New Smyrna Speedway Results 5/30

[Phil Jacques]

According to Larry Mac, it's Snoko fuels.

LOL! Snoko!

[Phil Jacques]

Racing down here is tough, this is my 20th season, I love the competition. I started racing quarter midgets in 1985 at 8 years old. I bought my first full size stock car when I was 18. When I started we had full fields every week at the 3 dirt tracks I raced at for my first 2 full seasons. I have watched the turnover at so many of the Florida tracks, and have watched several open and then close only to open and close again. Worse than that 5 tracks that I have been too are now closed, 4 of those are completely gone. It's depressing, but there are 3 factors as to why I chose to race for points this season at Newsmyrna.

The first is a driver change in the super and pro late model division, Brad May who I went to kindergarten with and am still best friends with picked up the Sears racing ride which races at Newsmyrna almost exclusively.

The second is the Nascar affiliation, you have the opportunity to race for a nascar division title just by racing at Newsmyrna.

Third as I mentioned in the other post, I lost my only sponsor, and this is the closest track to me racing my type car.

I have no sponsors, not that I have tried extremely hard to find one, but I have spoke to several what I thought were potential sponsors and most don't know there is a race track around, or just don't see the benefit with the amount of exposure they would be getting.

The payouts at Newsmyrna are the lowest in the state, but it is the nicest track to race on anywhere around. The surface is smooth and fast, there is an excellent outside groove, and we are treated well as racers. I wish there was a magic answer to improve the show, car counts, and fan counts.

Patrick Thomas 25

The only magic answer is hard work. Every one of these tracks is capable of doing this. That's all we do here, and it pays off in the end. It just doesn't happen over night and that's what people there seem to expect. Like I said, it took us 3 years to get Thompson back to being great. It just takes time and effort. That's really all it is.

[Weftracing96]

1. You can tech hard when you have car count. Down here, guys will cuss you out and say "im loadin my shiznit up and I aint comin back" . And they won't until the next regime takes over. Drivers go back and forth between what track they perceive is giving into them. You threaten to leave up north, they will tell you to take your clown show on the road.

2. Having a marketing person to do this stuff costs money. Remember, nobody owns their track outside of New Smyrna and their is only so much time in the day. and you said it yourself, who wants to sponsor a place that has no cars or fans. So it's a chicken and egg thing. You don't have capital to increase the purse out of your own pocket, but you can't get sponsors until you get cars and fans. Not as easy as it sounds.

3. Racers will just go to another track that their car fits in. Watching that happen right now. Unless owners cooperate on this, it won't work and all tracks and car counts will suffer.

4. They do have appearances down here. However, payin for print and radio costs money. It's s capital issue.

5. The death knell of FL racing. Nobody cooperates and it screws all of them. They all wanna do their own thing. Really, it only takes one to schedule on top of people and it all goes to hell. This in my opinion is the single biggest issue in FL racing. Cooperation is free and costs nothing.

[OldSchool+]

Down here we have a big word "p-a-r-a-p-h-r-a-s-i-n-g."

It means restating the gist of the idear.

What did I miss? Your big thought, er, suggestion, is telling folks what to do.

I am simply stating things how they are, and doing it politely.

BTW, why aren't you running a modified 3x a week? You mentioned someone who is... Why not just do what they are doing? Am guessing you cannot get the money.

And consider switching to boxers, you seem uptight.

What happened to the fun you was having?

ps--Post #63 is a winner!

pps--Actually it is Snoko in "his Chebalay".

[Matt Albee]

Racing down here is tough, this is my 20th season, I love the competition. I started racing quarter midgets in 1985 at 8 years old. I bought my first full size stock car when I was 18. When I started we had full fields every week at the 3 dirt tracks I raced at for my first 2 full seasons. I have watched the turnover at so many of the Florida tracks, and have watched several open and then close only to open and close again. Worse than that 5 tracks that I have been too are now closed, 4 of those are completely gone. It's depressing, but there are 3 factors as to why I chose to race for points this season at Newsmyrna.

The first is a driver change in the super and pro late model division, Brad May who I went to kindergarten with and am still best friends with picked up the Sears racing ride which races at Newsmyrna almost exclusively.

The second is the Nascar affiliation, you have the opportunity to race for a nascar division title just by racing at Newsmyrna.

Third as I mentioned in the other post, I lost my only sponsor, and this is the closest track to me racing my type car.

I have no sponsors, not that I have tried extremely hard to find one, but I have spoke to several what I thought were potential sponsors and most don't know there is a race track around, or just don't see the benefit with the amount of exposure they would be getting.

The payouts at Newsmyrna are the lowest in the state, but it is the nicest track to race on anywhere around. The surface is smooth and fast, there is an excellent outside groove, and we are treated well as racers. I wish there was a magic answer to improve the show, car counts, and fan counts.

Patrick Thomas 25

All very good points. And that's the case for most racers i imagine.

Why tow across the state instead of racing at the track near you? Payouts are terrible, so why multiply your issues by spending the money to travel?

I personally have never seen any evidence of the nascar affiliation helping a race track, or a racer. If it ever did , i must have missed it. And that's a shame because the nascar logo should help open lot's of doors. It gets lighting for the track, a couple of billboards, possibly suite tickets for the track owner, and nothing for the racers.

And thanks to track owner incompetence, sponsors for tracks and for racers are hard to come by. I rarely even see race track results in on-line newspapers from NSS. I notice every other sports result in their local paper, just nothing about NSS. Local companies have never heard of the local tracks, and don't want to spend their marketing money on an unknown.

[Phil Jacques]

Down here we have a big word "p-a-r-a-p-h-r-a-s-i-n-g."

It means restating the gist of the idear.

What did I miss? Your big thought, er, suggestion, is telling folks what to do.

I am simply stating things how they are, and doing it politely.

BTW, why aren't you running a modified 3x a week? You mentioned someone who is... Why not just do what they are doing? Am guessing you cannot get the money.

And consider switching to boxers, you seem uptight.

What happened to the fun you was having?

I don't enjoy ignorance. There is a large difference between paraphrasing and quotes. I have never held the proverbial gun to anyones head and said DO THIS. I don't run a modified because I chose not to. I could if I wanted to. I prefer the division I run because I can maintain a car that can win more readily. My car knowledge is based around Sportsmans and Late Models. Modifieds I am just learning now. I'd love to drive one one day, but I was also not brought up in Modifieds, I was brought up around Street Stocks/Sportsmans. My late uncle raced at Seekonk for years in one and I spent many nights there watching him. My boss in FL raced Sportsmans, so that's how I got into those. Rocco was brought up in modifieds, as was Preece. You race mostly what you know. It tends to stay that way for most.

[Phil Jacques]

1. You can tech hard when you have car count. Down here, guys will cuss you out and say "im loadin my shiznit up and I aint comin back" . And they won't until the next regime takes over. Drivers go back and forth between what track they perceive is giving into them. You threaten to leave up north, they will tell you to take your clown show on the road.

2. Having a marketing person to do this stuff costs money. Remember, nobody owns their track outside of New Smyrna and their is only so much time in the day. and you said it yourself, who wants to sponsor a place that has no cars or fans. So it's a chicken and egg thing. You don't have capital to increase the purse out of your own pocket, but you can't get sponsors until you get cars and fans. Not as easy as it sounds.

3. Racers will just go to another track that their car fits in. Watching that happen right now. Unless owners cooperate on this, it won't work and all tracks and car counts will suffer.

4. They do have appearances down here. However, payin for print and radio costs money. It's s capital issue.

5. The death knell of FL racing. Nobody cooperates and it screws all of them. They all wanna do their own thing. Really, it only takes one to schedule on top of people and it all goes to hell. This in my opinion is the single biggest issue in FL racing. Cooperation is free and costs nothing.

Again, it's a cycle. To get those cars to tech, you need to treat the racers well. When you treat them well they show up, but in order to treat them well you need fans to put money in the bank by sitting in the stands and eating food, to get the fans you need cars. It's a HUGE balancing act... It's not voodoo or some other mythical scientific equation. It takes time, and effort. I think Desoto and Showtime have good enough shows they can get some of those sponsors. NSS has some work to do. Citrus and 3ps are lost causes right now that need a complete overhaul. There is HUGE potential right now to do so. They just need to put in the effort. There really is no evidence of any of that from what I have seen

[scottgarrity07]

Now play nice there Philthy. Old School and you are good guys with your hearts in the right place. However I have to agree with Philthy. If your points are accurate OS then why are some of the Dirt Tracks around here as or more successful than the asphalt joints up nawth? I think its because they do the 5 points Philthy said. The money in FL in your pocket doesnt get larger when you turn onto the access road to the Dirt Track...

[OldSchool+]

It's all good.

Here is a secret: It's all good because my happiness does not depend on northern racing doing anything.

PS--I take one gate or another to another to a Florida Track frequently. Last week I bought a cheeseburger. That is the part I contribute, first hand, to Florida Racing.

That and my own brilliant "suggestions"--those are free, and worth every penny.

[Phil Jacques]

Now play nice there Philthy. Old School and you are good guys with your hearts in the right place. However I have to agree with Philthy. If your points are accurate OS then why are some of the Dirt Tracks around here as or more successful than the asphalt joints up nawth? I think its because they do the 5 points Philthy said. The money in FL in your pocket doesnt get larger when you turn onto the access road to the Dirt Track...

[OldSchool+]

Scott,

I will give you that one because I am not familiar with the dirt scene.

Some guesses--
>The tar bill is far cheaper.
>Dirt folks seem to just have more of that northern mindset going on. Why? I dunno, dirt was sort of first, perhaps.

How do you explain it, Mr. Scott?

[OldSchool+]

Phil, I see a gantry in your nice image.

Did your ship blow up before getting off the ground?

[Phil Jacques]

Phil, I see a gantry in your nice image.

Did your ship blow up before getting off the ground?

No, that is your economic theory blowing up in your face with proof from Scott.

[OldSchool+]

Negatory, there, Pheel.

It simply means the dirt guys give more of a (go on, use your word...).

And mo power to them. And mo power to your Northern scene.

But I could mortgage the house and go racing. I am not.

NSS could probably rustle up more sponsorship, but they are content with their business model (NSS, apologies if I am guessing wrong).

Yoho is apparently making a move.

The question remains, to whom are you speaking? The promoters? The racers? Do you really think anyone is jumping on the phone...?

Same same, two discussions. I agree you have good points. But you cannot agree that the South is what it is, and it is analogous to telling someone their girlfriend is a dog--it ain't changing nothing, except maybe alienating the friend.

[scottgarrity07]

Dammit Phil, you blew up Florida! (Palm trees in foreground). Why don't you blow up those disgusting toilets at The Speedbowl instead? They said they were going....

All I can say is the owners/lesees of the 4 remaining worthwhile tracks in FL need to get together and go to VSP and see what VSP is doing that they are not. THEN sit down together and actually work together before they all vanish. This Rex hates NSS, Yoho hates Denny, and vice versa crap hurts EVERYONE. We the racers and fans lose while they lose money while padding their egos. Park the egos at the door, align rules, work on your schedules TOGETHER and vow to work with each other. Hialeah, St Augustine, USA, and Lake City are dead. OSW, Citrus, 3PS and Bronson are on life support. The clock is ticking and the status quo ain't working. Turn a blind eye and your joint could be on the meat hook next.