Orlando fix stupid

[dd38]

Get off the dirt thing. What are us guys with asphalt cars suppose to do with our cars then. Everyone says it's cheaper to run a dirt car. Has anyone seen the engine out of a dirt car after about half the season of eating dirt? Not to mention all the suspension parts. And chassis are only good for maybe, maybe 2 seasons after all the flexing they do. I've worked on a dirt car before and it's not fun. A lot of cleaning and maintaince every week. Makes a good show, but not cheaper to run.

[kendo]

Making Orlando a dirt track might work there, in fact it probably would. But we're just about dirt tracked out in Florida. There's only just so much demand for dirt track racing, and central/north Florida is pretty much saturated at the moment.

Not on Friday nite

[Frasson118]

DD38 says "what are we supposed to do with our asphalt cars?"

The answer is..... RUN THEM. This is the problem Dave. There ARE a lot of asphalt cars around, but most are on jack stands collecting dust. If they were out there running, we wouldn't be having this discussion at all.

How many times per year do you bring your cars out? Maybe 6-8 times a year? And that is only at OSW. I can't recall your cars going anywhere else in years.

The track can't make decisions on the opinions of people who don't support them in the first place. If you came out 30 times a year instead of 1/4 of that, your opinion would carry more weight.

[Frasson118]

PS - Good point Kendo. For an 8:00 show, there is no real need to be out there early. A lot of racers with dirt cars could get there by 7:00 or so, which is within realistic range for a bunch of people to get there.

I'd love to see a dirt track run on Fridays. OSW is the place that could happen.

[kendo]

Car counts for dirt are healthy only to say they All race on sat Night. Ocala and VSP are about 50 per Putnam 35 to 40....WWWAY better than NSS and ORL combined. Think of this,, Super Late Model pratice after pratice after pratice I never understood why these tracks run these guys for 4hrs before the event starts.I heard David Rogers say for the G.Cup race he will loose money due to tires..Super Stock cars sell for 5000 to 9000 They were bombers in the day running around 2000grand!!These two tracks have derailed somewhere.

Lets see...Enough late model classes to make your head spin,$0 to win in a strictly stock after spending $100 to get your family in the pits,$400 to win in an asphalt modified on Hoosiers and race fuel OR $300 to win in a dirt thunder stock running pump gas and DOT street tires??? Easy to see why thunder stocks are pulling 18-20 cars at all 3 dirt tracks while NSS & OSW only have 35 cars in the pits....

Being close to I-95,if NSS or OSW switched to dirt on Friday nite they would draw cars from all 3 tracks north of them plus potential racers south of them...At this point the only thing they have to lose is a few diehard asphalt racing fans...

[kendo]

The overall costs to run dirt are less than they are on asphalt. Its easier to keep cars coming back week after week.

I grew up on asphalt racing, and when I see a great show, it is very exciting. But it IS a dying breed. The costs to do it can't be afforded forever. Tire costs alone are a major problem.

.

I agree 100%...Nothing like watching 24 ground pounding open header asphalt modifieds scream by you...4 heats,2 consi's and a feature,it is what I grew up with,but those days are long gone.

I just finished putting a car together...I can hear NSS from my house but I am going dirt racing and it isn't because of the rest rooms!!!

[Mike Bresnahan]

Everyone compares Florida car counts to those up north. Whats the main difference in the programs? The first one that I see is we now pretty much race all year around in Florida. Theres not much of an "offseason" to rebuild our junk, spend time with our families and just generally recover... There's always another race, so when a guy reaches his limit, he skips a race, now he's out of the points and theres no urgency to get going again. He takes up golf, buys a boat or whatever that doesn't take up 11 mos of his time while keeping him broke in the process...

Up north the weather forces them into a tighter box and gives them time to recoup and recharge. By the time spring comes around they're chomping at the bit to get going and before they know it theres snow on the ground and they're parked again.

[carolwicks]

I agree Mike...

Wish our tracks would ALL close from June to August. Too hot and too rainy....Cooler weather seems to make for better racing...problem is the track owners/leasees would still have to pay their bills...
Having the summer off would help drivers and owners fix things up but at the same time make it hard to survive. They are not doing this as a hobby. This is how they make their living. Maybe race every other week? Just a thought.
Even some of our SLM racers race for a living.. they support their families racing. soooooooo...Catch-22....

[Matt Albee]

Get off the dirt thing. What are us guys with asphalt cars suppose to do with our cars then. Everyone says it's cheaper to run a dirt car. Has anyone seen the engine out of a dirt car after about half the season of eating dirt? Not to mention all the suspension parts. And chassis are only good for maybe, maybe 2 seasons after all the flexing they do. I've worked on a dirt car before and it's not fun. A lot of cleaning and maintaince every week. Makes a good show, but not cheaper to run.

I'll take an asphalt show over dirt anytime, even for sprints and midgets. But I love dirt racing too. But I don't see any Florida dirt tracks packing the grandstands for weekly shows either, so there's obviously a lot more to it than just dirt vs. asphalt.
Jerry mentions all of the asphalt cars on jackstands and i'm wondering why that is. Well actually i'm not really wondering because I've seen it discussed on message boards all over the net. When asked why their asphalt cars are parked, the racers say they don't get paid enough/it costs too much to race. They don't say they're parked so the local track is forced to lay down dirt.
It still comes down to track owners investing the time and money to make the fans want to come out for the races. And it still comes down to the racers being paid a much higher purse. Don mentioned that Orlando doubled their purse, but it would have to be quadrupled to even be close to where it should be. How can a track owner possibly do that? Hire some very good people to go out and get sponsors to pay the bigger purses.
By the way, the back gate costs aren't what's driving racers away. Those prices are painful no doubt, but if your budget is that tight you should really park the car for awhile. I'm not being a smart ass here, I don't want to see anyone have to park because they can't afford it. But the back gate price, the price of race gas, the price of food, the price of licenses, etc. aren't enough to run a racer off . Now the tires are another story.

[kendo]

By the way, the back gate costs aren't what's driving racers away. .

Sure,not if you are going by yourself...Add 3 crew/family members and that's $400/month...Send the family off to the stands were it is cheaper and they may lose interest real quick..

When I tell people that it is $25-30 to get into the pits they all say "are you f-ing kidding me?"

[kletus]

It's about car count !!!

It's all about car count. I grew up at NSS during the 80's. Spent every Sat night there and loved every second of it. Because there were "FIELDS" of race cars. Now we have a "FEW" cars in most classes. WHY YOU ASK. Because to be competitive, you have to have $10,000 Minimum in a mini stock or a $3500 "CRATE" motor in a super stock. Back in the day you cut the fender wells out and put on racing tires and ran whatever engine the junkyard would sell ya for $300. A crank for a winning mini-stock costs twice that. TELL ME I'M WRONG !!! I DARE YA. NOW A REAL STOCK CAR " STRICTLY STOCK " gives you the opportunity to spend $100 every night you race OH sorry forgot about the trophy. We used to have street stock thunder cars and late models and mini stock. Now we have 2 late model classes, 2 modified classes, 1 "STOCK" V8 class. 1 MINI STOCK (THAT COST $15000+) and the junk that runs for fun. Also Bando's and Legends ($$$$$????/NOT CHEAP/MOTORCYCLES). However if you can win every night for 10 years @ $250 a night and buy only 1 tire per year you can almost break even. Watching 5 cars "RACE" when they are 2-3 seconds apart or more go around NSS is not "EXCITING" by any means (not even for the drivers). I would rather run 10th in a stock V8 class racing with somebody than beat 4 other cars by a straightaway every night and call myself a race car driver. I'll stay home and watch the trucks. The new dirt track in Melbourne only races "JUNK" and they have had more fans in one night than OSW has had all year (NO S&#T)

[Winger]

Track owners need to sit in the stands and look around. Are the grandstands painted, splinter free, boards actually connected to the frame at both ends? Do the speakers all work and are there enough of them? Are the restrooms clean and odor free? Are there enough restrooms? Are the lines at the food stands too long? Is the wait for food too long? Are the track facilities including signs and billboards freshly painted and lettered? Are the front or back gate lines too long? Is the wait to get in the front or back gate too long?
Is grass mowed, weeds removed? Is the catch fencing, or any fencing faded, falling down? Are the pits really laid out correctly? Are they ready for additional cars during special events or are they just going to be crammed into every available piece of ground because it's always been done that way?
Look around your track and then take a close look at photos of Martinsville.
Then take a look at EVERY other entertainment venue in your area. You'll see what brings people to an event. And you'll see why people don't bother coming to your events.

I always thought it would be great for track owners/promoters to sit in the stands anonymously and listen to the other race fans. It wouldn't take them too long to see what areas they're lacking in. Of course they'd need to wear some sort of disguise.

[Matt Albee]

I always thought it would be great for track owners/promoters to sit in the stands anonymously and listen to the other race fans. It wouldn't take them too long to see what areas they're lacking in. Of course they'd need to wear some sort of disguise.

A good disguise would be important for several reasons. All it takes is to look around. Ever seen a high school football field or basketball arena that had wavy wooden planks for seats that weren't even connected to anything on one of the ends? I have... at a Florida track that shall remain nameless for now.
Ever seen a baseball field at any level that had more dirt than grass, weeds everywhere? I've seen several Florida tracks that match that description. Ever seen a baseball field that Didn't have freshly painted fences and signs at every single game? Now to be fair, they don't have cars bouncing off of the fences, but how damn hard is it to send somebody out the day before every race event and repaint the walls. Bowman Gray does.
You've got to give people a reason to come to the track, and one of those reasons is that it's a nice, comfortable place to be.

[Matt Albee]

Sure,not if you are going by yourself...Add 3 crew/family members and that's $400/month...Send the family off to the stands were it is cheaper and they may lose interest real quick..

When I tell people that it is $25-30 to get into the pits they all say "are you f-ing kidding me?"

Well, Disney just went up to $93.00 per person I believe, and they pack people in. The pits are always going to be twice or even three times the ticket price of the grandstands. There are reasons for it. I think it would be nice for tracks to help with pit pass costs for children. Some do already. But then there's the debate about allowing children into the pits at all.
Next time someone asks " are you f-ing kidding me " regarding race track ticket prices, say "no i'm not". "But it's the best money I could ever spend because it allows me to race".

[kendo]

Well, Disney just went up to $93.00 per person I believe, and they pack people in. The pits are always going to be twice or even three times the ticket price of the grandstands.

Well than short track racing in Florida will be gone within 15 years if owners/promoters try to survive off the backs of the racers...The pits should be flooded with entry level cars but instead they have 7 car features.How are you going to get the younger generation to replace those leaving the sport?How are you going to get them to put down the video game or I-phone and build a strictly stock at $25 to get in the pits and $0 to win? How are you going to attract big sponsors with 35 cars in the pits and 350 fans in the grandstands?

Times have changed big time in the last 10-15 years.Tires and fuel have almost tripled.Right or wrong,todays racers want to see some return on their racing investment.Tracks need to find a way to cut cost for racers and attract new racers or soon it will be to late....It wont happen by telling them it is just like Disney