Touring Series--Pro vs Con

[OldSchool+]

So, on the one hand the "good" cars generally travel with a Touring Series for the prestige and larger purses.
And the fans enjoy the cars and the car count and the shows.

But on the other, a pattern seemingly occurs:
>A weekly class gets more pricey and car count drops.
>A Series comes along and runs special events. Weekly events fade away.
>Eventually (or not so eventually) the Series itself becomes prohibitively expensive for all parties and...goes away.

>Consequently, we are left in worse shape that we were to begin with.

What say you...?

[Boneman]

That certainly is a lot of dots to connect. If we assume that your three step pattern is correct, then there needs to be a forth step that is best illustrated by sprint cars. When the TBARA fizzled out after 40+ years, individual tracks put on their own independent races for all of 2015. Showtime, De Soto and Citrus all ran the cars, and were successful enough for a new touring series to form in 2016.

Why not? The fans generally respond and buy tix when sprints are on the schedule, and there were enough cars who remained active and supported the sprint events. To me, that is the logical conclusion to the pattern that you described above.

Just speaking as a owner/driver, I loved being in a touring series. We ran different tracks, and it usually seemed like a big deal when TBARA would pull in. I hope, and am very confident, that SSSS will produce a similar vibe!

[OldSchool+]

Yes, TBARA was the exception.

May the new Series be just as successful.

[zerofor]

When a travelling series starts?Really I remember that happening clear back to the 70S in the midwest.Usac events pulled away most of the better sprint drivers until the World Of Outlaws came along and pulled from both.But there is still plenty of sprint car racing go on weekly up there.ASA did the same to the late models of Indiana,Ohio,Michigan etc.It happens so fill the void with something else.People have taken to the open wheel mods up north even though they really weren't a Midwest thing until the last 15 years.Trucks and mods could do it down here along with sportsman.Sportsman at Toledo Speedway and Flat Rock Michigan headline more events per year than late models or anything open-wheeled.