Battle at the Beach!

[kendo]

But it's done, looks like the tour mod races at NSS during Speedweeks are a thing of the past and now I have one less reason to go to Speedweeks.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 17 tour mods last night.
14 skinny tire mods.
All in all it was a good show.

[Frasson118]

Matt..... I'm not seeing these huge differences from the past that you're seeing.

The Mods that come to New Smyrna have NEVER been NASCAR sanctioned, and have brought the same amount of cars as in years past, with the exception of dropping the S-K Mods that ran with them.

They started the week with 14 I believe, had 17 last night (slight improvement), and I know of at least 3 more cars already in the pits that didn't run last night. 20 cars isn't a horrible field.

As for nascar's 'best interest', that's purely a dollars & cents issue. As a publicly traded corporation, they have to show PROFIT from their endevours, not tradition or common sense.

Yes New Smyrna lost a night if racing (which I doubt breaks the hearts of the track employees mind, as they get a much needed break), but they GAINED a National touring series and a TV package. They've never had either one before.

Nobody would love to see the Richie Evans race become a full-point Tour show more than me, but I also understand why it would be a huge gamble of Robert Harts money. My hope is that somehow NSS can hook up with a major sponsor that could make this a reality.

I don't see Daytona building a 'real' track on their property, and the grandstands are being dimantled, so I don't know where Daytona is gonna be able to continue this event.

Last I knew, NASCAR doesn't own one square inch of New Smyrna Speedway, and has ZERO financial interest in it. They are the sanctioning body and that's about it. They get their check from the track, wish you luck, and head straight to the bank to deposit your check.

The one thing that encourages me though, is that the K&N race looked very successful at the front gate..... better crowd than I'd seen in years. It probably made a decent profit from that night, and maybe it was enough for them to think 'maybe we CAN pull this off'. If they didn't make money with K&N, they will lose their asses with Tour Mods.

And losing a boatload of money has never been on Robert Harts 'to-do' list.

A good strong sponsorship (maybe Jegs?) might put it over the top, and make this a reality, but if every dime would have to come out of Roberts pocket first.... I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Matt Albee]

We weren't really talking about this years race, the biggest issue was the year before when virtually the entire field of mods packed up after the " Apron " and went home instead of racing for the rest of the week at NSS.
Concerning this year, i'm glad to see some of them are back at NSS. Certainly not all if they only had 17, but a step in the right direction.
I haven't been over this year, we're thinking about coming over for the trucks at the Speedway and I hope we can get to NSS the following night.