The best show EVER

Where to start? The World Finals held at the Dirt Track at Charlotte knocked my socks off! It was the best produced, best organized and best executed race night I have ever seen in 45+ seasons.

By the numbers:
around 160 cars: WoO sprints, WoO LM and Super DIRTcar modifieds
sold out grandstand of 14000 fans, and many thousands more in the pits and standing areas
3 series championships decided, and 2 of them by a razor’s edge.
the 50/50 jackpot? How about $32,967!!
22 heats and qualifiers, and 3 features.
All this taking place with temperatures in the high 30’s.
15 push trucks (at least) that could start the entire 27 car sprint car field in 30 seconds.
4 racing grooves that extended from the infield grass to the wall, and none of them were any good!

Do you know how many people left before the end? None! In fact, the crowd was whooping and hollering about the great show they had seen, and this happy bunch was still rowdy and pumped as they filed out after the fireworks faded.

No intermission and non-stop racing, I was dazzled. I also understand that this was SMI, the group that runs the big track, so they had unlimited money, connections, influence and experience to put this together. But they did it right, and it is a shining example of what can happen if a track swings for the fence and puts on a big, BIG show.

A comment on a refinement that I noticed. We are used to the term “B main”; it is a chance to qualify at the back of the feature, but it is kind of a boring term. World of Outlaws calls these races “Last Chance Showdowns”, and they actually provided desperate, crazy races to make the big show. Showdowns #2 and #3 worked as designed; those drivers went wild.

In 2020, I WILL RETURN to the World Finals, and I hope you can make the trip too!

It sounds like a hell of a. show

And I have to hand it to the dirt tracks.The big series like WOO and Lucas Oil have took events to a NASCAR level with money approaching the same.And in many cases the racing is more entertaining than blacktop.But as you have pointed out a big money group promoted it.Unfortunately that isn’t the case at all dirt venues,even with a big series. race or two.Mansfield Speedway in Ohio which converted to dirt three years ago and had hosted the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Million the last two seasons,announced last week that the track is currently for sale/lease as the current promoter has no plans to operate it in 2020 or beyond.Sad to see things getting to the point that only Nascar level money is going to keep even local tracks alive.

I have said it before and will say it again. Yes the short track shows have bec ome quite polished and popular and I believe NASCAR would do well to consider a similar format. It should begin with all tracks less than 1.5 miles. Larger tracks and format changes could then be implemented.I believe the younger generations are more in tune with shorter races. They are turning their backs to football and baseball as well.