Who's job is it?

[john tenney]

Todd you have a point but I am not going to spend $20 to watch local racing. Simple as that. Especially if I have a family of four to bring.

And then pay $6 for a hot dog.

[eagletai]

Same old Song and Dance

This thread sounds familar, I just said it 2 years ago and some of the very few that write here were the one's telling me to back off. Well reap what you sow enjoy Orlando/NSS. I saw it from the outside looking in verses, attending racing each week caught up in racing. My point being if you love your racing and live for it you tend to let somethings slide as long as they dont directly involve you, but once they do, only then you realize how bad things really are, and how bad your being treated and how some of the good ol' boys get in everyweek for nothing and pay no fees..
Paul Ellis

[Edm]

Who should be working on rebuilding car count at Orlando and New Smyrna? They are two great tracks that have lost at least half the drivers in the last few years. Where is the out-reach to see what happened? Who is trying to get some racers back?

If I lose half my customers, you better believe I am on the phone to try and win them back. Sometimes it works! Racers could be tough to reach; some only want to bit*h and vent, but maybe some common ground could be found, or some understanding reached that would bring another car or two, just from a phone call. Especially on the teams that have parked more recently.

Is it the promoter's job? The race director? The pit steward? The track owner? The office staff?

Everything appears to be "business as usual". I am not buying the excuses of the economy and potential bad weather; every track in Florida has the same conditions and most are doing better than we are.

I am not blaming management for everything. Some racers may be out of work, too busy, getting divorced, etc. But I also know of several who have a track relationship problem: they think someone has it in for them, someone isn't treating them fairly and so forth. These are the type of problems that can possibly, even probably be fixed. You know the old saying "every business is a people business". It is true! Even with hard-headed racers.

No personal attacks going on here; I know some of the track officials and count them as friends, but the empty pit syndrome that we have developed is worriesome. I don't like the fact that a 50 car or less night has become the norm. How can the promoter win new fans when our show is so much weaker than it was? Hello? Anybody?

Its every ones job but it has to start at the top with the owner. They have to take a step back and see what other successful tracks are doing to lure cars and fans. Track employees have to understand that their jobs are on the line. They need to perform at their highest level at every aspect of their job. If they are serving beer, it better be fast and cold, if they are at the ticket booth they better be fast, efficient and friendly. If they are working in the tower they had better be fair. The racers don't want to race against 3 or 4 cars. They need to do their part by helping others with their cars, talk to other car owners and drivers to motivate them to race and race competitively w/o destroying equipment. The drivers, car owners and fans need to bring friends and family and make racing family get-togethers again like they used to be.

[carolwicks]

Front Stretch

P.S. Not race related but for those of you that believe in the power of prayer as I do, my son-in-law was in an explosion in Afghanistan this past Thursday and he and all other passengers were airlifted to another location. PLEASE, in whatever way you choose to do it, remember these young men and women who are in harms way. Full extent of his injuries are not clear as yet but he is still in the hospital. THANKS![/QUOTE]

Just want you to know that in reading your post I took note that your son-in-law was injured in Afghanistan while protecting our freedoms... I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers. would you please stay in touch about his recovery. Thank you... will also pray for the others who were injured...
God bless our brave soldiers....
carolwicks aka OZ

[ronabneysr]

just a test just a test hi jack

hi jack hi jack welcome to a dirt track some were nascar you put vaseline on montoya i ain't drunk trying to get some big words like they do down at big top

[nannywilson5]

to front stretch

iam so sorry to hear of the news of your son in law and the ones who were with him . my prayers are with them and you and your family please keep us posted on how things are going .

[flvideo]

Well I don't usually comment on this kinda stuff but I just had to. I can probably find a couple dozen cars that are up on jack stands gathering dust. In the 50+ years of involvment with racing the one thing I have gathered is that most people race because they enjoy the rush of the chase. When you get in a field of cars, more than 3 or 4 the adrenalin is flowing. Now that was the draw for me 50 some years ago. Racing has to be fun but when the fun goes out of it you find another outlet for your free time. The fun goes out when you have to spend so much to race, when the rules change weekly, or they are rubber and bend for certain people, there is constant drama each week. It would be nice for the promoter to thank you for being there, but the thing that kept me coming back was the fun I had every week. I don't think that aspect has changed that much in 50 years. What some one was saying above about bad rest rooms I think chases off fans more than racers. That has never bothered me. I can find a tree or something. The fact is if there is a good show on the track people will come to see it if your prices aren't out of line. In this economy thats probably the single biggest 1 thing that deters people from coming to tracks. Bobby at CCMP probably charges the highest around, but if you get on his mailing list he sends a coupon worth $5 off of admission and if you wear a track T-shirt you get another $2 break on admission. Thats $13 to get in and the food prices aren't bad. Thats the only track I have ever been to where I can get a Taco Salad and its good too. Bobby and Gary are always thanking drivers for coming. Thats why he has 29 Late Models there to race. Allthough we got rained out they were there. I think a lot of tracks could look at Bobbys ways and learn. He gets boistrous at times but he gets the people in to CCMP. I think this last week we had 119 cars in the pits. My $.02. Bob.....

[Todd McCreary]

And then pay $6 for a hot dog.

good news. the last i looked, this was no longer true.

[Stgbean54]

Here's 100 ideas

Go slow and absorb:

http://www.trackforums.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=116880

[Joker139]

WTG Stgbean

There are a lot of owners,managers, and promoters who would do their tracks well to read over this info. and try to pay attention. There are some really good ideas out there if applied properly. Who knows, may even fill up some of those empty seats everyone keeps "talking" about. Very nice Stgbean!

[Darren]

come on, lets face

the facts. you have what? 10 to 15 people that are reg real karnac posters that have ideals on how to run short track racing in FL (I'm not saying that you are wrong) and yet nothing changes. It like listening to the daily radio talk show host, as in Glen Beck, Rush, and etc. They can tell you how and why this country is going to hell and a hand basket but who listens or cares enought to change things. and screw WWOD.

[Todd McCreary]

and yet nothing changes.

oh, i don't really expect anything to change. i just can't stand for someone to be wrong on the internet.

http://xkcd.com/386/

they can be wrong in real life all they want but the internets is serious business.

[pintodave]

The slow downward spiral has been painful to watch for years...

The problem:

There seems to be a disconnect from the racers and the people running the show. There isn't ONE specific reason in my opinion, but a negative synergy where the sum adds up to more than the individual issues.

Rules issues - this covers a VERY large spectrum: lack of enforcement, clarity of rules, confusion of rules, mid-season changes, etc.

Money - none of us (ok, 97% of us) expect to "make money" at this level of racing, but once you get past the other issues that drive away car counts (which drives away fan counts), the track raises the prices on just about everything to try to make up for the lack of revenue. Understandable to a point. But then purses are cut. So now it costs more to get in, there are less cars, no fans, and now theres even less money to help cover this expensive hobby. Who's the dummy here? Me.

...and another racer leaves and puts his car up on jack stands.

Who's job is it to fix all of this?

I think it starts from the top down and the biggest thing is actions speak louder than words.

All of those cars that are up on jack stands are most likely owned by passionate car owners and racers. Racers talk to other racers. Only by taking action on multiple levels can trust and enthusiasm be slowly restored. As far as the pit side, $20-25 per head is the norm, and I know there is insurance and other costs blah blah, I can accept that. The front gate definitely needs to be kept affordable. From what I understand NSS has lowered the front gate fee compared to what it was a while back.

With that being said - we returned to NSS last Sat. night and had a very nice time. Everyone was friendly and pretty organized. Still a little off schedule as far as getting the show going on time. Nothing can ever be "perfect", but it is the effort that goes a long way. If I had a question, I got an answer.

I would like to think that they might be making a sincere effort to revitalize some good racing. I hope they pull it off. Time will tell!

[Bigbuck]

Prices

I own a business as many out there do, as far as raising prices (as we all have to occasionally) to offset low attendance, racers and fans alike, is NOT the answer. I'm doing jobs righ now many times for less than I charged 5 yrs ago! Why? It's called customer retention my friends! Just an example, someone other than myself said if you stay away long enough you become interested in something else. A few yrs ago my wife wanted to buy a late model, she had the money too. But I watched friends buying tires every week ot two ($500) and you basically have to if you want to compete with the teams that do buy tires all the time. Plus all the other expenses, what did we do? Bought a boat. Yeah I know supossedly a hole in the water to throw your money into, but know what? I throw a lot less money in that hole than some of my friends throw at race cars. I do not need a garage to store/work on it in, $500+ dollars every couple weeks for tires, etc. A tire rule would help but the tracks are in the tire and gas selling business. I watched the Mod race last week art NSS, when it was over the winner goes and buys his new tires for next time. As did some of the others, Like i said $500+ to win what 2-3 hundred $! I just shook my head.