new ideas not crap.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Bring 'em back.

Sheet aluminum body - *maybe* $300.

Lexan - have no idea how much this stuff goes for...LOL

Motor - bring whatcha can handle.

Turn 'em loose for 100 or 200 laps.

(By the way, this pic is from an event called "Call of the Wild" in 2011 up at Kalamazoo, MI. They run single-car runs, five laps, all out, balls to the wall, just to see who can break or set an "all-time" track record in a full-bodied car. Just over 10 seconds on a 3/8th mile. I'd like to see a full field of these things again; seen 'em at Hialeah for a 100-lapper. At St. Pete and Inverness, we ran these types of bodies for a few years <had limits on spoilers, though>; helluva lot cheaper to fix than a $1,200 "ABC" body.)

[zerofor]

Well,this IS the you tube generation

And I do remember a pissed off driver dropkicking through another guys windshield under caution during the Glass City 200 at Toledo about 5 or 6 years back.And that got played on the national news for about 3 days after.But I also remember Vince Mcmahon thought he could breathe new life into the same ol same ol stuff the NFL was putting on and have guys dive after footballs instead of a boring coin toss.That whole deal crashed and burned.Weren't the Super Bowl TV ratings UP this year?I suppose that didn't have anything to do with what most football fans want to see.A GOOD GAME.Hell the Royal Hannawalt or Ringling Brothers circus would probably put up a big top in the infield for a few bucks and if you throw the elephants a few peanuts.But how does that give most race fans what they really want to see?A GOOD RACE.

[Don Nerone]

Hey Nerone, you WERE a promoter...
Why don't you lease one of these defunct tracks and like Nike says "Just Do It"?
You've tried it all and your results? Just because you sit around and dream up all of the theorectical ideas folks should listen?
Get you a track and...

Or as they say in the world of Rock...Defunked!

Yep ur right im a was and ur a never be..
Wont bother u any more pud pounder!!

Don62

[Groundpounder]

Yes sir, never a promoter and no desires to do so!

You are a funny guy...

Have a "Good Friday"!

[Osmosis Jones]

That's it......

I'm buying a race track.

I'm hiring the braintrust of Frasson, Andre, Uncle Don and I'm even bringing back Tom Stimus, as a consultant, to hammer out the promotional end of it.

It will be a 10/32 mile medium banked track with state of the art bathroom and concession facilities. Turns one and two and the back stretch will be red, Georgia clay and turns three and four and the front stretch will be asphalt. Each grandstand seat will be wired with headphones so that the fans can listen in to what is being said between the drivers and their crews as well as the track flagman and race director. There will be a coin toss immediately before each feature to determine if they will be racing in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Points will be awarded for number of cars passed on the track in a preset time frame. After the races, drivers will be awarded free beer and encouraged to solve their disputes with fisticuffs within full view of the crowd as this will promote outrageous ticket sales for the next week like nothing you've ever seen. Beer pushes and ride-a-longs for the kids.

We'll sell smoked mullet in the breezeway and have wet-toga contests in one of the beer gardens (under 21 not allowed)

OOPS! I almost forgot.

No one in the pits or ON THE TRACK under 16 years of age.
Sorry to all you parents living vicariously through your pre-pubescent teen's life. You'll have to find some other place to park the double stacker and golf carts.

[Frasson118]

In the MOST sarcastic response I've seen in a while, I'm pretty damn proud to be the FIRST example of everything that is ridiculous. But, I also have good company.

OJ- you need to hit the Lottery so we can show em how it's done! ....

[zerofor]

O.J. I am on board with almost all of that

But instead of the coin toss deciding if we run the usual direction or the opposite direction could it be a figure 8 instead? Oh and one more thing,release a few dozen chickens in the infield around lap three and give away bumper battered chicken dinners all night.

[andre]

I think the key word here that people are missing is FUN. People love to have FUN. And a night at the race is not as FUN as it use to be, OR maybe not to the eyes of the new EXPECTED race fans.

You have thousands of possible race fans out there, but millions of possible people of wants to have fun, and ready to pay for it.

SO if you can build a night of racing where it is FUN to be, FUN to watch, and FUN to be part of, you will hit the jack pot.

When we held the first Drift Mania here at the speedway at worked at, I had no idea what I was stepping into. Bunch of young kids, leasing the track to show off their ''prouesses sideway'' on asphalt. I watch them go, no advertizing per se that I could see, hear, or read, no nothing.

Then when the day finally arrived, at 8 oclock in the morning people started to show up at main gate, at 25$ a pop, kid included, at at 15 to 5 people were stiill spreading 25$ to get in to watch the last 5 runs of the day. Place was jam pack solid all day. But the show was something else. They showed up with vendors, display tents, tuning car exposition, 2 entertainer//announcers, their own sound system, girls, girls, girls, tire that do colored smoke on burn outs, special draws for fans, you name it. It was ENTERTAINING and FUN all day. That is the new wave if you are looking for new people.

So somehow, if you can build your race night where it will be FUN, EXCITING, and ENTERTAINING, you will be successfull. Stock car racing only, like IT WAS do not fit the crowd of today. Sorry but this is the way it is.

Now you can sit here and laugh at new possible idea or try some. But for one thing sure, the gray hair persons like us are in decline and we are the one in the grandstand talking how it was. If the crowd is not renewed, it will emptied itself sonner than we might think. I'm not saying to throw stock car racing away, I'm just saying to wrap your whole event in a different presentation to light up the mood and make people enjoy and have fun. Not just sit there for hours and watch shiny car go round and around.

You all have a Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!

[Boneman]

release a few dozen chickens in the infield around lap three

Best idea so far! Very funny!

Btw, Andre has nailed it again.

[Edm]

I'm buying a race track.

I'm hiring the braintrust of Frasson, Andre, Uncle Don and I'm even bringing back Tom Stimus, as a consultant, to hammer out the promotional end of it.

It will be a 10/32 mile medium banked track with state of the art bathroom and concession facilities. Turns one and two and the back stretch will be red, Georgia clay and turns three and four and the front stretch will be asphalt. Each grandstand seat will be wired with headphones so that the fans can listen in to what is being said between the drivers and their crews as well as the track flagman and race director. There will be a coin toss immediately before each feature to determine if they will be racing in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Points will be awarded for number of cars passed on the track in a preset time frame. After the races, drivers will be awarded free beer and encouraged to solve their disputes with fisticuffs within full view of the crowd as this will promote outrageous ticket sales for the next week like nothing you've ever seen. Beer pushes and ride-a-longs for the kids.

We'll sell smoked mullet in the breezeway and have wet-toga contests in one of the beer gardens (under 21 not allowed)

OOPS! I almost forgot.

No one in the pits or ON THE TRACK under 16 years of age.
Sorry to all you parents living vicariously through your pre-pubescent teen's life. You'll have to find some other place to park the double stacker and golf carts.

I am in, you had me at smoked mullet. Can we make it a 2.5/8th mile instead?

[zerofor]

The kids today are VERY different from in the past

And I do agree with Andre that they are looking for a little more than what we are used to.I was at a show in Ohio last summer and the Monster Energy freestyle motocross team was there with their dirt bikes and jump ramps putting on an exhibition at the end of the night.The younger fans ate it up.And the old traditionalists like us just want to show up at a race.But you also have to consider one other factor.Florida has a huge population of snowbirds and people who have just moved here from other states.A lot of these people don't know where all the tracks are or for that matter that they even exist.I spoke to several people at Punta Gorda that didn't even know the place was there before that particular week.On more than one occasion.When I first came down here I knew nothing about Auburndale and Citrus County or Desoto.Had never even heard of them.And the promoters can be their own worst enemy at times.They fail miserably for the most part about getting the word out about their place just in their local community.I have been to 15 tracks in the last year between here in Floridaand up in Ohio.I tried to get a bumper sticker or window cling for my van at each one but came away with very few.Hell I'm willing to cover my ride with them and give you free advertising everywhere I go but first off you have to have them,and then (in the case of Punta Gorda at least) don't try to charge me an arm and a leg for them.You should be GIVING them away at the ticket window in the hopes people will put them on their ride and give you a little very cheap advertising.You can run the damn things off on an office computer for gods sake,with very little investment involved.A billboard around town in high traffic areas,flyers at the local auto parts stores or hamburger joints (everybodys gotta eat) I'm notreally seing any of this done.ESPECIALLY amongst the blacktop tracks,which is where I'm placing my focus and where most of my interest is.

[zerofor]

Oh and by the way Andre

I take exception with the gray haired comment.Mine is falling out before it's turning gray.That is except for my beard.lol

[pintodave]

Possibly the best thread in a while...

Some really great concepts in your original post Don. I think it all starts at the back gate. No race cars in the pits = no fans in the stands, period.

So - the million dollar question. How to get race cars to come out...

Cost is a big factor. Purses matter, but to everyone but the "traveling series" racers, I don't think they are a huge factor. With a 15k motor, WTF is the difference between $275 for 3rd place and $350 for 3rd place? It means jack-crap. Purses in the grand scheme of things are not the thing keeping racers from the tracks - again, JMHO.

Let's examine the mod division @ NSS. This is not intended to pick on NSS, just an example to discuss. There are two modified divisions. How many cars does each division attract on a given night? 5-8? 8 is being very optimistic. Why have two divisions? Why not have one with some common sense rules? The old days it used to be build a bad ass steel head motor. Then you could run alum heads w/ 50 lbs in front of the flywheel. Then that rule kinda went to the wayside. Then people would show up with SB2's for big races. Then you could run a big motor w/ 7 lbs per CI, or you could have a big motor with a two barrel and be 2500 lbs. Then you could do "X" and weigh 56% left, but if you had "Y" then you could be 56.5% or whatever. Look at the damn e-mods now - needs to be a crate motor, or you can run a superstock motor...

Then you are buying a set of 4 tires every night...

Eff'ing nonsense.

One modified division. One set of damn motor rules. Pick a hard tire that lasts a few nights (maybe the grooved tires do?).

Here's your motor rules:
Production block, wet sump
360 CI max
Crank weight rule
23 deg. heads only, alum ok
Make the carb's pass a gauge rule.

Or even go more strict, who cares. Just make a set of rules and stick with them for more than a season. We are hesitant to commit to either division of mods because of the lack of cars and the fact the damn rules change so much.

After having said all of that, that brings me to the back gate fee. Just like the purses, it needs to be reasonable, but it isn't keeping racers away. You could let me in for $10 bucks and I wouldn't come out until I felt there was a division solid enough to put the car back together and show up for.

In the mean time we will keep playing with our ChumpCar - we will keep paying higher entry fees and racing for essentially no purse but race with LOTS of cars and get lots of track time on high-end tracks and have stupid amounts of fun while doing it.

That last paragraph was the hint for short track promoters to do their homework - ChumpCar is growing by leaps and bounds while local roundy round racing has be going downhill for years (but hopefully not out).

-David Castello

[SeminoleWind]

I like good purses as well as anyone, but the truth is, racers would rather do their thing in front of packed grandstands. Regular Bowman Gray Stadium Modified show pays around $1250.00 to the winner (usually 20 mods and 10,000 people. Gresham Motorsports Park pays 800.00 to win Super Trucks, racing tonight (800 people and 7 trucks).

[kendo]

Never made it to Danbury, but it was supposedly THE place to be. .

Check out the parking lot...This isn't Bristol,this was Danbury CT every Saturday night.
Maybe the biggest part of what made the facility popular was that it was very picturesque and pleasing to the eye. With a beautiful grass infield and an American flag bigger than any other I have seen,lit up with a huge spotlight,you could feel the energy in the air even before the 1st motor fired up.

A nice setting combined with a good show is what keeps people flocking to theme parks again & again even though they raise the prices every year.

Not to pick on NSS,but would love to see them move the pits outside the track and landscape the infield and improve on the poor lighting...Its all about atmosphere.