Best show for your $$$$$

[georgep]

Find out where DAARA is and enjoy the old way of doing things. See guys and girls who WANT to meet the fan and sign your hat or shirt or ? The race for Hot dogs and fun.
I raced, YES RACED at a 3/10 mile dirt track in NC and we had the BIGGEST CLASS 6 cars. They did have 12 270cc mini sprints but LIKE FMSA Mini Sprints will always bring the cars.
I will miss not coming down for this Sunday at Lake City and the Reunion. Lost a fan belt Friday and the temp hit 280, high as it would read. Will get into the motor by Friday but this is a hobby so I must work to pay for it.
I HOPE nothing bad happened but at that temp who knows.
I have not been to or read about one track that has a good car count and is paved. With that said their are a lot of dirt tracks hurting also.
To those who want to see racing PLEASE try and support a track that CARES about the FAN, OWNER, DRIVER and you will be happy.
TRACKS understand that EVERY track I have raced at, about 30 over the last 48 years, the tracks who would DQ the so called FAVORITE at that track DOUBLED their car count and fan count the track that had BLINDERS on did not sell for much when they closed the doors.
My last word of wisdom is NO ONE DRIVER can make a TRACK BUT ONE DRIVER that is the fair haired boy can BREAK a track faster than a RAIN OUT.

[Winger]

DAARA raced at Citrus last Saturday. They brought approximately 20 cars. I'll have some pictures up later.

Citrus does have decent car counts compared to other asphalt tracks in Florida. Most of their regular classes average between 15 to 25 cars on a weekly basis. The mini-stocks were down this past week. Still nothing like the 30 to 40 cars I was use to seeing but not bad for Florida. As you said, car counts are down everywhere and I can't disagree with that.

The rest of what you say is good advice. However, I can't agree with the people that say you should support your local track before you lose it. If a track puts on a terrible show or is poorly run, why should I pay to keep it going? Let the strong survive but let the weak die. Maybe someone else will come along and make it better. If not, the track wasn't worth going to anyway. I know Florida has lost a bunch of tracks. Is it because they weren't supported by the fans and drivers? Or was it because they were poorly run? Or maybe land values were too good to resist. Or a combination of the above? I don't know because I wasn't around for most of the closings. Lakeland was closed because of a combination of the three reasons above. There are presently some tracks that are experiencing problems now. The answer to saving them is to have the right people running them. If the right people run them you will have fair tech, no favorites, fair and consistent rules that are compatible with other tracks, a friendly staff, an efficiently run program, good food, clean bathrooms, etc. These things don't cost money. If you provide all this the cars will come. If the cars come and put on a decent show, the fans will come. The track is profitable and saved. If any one of these things is missing you will not be successful. It's all about having the right people that use these practices.

[georgep]

Winger very well stated!!
Track owners PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS:
If you are trying to run the track as a business then PLEASE think along these lines:
1. UNFAIR TECH (that is the bag boy putting groceries in HIS FRIENDS BAG)
2. LOW PURSE ( that is the mom and pop trying to close down Kmart by LOWERING their price, will not happen)
3. RULES THAT SORT OF CHANGE A LOT (that is what is called BAIT AND SWITCH you bait a person to buy a rifle to hunt on your land then as soon as the season starts you make it BOW ONLY)
It took a fellow named Leon Manchester to open the eyes of the big three tracks in the North with Tri-State owners but it caused those track to get together to FIGHT him and guess what they all had the same rules after that. Some in Florida know all about that like Will Cagle, Pee Wee Griffin and a few others that ran at Flemington, Middletown, Nazareth and the Tri-State home track of Harmony.
The answer to your problems is in your hands and the keys are clear what needs to happen.

[Nickel and Dime]

On the money

You guys are right on the money. Some track owners get it, some don't and those that don't will not survive and close. Hopefully those that close will be reopened with owners that get it and it will prosper. There's a small bull ring track in North Florida that was closed down but has reopened with a new owner (x-racer) and is in the rebuilding stage and trying to do it right. I think it's time to give them a try. At least that Higgenbosomethingornother (that Ocala76 dude) has good things to say about it.