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

Why don't cars come to one of the best tracks in the country? Rico? N.D. in Fargo used to be packed?

Car count wasn't bad in Grand Forks but lots of locals, Fargo there were only 30 cars with lots of locals also..Grandstands were full at both venues..

When I was in the Air Force - I was stationed in Minot (1972 and 1973) We had NoDak at the fair ground - 3 Classes of car Sprints (about 20 cars) Stock Cars (about 20 cars) and Street Stock (about 30 cars). Through out the summer We'd get additional 5 or 6 sprint cars from the Fargo or Grand Forks area. Races were always good, but We were just a long trip (about 4.5 hours from Fargo and 3.5 hours from Grand Forks) for everyone back in those days for what they got paid. And when you figured with NoDak running on Sunday nights a lot of the drivers had to work on Monday so that also put a limit on traveling.

Because we are in the middle of nowhere up here in North Dakota, and it probably doesn't make sense to a lot of teams to come up here. It is a shame because the racing usually seems to be pretty good, and the crowds are huge. Saturday was the biggest crowd I have seen in Fargo in years. 

Fargo's car count is usually less because some of the Grand Forks teams don't come to Fargo because they are ususally trying to save their equiptment for the end of the year. I was happy with the 28-29 cars that did actually run, I was expecting worse.

Another point is, this nothern swing up to ND used to draw more cars because it was the weekend right after the nationals. Knoxville is off, and some of the locals that run Knoxville used to tow up for the weekend. Now that the Jackson Nationals are the weekend after Knoxville, the cars stay in the area to race there and then head home. The schedule change suks for us in ND, but I understand why the WOO changed it and I agree it makes for sense for Jackson and the event that has become. 

Personally I wish the WOO would race in Grand Forks and Fargo on both trips they make up here. Seems like they have struggled to find cars and a track after the first trip to Grand Forks the past couple of years. 

Rico, and many others, are not tied to the Outlaws.  So, they may, and will, go wherever makes the most financial and logistical sense for them.  Your question is valid, but it is a great example of what will happen if some of the WoO haters get their way, and the WoO either shuts their doors, or does away with the exclusivity deal. Do you think all 14 or 15 of them Outlaw cars show up if not under Platinum deals with the Outlaws?  Many of them that are out of the points race may simply decide to pack it in for the year, or run a show closer to their hometown.  The 30 car show you saw could quickly turn into 20.  Maybe  17 or 18 the next year.  Maybe no show by year 3.  Thanks to the 14-15 cars signed on contract, 30 cars is a great turnout considering the high costs of traveling in 2023. 

If someone out there is ever thinking of making a racing road trip to ND, I have two words:

DO IT.

A client/friend (Olson Towing, Minot) talked me into flying up there and going on a tour, and it was a total blast.

This is an old recap page I built from that trip, but I took a ton of pics and such from each track - and along the way - so there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff included. Not sure if some of the pics still expand or if the video clips work; but you'll get the idea:

https://darinshort.com/jamestown.html