Florida Dirt Sprint car racing

[rhinoracing11]

Id say after last night at VCS.There isnt much a issue with Sprintcar racing in Florida.24 cars took the feature 13 finished witha solid 5 cars that could win!!
The promoters of EACH individual series seems to be the promblem NOT the drivers.why cant they simply work together>To me its very clear!!
Great Job To The New Track Manager At VCS for bringing sprints to the 1/2mile!! Not to mention but the florida mini sprints put on even a better show than the big boys did.22 strong they can be simply breath taking.Jesse Teed started 3rd from last and by lap 5 was in the lead pullin some kool moves along the way...way to go!! Rob

[clincher47]

You are correct. 28 cars in the pits... 4 did not make the A-main and there are another 15-18 cars that for one reason or another were not ready Saturday. Ken Sands paid a respectable purse with reasonable rules and the teams responded. IMO, egos are stopping the co-operation with the different series. The Volusia races will hopefully grow and spread to another track, or two.

[Gary J]

It has been said that one other dirt track doesn't pay very much for sprint cars.

[Boneman]

Its beside the point that the race itself was not the best. There were too many yellows for spins, but look at the big picture. The pits were full of sprints and I'm told the crowd was an improvement too. 17 more to go!

[legendofauto]

What is a respectable purse, in your opinion?

[clincher47]

IMO, the $1,000 to win with a good breakdown throughout the field, like Volusia is doing is respectable. It certainly is better than any purse we have run for with the FSCA in the past six years and better than I have heard of other series paying. Putnam had very low purses two years ago and the car count went downhill fast. If NFS, or Ocala wants to run an unsanctioned sprint show like Volusia is doing, they will have to match the purse, or have small fields of cars. And the sprints aren't racing for money only, but when the fuel bill for the car is $100 a night and you wear out two rear tires at $180 apiece and you spend another $100 getting the driver and crew in the pits, you sort of need to think you have a chance to recoup some of that.

[legendofauto]

$1000 to win is a twenty year old purse, and not decent at all. Everything in the world has doubled in price since then...including the ticket prices and pit passes, concessions prices, etc...

I am not against a promoter working hard and making a profit but the cost of doing business has gone up. The cars are coming cheap to them.

[JackTripper]

I think Ken Sands is laying the foundation at the moment. One way to look at this is that with his posted payout at the moment, if the sprint cars keep showing up like they did, and the fans keep coming and filling up the place, then the purse hopefully will go up. I think this is a good starting point, and to the point made previously, for dirt sprint car racers Ken's purse is a better purse than what they've been racing for elsewhere.

Someone else said to me, "you know up in Pennsylvania they don't need touring series for the sprint cars, the tracks just work together and pay a good purse."

I think perhaps Ken is putting that sort of model in place.

[legendofauto]

Maybe so but this has been going on for years. Sprint cars traveling around the state is hardly a touring series. Don't put the burden on the sprint cars...if they show up, if the fans come out. That's the promoters job, to get cars to the track and fans to come out... and always has been. Today many of them (not all) want to just stage a race and sit back and watch who shows up.

The purses are dreadfully low and you can't keep telling the sprint owners, maybe if things improve we'll increase the purse.

Again, sprint car purses in the early 90's were $1000 to win locally in Fl...every track.

[rhinoracing11]

1 point I beleived in Sat..Many a driver came to support the cause.I believe Bruce Durden has been strugglin on $ was to sell his stuff and he brought 2 cars.YES A lot of those cars need some help motors were just not right.BUT again there were 5 or so cars that could have won..
Yeah the track was dry slick,,but i was impressed w the car count..Now 17 left to go well see if they drop off..in count or will the purse help keep them a-float.

[legendofauto]

Ole Bub, (not that I am a fan of his) shared my opinion about purses on his show this morning...