Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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An interesting interview with Brian Carter on podcast, worth the watch. He had some interesting comments on the "charter" system and why it doesn't make sense for WoO. Love them or hate them, you have to give him credit for keeping the group alive and likely stronger than it has ever been. They have invested in the brand for fans, teams and promoters.  
 

I'm not a fan of the spilt. I don't think there is enough money to support 2 national series. Any spilt in the past be WoO, Indy cars and I would say now with golf, hasn't helped the sports. Schatz had some great comments in a recent Speed Sport News article. 
 

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. HL "carrot" with a charter is a joke. Teams are chasing an unknown for half the tow money and less point fund monies. With HL schedule they will still race a 80-90 schedule if they race the Nationals, Kings Royal, Grove Open and Husets. 

The thing that I took away after watching the entire interview is that WRG under Brian Carter's direction has done way more for dirt track racing than I was aware of.  He comes across like any of the executives I worked under during my office career.  I am impressed with his resume and love for racing and did not see the nasty character described by High Limit homers.  As I have mentioned, where I live High Limit amounts to a TV show as they don't come within hundreds of miles and the Outlaws are a series that gets as close as 32 miles from the end of the driveway.  Out of sight, out of mind in the HL series but I'll continue to tune in like I had been doing with the All Stars and week night series.

From a business standpoint he laid everything out and explained his reasoning in their decisions.  By contrast every discussion advocating High Limit has been someone telling me I'm an idiot on social media for not diving into supporting them head first.  I can't support something that doesn't come anywhere near central Minnesota.  WRG is in good hands.  I'm unclear over who makes the decisions and does all the behind the scenes work on the High Limit side.  HL is Brad, Kyle and FloSports so they're only interested in competing against one segment of the WRG market share.  As someone who had one foot in big business for decades I feel like WRG will be around for a long time.  Their streaming service, Dirtvision, is their in house racing streaming channel with a great lineup of weekly tracks that I follow.  Flo is a sports channel that, if successful, could dump grass roots racing for the next money making opportunity.  Think back to the mid 80's when Sprint Car racing was on ESPN.  They were a new upstart cable channel and racing programming was the best thing going at the time.  ESPN's business grew, they became a major player in sports television and they dropped Sprint Car and other motorsports programming.  There is historical precedence that has similarities to this situation.  

As far as the racing goes more is better on the television side of things so no complaints on that.  I can watch racing until my wife pulls the plug and tells me to get outside and do something.

Moving forward I hope people watch this and rethink their opinions on WRG and the World of Outlaws.  They may not have always done what we think they should but no one can deny the good things they have done.  

Stan Meissner

. Schatz had some great comments in a recent Speed Sport News article.

link to article? or was it on podcast?

Donny has been doing a lot of interviews this off-season and has been open with how he feels about things.  Again, we watched Donny way back in his 360 days and he's one of us, from the upper Midwest.  His father's racing career went back to the 70's at North Starr, a track that ran Sprints weekly up until 1979.  He has gotten to the point in his career where he has a lot of experience and being a businessman himself gives him insight into racing that the hecklers will never know.  

I'm looking forward to the season getting underway more than ever.  The back story this year is like a soap opera and in a strange perverse sort of way it's as fun to watch as the Vikings and where Kirko is going to sign.  Sports drama is epic right now.

Stan Meissner

The charter system doesn't make sense for High Limit either, unless they get a ton of TV/streaming money which sprint cars have never received in their history. But I'll admit that the idea was great for attracting teams with a carrot, if they can pull it off more power to them. 

The owners/drivers need to run their business and survive financially. The tracks need to make money and the fans want to see good races. The streaming companies are doing well and they are the future of many sporting events. 

The Regional Sports Networks are struggling and thinking they may be saved by streaming and even are dabbling in broadcast stations carrying their events. Crazy world and hard to predict.

I'll attend races and watch on TV too.

Ive said repeatedly, Ted Johnson survived because in his own words (in the case of Harrold Annett/Larry Clark and the USA group) - "It's a LOT of work.  Harrold and Larry will grow tired of it, and go back to their trucking business.  I don't have any other businesses to go back to."

WRG doesn't have any businesses to go back to.  Flo does.

They better hope it works out because there's been guaranteed charters promised to certain teams to entice them to sign on.

Where are you getting that from?

People I know. 

OK. I see how that works. How do the people you know feel about the (alleged) Apollo moon landing?

Which teams get these guaranteed charters ?  

If the driver gets injured cutting a tree in his yard halfway through the season and the team has to drop off the HL tour,  do they still get their “guaranteed" charter ?

Good info.   Please tell us more about this.

Only people he knows know which teams magically get the free charters. That's how well orchestrated conspiracies go. It's all run by a big eastern syndicate, doncha know.

If one of the chosen drivers gets hurt cutting a tree, the syndicate just has an imposter take the guy's place. The driver loses out on his share of the purse, but they give him a big gift certificate to Ace Tree Service. 

It's naive to think they got Rico without some kind of guarantee. What that guarantee means, who knows? But you're not going to entice the biggest free agent in sprint car racing with "golly gee, if you work hard Rico and finish in the top 5 in points, you might get something". 

Mr. Obvious...

I don't betray my friends trust. I was told in confidence and that's that. Believe me or not, I don't really care. But it's true. 

And we have a winner. The 2 biggest free agents in the sport in fact. 

The fact that your friend told you something in confidence doesn't make it true.

I believe there were some incentives given to get some teams to sigh up. What I don't believe is that they would guarantee that a team would get a charter for joining. That doesn't pass the logic test. How would they award 5 charters at the end of the season and then mention they also gave away a couple to teams that didn't earn them?

You make a good point.  I remember in the 80's when I first got hooked up to cable and there was a bunch of Sprint Car racing on ESPN.  Eventually they grew to the point where they put their focus on pro sports and dropped their racing coverage.  The similarity with FloSports is that it's a sports network first that happens to cover some racing.  If another opportunity comes their way that is more lucrative to investors they could turn to other sports coverage on a dime.  On the other hand, WRG is all about racing and are involved in much more than just the WoO Sprints.  Brian Carter pointed this out on Dirty Ami a couple days ago.  I'm not a lover or hater of either series.  Just a guy in his 70's who is happy that I can still get around and enjoy some races.  

Stan Meissner

Sounds like the old Paul McCartney died in a car crash and was replaced by a look alike conspiracy.

Stan Meissner