Matt Albee

[OldSchool+]

"My opinion is filled with 100% factual information."--PJ

Say that slowly out loud. I find it pretty amusing.

Not you, Phil, just that particular sentence.

[Phil Jacques]

"My opinion is filled with 100% factual information."--PJ

Say that slowly out loud. I find it pretty amusing.

Not you, Phil, just that particular sentence.

Smart ass lol should have said "based on". My mistake. Either way, the fact of the matter stands as is.

Honestly, think about this for a second. What real vested interest do I have in FL racing other than a couple friends who can easily fend for themselves. It just so happens that I truly give a crap about FL and am tired of seeing the struggles. If the truth hurts, fix it. I'll be sure to post pictures of the 150+ cars in our pit area and capacity crowd this coming weekend at Thompson Speedway on Monday so you can see how it should and CAN be. All it takes is a willingness to work towards the solution and everyone working together to help each other.

[scottgarrity07]

There's a lot of differences AND similarities to racing here and up nawth. Some of the nawth stuff would work here, some wouldn't. One thing I can say is that SOME track operators in FL are WAAAAAAAAAAY more willing to listen to racers and their ideas to improve things than ANY track operators in Southern New England. That being said, I think operators here, successful or not, need to stop the "shell game". Take the entry fee out of the purse and call it a day. Same with the rediculous "slab fee". Take that out of the purse. The net result would be the same but at least you wouldn't feel like you are getting fleeced by paying for a spot that, many times, was made from concrete poured by a RACER many, many moons ago. Look, we all have a bottom line we're trying to meet, let's just try to be more honest about it. For the record though, minimum fuel purchases and tire mandates don't bother me for big race lengths with big purses and divisions that would require that stuff anyway. Soaking and start n park examples cited.

[Groundpounder]

I'll be sure to post pictures of the 150+ cars in our pit area and capacity crowd this coming weekend at Thompson Speedway on Monday so you can see how it should and CAN be. All it takes is a willingness to work towards the solution and everyone working together to help each other.

Are you posting something that isn't known? Like maybe there are some more successful tracks in the US?

When I race, I don't even think about the promoter, fan count, hot dog prices, etc...not my concern. I pull in and just race for MY enjoyment.... K.I.S.S.

The markets are self correcting and will seek their own levels. BTW, you can't change anything, that's an illusion. I am not trying to be argumentative but that's the facts, Jack...

[Phil Jacques]

There's a lot of differences AND similarities to racing here and up nawth. Some of the nawth stuff would work here, some wouldn't. One thing I can say is that SOME track operators in FL are WAAAAAAAAAAY more willing to listen to racers and their ideas to improve things than ANY track operators in Southern New England. That being said, I think operators here, successful or not, need to stop the "shell game". Take the entry fee out of the purse and call it a day. Same with the rediculous "slab fee". Take that out of the purse. The net result would be the same but at least you wouldn't feel like you are getting fleeced by paying for a spot that, many times, was made from concrete poured by a RACER many, many moons ago. Look, we all have a bottom line we're trying to meet, let's just try to be more honest about it. For the record though, minimum fuel purchases and tire mandates don't bother me for big race lengths with big purses and divisions that would require that stuff anyway. Soaking and start n park examples cited.

By saying "ANY track operators in Southern New England" I can only assume you mean the Arutes? LOL!!! They are about the only ones that don't listen here anymore aside from the Vendetti's but even they are coming around. They are realizing they need us to survive.

NSS seems very willing to listen as does Desoto (so hopefully they will clue in here with the ridiculous slab fees cough cough Linda are you listening?) and Showtime seems to be gaining traction from what OS says. I can not imagine any of these tracks enjoy losing money which they surely are in probably 90% the events they hold so maybe it's time to stop beating a dead horse and try some new stuff. I see lots of potential with changes being made but I also see a lot of lazy band-aids.

[scottgarrity07]

Well, it's been a while, Phil. Lol. I'm sure having a racer like Shawn Monahan running things at The Bowl will help. (Even though he's just about as crazy of an s.o.b. driver that I've ever seen!)

[Phil Jacques]

Are you posting something that isn't known? Like maybe there are some more successful tracks in the US?

When I race, I don't even think about the promoter, fan count, hot dog prices, etc...not my concern. I pull in and just race for MY enjoyment.... K.I.S.S.

The markets are self correcting and will seek their own levels. BTW, you can't change anything, that's an illusion. I am not trying to be argumentative but that's the facts, Jack...

There are surely unsuccessful tracks across the country but nowhere else is there such a great focus of struggling tracks as there is in FL... FACT You have Showtime, Bronson, NSS, Desoto, OSW, Citrus, 3PS and Desoto all within such a tight radius and not one of them consistently pulls more than 40-45 cars in the pit area with 6 or 7 division cards. That's only an average of 7.5 cars per division at best.

Your facts are wrong regarding getting changes to happen. Proof and point is right with the Hoosier 750 tire. Scott started the ball rolling getting interest and talking about it. I sent down a set of tires all the way from Massachusetts for test sessions and shortly thereafter, the decision was made to change to a different and better tire to help the racers and now look at what has been happening at NSS with the Sportsman division. An average of 18.75 cars over 3 events and the other divisions are starting to gain a little steam too with the new tire in place. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it will take time to see the true effects but the fact that you are already seeing some of it speaks volumes.

If you are happy with the way things are, K.I.S.S. is a great mentality to have, but in the grand scheme of things, we are ALL in this as one group, tracks owners promoters drivers teams etc. Simple is good, but we all have to find this solution together. We are doing our job by saying what we need to see changed to really help us race more, the tracks now need to get off their high horses and react and be willing to change. Otherwise, it will continue on the same slow descent it has been on the past 10 to 15 years.

[Phil Jacques]

Well, it's been a while, Phil. Lol. I'm sure having a racer like Shawn Monahan running things at The Bowl will help. (Even though he's just about as crazy of an s.o.b. driver that I've ever seen!)

Shawn literally answers the phone on the 1st ring. He's been great so far and he is very personable. He is the type that will be at the track visiting each driver asking them what he can do to make things better and getting feedback and he will actually forward that to Bemer and it will all be taken into consideration. Shawn is probably one of the best Street Stock/Limited Sportsman drivers I have ever known and not too bad in a Modified either, but he can be crazy to watch lol I am thankful I don't have to race with him this year cause he's definitely the type that won't hesitate to move you for last place lol

[Groundpounder]

Otherwise, it will continue on the same slow descent it has been on the past 10 to 15 years.

This decline...how do you know what the real reason is? Demographics are changing maybe...??? Probably the biggest reason.
All of these track owners suffering the same fate maybe it's not what they are doing but something else. Remember the "Maytag" repairman? Who gets a TV repaired anymore? Ma and Pa stores are all gone.
A tire rule band-aid, is that a real LT fix? I think not.
But, that's just my opinion.

[Phil Jacques]

This decline...how do you know what the real reason is? Demographics are changing maybe...??? Probably the biggest reason.
All of these track owners suffering the same fate maybe it's not what they are doing but something else. Remember the "Maytag" repairman? Who gets a TV repaired anymore? Ma and Pa stores are all gone.
A tire rule band-aid, is that a real LT fix? I think not.
But, that's just my opinion.

A 4-2-2 tire rule rotation would surely help as would a fuel rule. It's all cost savings for the racers. And if you get more in the back gate you will get more in the front and the snowball effect would carry on. Another thing that helps is fair and consistent tech, something that has been gone over multiple times here.

I don't believe in the whole demographics argument at all. It's been proven time and time again there are more than enough cars in FL and more than enough interest in oval racing. They have bigger events like World Series or big money races and all of a sudden cars come out of the woodwork and then they go away. If we can afford to race more, we will race more. That's what racers do. When you have extra ridiculous and uncontrolled costs, guys only race when they feel they can race competitively for the most part. I bet you if each track implemented a 4-2-2 tire rule and fuel rules as well as got rid of excessive fees and made it more affordable to race on a weekly basis for guys, they would very likely show up more often. It goes much deeper than just the stuff on the surface. It's all about the cost.

[luke81]

There are surely unsuccessful tracks across the country but nowhere else is there such a great focus of struggling tracks as there is in FL... FACT You have Showtime, Bronson, NSS, Desoto, OSW, Citrus, 3PS and Desoto all within such a tight radius and not one of them consistently pulls more than 40-45 cars in the pit area with 6 or 7 division cards. That's only an average of 7.5 cars per division at best.

Having moved here from PA I've just come to the conclusion that people in Florida (not just racing people, all people) simply refuse to acknowledge that the rest of the country exists and that there are better ways of doing things than their backward-logic Florida methods. There's a thread on a northeast board talking about how few cars a modified race at Bridgeport pulled yesterday. On Easter Sunday, in the freakin cold they had 27 cars....and that's considered low. When is the last time anything in Florida had 27 cars? It's just a different mentality down here Phil. Down here everything is about just barely getting by. Tracks figure how can we get just enough people in the stands, and just enough cars in the pits to almost pay the bills this week? Hell I hire people to work for me that could care less about making a good living, they just want to as little work as possible and still almost pay their bills.
Nothing will fix racing in this state, because the native racers and tracks are fine with it as it is. They're numb to the stupidity that is 8 car fields, or in the case of Showtime putting what appears to be the same cars on the track in at least 3 classes. Or rolling around for ten minutes under caution trying to figure out where everyone belongs. I've been to Williams Grove and watched them clean up a flip, and re-fire 20 sprint cars faster than these Florida tracks can clean up a spin and get everyone in line. It's a joke, but they accept it.

[Phil Jacques]

Right on Luke, sadly I am just a glutton for punishment because I don't want to see FL racing fail. Right now it's a runaway train that is running out of track.

[Groundpounder]

Gee, I had forgotten how dumb us redneck southerners are!

[Phil Jacques]

[OldSchool+]

Every time I have gone to Showtime the grandstands--which Yoho has added to on multiple occasions--have been virtually filled. Not elbow to elbow, but no visible empty sections.

Every time I have gone to Showtime they have run multiple heats--splitting the cars--for each class.

I dunno about "facts", but that is what my own eyeballs have told me.

Further, as Groundpounder and Jacko (and 50racer) have stated (either directly or paraphrased) it is all a losing deal, it is just what "seems" reasonable to each individual.

Clearly, Showtime seems reasonable to those that are attending, and both gates look healthy to me.

Scott does not go (I believe) because he does not like to hang bodywork weekly. Fair enough. I doubt a nice clean free slab would change his mind.