It's Not Just the Short Tracks Hurting for Cars...

[ancrdave]

Many of the top racing series in this country are not doing well this year... Not sure why since the economy is "supposed" to be rebounding etc.
Look at NASCAR... They have managed to get at least a 43 car field at all the Sprint Cup races primarily by making sure the lower-tier teams show up to fill out the field... Probably a few "deals" being used... The Nationwide Series has not had to send anybody home since Talladega but have "managed" to get a 40 car field still much in the same way Sprint Cup has since there are usually 5-8 cars that are nowhere near being competitive... It's the Truck series that is really hurting... The only time more than 36 Trucks showed was at Daytona (one truck DNQ)... They couldn't even get a full field at Charlotte (started 33) and only 27 are entered in this week's race at Texas... The K&N East series has done OK starting with 30 cars at New Smyrna and 37 at Richmond, but just 20 showed up last week at Bowman-Gray... perhaps some of the teams didn't want to have to knock the dents out of their cars LOL... The K&N West Series best field was 26 ay Irwindale but two of their races have started 19 cars... Even when the two combined for a race at Iowa, only 37 showed...
ARCA is really hurting... The only race they've come close to a full field was at Daytona... Only 25 showed at last week's road course race at Millville... and, if you've watched any of these races, many of the cars are just not competitive at all... Of course, if you show up, you'll race!
Indy Car managed to get a 33 car field for the Indy 500 but fell off to 22 at Detroit last weekend...
And... how about the once proud Pro Cup Series... car counts this year of 8, 13 and 9...
Let's hope things rebound pretty soon... Hope this topic makes for some good conversation on here...

[tom77hmstd]

When Nascar cut the heck out of the start money (trucks only pay around 6k to start now) you can't buy the fuel to travel the country let alone field a race truck or car. The Nationwide cars used to get about 20k now it is around 12.

[Darren]

Lets put the the blame on were it belongs on the Trucks and Nationwide series, its Bush's fault (Klye).

[ancrdave]

Just look at the stands for the Truck race at Dover Friday... nobody there... but if Earnhardt, Jr. were in that #51 truck, the place would be at least half full!!

[dd38]

Overall it's just too expensive. Take me for example Dave. You know I raced every weekend for years. Just cannot do it anymore. Fuel is out of site. Tires are the same. When I ran St. Pete we run on the same Hoosiers we run now (F-45). Back then they were $368 a set. Just about double now. It's the weekly feeding of the cars. Plus times have changed and the interest is not there anymore. You have to be into Imports and do Drifting, Drags and whatever else goes along with it.

[kendo]

Not sure why since the economy is "supposed" to be rebounding etc.
...

LOL,,,Where did you get this fact from ?

[egspeedway]

I am amazed they get the number of cars they do for the Nationwide series. A Nationwide regular is realistically looking at a 7 or 8 place finish the same as a win. This series has become an extra test session for the cup drivers. They have the money thanks to their sponsors desire to have their rolling billboard on the TV as much as possible and therein lies a big part of the problem. There simply aren't the number of big dollar sponsors there were before the bottom fell out. As for the local tracks I agree the cost of racing is exhorbitant. I am thank for the 10 years we had before it caught us too.

[fred23]

It just costs too much money to race these days......almost every truck in the camping world trucks is a leased or cup team ride.....they make their money from people paying 30k to 100k per race to lease a ride.....Kyle Bush's truck is a 100k to lease and you better win.....it costs the same or less to lease a nationwide car for a race because it pays 2 or 3 times more than the trucks.......Arca and K&W series you have no chance but to spend big money just to show up.....win or lose, you lose big
Like DD38 said....it costs too much to feed the racecar on a weekly basis.....guys are just picking their races when they can afford it or have the time and desire to do it.......You could win every time out in a sportsman car and buy tires every 3 races and lose money.......I know....I know its a hobby....just sayin.......we used to get or buy cheap LM take off tires, soak em every week and run them for a couple , 3 weeks and run up front and be able to break even......no more take offs, tread tires suck after 1 week and cost more money than ever......people do not have discretionary cash like they used to......used to race 20-25 times a year with two cars, now 6-8 times a year with one.

[Dana Barlow]

It is $, but its not just $,its that there are a lot less kids wanting to race that have any skills to work on or build much of any thing,and all most all race track have very very old rules,so none of the kids can use there computer skills that do have. Now if you don't know what I just said and how it cut back' every thing to do with racing as us old guys know it;

[scottgarrity07]

Great post Fred. I agree with everything you said, especially about ths tires. These current treaded Hoosiers just plain suck. The track operators (all of them) can't see the forest from the trees on this deal. They are good enough to win ONE RACE. At $520 a set, racing for $400-$1000 to win is hard to manage. And now, to boot, they are putting the entry level Stocker classes on these tires! If they would just realize that we have a discretionary income for racing. No matter what, I am going to spend X amount of money on tires. If $X is gonna buy me enough tire to be competitive for 6-8 races, then that's all I'm gonna run! Give me a tire that is competitive 3 races and I can afford to run much, much more. YOU STILL MAKE THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY OFF ME FOR TIRES, BUT I SHOW UP WAY MORE OFTEN AND YOU GET A BETTER CAR COUNT AND A BETTER SHOW FOR THE FANS (MORE FANS=MORE $). TRACK OWNERS-WANT A BETTER CAR COUNT IN 2015? GET US ALL OFF OF THE HOOSIER 650/450 AND ONTO A TIRE THAT LASTS MORE THAN ONE RACE! (These tires were never intended for all the classes they are on now, they were intended for the OWMs originally).

[Tim Pafford]

make a class fun and affordable and it will survive todays economy..low horsepower engine running premium pump gas,small cheap tire,sportsman style car are just some of the things that may help.there is no limit to technology and no limit to what people will spend until the wells go dry..the racers will hate backing up to go forward but without it races will continue to fail..some areas still have big races due to population and good economy..who will take charge and limit the spending?i dont know the answer but i do know until happens racing is in decline.

[scottgarrity07]

Tim, the car you are describing is exactly what a Sportsman with a 602 GM crate motor is right now. 350 hp on Super Unleaded. All we need is a tire that can last. There's a ton of parked Sportsman out there that would run more often if we had a better tire to make it more affordable to be competitive.

[Tim Pafford]

scott its the class to run if the proper tire is found that is cheap and last multiple races..

[luke81]

At the local level it's a snowball effect I think. I've only had my car out once this year because of time and travel issues. I simply am not going to drive from Clearwater to Lake City or Voluisa to race, and when my series has been in Ocala I've had things going on. In turn when I do go out I'm already so far behind the ball with my lack of seat time this year that I'm running for 10th place straight away, which is less incentive to go out.
On the big time levels it's just a dollar to donuts issue. There's no sense in shelling out 100K or so for a ride in the trucks for no payback and very little possibility of moving up unless you're already on a development track.

[Matt Albee]

LOL,,,Where did you get this fact from ?

He probably got it from the record highs that the stock market has been turning in. You should pay more attention.