What did you think about Saturday's USRA SLM Race?

[SGS]

Guys, I'am only a fan. All I can say is that was one heck of a race Saturday night. I loved it, my 12 year old son loved it and my 7 year old daughter loved it. I have lived in this area forever but only recently started going to SAS. My son and I love stock car racing and have been fans for a long time. Why we never made it out to the local tracks? I have no idea why not, but we made our first race at SAS last year and we were instantly hooked. We go to I-37 Speedway as well as South Texas Speedway when SAS is not running. We live for it. We plan our week around it. We would go to C.C. last year just to watch the USRA teams. I have to say we like all the racing but we live for late model and modified racing, just something about the speed. To actually see pit stategy Saturday night was great. We thought it added to the show. I have no answers to the problems nor do I even know the problems the racers face, but guys everyone of you put on a fantastic show. As for T.D., man it seems to me, from the outside looking in, that he is doing everything possible to provide the best stock car racing possible in south Texas.

 

With any luck, my son and I hope to have a Grand Stock race ready for next year. Jody Wayne, your the man.

 

Scott Shearrer

[Budman]

Pit stops are interesting, but I'm there to see the racing. If they make it too expensive to be competitive, ditch 'em, unless to replace a damaged or blown tire.

[legacy47]

Scott,

 

Thanks for all the support of local racing, we need more like you.

 

Trey Mitchell

[HORSEPOWER]

The PASS South races on only 4 tires and can only change a tire if it is flat. It pays out $5,000 to the winner and I think 150 laps, only green flag laps count, they will not lose a lap while in the pits during a yellow, as long as the pace car has picked up the field. They have double file restarts with only the lead lap cars and the lapped cars fall behind, but have a "lucky dog" rule for them. Maybe try his format and see how it works.

[krusty_rusty]

goin away with ABC now would be awful, for the fact that the top teams would spend alot more money on other bodies that would be quicker, considering you have out of state guys that could come hang a body that have done wind tunnel testing yeah thats exactly what i was thinking believe it or not. Crate motors in general are down then when the Super lates got to take a 100 off for pensacola and mobile rules it puts you even more behind the 8 ball.

[Definitive]

Crazy.....if you read my post again....you will see I wasn't leaning either way on the subject.....I just wanted to remind the powers that be to remember the fans.

 

One of the most important rules in buisness.....LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS....if it costs too much to bring two extra tires to the SHOW,then keeping in mind the fans....find a way to compensate the drivers for their added expense....in order to please the FAN(customer).

 

I for one am at the track for $20 just to see say....Bendele and Umscheid run a best of 3 ten lappers.I am the exception.From what I heard in the stands,and am reading on this forum,the racers and the track need to figure out a way to make that format work.

 

Keep listening to the customers Debbie,one customer can spread the word to as many as eighty.

 

BTW,love him or hate him,the reaction from the crowd to the antics of one Terry Dickerson during breaks in the action is of interest and excitement,don't let him slip too far from the track.

 

Jump the bus.

[Crazyhorse]

Keep listening to the customers Debbie,one customer can spread the word to as many as eighty.

that's what i'm worried about , what is that one fan telling eighty people.....that he just wasted 20$ to watch something he wasn't happy with?

 

not questioning you turbo- just asking the what if's.

 

if i disagree with the system , it does'nt mean i hope it fails. i want asphalt racing to prosper in tx. just worried that it isn't

[97car]

Having been around racing in this state,I must give you credit for trying,I have seen tracks drop a class that had a better car count then most of the tracks or series have had at each race this year so far. Keep on plugging.

[Definitive]

I'm worried too Crazy.Thats why,as hard as I tried to not chime in on this thread,I still had to.

 

I just think,that if the stands are full because a certain format or whatever they do(jump the bus)that the promoter would put some of the extra revenue back into the racers pockets,via:bigger purses...a substantial point fund...free entry to a pre-driver approved pit crew....no entry fee for race cars...free NASCAR licenses...free fuel card(with a certain limit)..........after all the racers are'nt the customers,they are the show,and to a certain degree they are employees.You shouldn't have to pay more to go to work than what will appear on your paycheck.

 

A lot of that may be pie in the sky right now,but I think they might be good goals to shoot for.

 

After reading that again I think the spoon I used may be too large.It would be nice to see what changes the track has in store or if status quo is the theme for 2007.What Debbie asked makes me think change is in the wind.

[tqj3]

Worrying about the "show" at this point is getting ahead of ourselves. The show is fine, for the moment. What isn't fine is the number of paying customers who see the show.

The promotion with WOAI was a good idea, and apparently helped put a few more fans in the stands. The problem is that you have to do something like that every week. SAS has lost the E-N, for all practical purposes, and THR has lost the Statesman. For the time being, we have to work the TV and radio outlets, and for TV that means good, professional quality footage sent to them every week, along with race results. Don't you think a few shots on the sportscasts of close races and even a crash or two won't both tell people the tracks are there, and remind them the tracks are there?

There are several million people in the San Antonio area, and about two million in the Austin area. We just need an incredibly small percentage of those folks to come to the track every week, and we'll be able to raise purses, among other things.

But the first job is to put fans in the stands. The FIRST job. Everything else is secondary.

[tps48]

tqj3 hit the nail on the head, and for once I have to agree entirely with his observations. Especially the point about how many people are in this area vs. how small the percentage of them are needed week in and week out. We are not a large venue like the spurs so getting an extra thousand fans is not an unreasonable expectation. Getting the fans to come is first, getting them to come back again and again is the next step.

[rebelracewriter]

would put some of the extra revenue back into the racers pockets,via:bigger purses

 

 

5K to win, 750 to start........how big do you want/expect them to be?

[Definitive]

That event was perfect REB...the laps,the purse,the promotion,the pitstops(in some people's view),the races leading up to it.

 

You cannot expect it to fill the stands in one shot now,nor can you expect racers to change their plans that quickly.Just from the few racers I have known personally over the years,I have learned that they plan and bugdet for a season.Big events,schedules,formats and rules have to be consistant over a long period of time.

 

It will help if the track quits changing hands for a longer period of time.Hopefully Terry,Rick,Debbie,and the whole staff at USRA and San Antonio Speedway can get some traditions rolling.

 

Jump the bus!!....every August 12th...bigger better and crazier every year....Tradition.

[TAMS boy]

Dunno how much crazier you can get than jumping a bus into a house on fire...but give the man a thought and duck low!!!

[arob]

As a veteran fan of 40+ years I thought the last race was a good one.But what concerns me is car count.During the Romco years the count was much higher.At SAS the count seemed to be higher pre-NASCAR sanction.Bottom line attendance goes hand in hand with car count.The last race had 17 or so SLM'S.Romco usually had 25-30 at SAS.SAS weekly used to have 15-20 per class.I know economics factors into this but something needs to be done to increase car count.To do this would require imput from those who are not racing that have in the past to see what it would take to get them back.Hopefully there will be a series of meetings in the off season.Bigger car counts=more fans=more $ for higher purse.

[tqj3]

Arob-

You still have the cart before the horse. Because you are a long-time fan, you see the need for higher car count to solve the problem. But the problem is just that the fan base is too small; the tracks and series have not done what it takes to reach all two or three million people in an area. Adding cars (with purses paid from where, Terry's pocket?) won't add new fans.

We must, as a sport, reach out to those who might really like, say, the TPS cars, if they knew about them (go to the drag strip and check out the imports and their fans). NASCAR is the number three TV sport in San Antonio and number two in Austin. It's likely that a fairly large percentage of those fans would enjoy coming to the local track once in awhile, just as many of us like to go watch high school football sometimes.

To get them there requires publicity, not advertising. (Non-fans don't have a clue who Robert Barker and Joe Aramendia are, so how can you advertise their battle for the championship?)

NASCAR didn't start out with 75 million fans and live gates of over 150,000 on average; they built up to it. Our advantage is that they've already done all the heavy lifting; we just need to tap into that fan base and sell our product, which will probably mean selling what we have that NASCAR isn't showing on Saturday nights: Street Stocks, Sportsman, Roadrunners, Hobby Stocks; the local heroes, the "high school football" players of our game.

If you don't think that works, how did Full Throttle find over 9,000 fans just in the Austin area to pay to come to Thunder Hill for the NASCAR Grand National race last year?

[rebelracewriter]

TQ, not to take anything away from Tavo and Aryn, or what they did at THR last year. My theory, for what it's worth(to everyone, excluding you, because we already know what you think on that issue.)

 

One word(acromyn) was a key(but not the only) selling point.

 

NA$CAR

 

Secondly would be that it was something new and not the same old weekly show. Now before guys jump my ass, I'm not stating that the regular weekly show is a bad thing......just that people can see those drivers every week(race). Having the NA$CAR West Series there was a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people to see an actual NA$CAR race. Not everyone can afford a weekend trip to TMS for CTS/Busch/Cup.

 

And let's look at TMS attendence lately:

I know as a fact that in the beginning TMS would sell out, and now there are plenty of empty seats and tickets are readily available, even on race day. Why......because it's become common place and adding the second race dilutes it even more.(a bad idea in my opininion)

 

Same with the WoO show on the TMS Dirt Track. They went from a huge crowd to such a poor crowd, they quit running WoO, even despite having a "captive audience" to draw from. Of course the WoO series problems helped cause this too, but just the same, dropping fan count was the main factor. I know this because I've talked to Eddie Gossage about the dirt track stuff......often.

 

You seem to contradict yourself here too. You stated and I quote,

(Non-fans don't have a clue who Robert Barker and Joe Aramendia are,

 

Yet how many people(outside an even more select few) had an idea who ANY of the NA$CAR West Series drivers were at all? Yet they drew a full house with no-names(basically).

[arob]

Help me here.If I read the schedule of events right for this years Grand National event they are the only thing running.If that is the case wouldn't you want some of the local classes running also?If 9000 fans are there to see that maybe more would come to the weekly show because of it.Or is it in the contract they run alone?

[Jason]

Mr. Gardener shouldnt u be at a racetrack somewhere doing your job?

[tqj3]

The magic NASCAR name doesn't seem to help SAS much...

 

Arob-

Only the Grand National cars will run on September 30, as they did last year. The way the event is structured, there is no place for support races. In addition, the fans expect well turned-out and professional looking stock cars; local classes (as good as the racing is) would just confuse them.

Could it work somewhere down the line? Probably, but not until the local classes are much better known.

Remember, Full Throttle is drawing the crowd from just the Austin area, so there are obviously a lot of people (fans, NASCAR fans, new fans and even non-fans) who would attend races if they knew about them.

Again, we're not re-inventing the wheel here; and as much as I catch flak for it, I didn't think up some bizarre scheme I'm trying to sell. I'm simply trying to get racing to do what every successful sport does.

[rebelracewriter]

NA$CAR "Sanctioned" and NA$CAR West Series are like comparing apples to artichoke hearts.

 

And what part of,

(but not the only) selling point.

did you not understand?

 

The whole carnival enviroment, bands, etc. where quite a part of it, too. Again, something new.

 

 

local classes (as good as the racing is) would just confuse them.

 

Care to explain that one? How could anyone in their right mind(not that I ever am) confuse a Hobby Stock with a NA$CAR West Series car? Even Ray Charles could tell the difference.

 

the fans expect well turned-out and professional looking stock cars;

 

Funny, most fans that I talk to want to see good, close, side by side racing, fender rubbing, sparks flying, etc. All of which tends not to lead to "well turned-out" cars.

 

With that thinking, all tracks would have to do is mandate that every car be like showroom new when they showed up. How ridiculous a statement is that?

 

and as much as I catch flak for it,

 

No,you catch flak for putting everyone else and their efforts down and your 'know-it-all' attitude.

 

 

Jason.........forget it, you're not worth the effort anymore.

[j.j.&s.racing]

as for shows the ASA show was a good one. cutting expences was the reason for the 2 tire a race deal. u could buy 6 2 start with then 2 every one else. 1st SAS race bought 8 my 6 and 2 more for practice. next SAS bought my 2, ran 2 old ones and 2 new ones.most front runners ran the the 2 new ones u could buy for tis race and 2 new ones from last race im thinking cool when we go to kyle those people will only have 2 new tires and i would have 4 new ones see the strategy there? but when we get to kyle they change the tire rule that u canbuy as many as u want there goes helping the out of pocet racer. i said lets change the rule after kyle and told them of the strategy all they could or would was say sorry.and i was not the only one this effected tell me thats fair. i think i got scewed out of 2 races that way!!!!im trying to make every race but its getting harderand harder. i will say the payout is better down the line.and how can you say the winner gets 2500? when is adverticed 5000to win.

[Definitive]

There was a comment made earlier in this thread about ROMCO haveing 25-30 cars per event.If you look it up I think you will find that it was actually during the T.I.D.A. era.Any way that doesn't really matter but,what I want to point out is,every time there is something new,exciting,different happening,there is a big interest stirred.In the mid-eighties the Super Late Model(then called Super Series) car,was a rare thing.They would run every other week at S.A.S. and only have 8-10 car fields.Along came Bob Harmon and his All Pro races in the late 80's.At about the same time Neil Upchurch got the T.I.D.A. involved in that class of cars.With all of that stirring the pot,it seemed liked any racer that could afford to built a super series car.Along comes Frank Howell at S.A.S. with this great idea of getting a NASCAR sanctioning.That combined with repaving the track created another stir in the pot.The NASCAR late model class attracted the likes of John Kelly,Greg Davidson,Ken Neal,George Hagy,Ervin Brieten,Rick Rapp,Chip Godfrenson,Mike Denman,.....just about every good driver that has ever hit the asphalt at S.A.S.The S.A.S. street stock class in the late 90's was reportedly going to be done away with for some reason or another and along came the T.S.R.S. series combining street stock/sportsman/late model drivers from all four asphalt tracks.It didn't take long before they had 25+ fields.

 

I will stop with those examples and point out that all three have lost their...luster?...excitement?...are they just old news?....

 

Racers have had monetary issues forever in this sport....find some way to create excitement/interest/and challenge again and it will overide some of those monetary issues.

 

And if that happens....take full advantage of strong fields and spend what it takes to keep them together and also fill the seats.

 

Has anybody been going to S.A.S. long enough to notice that the number of people in the stands,on a regular basis,coincide with the number of cars on the track?....no matter what is spent on advertising?....like the feilds for the supers?...do people already expect small fields,or runaway races?....hmmmm....they missed a good one last week.

[marvinmcgee]

Funny that gas is higher

Tires are higher

Ticket price is higher

but

Purse is lower

and

Car counts are lower

Why can't the pits open at say 3-4 on race day

no pit stops (your goning to get someone injured)

NO FRIDAY NIGHT PRACTICE ( dont wear out the few cars you have)

If you want or need to stay over Sat night fine

if not save the bucks and go home????

[MikeHaag]

Turbo-Diesel:

 

There were several ROMCO races that drew fields of 25-30 cars. I covered them and I have the results sheets to prove it. You're right about the TIDA Late Model Series drawing large car counts. Neil Upchurch did an outstanding job at running that series. I have also written two separate columns on the low car counts this season. Here are the links to those stories:

 

Missing in action

 

USRA Super Late Model Series car counts are fading fast

 

Something definitely needs to be done to address the low car counts. The 11 USRA Super Late Models that started the race at Thunder Hill Raceway a few weeks ago was the worst car count that I've seen for that type of race car since I've been writing for the paper. I'm confident that Terry Dickerson and Rick Day will find a way to bring the drivers and fans back to the track.

 

 

Tqi3:

 

In regards to your quote, "SAS has lost the E-N, for all practical purposes, and THR has lost the Statesman."

 

SAS has not lost the E-N. The E-N has posted and published over 70 motorsports blog columns since March on the newspaper's website, MYSA.com. The E-N has also published 24 of my Friday motorsports notebook columns since March too. SAS has been mentioned in every one of my Friday notebook columns. Actually, the number of column inches compared to last year's coverage in the print section of the newspaper has almost doubled.

 

In regards to the Austin American Statesman, in the 19 years that I've been writing for the

E-N, I don't ever recall a time that the Statesman ever really covered Longhorn Speedway or Thunder Hill Raceway. Those two tracks never had the Statesman.

 

Mr. Hallas:

 

I agree with your comments 100%.