing IS dead in this state and it REALLY is over- Dirt wins, call us Iowa or Tennessee… or hell, Florida cause that’s how it is now… LoL :ernaehrung004:
Other Speed plants like St. Augustine, Orlando, Lake City, old Jax, old Suncoast, old Melbourne Eau Galle, old Miami Hollywood, old Panama City, old Daytona Memorial, old Collier County, Ocala asphalt, old Sun Coast, and Vero Beach raceways.
This State had a ton of asphalt raceways at the time.
Volusia County had Two Asphalt raceways, too. And when I mentioned old Jax, the 1/2 miler on Lennox Road, and the other at 1/4 miler on Pecan Park road, before it became a 5/8 oily-dirt. lOd Lakeland 5/8 miler and a 1/4 miler too, all before the modern day 3/4 miler, which is plowed under, like all of them, well, most of them.
There are still five, though.
I routinely attend NSS, Auburndale, and Showtime, and they all put on a show equal to or better than what I remember from those venues in “the good old days”. Recently went to Desoto and that was a good show as well.
Racing has gotten more expensive. Life has gotten more expensive. And people have other interests now on a Saturday night.
Well, parts has gone up, but more than that, the rules “allow” it.
Don’t think it did not happen back in the day. “Sportsman” were cut down 20 & 30s bodies on a frame of some sort or another with an inline six. They stayed the same for years. Big fields, close competition.
Later they voted and went to V8s. Big cheer from me.
But within a year they went to kit modifieds–essentially sprint cars with coil-overs and a transmission (I think).
In no time they were gone. And they never came back, until the open wheel mods of the 90’s and forward.
Still, it is a capitalistic system, and each track operator can do as they wish, from leasing a dormant track to having classes of six expensive cars. To drifting.
It is their prerogative. I lobby for cheaper rules. You know the push back on tires, you know the push back on cheap late models–from the racers themselves.
So, the beat goes on, and I am thankful for it–as is.
EXACTLY! And racers have nobody to blame but themselves in a lot of cases. We are all guilty of wanting more, and that’s all fine and dandy right now, but nobody stops to think of the long term effect. There are certain times where advancement is a good thing… For example, they make my division run OEM cast manifolds. They suck and are expensive to keep up and can be a big cheating area because we are not supposed to modify them. And they generally have to be replaced every season cause they crack and warp. They are considering allowing us to run the Schoenfield 185 Headers. $180 from Summit as opposed to the $300 per year we are having to spend on these junk manifolds. I have mentioned it here before, intelligent rules. Allowing the sport to advance is not a bad thing at all, but $4000 shock packages for divisions like the trucks (yes, there are guys spending that) price the little guy right out of this sport. We need to focus on keeping this sport relatively affordable for people to get into and race on a middle class income, or no matter what these tracks do to work together or fix things, it’s going to keep failing because even though the guys with the money that can afford to spend the crazy money see no problem with all of this, you gotta remember that those guys are the minority… People like Scott and Myself who are regular middle class working joes, we are the majority and the lifeblood of this sport. Price people like us completely out of competition, and you are going to suffocate the entire sport.
Don’t forget about the OLD St. Augustine Speedway, that was only open for about 3 years, from 69-71. 1/4 mile paved oval, first race track I went to when I was about 10, and hooked ever since. Saw J.D. Lewis run there in the 'ole number 289
So we make all these excuses for why asphalt circle track racing is failing here. I wish I’d like to be a dirt track racer. Because, you know, when you turn onto the access road to the dirt track the money in your pocket grows, your car gets cheaper, the fans don’t have as many entertainment options somehow, the youth want to be involved and are engaged by cars again miraculously and racing doesn’t seem to have any of the other problems that us asphalt folks have! There must be magic dust in that dirt or the access road is “the yellow brick road” covered in dirt!
Cheap late models = the Sportsman class. That class is PERFECT as it is. Do not touch it in any way there is zero reason. There is push back against what you keep trying to mention with them because nobody wants to change a good thing (for once) that they already have.
Here is my opinion.
Showtimes Street Stock division is perfect
The Sportsman Division across FL is perfect
the Truck division needs cheaper shocks and it could be much better
SLM and PLM need to combine (again, it can be done at ALL tracks!)
Mini Stocks are fine as they are
OWM need a better engine package that levels the playing field a little better
Those 6 divisions right there, are pretty much all FL needs to be successful. There is an excessive amount of offshoot weekly divisions that make zero sense and in my eyes, should be blended in with others with similar chassis or engine packages, or abolished completely. It would likely cost guys money up front, but be healthier for the sport as a whole in the long run. It’s spread way too thin there.
PJ, If you had a hot dog stand, and the hot dogs got to be “gourmet”, and the cost went to $10, but they were better than your competition’s, and you sold more–would that be good?
If he then started selling $10 hot dogs, but his clientele could not afford them and he went out of business, leaving you as one of only five hot dog stands in the state, would you perceive that to be “better”?
Would you cut the price of the dogs solely so he could sell some too, and it would be more convenient for his dog chompers?
Not if you wanted to make more money and buy a fancy boat, sir.
Agreed. If I am LaPlant, I am going to call Sportsman “late models”, and pay more purse than sportsman, but less than late models, and I am going to run them every week. Lets assume that routinely draws a big field within four months.
Most of my fans will not know the difference, some of the ones that do will not care, and the rest? Well, how many of them are in the stands now?
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;161804]PJ, If you had a hot dog stand, and the hot dogs got to be “gourmet”, and the cost went to $10, but they were better than your competition’s, and you sold more–would that be good?
If he then started selling $10 hot dogs, but his clientele could not afford them and he went out of business, leaving you as one of only five hot dog stands in the state, would you perceive that to be “better”?
Would you cut the price of the dogs solely so he could sell some too, and it would be more convenient for his dog chompers?
Not if you wanted to make more money and buy a fancy boat, sir.[/QUOTE]
Your analogies make my brain hurt dude… Stop justifying failure. Tracks either need to get this under control now while they still have some cars, or it’s over. It’s that simple.
Am ‘splainin’ capitalism sir, and it is brutal. But I don’t believe they have asphalt tracks in the Ukraine, the logical extension of hot dog stands taking care of each other.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;161807]Or, go have a hot dog, mebbe it will come to you!
Here is Jacques Brain:
Am ‘splainin’ capitalism sir, and it is brutal. But I don’t believe they have asphalt tracks in the Ukraine, the logical extension of hot dog stands taking care of each other.[/QUOTE]
And I think the world of you, but I feel the same.
Look, the track operators are in it for themselves. And they always will be unless they “see” something in it for them. Don’t you think they know your drill? Clearly they have dismissed it.
And the only way to “fix” it is guvment intervention, but they will want emission controls on the race cars, and an electric class, and admission will triple to to increased taxes so the poor parts of the state can have racing too.
The whole thing will fall on it’s face, and they will have “tried”, and it will all go away and turnips be planted in the fields where the tracks were. Forever.
It is not conjecture, it is fact. Look at big oil, or coal, or Detroit for goodness sakes. Look at what most folks gave up their '64 Riviera for. All due to “help” from Big Muther.
Again, be thankful young grasshoppa, you are one of the last generations to enjoy racing as we know it.
And stop drinking the NE coolaid, it is full of anti-freeze, you know…
and we might as well add Charlotte county and Citrus to that list
