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

Been going to and involved with racing for a long time.Last night I was at a local fair and they had a totally standing room only crowd for their traler races and demo derby paying $500 to win ..There were 52 vehicles that pulled any thing from two wheeled trailers to campers racing for 20 laps with speeds probably 40 tops and there wasnt one vehicle worth $500 but the crowd loved it. Its so hard for weekly shows to survive and many of the engines cost more than the whole field that was racing last night and the grandstands will have less than1000 people.Hard to fiqure out except that crowd loved destuction.

What else can you say, but the masses are asses. 

I get the same feeling when I see crowds at these types of events. I attribute it to it being "special", meaning it's once a year or every so often but not a weekly type deal.

If sprints ran a track once or twice a month, 8 to 10 shows a season, those nights the stands would be packed, but running every week and there being 18-24 sprint shows in a season makes it easier to skip a show here and there and catch the "special" events. People lament it and claim the racing is better on regular nights and so on, but the stands are always packed more for an Outlaw show or an All Star show than a weekly race (VERY few execptions).

The down side to making the sprints "special" instead of weekly is the crowd on other nights would be 50% friends and family to watch the alternative. 

Just my opinion.

I'm not a big fan of demo derbys and trailer races myself, but I understand why some promoters are doing it.   Obviously there are people who come only for the special attraction, but who knows, maybe a few of them like the real race cars and come back for the weekly show.    To me the bigger problem is that the weekly shows often suck, at least for tracks down here in North Texas.    When you're weekly show is seven or eight classes with very low car counts, I can see why the crowd is small.   

School bus races draw a massive crowd at our local tracks.  People love the junk shows and the tracks love the sound of a dinging cash register.  They can book school buses that race for a trophy and a few classes with low pures and make a ton of money.

Stan Meissner

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public"... H.L. Mencken

I think some of the allure is how many friends are participating in the events. 

Keep It Real

My friend, had never been to a race, until I took him to a race at the old Portland speedway.  We walked in when Davey Hamilton went by at full speed(offset modified) and he was hooked.  He said I never knew these(races) were so fun.  All hed ever seen was demo derby stuff at the fair.  Alot of people dont know what they are missing. 

You're a lucky guy.  I take friends and the show goes until 2am or the noise gives them a migraine and they never go again.  

Stan Meissner