Now here's an interesting rumor

[Phil Jacques]

Yup! And the ungrateful bastards don't even give me style points!

lol smart ass

[kendo]

In many cases, oval track is not paying the bills and keeping the place open, other events are.

Not at the dirt tracks,,,we drift every week,,,wait,maybe you are onto something

[OldSchool+]

shhhhhhh--there's a group that wants to rip the pavement off OSW already!

WHICH, by the way, would put the place that much closer to a parking lot.

Kendo--that is the deal, they like the "sideways" thing, it is the racing surface they have wrong!

Curiously, the moment or two that happen to see part of a "the last and the curious" movie they are drifting through parking garages and across san fran and who knows where else. The thing that gets me is that I think the ricers truly believe that is the fast way across town.

I also used to watch monster trucks a little until they all started rolling them over apparently on purpose during "free style".

I would rather watch (ho-hum) tractor pulling, at least that is an honest competiton.

[Phil Jacques]

Not at the dirt tracks,,,we drift every week,,,wait,maybe you are onto something

Tell me I am wrong though... You really can't... A lot of the paved tracks around anywhere, not even just FL would have a hard time staying afloat without alternative means of income from other types of facility usage besides oval racing.

I don't know anything about dirt other than it's awesome to watch, but for whatever reason, they really seem to have the right formula going on. I do know most of their big shows involve big pay, not just $1000 to win. Most of those guys race for $1000 on a regular night it seems. I dunno what to tell ya when it comes to that but dirt DEFINITELY has it going on right now.

[Phil Jacques]

shhhhhhh--there's a group that wants to rip the pavement off OSW already!

OSW will never be dirt, there was a dirt track on the adjacent property and where is it now? They will dig it up and build a road course before they go to a dirt track.

Oh and my buddy Scott drives the Rockstar Engergy truck from time to time and will be the first to tell you that monster trucks are just like drifting... all show. But it's entertaining, now isn't it?

[OldSchool+]

Not compared to the hobby stocks at Showtime.

Not to me, but clearly to many.

It's why new cars come in so many different colors...

[UREZ2PASS]

OSW will never be dirt, there was a dirt track on the adjacent property and where is it now? They will dig it up and build a road course before they go to a dirt track.

I wouldn't call that thing that was there a dirt track. Sure, it was dirt and a track but it was not a real dirt track. It was fitting for a gocart track.

I agree, OSW will never be dirt. It will be a nice campground for the drag strip one day though.

[Lurkin]

They drift at 5 Flags too. I agree 100% with just about everything Phil has said. I don't watch Monster Trucks, and my buddy thinks I must be godless to not go when they come to town. I'm not going to the drift events either but from what I hear they're popular. I'm with old school though, I hafta wonder what would happen if you ever got them all out there at once going for the win.

[kendo]

Tell me I am wrong though... You really can't... A lot of the paved tracks around anywhere, not even just FL would have a hard time staying afloat without alternative means of income from other types of facility usage besides oval racing.

.

And yet they get it done up north with the gates closed 7+ months out of the year.
Makes you think every track in Florida would be a gold mine.

[Phil Jacques]

They drift at 5 Flags too. I agree 100% with just about everything Phil has said. I don't watch Monster Trucks, and my buddy thinks I must be godless to not go when they come to town. I'm not going to the drift events either but from what I hear they're popular. I'm with old school though, I hafta wonder what would happen if you ever got them all out there at once going for the win.

I bet most of those guys drifting can really drive. They obviously have stellar car control. Putting them out there to race rather than slide could be pretty friggin sweet!

[Phil Jacques]

And yet they get it done up north with the gates closed 7+ months out of the year.
Makes you think every track in Florida would be a gold mine.

Tracks up here don't operate 1 night a week and we have a much larger following of cars and fans than there SEEMS to be down south. Thompson has a Road Course, Oval, Golf Course, Banquet hall and a few other things they use for income, not to mention the Hoenig family has a very successful construction company and a majority of the electricity on the facility is produced through large diesel generators which helps cut down some of the overhead. The road course operates almost daily from May to October so they have massive income from club racing, sanctioned races, racing schools, private rentals. We only have 7 events on the oval at Thompson these days.

Stafford operates multiple nights a week as well as having a large banquet hall as well, in addition the facility is paid off so overhead is rather low there too. They also do numerous private test session rentals at the track for income.

Waterford has car shows, thrill shows, oval racing and income from Connecticut Power and Light for use of their property as a Staging Area for trucks and equipment during large weather events.

Seekonk runs their oval program, thrill shows and car shows.

I can not speak for any tracks north of MA as I do not frequent them, but all these tracks have various ways of bringing in money.

[OldSchool+]

And there is a curiosity.

All though some are from the south--mostly in the last 10 years or so, most of Florida's population is from the Northeast.

How did all the racers manage to selectively stay up there...?

Perhaps the racing keeps them too poor to move?

Perhaps they don't want to move away from the good racing?

Go to an event at Volusia during speedweeks--those fans are there for the heats, the D mains, C mains, B mains, and whatever else they have until 2am.

They are hardy, and they are hep to what is going on.

ps--have never seen one of those big 'ol boys in a Stafford (or wherever) jacket that looked to be a drifting fan (lol!).

[Phil Jacques]

I would never say one racer is more diehard than another. But I will say the car counts are much higher here. We average 20 to 25 cars per division at almost every single track that I frequent. There is in most cases very strict tech here, great payouts in a lot of cases, tires that last more than 1 week for the supporting/budget divisions, rules that mostly make sense and allow cars to travel in a lot of cases and a lot of deeply rooted racing families up here.

Be it known, that when someone like Scott or I come in and start suggesting things to change because "that's how it's done up north" it's not because we think our way is better, it's because we have experience with a formula that works well and truly have the passion to try and help make a difference and make Florida racing the best it possibly can. Things are on a gradual upswing and we want that to continue. "us northerners" aren't out to change things, we are out to help.

[OldSchool+]

Got it, but why do you think that more of that experience (including the money) has not moved to the South, where racing is near year round and the house that the race car is in is also warmer year 'round?

[Lurkin]

You can't compare racing up there to down here. Up there, they are couped up 6 months out of the year with lots of time to rebuild the car and or save their money to attend races. Down here the weather is better most of the time so you have to compete with everything else there is to do outside. Not to say things like fair tech or common rules isn't universal, of course it is. I think those are the things that is making racing stronger and stronger up here at 5 Flags, Mobile, Montgomery and Opp. But many things are apples to oranges.