Nice promoter's problem

[andre]

http://cvra.com/wpblog/?p=2154

[Winger]

This is a Friday night track run by arguably the best promoter in the northeast. I believe he just took the track over and I'm sure his association has much to do with the car counts.

[Rick B.]

38 Modifieds and 169 total cars !!! Wow !!!

That is amazing car counts 68 cars in top two divisions.

My old home town area being close to Afton Speedway now being I-88 Speedway and Five Mile Point in Binghamton both had real good car counts the first nights of racing.

I think that one thing that helps them is the fact there is not alot of entertainment choices around there, so it becomes big Friday and Saturday night things to do. But they also promote well and the tracks work together in scheduling etc.

[fred23]

and they only race 5 months a year.........

[MW68SS]

Bowman Gray in Winston- Salem had there season opener Saturday which we went to and they had 4 classes. 31 Whelen Modifieds, 28 Sportsman, 23 Street Stocks and 40+ Mini Stocks. They also had 19,000 people in the grandstands. They are only open 16 nights and I bet that is part of the reason for the turn out of cars and fans that they have.

[wre11]

Car count

I went in to the results page and did a count.

The first night:
34 modifieds, 25 started feature. 52 sportsman, 27 started feature, 25 go home.
Second night:
32 modifieds
Third night:
38 modifieds, 30 started feature, 54 sportsman, 30 started feature, 24 go home.

In Hialeah's hayday, we had so many Street Stocks, a few times we had to run 3 heats to set the feature lineup, with a last chance to fill the last few spots. After a few weeks of that, the numbers dropped and never got that high again. During the last few years, they had to break the Cyclone division in to A & B, just to make the fields manageable. Everyone got to race a full feature, so the car count stayed high. When you start sending people home with only an 8 lap heat, or a 10 lap consi race, they won't come back. This was the down fall of the Florida Pro series, and the FAST series.

[luke81]

And don't forget that there are many other options of tracks to race at too. Maybe someday people down here will be willing to look at what promoters are doing right up there, instead of just giving the old "stupid yankees" line that i've heard so many times.

[andre]

When you start sending people home with only an 8 lap heat, or a 10 lap consi race, they won't come back.

Not so sure. I think it's more a ''set your goal'' mind set.

When a racer picks a track to go play at, he's been there B4 and knows the ins and outs. And from there he sets his goal depending of where he decides to go play at.

In this particular place, he know B4 going that, 1st thing he has to accomplish is to survive the heat races, then qualify, and hope to, somehow, make it to the feature. So when it's like that, normally, that is what make real hardcore racers. The not so solid give up pretty quick in that environment.

Final result, awesome racing, packed grandstands, very talented drivers to main event, an event where every body wins, regardless of which side of the fence you are. And THAT is a big draw.

Thunder Road in Vermont, for one, have been doing that for decades and it is still jam packed with both racers and race fans.[/I][/B]

[dirtballer69]

Howard is probably one of the best promoters in the business who doesn't mind sitting down w/you.Been said before that some promoters here should take some notes from him.Problem is it falls on deaf ears.Atleast for the most part as I know for a fact one promoter in northern Florida who pays Howie and his track(s) a visit everytime he goes up north.And it shows @ his facility...

[modracer22]

and they only race 5 months a year.........

I don't think that racing 5 or 6 mounths out of the year has a lot to do with car counts don't think it hurts them either because there are track up north that are struggling with car counts. I do think we need a mid season break kinda of like the drag racers do at Orlando drag strip they take the summer off basically.

[Winger]

and they only race 5 months a year.........

I can't say I completely agree with you Fred. I'll partially agree because after a long winter, people do want to see racing and they will attend a lot of cold damp nights just to get their fix. I think everyone enjoys a break from anything and you're correct that Florida racing is nearly year round. I think a break would benefit the Florida tracks.
BTW, many of the drivers in that area will race 2 or more nights a week and probably race more laps than the typical Florida racers do. They also have larger purses for a regular Saturday show than the tracks in Florida have. I think the modified class at Fonda gets about $1800 to win a regular 35 lap Saturday race. I shake my head when I see a track down here advertising a 100 lap race with a $2000 to win purse depending on what the car count is. Special shows there pay more all the way through the field. I also agree with Andre comment re: going home without racing a feature. Maybe it's something people in that area grew up with, but it's always been that way up there. You hope to qualify through a heat and then you have a consi (or Bmain) for a second chance. If you can't qualify, you go home and work hard to do better next time. It's sucks to be in a 20+ car consolation race knowing they will only take 2 or 3 racers from that to the feature. So you know if you don't make it, you've got plenty of company.
Howard, as Mike would say, or Howie is a special kind of promoter. He's regularly drawn large car counts in all his classes. At one time he was drawing something like 50+ cars to race in a basic pure stock division that awarded only a trophy to win. What makes him so special? Nothing really. He treats people fair, has a nice clean facility, charges fair prices, has good food, has a mailing list that he sends schedules and special event flyers to, and just puts on a good show. When I would attend his races the 50/50 was usually over $2000. He does have a large amount of racers that don't travel much and will only race at his track on Saturdays or for a special weekday show. I'm not really sure why that is. It's a high banked 1/2 mile track that requires a lot of motor. I think a lot of his customers are weekend hobby racers who will spend the required amount to be competitive at his track but they don't want to travel and wear the equipment out at other tracks. That's just my opinion. While there may be no Disney-world or theme parks in that area, there are things to do. It's located fairly close to Albany, and a couple hours from Boston or NYC.

[Frasson118]

The tracks I grew up at typically had cars that didn't make the feature race. In most cases, it didn't make racers want to quit, it made them work harder, learn more, and move up from there.

Andre is right on about "setting goals". These guys didnt EXPECT to run A-main races, they put in their best efforts and came back another day to try again if they didnt make it.

Not qualifying on occasion is just part of the business... and it happens to ALL of them at one time or another.

[dirtballer69]

For the record,Albany Saratoga Speedway is a 3/8's banked oval and Howies baby Lebanon Valley Speedway is a 5/8's mile high banked track.You may be right about him that he's just your average promoter,but theres one exception.He actually cares about his racers.Know for a fact that he has helped many drivers out who might not be at the track the next week if it wasn't for a helping hand from him.Thats what seperates him from the rest.As far as BIG car counts go which the post originally started about.Well I know for a fact what the author of this post is refering to first hand.60+ cars may be a promoters dream every week but it has a 2 fold issue.Put yourself in the racers shoes.30+ cars going home every week SUCKS!Trust me I know someone personally who is in that 60+ car division talked about every week!!