Showtime Speedway - Sprint Cars (NON Winged & Winged) Plus Super Late Models May 3

[owm61]

I'm not a pavement guy, but I may have to check this one out.

Come on with it luke, if they get it in I'm sure you won't be disappointed , IT's all good rick,yur right it's florida and I hope somebody gets a show in cuz I need a good racing fix, Lurkin you are correct yoho will go outside the box, lol

[Lurkin]

Posted on FB an hour ago 97 cars checked in!

[OldSchool+]

??

Are two of them numbers 10 & 77?

[Lurkin]

Dunno, I'm not there. But with 97 cars I'd bet you could find a couple with those numbers.

[OldSchool+]

C'mon Now!

For those of us not fortunate enough to make it--how did it all go?

Was Yoho reasonably well behaved?

[Bigray]

I left the track just before midnight and non-wing were just coming on the track, their were 2 more classes to run after them.

the racing was good in most classes IMO, with so many classes on the schedule the show dragged on, the racing was their in some classes but follow the leader in other classes, the car count in the high draw classes could've been better but given the rain / clouds were present right up to Start time and didn't clear out till 7,

their was racing, crashing, retaliation, tempers, wall hitting / a normal Showtime evening and as my wife put it Yoho likes to talk.

[OldSchool+]

Excellent report!

Sounds like a good, but late, time!

[luke81]

Well, I did decide to go. I left just before 11pm, right after the winged sprints ran. At that point I was tired, wet, and just done with the Yoho Show. As I already mentioned I'm not a fan of pavement racing in general, so if the pavement fans liked it then it's all good. Yeah he had about 100 cars (according to their FB) but they also had just about every possible class running. A couple points: The 4cyl mod feature was very good, even with only 6 cars. But there were at least 2 cars that the drivers obviously don't fit it, heck in the 00 car the driver's helmet sticks 2 inches out of the top of the cage. That's real dumb! Next, everything takes so long! Seriously, stopping the whole field and sending them off one car at a time to get a lineup? What is this, 1985? Use a raceceiver like every other track does and you can line up the entire field in half a lap. Next thing, I'm still baffled by how they decide who gets their spot back after a yellow and who doesn't. It seems they must have someone flipping a coin each time. Next thing, classes. Sorry bomber drivers, there was WAAAY to much mini stock out there last night. Enduro bombers, kids bombers, regular bombers, bomber make up features, bomber figure 8....I'm sorry guys, they are just not that exciting to run hours and hours of them. Lets talk about the flagman. Is he watching the track or is he watching airplanes in the sky? Twice 4cyl cars got pounded hard when they had looped it and stopped on the track coming out of turn4. Both incidents didn't need to happen, there was plenty of time to throw a yellow and slow the field. Again, a benefit of putting racecievers in the drivers ear. Someone is going to get seriously hurt. They put kiddie pools full of water at each end of the infield. If you're on fire you're supposed to get yourself out of the car and go jump in the pool. Ok then? You'd better be able to get yourself out, because a tow truck driver wearing coveralls certainly isn't going to help you out of an alky fire. I dunno. I guess I just don't get it, and as long as pavement fans and drivers had fun that's cool.

[Trash Inturn4]

Excellent observations Luke81. After 3 hours of what seemed like nothing but Mini Stock classes, and then the second Mini Stock Feature of the night with 34 cars came out, and we still hadn't seen the Late Models or Sprints, I couldn't take another 4 cyl race, that was it for me. I may of missed some good racing after I left, but I couldn't take anymore of the YoYo Show.

[OldSchool+]

Promoters, PLEASE consider...

My Dad, 88, after two strokes and with only one eye left, drove 2 hours by himself in his Trans Am and stayed for the whole show!

That said, an open request to any promoter that may read this post:

Please, PLEASE, reverse the features when it is late or has rained--or most importantly looks like it might rain.

I got the original plan--let's build excitement until the final mighty event of the evening.

But when it is late it just gets to be too much for some and off they go (like the last two posters--and who knows how many more) disappointed. This includes family, casual racers, and Late Model or Sprint Car fans.

As you know, the idea is for the fans to leave happy and come back soon--and often.

IMO, the order would have been the Late Models, Sprints, support V8 classes, and then the 4 cylinder classes.

The hard core fans, or those with an interest in the lower classes, will happily stay, and those that wish can happily go. I simply do not see a downside.

All that said, hats off to Robert Yoho, the guy that ran his race when no one else did!

[egspeedway]

Old school has hit the nail on the head and his comments are worthy of a separate thread. A savvy promoter would do this in the blink of an eye. Yes you might lose a few concession sales if the people there for the premium classes left before the support classes. If you have too many classes split their schedule like North Florida and Bubba do. One of the key differences between the northern and southern tracks is the north and Midwest do all they can to have the program over BEFORE 11 pm. You might also be surprised to see how much of your crowd is there to see the support classes as these are local fans and friends of the competitors. As a past owner of a late model you don"t know how thankful we were to be able to load up and be ready to leave or be gone before the last features. Sadly it appears track owners/promoters seem to only want to respond when they feel wronged and have their ass on their shoulders

[OldSchool+]

ps--

Thx for the kind words, EG!

To finish the thought--use that same model more and more aggressively if rain is coming.

Outside of starting early, reverse and skip whatever you have to in order to get "the show"--as advertised--in.

That is, skip the heats, skip the driver introductions, skip the cars parked on the track, skip the raffle giveaway... all of it.

Run the main event, then all of the support stuff in reverse order of importance.

Here is an upside (think $$)--get the "big deal" in first and there is a lesser chance of having to reschedule or proclaiming "Keep your ticket stub and get in next week for free".

[Frasson118]

In general, the headlining classes & their fans come from a much further distance than the support classes do. If I'd gone to Sunshine, it's doubtful I'd have gotten home before 2:30. If they'd run the classes I CAME to see earlier in the order, I'd maybe get home around 12:30..... which is about the time the local fans & drivers would have.

I understand the 'build-up' to the big-show of the night, but if you're running 9 classes, don't run your 2 highest classes LAST.

I'm a night owl by nature, and late nights at the track don't bother me at all (unless it was horrible time management to make it that late).... but I'm the exception not the rule.

Not many people, and virtually NO families, are perfectly fine getting home after 1 AM. Get the big show IN, then fill it out as you go.

[Benny The Mule]

Without the (support) classes who are die hard racers too (locals) as mentioned, there would not be a track for the (premier) division as everyone wants to call it.

split it up, i agree, but every other class shouldn't roll over because the latemodels are there. they used to be locals too and many still are.

[luke81]

Without the (support) classes who are die hard racers too (locals) as mentioned, there would not be a track for the (premier) division as everyone wants to call it.

split it up, i agree, but every other class shouldn't roll over because the latemodels are there. they used to be locals too and many still are.

I agree, and they put on decent races too. There was just too much of them for one night especially in combination with all of the other classes they were running.