Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I was surprised with the lack of support from the Central Pa driver's for tonight's race at New Egypt.....until I saw the purse. I understand the original premise behind the $6k to win, $500 to take the green mid week shows when the World of Outlaws were trying to build a schedule in certain areas of the country. But I think this race has been on the schedule for a few years now and is established/supported enough that they can now raise it to a normal outlaw purse. I know Linsoln's mid week race is now a normal $10k to win race and is well attended from a driver and fan point of view.

I agree that New Egypt should be able to pay the full purse.

But this notion that Central PA guys don't travel there because of the purse, the midweek WoO purse is still bigger than an All Star purse, bigger than most Speedweek show purses and almost double a weekly show purse. 

Here are the results from the only other 410 race at New Egypt last year. The 'Jersey Rush' is held in August every year and pays a full purse, including $5,000 to win. 

NAPA Auto Parts / Pioneer Pole Buildings Jersey Rush VI (30 Laps) – 1. Greg Hodnett 2. Davey Sammons 3. Ryan Smith 4. JJ Grasso 5. Kyle Reinhardt 6. Steve Buckwalter 7. Davie Franek 8. Joe Kata 9. Art Liedl 10. Brett Michalski 11. Jevon Ahner 12. Kevin Nagy 13. Anthony Fiore 14. Harris Kohen 15. Lucas Wolfe 16. Erika Palmai 17. Ryan Godown

Looking at that, it's not surprising to see last night's field. I know at least 3 of those 17 cars were 360's including 9th place Art Leidl, who got a bonus for being the highest 360.  Last year with the WoO at NES, I believe there were 32 cars with 2nd and 3rd place finishers being Greg Hodnett and Mark Smith, both M.I.A. last night. 

I guess I was a little surprised to not see Hodnett there, but given his last month and lack of speed - I was not completely shocked. Mark Smith might be the biggest wildcard in in the Northeast. You never know where he will show up and what he will be driving. Ryan Smith is trying his best to stay on the All-Star tour, although I would have thought he would be there last night - he's very good at NES. 

It is entirely possilbe teams were saving their stuff for this weekend at Port Royal for the Weikert Memorial. Saturday pays $5,000 to win, $400 to start and Sunday pays $10,000 to win, $500 to start - both very nice purses for an unsanctioned local show. I believe (don't quote me) Lincoln is also paying $5,000 to win on Saturday for their Brandon Little/Fallen Firefighters Memorial race.

I think I started this same thread last year.  I guess WoO really wants to have a race in NJ   I only say that because unlike a few years ago, they apparently have more tracks asking for dates now than they have dates available and I am sure they could get a full pay show somewhere else (would be interesting to see what would happen if Bridgeport bidded for a date once they finished the 3/8 mile track that they are working on).  With the crowd this show gets at $30 a pop for one division though, I am surprised they let NES still have the date for the short purse.

New Egypt is a tough track with a unique layout that is a bit of a hike on a week day night from most of the PA guys home bases.  The only way to draw any of them is to offer a bigger purse.  They can't even get a lot of cars to travel to Grandview anymore which is much closer to home.   I doubt they would get a lot for the full purse, but they would get a few more of the competitive ones.

Guys in PA are already running over 100 races a year within a few hours of their homes. I don't think a standard Woo purse would get them there. They have a big holiday weekend of racing that I am sure the majority of the teams are getting ready for instead of towing for 1 show.

I will say that I drove to New Egypt from Central Pa once and it was a long and lousy ride. 

Nice that WoO cuts the purse to help promoters that run mid week shows, but I got to wonder if they also cut the section fee? Or is it just the race teams that take a pay cut?

One nice thing about it and what probably keeps it being so well attended is they keep the admission to $30. That is a really good price for New Jersey. If it were a full 50k purse the admission likely jumps to 35-40.