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

With all this exposure to the "dangerous" race cars, sprint cars, any chance the local dirt track will have more fans.

In the realm of all the injuries I have seen lately, Smokes kinda pales in comparison to the head injuries and deaths the sport has incured the past few years.  Yeah it does suck to miss races, but having a broken leg is not the worst that could happen.  It's part of being a race car driver.  Has smoke ever been seriously injured before where he had to miss races.  Smoke (like all open drivers) has had some spectacular and bad wrecks.  

In a couple months, Tony will be good to go again or at worst next season.  This only adds another chapter in Tony's racing career.

Question, what will be Tony first race back, a dirt race or cup race?

The extra exposure will not bring any new fans to the sport.  

I've thought about this too. I think it might provide a small bump in interest, but not anything too noticeable. I would imagine that there are a lot of racing fans that have no idea about the sprint car shows within driving distance of them. it's really a niche motorsport, & is hardly ever marketed outside of that niche.

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FOr some reason Nascar is ignoring the fact that some of their drivers are racing in these races.  They can't show any clips on their broadcast of Tony, Kasey or Kyle racing the night before at some dirt track?  Instead we hear about Princess Danica's 28th place finish and how gritty it was of her to not get lapped 3 times in the best equipment.  It's not like they are helping any competition, there really isn't any, sprint car races, if we are lucky, get aired on TV weeks after they were raced.

Sprint car racing is a niche sport who's heydey has come and passed....there will be a core intrest in it among us for a number of years to come, but as has been said before, boxing and horse racing were incredibly huge in the first 50 years of the last century, they are still around, but not what they once were, and will never be what they were once...

What you say about racing fans having no idea about shows within driving distance is so true.  I am in McHenry, IL, 30 minutes away from Wilmot, and sometimes I get into conversations with friends I have made down here, or people at bars and mention Wilmot and it's racing program.  If I talked to 20, 30 people over the years, not ONE had a clue as to Wilmot or even that the little town had a race track.  30 minutes away.  These people seem to know all of the neighboring towns different festivals though. I feel this has a lot to do with the lack of advertising.  I don't know what the answer is, maybe an ad in the paper once in awhile?  Obviously word of mouth is the way it is being handled, and to me it just doesn't seem to be enough.  Spend money to make money....Offer coupons for the people that read certain newspapers, 1/2 price admission for a night out.  The people that hear about Tony's wrecks, or anyones wreck are NOT going to start going to Wilmot if they do not even know it is there.

I don't remember Tony being dinged up too bad except when he had a rough crash in an Indycar at Vegas back in about 97' towards the end of the season. I think he flipped pretty hard at Springfield in a midget or sprint car back in the day.

I remember seeing video of him flipping out of Salem... but somehow I don't think he was injured. 

I've told countless people in the Des Moines area about Knoxville and its worldwide status in sprint car racing. Most give me a blank stare. Admittedly, these are not real race fans but some of them have gone to more than one race at the Iowa Speedway. That track has the benefit of NASCAR's media engine and Rusty Wallace being involved. Sprint car racing is too obscure to most people. It doesn't have much of a local voice, and no national voice. The Knoxville Raceway has been running commercials on local TV for weeks. Hopefully, they'll generate additional ticket sales for the 410 Nationals. The 360 Nationals crowd seemed larger to me than in previous years; especially on Thursday and Friday night. Maybe those TV commercials helped. It's up to fans like us to help spread the word. Take a friend and his family to our local tracks. Get them into the pits to see the cars up close. Get them a hero card and driver autographs. Make sure the kids sit in a car. Sprint car drivers are usually very approachable. You almost never get that with stick and ball players. Tony, Kasey and Kyle driving sure helps get the word out, but that word mostly is being heard by race fans. I want to recruit new race fans. Once they compare NASCAR to sprint cars they'll see how much more exciting sprint cars are.

Remember, it is not just about Sprint Cars but the whole package as well.  IMCA mods, late models, mini sprints, street stocks, all of the different classes.  Racing in general.  Get them to go to the track is the hard thing, seeing Sprint Cars may get them a little more excited to come back again, but not everyone's interest is in Sprints.

Best way to get more interest in sprint car racing is to take a friend who has never been before. The recent exposure may help in a sense of people knowing what sprint car racing is but I don't think more people will come to the races because of it. Bring your kids or your friend's kids but other than that, I think the only publicity that you will get is when Tony, Kasey, and Kyle talk about it during a Nascar telecast.

Of course they are ignoring it....of course they wont show clips...similarly, McDonalds doesn't give thier customers samples of a burger from Applebees... no way is NASCAR going to use any of their time, money or exposure to demonstrate another motorsports product that is significantly more entertaining than their product...

The truck race at Eldora is a perfect example of this....there was also a latemodel race going on at Eldora that night, but NASCRAP was very careful to not let the viewers see so much as a peek of the cars that were 2 seconds quicker than the trucks. You also didn't see any dirt footage of any of the accomplishments of that nights drivers.. under no circumstances can they risk loosing a loyal fan to a "lesser" form of racing. 

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

Lol...

Tony's scary ride at Salem.

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

Hi Neighbor! I live in McHenry too and I've been going to Wilmot for over 50 years. I used to knock Wilmot because I compared it to Knoxville, Eldora, Cedar Lake others but I've come to really appreciate Wilmot. True, they do not do a very good job of marketing the races but there is always room for improvement in both marketing and the race track. I honestly believe Sinclari wants to make Wilmot better. I also remember Waukegan, Lake Geneva, Hales Corners, Cedarburg but all those tracks have closed. If Wilmot closes, the closest track is Rockford(paved)!

One of the things about NASCAR that pisses me off is when they schedule races on Saturday nights that compete directly with local tracks. If we lose all these local tracks, where will future driver master thier craft?

I gaurantee that Steve and Joe have the best interests of Wilmot in their minds.  They enjoy what they do in order to keep Wilmot around.  It is a passion.  I know it is a work in progress, but advertising may go a long way as far as attendance goes.  Wimot is my second home and have been going there near as long as Budz76.  Started on the old track and kept it up at the present one.  I try to bring people that haven't been there before but you run out of those people in your circle.  Gotta get the word out.  Have a McHenry night, a Grayslake night etc.......Set up a stand and see if you can get people to fill out a short questionaire about where they are from...I don't know......Take it from there.    I cannot afford to go every week, so I pick and choose and go to the specials.  It helps that I am a sprint car nut.