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

Great points, although I wish it was as easy as taking kids to the track. I'm very lucky to live within 5 to 45 mins of more dirt ovals (including kart and micro only tracks) then I can possibly think of. It's honestly one of the few benefits of living in central Pa. I started taking my daughters to the races (kart tracks first cuz it's not so loud) when they were literally in strollers. They were with me every Friday and Saturday and sometimes Sunday through out their entire childhoods. My daughter competed for 4 years at our local kart tracks and kicked some butt. They became aquainted and friendly with my adult sprint and late model driver friends who became their favorite driver. They made life long friendships with kids from other schools who were at the track with their parents every weekend. Dirt racing was what we did when we were not working or sleeping or at school. Fast forward to oh about 15 or 16 years old and the discovery of boys, along with aforementioned year round field hockey( that almost bankrupted me) my daughters started having more "important" things to do like, anything but going to the races. I was crushed, didn't ever let them know but I was sure that even if they both moved out of the area when they came home they would enjoy the races. Not so much, they dont hate it but to them it's boring now. I guess what I'm saying is, attendance does not always create life long fans. I'm not sure why some people get the racing bug and cant get enough, but I do believe we will always have enough people in love with dirt track racing to keep it alive. It may look different but some form of this mayhem will live on. 

Best promotion I have ever scene that is guaranteed to pack your track and create new fans. Pack the Track night. In 50 years I have watched our local 1/2 mile dirt oval be wildly popular with packed stands for years at a time and and have also seen when there were more cars than fans and it was on the brink of shutting the doors. During one of those dismal times and several seasons of barley breaking even the promoter announced Pack the Track Night. Free admission for everyone period. One night a year for the next 7 or 8 years they did this. When rural Pennsylvanians hear the word Free, it does not matter what is free, they are not gonna let someone else get free shit unless they get their free shit. First year was big, by the third year the Speedway had the highest population of any town in the area. The overall effect was undeniable, crowds steadily grew week after week year after year until it was running on inertia and the same person smart enough to give his product away in an attempt to gain customers decided he was big enough and didn't need to do it anymore, and slowly but surely the fans slowly dwindled. Not saying this was the only factor for the decline, passion and employees acting like they care and appreciate customers goes a long way as well. I don't think the end is near, I have heard this same speculation about car counts and fan counts for as long as I have attended races. Peace everyone, go enjoy a race somewhere.

Thanks for sharing.  My son is 15 years old and I am at the same point as you with your daughters.  I am praying for good weather next weekend in Knoxville because we found an open weekend my son can actually go with me to see the races.  It may be the only one this year!!!!   If it rains, I it will suck.  He really enjoys going-----it's just getting him there with all of the other activities being jammed down his throat!!  And, like I said, I don't even allow my kids to be on club teams.  These are simply in-town, school related teams.   But they threaten these kids by holding them hostage all summer----"if you want to see the court/field during the school year, you'd better not miss a practice or game during the summer."