Racing Cost Effective

[Josh42]

I know this is an oxymoron. As the racer what would you like to see tracks do to the rules or classes that can help make racing cost effective? Raising purses is NOT an option here even though I know racers are still racing for the same amount of money they did 10 to 20 years ago.

[TSRSONETWO]

Keep the rules the same from year to year and strong tech

[sam71]

Look in to useing more modern parts that are easy to find

[poorboy]

In my opinion kill traction with less tire will save a ton of money. Put all dirt cars on G60, KK704, or 8 inch slicks. Motor won't matter then.

[thumper]

Well all of these replies are correct in my opinion. The available money from purses has remained the same for years while the cost of racing has sky rocked. Plus the sponsor money has also been diminished so the sport has developed into being like gambling, that is don't invest what you cant afford to loose. So the show becomes an elite group who has disposable income. While this can make a wonderful show it does not quell the slight resentment or envy of many who can only watch others bask in the enjoyment of participating. Thus a large segment of people leave the sport altogether.

 

Poorboy your logic reflects the ideas of 2 very successful promoters, Robert Theser and Donnie Yocum. Robert used to hate a fast tacky track because as I heard him say the cars would wreck easier and have much more mechanical failure, thus many teams would miss events. This is why the fledgling modified class switched from using 11 Marsh recaps to the G60 American Racer tires at a time before he dealt with the huge IMCA influence. Same reason he spent a fortune of time and money to finally achieve the famous smooth but extremely slick surface memorable to those that tried it. Attrition diminished greatly. Bobby Maupin negated the tire deal by posting lap times in excess of what the 11 inch recaps would do but nobody overcame the surface.

 

Mr Yocum had a different approach. In my first race for him I heard him say "racing is expensive and Im not going to let you spend any more than you have to. That included tires and that's why for so long our feature series, Super Streets used street tires . The racing was more challenging with less attrition than faster cars on racing tires.

 

Another thing I have seen is how the most expensive cars don't equal the best race. Mr Yocum knew this when he started going to public auctions buying cars for his new bomber series. He would install a basic cage and sell them cheaply so more people could afford to race. Some thought he was crazy but his series became one of the most popular series of any. Not as fast as the Super Streets, they showed the guts and determination of years past and were responsible for the term "bull ring" equating cowboys riding unpredictable wild animals. It also was the first time bombers were constructed out of the box, meaning instead of Cadillacs and Lincolns, he used the metric cars.

 

More recently Ken Hobbs realized the importance of return v/s investment and invested in his pure stock class that undisputedly has become the most popular and exciting series at STS. Its because it affords more people to be a part. Unfortunately because of technology a good Pure Stock today costs like a hobby stock cost in past years. Part of the reason is the modern available parts deal. Much of that car today comes from the racing stores rather than the junkyard. When was the last conventional metric car built ? More importantly will a modern car be allowed as a Pure Stock? As a rule, no.

 

Finally the idea you cant race for a nickel. Speaking strictly for myself, I have been lucky enough to race thousands of races ate multiple tracks for multiple promoters in multiple cities and been able to pay for it all with my winnings and my junkyard. I have 229 trophies that have 0 value to anyone other than myself. Through it all I felt like Trump sometimes being chastised for remaining in this type of cars for so long. Fact it I could not afford anything else. I would rather race a car with no prestige than not race at all.I did try it once, buying a throw away chassis, using as many junk yard parts as possible, selling my money winning car and investing everything I could muster to "move up" I took a last place car and got it to a sometimes podium finish. I realized soon enough just having a car is only a small part of a campaign. I quickly built another mini stock and started taking both to race so my little car could pay part of the big car.

 

Bottom line is we are not or will ever be NASCAR. We need to stop spending on cars and tracks like we are. Get back to grabbing a car and race it instead of building a masterpiece to expensive to enjoy. Make it so more can participate. Change up the show to make it interesting. You will fill the stands with friends and relatives.Most importantly to promoters, put your prize money where that gives you the most return. Asphalt tracks lost sight of this to some degree. My advice is study history with an open mind and reflect what has worked, forget about trying to impress.

[toyotatim]

Money has nothing to do with it. These tracks shut down around here in what was arguably the largest economic boom ever in South Texas. There are just not a lot of racers/fans around here any longer. The sponsors would show up and throw money at the sport if the pits were full of top shelf cars and the stands were full of fans who were financial able to spend money. Not one single group or person to blame, this is just not racing country. Did you see the list of HUGE Super Late Model races this year on Speed 51?

 

The generations spending money in the Austin area now are buying tech gadgets, not race cars. They are chasing Pokemon, not attending races.

[racer61]

racing will NEVER be cost effective. No matter the rule or class, racers will spend more money to get more out of their effort. We can all come up with different ideas but in the long run it wont make a difference. Constant rule and class changes are what causes the majority of the car count reduction. While 4 teams can afford to make several changes, the majority of the blue collar pay check to pay check racers can not. Leave it alone and in the interest of some parts becoming harder and harder to find (i.e. camaro clips) make one change at a time and over a length of time that is easy on those to make them.