Red Eye start time riddle

[Joe]

I see that the Red Eye is down at New Smyrna this Saturday. Color me excited! I think winter racing in Florida should be our state's secret sauce, and we do it pretty well in February.

But I noticed the racing on Saturday doesn't start until 7:30, making this a night race in the middle of January. As far as I can remember, it gets pretty cold in Florida on those January nights. So why are we racing on them?

Why not open the gates at 9 a.m. Saturday, start qualifying and hot laps at noon and drop the first green flag at 2 p.m.? Are we concerned about folks having to work Saturday? If so, how about running a similar schedule on Sunday? There is no NASCAR to contend with -- honestly, is any race track concerned about running up against NASCAR anyway.

I mean, what could be better than taking in some short track racing on a beautiful January afternoon in Florida? Switching times may not help the back gate, but it would sure get folks like me -- yeah, I'm not going to NSS on Saturday night -- through the front gate. Better for families with kids, too. Heck, tracks can even save on utility costs.

Best case scenario: a struggling Florida track regains its footing by running on Saturday (or Sunday) afternoons beginning the first weekend of December and ending the last weekend in March. A 16-week season, which seems to work pretty well in the colder parts of the country.

[OldSchool+]

The wildcard in Florida is always weather. Hot, cold, wet dry, day or night.

Hard to predict, and yet decisions need to be made by each track regarding their best guess as to what date and time will bring in the most spectators.

I prefer night races, all other factors aside.

Currently, it appears that the fire hazard in Volusia County may be seriously reduced Saturday--due to rain.

[zerofor]

I like Saturday night races too

But on the flip side of that it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to torture your paying customers by making them miserable and uncomfortable making them brave a 45 or 50 degree evening. That will only serve to make your front gate smaller and concession sales less too.December and January are the two most under utilized months of the year here.I understand the holidays and all that but there is a hell of a lot more race fans hanging out in this state looking for something to do on the weekend then there is in July or August. And tell me any other business that shuts down just because its Christmas or New Year.

[ancrdave]

Then come to Auburndale this Sunday... SLM in action plus six other classes... It will only get up to 55-57 degrees but at least the sun will be shining...

[OldSchool+]

Sunday afternoon Auburndale 55-57

Tonight Auburndale & NSS 8pm, 63.

Auburndale sounds like a great show.

[jbonez21]

Joe I thought you were a tough guy... the race is called the RED EYE, it's a late night race! The race doesn't even start at 730, there's a 125 pro late model, 25 lap sportsman, and an intermission on the card before it. So it's going to be more like 9/930 start time!

Officials did say that if it rains they will push it to 2pm Sunday, but it's actually looking colder at 2pm on Sunday than it is at 9pm Saturday night. There was 80% chance of rain all day Saturday on Monday but now it's showing 40% in the morning and clear the rest of the day. Let's hope it holds up! Enjoy the race if you go I'm planning on it

[Joe]

I was a tough guy until I got hit hard enough.

I'm curious, from a racer's point of view, what running a day show looks like compared to running at night. An early start vs. a late night?

[exnyer]

Sunday races are horrible and me personally as a racer and helping another team, I would rather not go. First we all have to work the next day and by the time you get home from the track and into bed it can well be after midnight. The fans may like it but some of us do not. Also most of us have families that we would rather be with on sunday's than sitting at the track. We all get enough lip from our wives and families about how much time we spend at the race shop and track!

Saturday night shows are the best, practice friday night, race saturday night and relax sunday and to be with the family so we can mentally prepare ourselves to go back to work that week to make more money to do this all over again next weekend.

I know people may not agree with me but this is my opinion, I think we race to much down here, I mean we just finished up the season not too long ago and we had Christmas and New years and we are back at it again. New Smyrna used to be the only super race in Janurary, now every track is starting their season in Janurary. We do need a break at one time or another!

[oslm6]

Joe, I like your idea!!! Get home at a decent time and weather would be warmer.

[zerofor]

for me personally the difference was vision

I was a tough guy until I got hit hard enough.

I'm curious, from a racer's point of view, what running a day show looks like compared to running at night. An early start vs. a late night?

You have to deal with the glare of the sun.But on the flip side of that I always found it a lot harder to find a detached wheel under just track lighting. Fire inside the cockpit shows up easier at night though.

[Joe]

That's some good insight, guys. And I agree with you, ExNYer. Year-round racing isn't great for anybody. But I'd rather see Florida tracks make the summer the offseason, with the oppressive heat and unending threat of rain. What about racing during the day on Saturdays (in the more temperate months)?

[exnyer]

That's some good insight, guys. And I agree with you, ExNYer. Year-round racing isn't great for anybody. But I'd rather see Florida tracks make the summer the offseason, with the oppressive heat and unending threat of rain. What about racing during the day on Saturdays (in the more temperate months)?

I totally agree with you Joe!

I would like to see the tracks take off june, july and august. It is way too hot for the crews, drivers and fans to sit in the sun. Also with the number of rainouts we experience here it gets frustrating to tow to the track, sit around and then the race is finally called, again in my opinion it is a waste of time to try to race in the summer months.

Another reason for taking the summer months off, people like to travel and take vacations, some of us have other hobbies that we do also so we try to spread our time around but there are times it becomes very hard.

I have no problem with a saturday afternoon show, heck we might be done early enough where you can do something else saturday night!

I am sure that there are some people that will disagree with me and want to race every weekend, I am fine with that but sooner or later there has to be downtime.

[Benny The Mule]

In this single short thread I have seen a complaint of every possible way to hold this even.

[exnyer]

In this single short thread I have seen a complaint of every possible way to hold this even.

That's funny, I did not see complaining!

Joe started a "discussion" and asked for others opinions, it looks like we were talking about racing in general not the red eye, yes some things were mentioned about how the tracks do the race day programs but I am failing to see how you say "complaint of every possible way to hold this even"?

Maybe you could clarify this for us? Please.......

[Lightening Mcqueen]

New Smyrna ran a "Winter Series" in 1997. If I remember correctly it run from just after Thanksgiving until about 2 weeks before Speedweeks, with a couple off weeks for the holidays. The car counts were pretty good. We run limited late models, finished 4th in the points and had a alot of fun. Top five in points for each division got a trophy and a couple pit passes for Speedweeks.