Dutilly Sweeps Triple 50's At Auburndale Speedway

[zerofor]

I'm with Mr.dunn on this one.and there is no way in hell 12 supers puts on a fantastic race anywhere.a mildly entertaining one maybe. What makes for a fantastic race is when there are enough cars on track that at some point the leaders have to negotiate lapped traffic.at what point does that happen with 12 or 13 cars?that would be never.look if you the promoter can't afford to pay out what is needed to ensure a good super field of at least 20 cars simply don't have them on your schedule.make sportsman or trucks your headline division. If you feel that your track needs the supers to thrive than cut the races to 50 laps keep the payouts the same and attract mostly lower tier teams and cars and be happy with that.or else get off your asses go out shake hands kiss baby's and act like your campaigning for president to attract some corporate support to help payout the purse.why do you think NASCAR attendance is in the thousands per race while the weekly tracks attendance generally numbers in the hundreds sometimes only the tens.people want to see cars race not 8 or 10 start a race and 5 or6 finish it.what gets me is that track owners can stay so blind to this fact.obviously most of those track owners never venture off to a track where truly good racing goes on because if they ever did maybe a lightbulb would go on and they would have a enlightening experience. Meanwhile same old same old goes on and you can see the result of this first in the stands and secondly in the number of cars in the pits.

[Darren]

I love it when NASCAR is used as the talking point to win a debate. NASCAR is losing attendance of race fans and tv ratings is on a high time low. They can have 43 cars on the tracks but only about 8 have a chance to win. Owners are complaining about the cost and drivers are overpaid or they are bringing younger drivers in so they can pay them less. You can't use NASCAR and local short track and the same sentence or breath.

[zerofor]

You absolutely can.at one point in history weekly short tracks drew crowds that numbered between 5 and ten thousand on a regular basis,even for regular weekly events. And I attended many in the 70s that were standing room only. NASCAR crowds were far smaller in those days then they are nowadays.but generations pass away economics change for so many including income free time etc and cable and satellite TV come along ,add in the internet and a different younger casual fan has been born.That is a fan who has grown up watching more races on TV than in person and those races have more than any damn 12 or 13 cars in them.so why should they go spend their hard gotten money to see that?are you trying to say NASCAR has less fans show up? Have you ever been to a standing room only weekly blacktop event? I have,40 years ago. But that is not going to happen nowadays unless you make phone calls go meet people and secure corporate money to pay a decent enough purse to draw a decent car count like happens at new Smyrna during the world series or 5 flags for the snowball derby.

[OldSchool+]

Meanwhile, back at the "Big A"

With all due respect to Mr. Dunn (and there is a considerable amount due)--There are not enough Mr. Dunns to keep the local tracks open so, you know, I have somewhere to go watch racing on any given Saturday night.

[mr south 59]

Instead of downing everything is being tried to help bring back late model racing in fla, why don't you try to help and say something positive about what is being tried. Until the tracks step up to the pump and work together, racing as a whole will continue to decline. I think what is going on with Auburndale and Desoto is a good step forward, let's give time to see if this works, at least they are trying and not just sitting behind a keyboard an try to send cars out of state. Send cars out of state sure is not going to help. Just because you do not like a track owner doesn't mean that they are losers, crooks, or any other name that you have called them. I am glad you like the out of state tracks, so go and enjoy yourself and have a great day.

Thanks Oldschool. I just call them like I see him. I just hope that they don't run us all out of Florida before it's too late

Gene,
Somebody had posted that they thought that the payout structure would be good for the competition at this new event. I tried to explain why I thought it wasn't good for the competition and why myself and a few others did not attend the event. I thought some of you might want to hear the opinions of the car owner here in Florida and why we might be having problems coming to some of these events. That was my opinion and I thought I would voice it. Sorry you didn't like it.

Gene, you also ask why I don't do something to try and help bring super late model racing back in the state of Florida. Gene, I did about 70,000 things to help the situation. I built a brand-new super late model. On top of that I bought a hauler and the truck, I bought all the equipment to race it and a four wheeler to push the car. I went and got a corporate sponsors. I go out in the local areas that we are racing in and get local sponsor so they bring their people to the races while we're racing there. And I spent a lot of money at all the race tracks in Florida to do this every year. A lot of money!!! What exactly did you do Gene?

I noticed that you seem to disagree with everything that I said. And I seem to disagree with what you said about Auburndale and DeSoto working together. Like I said before, if you lie with dogs you will get fleas. And anybody who goes into business with that shit bag (One of my names for Rex Guy) that runs Auburndale will likely start itching. That POS Rex Guy has done more in the last few years to KILL motorsports in the state of Florida than the economy ever has done. And he won't be satisfied until he's complete. But I'm sure you're probably disagree with that too.

So Gene. Remember a few years back we were winning some big back to back super late model races and my car was featured on the cover of Late Model Digest. You were working at DeSoto for that other piece of work that used to run the track. You were calling me and asking me if we would bring our super late model over to your track and race it. I told you that you could not pay me enough money to come and run at De Soto as long as John was running the track. (you see, I had watched John slam a lady to the ground one night. I would never support him after that) I feel the same way now about Auburndale. The biggest problem is that there are many many many other racers that feel exactly the same way that I do about Rex. There are many many many of us that will run at other tracks including De Soto that will never ever run it Auburndale as long as Rex is in charge. So I do not think it's a good idea for any other track to be affiliated with him. It will only kill the car count if Rex is part of the equation. Did you see how quick the car count went through the roof just as soon as John left De Soto. The same thing will happen at Auburndale when Rex leaves there.

Gene. In closing I will say, earlier in this thread somebody ask me my opinion. I gave them my opinion. I am known as being "brutally" honest Gene. But the one thing that can be said about that is. I am honest. And sometimes the truth hurts Gene. But you can't change the truth. I honestly hope that De Soto has a great turnout and the affiliation with Auburndale does not hurt them too badly. I already know it has weighed in on my decision. The next time that De Soto runs a standalone super late model race it is not affiliated with Auburndale my car will be there just like it was it every super late model race last year.

Have a good day

[OldSchool+]

Again, respectfully, some fussed about the management at 3 Palms, some about the management at Citrus.

I will assume there are some valid criticisms of the management of Auburndale and Desoto. One has to be careful of what they wish for, though.

Is the goal more shuttered doors? Because once an track "fails", it may or may not get up again.

I recall I used to complain about Speedworld. No more. And I am making some moral mistake or other most every day.

Am thankful that their is a "get out of jail free" ticket with my name on it.

[zerofor]

The result will be more shuttered tracks IF they keep following the same equation because that one isn't working anywhere,not just here in Florida.Look,you could have a track that had something less than a latemodel being the headliner if you could put 20 of them on the track at one time consistently.The first time I was at Auburndale 7 years back they had 23 modified minis and it was the best race of the night.Pay those guys 2500 to win consistently and see how fast the field swells.Trucks sportsman or open wheel modifieds are great headliners too if you have a full field of them.People will support a track if the racing is good and the fields are full and that doesn't have to equate to superlatemodels.Just like the guy who has to build a bomber because he doesn't have the money to field a latemodel the track owners need to do the same.If you cant put a good enough payout to the superlates to keep from bankrupting yourself than go a different route for godsakes.You can still deliver an entertaining event without the late models and maybe if you go out and knock on doors and make phone calls you can come up with some outside support to have a big late model event with a big enough payout to draw a 20 plus car field.

[Darren]

"at one point in history". History is past tense. Gone, just a memory, good or bad. Did anyone go to East Bay Raceway Park Monday night to watch the last open wheel modified race of their winternational event. $10.00 to watch a full field of cars. Did anyone go to East Bay Sunday afternoon to watch the rain out make up from Thursday night. Just a little over 100 people in the grandstands did. If you say no because you did not know about it, then everyone that gets on this board and complains about how racing is leaving us is just talk. If you want it bad enough you will look at every tracks coming events. If you want it bad enough, the smell of motors burning fuel, the smell of race track food being cooked you will be there. If you are old, like me, I understand. If you are on a fix income like me, I understand, we cant' go to them all. But if don't go why want something that does not look like the past to continue.

[zerofor]

"at one point in history". History is past tense. Gone, just a memory, good or bad. Did anyone go to East Bay Raceway Park Monday night to watch the last open wheel modified race of their winternational event. $10.00 to watch a full field of cars. Did anyone go to East Bay Sunday afternoon to watch the rain out make up from Thursday night. Just a little over 100 people in the grandstands did. If you say no because you did not know about it, then everyone that gets on this board and complains about how racing is leaving us is just talk. If you want it bad enough you will look at every tracks coming events. If you want it bad enough, the smell of motors burning fuel, the smell of race track food being cooked you will be there. If you are old, like me, I understand. If you are on a fix income like me, I understand, we cant' go to them all. But if don't go why want something that does not look like the past to continue.

Well Darren I go to much of the time and I am older also and on disability with a myriad of health issues which is why I don't race anymore but I go to more than my share of events blacktop and dirt alike.(I lean more to the blacktop though because my old hometrack was)And I usually bring people with me.But at some point in time as a promoter you have to put a product on the track that delivers.Small fields and empty pits don't do that which is how people close gates.