A good way to close a racetrack

[luke81]

30 bucks is a pretty typical ticket price to big dirt events. I remember an article on dirt-on-dirt a while back where Marc Richards (Rocket Chassis owner) said they budget $4500 per race just to get on the track, before any crashes or blowups or breakage. That's counting the amortoized cost of the car, engines, tires, travel, etc etc....
If anyone in a Florida pavement late model is burning $4500 a race that's their own stupid fault. Maybe they're they guys I hear out at Showtime practicing non-stop for hours on end, using up their stuff and wrecking tires. I can hear Showtime from my shop and there are days where we can hear one car practicing for hours and hours. And off topic, are there safety crews present while they're out there running?

[zerofor]

Here we go again

Tonight Desoto Speedway has another 100 lap Super late model race scheduled. My brother all but begged me to go.Against my better judgment I considered it.I kept checking their Facebook page since Friday hoping to get some word on how many cars attended practice Friday or some official word from the speedway on how many supers showed up today to race.Nothing.No word at all either day.Rex Guy posted on Desotos Facebook page around five thirty they had six supers.Still nothing official posted by Desoto.So at a quarter til seven tonight I called Desoto to ask if the super late race was still on.Yes the lady that answered the phone replied. I asked her " one hundred laps?". A pause followed then click she hung up.So I told my brother to call and ask.Whoever he talked to told him yes superlates were still racing and they had nine and the race would be fifty laps not one hundred as advertised. WTF? Are Denny Meyer and Ann Young secretly brother and sister or married or what? Because they both have a knack for running a track in the ground.I try my hardest to support Florida race tracks both asphalt and dirt but shi* like this makes it damn hard.

[zerofor]

Desoto just posted on their Facebook page ten minutes ago eight supers qualified eight legends qualified and thirteen Bombers took time.No mention on mini stocks or how many laps.Once again I will ask WTF?

[zerofor]

So here's what I've been told by a friend who texted me from Desoto tonight5/27

Eight superlates.Jesse Dutilly made a stop at his own personal ATM aka Desoto Speedway taking home the victory in the FIFTY lap feature. Ten V8 bombers raced and eight legends with also around eight mini stocks.Desoto ran a second 4 cylinder feature to make up for the super late feature being cut in half.Yes sir less than forty cars racing in total across four divisions.Come on man kids have big wheel races with more than that involved.

[kendo]

Eight superlates.

Don't feel to bad,NSS had 4 superlates,6 if you count the 2 field fillers...but that's better than the 3 prolates they had a few weeks ago....About 35 cars over 4 divisions,14 of them bombers.

[zerofor]

Don't feel to bad,NSS had 4 superlates,6 if you count the 2 field fillers...but that's better than the 3 prolates they had a few weeks ago....About 35 cars over 4 divisions,14 of them bombers.

A lose--lose situation either way.

[flvideo]

Zero I don't think I know you, but if you want to close a track, Bad mouthing them is a good way to do that! I understand if you are upset but the solution is simple, don't go! Racing is bad every where in Florida but if we are to survive the true fans have to get behind them, not run a campane to destroy them! My thoughts probably won't matter to you but you are putting down a sport I have loved for 63 years of my 73! The staff at Desoto has made some mistakes but they are at least trying!If you don't like them then stay away, don't tear them down at every oppurtunity! If you want to know who I am my name is at the top of this post!

[flvideo]

My bad, Flvideo is at the top. I am Bob Culbertson and I claim these thoughts

[zerofor]

Bob,true I don't really know you

But I think we have met before but maybe not.Some may take my posts as bashing and that's wrong.If I were truly making an attempt to bash the place I would be on here consistently every single day badmouthing Desoto.I truly believe Desoto is THE premier facility in the state of Florida ( with the possible exception of Five Flags which I've yet to visit)but the bs games being played there this year are just that and they need to be called out on them.If it were a department store,electronics store etc advertising one thing and selling you something totally different than that's called bait and switch and illegal in all 50 states.What they are currently doing is no different. They deserve to be called out for it,NOT given a pat on the back for it.Trying ? Yes with the very minimum amount of thought or effort. I'm sure you love it as do I and what's currently going on there sickens me to the point of infuriating me.Not going there has already happened but calling there and having someone hang up when you ask a simple question or hiding the facts or straight up lying to people shouldn't fly.BE HONEST WITH PEOPLE. If you are then I am willing to overlook things.Hiding the truth isn't being honest.I will post my name if anyone thinks I'm trying to hide something but I'm not originally from Florida and very few people know me here.But most Saturdays I'm in the stands somewhere but not if I'm going to get half truths.Eric Bartrum

[flvideo]

Believe me when I say they would rather not be in thatsituation but they are betwee a rock and a hard spot!They Schedule a race and cars either come or they don't! No track has any control over that! I don't think there has been a bait and switch at all. The week 4 cars showed up the driver elected to cancell it. This passed week the drivers elected to run 50 laps because of the car count and I understand they all agreed to a lower pay! I and the staff Of Desoto, which by the way I am not part of, has made some mistakes, of which they will admit! The owner has tried to listen to his drivers and he thought he did what they wanted but as it turned out he listened to the wrong ones! I have been at that track since it opened and I have worked my business there since 1983. I have been there thuogh everyone that has promoted it! I have also worked tracks all over the south eastern US and I have seen some fail and some succeed but the one that failed were all ways shot down bya few people that spread it like wild fire! My momma alway tought me if I had nothing good to say keep your trap shut, I must admit I haven't always done that but thats Ideal! Do me a favor man, be part of the solution not the problem! Help us turn it around and we will all have a good safe track to call home! Thanks for listening!

[zerofor]

Bob with all due respect

My dad always told me you can't put a sugar coating on a crap filled donut and expect it to taste like the best thing you ever ate.The way I see it there are four different ways for me to be part of the solution. Pump a half million into the purse to bring guys back or build a dozen cars for each class are the first two.Which unfortunately I don't have deep enough pockets to do.The third one is pay for a ticket and bring other paying customers with me which I had done up to earlier this year.Now that ship has sailed.The fourth is give them an attaboy and lie about how I feel.Which I won't do.Regardless it won't really matter at this point because as you and someone else so aptly put it simply don't go which I guess is where it's at now.Call me a prick I really don't care I'm a big boy and I have my big boy undies on.I will be somewhere in the stands come Saturday it just won't be in Bradenton.Once again if I were truly leading a campaign to close the place I would be on here everyday saying something bad about the place but I'm not.I will give credit where credit is due but not where it isn't. I would really like to see the place turn around so this WILL be my last posting on the subject but they have also got the last dollar from me and the people I bring.

[OldSchool+]

"They Schedule a race and cars either come or they don't! No track has any control over that!"-- flvid

True, but they do not have to schedule that class again.

Remember, NASCAR post-factory-sponsorship in the 60s, INDYCAR post CART, and US sports car racing post Gentilozzi's IMSA--each came up with their own class of affordable race cars, specifically to ensure a decent field of cars.

And each succeeded.

[jacko241]

I think all parties involved have had a hand in the impending demise of short track racing. The car owners and drivers for sure, of which I have been one. I have seen over the years that they will lobby to have the next greatest invention made legal to run. I never understood that, as that almost always leads to increased cost, which chases some guys off. The tracks, for allowing it to happen, and in some cases being the initiator. For what it costs to run and even be somewhat competitive in Pro or Super Late now, I am surprised there are as many cars still running as there are. In my opinion, the ABC body deal is ridiculous. Having short track cars that bang off each other running local races measured with Referees and templates is just too much to ask of the hobby racer. It certainly was the single biggest reason I sold mine. The way the racers look at the situation, the only way the car counts could increase significantly would be if the payout was high enough to ensure you could get a good bit of your money back. I just don't see that happening.