Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
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there is nothing wrong in this economy with combining sprintcars at a lower level with some sort of other motorsport that comes with lots of fans . driftion has a large audience , as well as do the monster trucks that i keep pushing .

Drama , Controversy , Rivalry 

Have an engine claim rule. (I just made Tobey rich... be able to sell those IMCA bus motor secrets of his.)

Scotty did not attend the Promoter's meeting last winter.  In my opinion, that hurt him from the start.  I won't defend that at all.  However, like I said before, you don't know what conversations went on behind the scenes from last November until February of last year.  I don't either, which is why I can't speak for others.  I'm not going any further with that defense.  I know what I was told and have a string of emails that would blow your mind, but that is not my battle to fight.

My point remains the same and truthful.  Before last year, everyone bitched there wasn't enough options or people trying to save 410 sprint car racing in SoCal.  Scotty put something out there.  Everyone bitched.  That something went away. 

Grass is always greener on the other side I guess...

Doug Bushey

Passionate Fan / Announcer / Media & Public Relations 
Agent 

Doug,

A lot of compounding problems on top of the other stuff. Look at the Midget and Sprint series everywhere. Counts were down across the board, even for the big money races.

Buzzard's accurately distilled it all to the essentials, I think. But I will add:

Today's young men relate to variable valve timing producing 200 horsepower from 100 cubic inches... because it's what they can afford. Anyone looking at the stands above the NASCAR asphalt can see more and more empty space. Save for Dodges and Chryslers now, the only pushrod V8s are in $30K+ designer trucks. Our 409 Impalas and 396 Camaros have been replaced with 220-ci, 300-hp V6s that very few young people can afford in the New Age of working at Starbucks or In-N-Out 'til your get your masters degree and three or four certifications. 

I am =not= suggesting that we dump V8s for V6s, however. (USAC tried a V6 rule in the '80s in asphalt champ cars; Jimmy Kite was the only one I recall who had any success with it.) What I am suggesting is appropriate, functional movement over the course of several years to a common engine formula built around NASCAR Saturday Night blocks that would pretty likely bring in more Mopar, Toyota, Nissan and Ford engines with built-up bottom ends and heads capable of tolerating the stresses induced by the same type of intake systems used now on 410 and 360 sprint motors. 

There are gobs of these engines available. And "gobs" means lower initial costs, more aftermarket parts at lower prices, more diversity of engine builders, and greater availability of refurbished power plants. That and common rules region-wide about mufflers and tires =will= help. BUT...

It's only going to help so much. Miracles are unlikely, but slow, steady growth facilitated by what I have described (or something like it) =seems= possible. 

So. rather than just shoot this down with the all-or-nothing thinking that seems to be normalized in this little universe, does anyone have some input to correct or finesse these notions. (All I'm doing here is what Don did with his "unlimited" ideas: float them around to see what people had to say that was based on =facts= rather than opinions.)

Look in the stands and you'll see what you lacked.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsy9ig7jkLM. It seems to me that the fans in S Cali let themselfs and Scotty down, pure and simple.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Everyone is looking for value for their dollar....whether they are a fan, promoter, team owner/driver or sponsor.

Generally speaking:

Fans - want a well run show that starts on time, doesn't run too late, doesn't have seemingly unnecessary "breaks", and perferably a full field of cars.  The "die-hard" fan is a dying breed.  As mentioned earlier, the crowd is older.

Owners/Drivers - want a return on their investment, if not breaking even then making the net expense worth the trip to the track when you factor in entry fees, travel expenses, tires/fuel, pieces and parts.

Promoters - need to balance the front and back gate, keep the fans, teams and sponsors happy while promoting the sport and at least making enough money to put on the next show.

Sponsors - want to know the money they invest to have their name published, put on a car, wall, banner or mentioned at the track is reaching a fair sized audience.

Nothing said here is rocket science, and admittedly it is way oversimplified.  I'm just saying you can't put the blame on any one group.

As I said in my first reply, this is a situation that is not unique to California. I really believe though that the "glory days" as we know them are gone.  I grew up with 40+ modifieds and 40+ small block mods in the pits every week.  The sprint car tracks were drawing 35+.  Tracks I frequented in my youth now have car counts in the high teens/low 20s.

Believe it or not, some of the best racing in the country is still being held in this region.  Yes there's room for improvement, but it's going to take everyone working together to help bring it back.

While I'm not living in SoCal at the present, I still follow as much as I can, usually via this forum.

Back in the day, there didn't seem to be so many restrictions when it came to engine size and type of tires used.

I think that is one possibility as to why some of the car counts are down, in addition to the economy and the general cost of racing these days.

Someone mentioned the IMCA style modifieds, and they are right. Along those lines, the US Modified Touring Series is a good example of now the USMTS had a good following. While maybe the local tracks of the Midwest where many tracks have their own points and have done so for as long as I can remember, and before I became interested in racing. The USMTS depends on locals to fill out those that travel for the series, which runs on tracks from Minnesota to Texas and several states inbetween. While I am not certain, the local drivers may have to change what size carbs to run when the USMTS hits the local tracks, but engine CI is generally the same from the local tracks to the touring series. 2 years ago at the Fairmont Minnesota track, I not only got to see the local groups run, but a mid week USMTS show as well. the local weekly series has 2 groups of modifieds, with only different engine rules between the 2 groups, plus 2 other support series as well. And when the USMTS visited, one of these support groups also ran that night. Both nights had decent crowds, even for a week night.

I think that ALL sprint car series across the country need to have more standard rules so that anyone wanting to travel wouldn't have to worry about what the tire rule is, or the CI rule is.

On another note, I think that the creation of the WoO really hurt some of the open shows across the country, especially once they started adding more rules to run that organization. Once the WoO made wings mandantory, that hurt car counts for the former PCC at Ascot and the WUSC at Manzanita when it came to car counts. Those running WoO for overall points could not race at these events as I'm sure the WoO had races scheduled for those weekends. To some extent, the PCC and WUSC while sprint car shows, they were still somewhat of a run what you brung shows.

Sorry for the long winded rant.

Ed K

engine claim rules dont work as well as they are supposed to . i have seen where an engine was claimed and sold on e-bay . in the 90s ventura ran limited sprints and guys like cory k were using an engine every 1 to 2 races . these were gm crate engines with a good oil system and fuel injection .

i am in salt lake city for the week and a funny thing happened . i was asking the guy at the parker store about his monster truck . well here at rocky mountian speedway they run a sprint car show and monster trucks together . this guy said the stands are usually packed .. guess they figured out here how to get enough seats sold so everyone wins .

Drama , Controversy , Rivalry 

maby if we look at the pas and the classes outside of sprintcars they support at that track exclusively , noting the health of these classes . to put it simply almost all these sportsman classes are thriving . somehow we need to have a pas sprint car class that does not run the night of usac-cra , and if i had my way the same at victorville ...why is ventura the only track around that supports a sprintcar track champion each year .

Drama , Controversy , Rivalry 

Ventura is the only track that runs sprints more than once a month.

This is just an idea, but why not mix two crowds and have a Band and a Sprint Race the same night. I understand there is additional cost for the band, but there are TONS of local bands everywhere dying for places to place music.

The idea is similar to those of the monster trucks, cross promote.

a) ask a trucking company for sponsorhip of a flat bed trailer that could be parked on the front stretch next to any flagstand for the Band(s) to perform on. In return you allow their logo up on the track billboards.

b) local bands even up to local touring bands play their music some for free some up to $1000 for a good night and that is what 3rd place money? for one band that could bring in additional fans and introduce them to the sport.

doesnt matter what kind of music it is, it will draw beer drinkers so promotors would be making out tenfold to this. in lieu to running 1-2 less support classes.

have a band play before the national anthem and have a band play after the heats and have one play after the main. Would be my ideal way to keep both sets of fans entertained.

I dont know how this would work out completely just trying to throw out an idea I have thought about for a few years.

....side note as to why I thought about this, I was a "tour manager" for a band on 3 nationwide tours. the band was a metal/hardcore (Incoherent screaming music) band signed to a major indie label (Roadrunner Records.. Nickleback/Slipknot). Even though our genre of music would probably not the best choice for music at a sprint car race bands of all genres generate crowds.

We played 25 nights across the country opening a major metal tour making $300 a night. my 2nd tour was our headlining tour and we made 800-1200 a night for 15 dates west coast and midwest. and Our third one we made 500 a night for 30 dates cross country.

I believe Ventura did that a year or 2 ago, bands played behind grandstands though, didnt do it at all this year. What happed to all the talk a few years ago about bringing in the newer gen motors like the LS chevys, didnt Schatz run one as sort of a poblicity deal for a race, and I know SWE built one and tested it a few years ago as a spec deal to run with the 360s

a spec ls engine would be awsome . i have heard rumors that chevy is putting some serious effort into having one of their performance crate engines instituted into the modifieds . that would be huge !

Drama , Controversy , Rivalry