Fups Triple 50's Tour Opener Looks Good!

[scottgarrity07]

The first event for the new FUPS Sportsman, OWM and TRUCK tours looks good for Auburndale Speedway on March 9th. Nobody has Modifieds on their card and only Showtime has Trucks and Sportsman scheduled. Should be huge fields in each class.

[Don Nerone]

FUPS
who is left on the deal?
With fascar going NASCAR and Desoto speedway sold looks like its going to be a 2 track series. Alburndale and inverness botj 1/4 mile tracks. Dont think all the drivers will suport that .
Hope the other tracks get with the deal .

Don62

[scottgarrity07]

Don, the FUPS website still has all the Desoto....errr Full Throttle events on their schedule except for the Icebreaker moving to Citrus. I'm just hoping that the Icebreaker and Auburndale events are so good with car counts that Kevin Williams keeps the dates. Desoto hasn't had good car counts EXCEPT for the FUPS LM and FUPTS dates the past couple of years. And BTW Rick Williams tried everything with FASCAR.....errr NASCAR's NSS and OSW. It seems Hart just basically said "FU, FUPS" and Ozzie's hands are pretty much tied with NASCAR's unfriendly Non-NASCAR policies and a newly purchased speedway on his hands. I'm thinking Citrus will have the usual FUPS LM car count but I think the Auburndale races will be off the hook with car counts since there has not been a tour date for Sportsman and OWM's for years. Open 50-75 lap shows for Sportsman and OWM's last year just about everywhere had great car counts. And it's not too late for Sunshine.....errr Showtime to get on board! The glass is still 3/5 full Don!

[Matt Albee]

From the standpoint of the last three FUPS races i attended, there were no car counts. The series car and fan count has dropped off by about half since it's inception. The new Orlando owners hands aren't tied by anyone, he's apparently just not interested in your series. And the Harts over at NSS don't seem to be either.
That doesn't mean other tracks won't book the series, but since there doesn't seem to be very much interest in it from track owners right now, it might be time to make some changes to get their attention.

[scottgarrity07]

No car counts? The FUPS and FUPTS series both averaged over 20 cars/trucks per event during the 2012 season. True, there was one event at A-Dale that drew only 11 cars. But the next one at Citrus drew 23 cars. That's a hell of a lot better than some of the 3-6 car SLM, PLM and Truck fields I saw at NSS and OSW last year! The reason that NSS and OSW weren't interested in "my"(lol) series is because they don't want to pay for the insurance that they have to buy with FUPS being a non-NASCAR event. Hart flat out doesn't want to pay it and Ozzie can't afford it with buying OSW and making a ton of improvements. Ozzie WAS interested in having FUPS events in the future after he gets on his feet. I don't have any dog in this fight except (like a lot of other Sportsman , OWM and Truck competitors) that I want the challenge and fun of racing in a touring series without having to spend NASCAR money. In addition, I appreciate Rick Williams working his ass off (at the request of the racers) to put this deal together. It sucks that he has to go through all this turmoil with all of the turnover that has happened lately (after everyone involved had agreed on a schedule, BTW). As I see it, It's all in Kevin Williams hands. He can go the Yoho (Showtime) "be on my own island" route and make FUPS a 2 track series (kill it) or he can take the Critter (Citrus) "open arms to ALL racers" approach and keep FUPS alive. Showtime may get huge crowds (due to being in the middle of three big cities) but Citrus murders Showtime in car counts. All that I'd like to see is Kevin Williams keep the first date for each FUPS series on the Full Throttle Speedway schedule, then decide based on car counts and attendance if he wants to keep the other dates. Doesn't that make the most sense for all involved?

[SSMotorsports14]

Full Throttle speedway not having the FUPS at his facility will be a big mistake if he chooses that route. I was at several FUPS races and every PGS race and the FUPS car counts were much better and had much better quality cars and they did rule enforcement!

[Matt Albee]

You consider 20 cars a big field? Where almost half were field fillers? And i paid good money to get into that show at Auburndale. Refunds were in order.
All i can comment on is the fans perspective, and the FUPS series just hasn't put on much of a show. Desoto will survive nicely without the FUPS series, so will every other track in the state. Sooner or later, a really good series is bound to come along.

[Mmartin73]

20 a full field

That was a sad statement because the proof is yes for the trucks, anywhere else you go you average a 3-10 truck field, now that's worth the money.

It is no fun to race and win when there is only 3 other trucks. The reason most don't want to post their race results is the amount of cars in the pits.

Unify the series and everyone one wins, split it up and go the way of the empty tracks. Cars counts will bring fans, bringing the classes together will get you the car counts up.

The craziness of the show will be fun at first, but when you drive the cars away, you will only be left with the circus. 18-25 trucks running the series was the norm, and the show was good.

Rick B did a great job getting it together, and Rick W will keep it up, the only one that could destroy it is Track Owners who want to stay in their own silos and try and keep,their cars to their own. For the traveling series, it is nice to get out and see and drive the other tracks and visit with the locals of those tracks. That will be the start of building a long lasting series.

[scottgarrity07]

I never said 20 cars was a "big" field (even though it is probably the right amount of cars to have on a short track to have a clean, yet exciting show). Dorer passed Dutilly on the last lap at the series finale. I think that counts as a "good show". No matter who is racing in a Super Late Model show with 100 laps or more the field can tend to get strung out and be boring on a long green flag run. If FUPS fails, I doubt you will see any type of touring series in this state for a long, long time. Then, where is this mystical super-series supposed to materialize from that's "bound to come along"? The reason FUPS hasn't had the success that it could have is that Super Late Model racing has been splintered into FUPS, Brighthouse Challenge and The Punta Gorda series who routinely have stacked dates on top of each other. If FUPS fails, get used to seeing wonderful events like Showtime's Florida State Late Model Championship that drew a whopping 12 cars. From a fan's perspective I would think that you would want to have more racing than less racing. As far as thinking Full Throttle (Desoto) will "survive nicely" without FUPS, I'm not so sure. It's a little presumptive to think that EVERY car that ran PGS will make that tow up to Bradenton on a regular basis. Especially if PGS gets a new bidder. Remember, the non-existent car counts at Desoto is what prompted John to sell. Just changing the name won't change that alone. And I think if Punta Gorda is shut down completely then that isn't exactly good for the state of asphalt short track racing in Florida. I just hope Kevin at least tries to have one FUPS LM show and one FUPS Sportsman, OWM, Truck tripleheader and decide on future events based on the success or failure of those events. There's a lot of buzz and excitement around the FUPS SP/OWM/Truck tour. I'd like to see it get a legitimate chance before anyone throws dirt on it. Like I've said before, it's easier to tear something down than to help build it...

[Matt Albee]

If the racers want to race, they'll go to the nearest track and race. They don't need a series. There are only three problems with stock car racing in Florida.
1- Evey track has different rules, even forcing racers to buy track tires and fuel
2- Pay outs are incredibly low.
3- Track owners and promoters make almost no effort to increase business.

Over the years, both Punta Gorda and Desoto thrived at the same time. And Sunshine was doing great as well. None of those tracks required a series to keep them going. They built their own car count and fans turned out.

[scottgarrity07]

True, we don't NEED a Series. I have raced for 20 years and this will be the first time I get to enjoy the priveledge of racing in one. But we WANT a Series. The reason we WANT a Series is because of the 3 reasons you listed as what's wrong with FL racing.

1. A Series has ONE set of rules you run at different tracks.

2. Pay outs are waaay better for a Series.

3. Even though promoters don't try to increase business enough they do push Series races more and even without that the fans tend to come out in bigger numbers for Series events.

In addition it sucks to race in some of these Weekly events in a 5 car field with NOBODY in the grandstand. I would rather race half as much, in races that are twice as long, for twice the money, in a full field, with a full grandstand.

PGS, DSS and SS were all doing well in a different economic environment. People just don't have as much money to race and smaller fields and promoters with smaller budgets to payout and advertise have led to smaller crowds. Fans don't want to see 5 divisions of 5 cars. Smaller and uncertain (sliding scale) payouts keep the car counts small too. I'm not sure how we fix that. Start by creating a more favorable environment to the racer to increase car counts (Critter and Kevin Williams are on to that) and then maybe the rest can fix itself? I don't know. In the meantime a touring Series that brings in 20 cars and more fans every now and then can only help keep the gates open. The FUPS tripleheader Series of Sportsman/OWM/Trucks has the realistic possibility of bringing in 60+ cars/trucks on one night.

[Tim Pafford]

working together with schedules and series always help no matter the venue..everyone benefits from better events inluding the fans,sponsors,ownership,etc..bigger car counts always make racing better also...i am a big believer in the word team means TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE...to figure what is best for short track racing is a nationwide problem..most tracks are suffering from the economy,some are closed completely and in isolated areas some are thriving...the bottom line is everyone has to do what is in their best intrest to be a success..i may not always agree with some decisions at grass roots race tracks but i will always respect it and never talk down their actions..i do feel fups will do well and look forward to promoting some fups events...when racing is no longer fun, racing will soon be a thing of the past..i hope that never happens..good luck to all in 2013!!!

[8modified]

Track owners that have had large payout for the OWM class have had 30 plus turn outs and put on great races. The track that post 250 to win with less than 10 car are getting less cars, why take a chance and show up and get 45 to start. I was running TBARA Sprints when the purses were cut by the track owners setting max payouts. We do not need any more of this, Yoho at Showtime has set the new standard for payouts, and I as a racer will go we're the money is.

[scottgarrity07]

Well, the weather looks great (High of 77, 0% chance of rain) and the pits will be full of Modifieds, Trucks and Sportsman. Everyone has had their opinions on this deal, now it's time to race. Come on out and see not one, but THREE great 50 lap features with the three most competitive divisions in Florida in some good ol' fashioned bump and grind short track racing on Auburndale's flat quarter mile. Gonna be a great night!

[SSMotorsports14]

We will be there with a truck and a sportsman! Looking forward to it!