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I've half read some of the posts and one way or another it's good to see the passion for our sport. However, some of the posts are so far off, I eventually felt the need to chime in. Will probably regret it, but oh well. I am not here to completely defend USAC or Kevin Miller. They have have done some stupid things and I've shared my displeasure with them on those occasions. I am not going to talk exact numbers, as that part is irrevelant.
Whether you want to believe it or not, I believe USAC would of been out of business if it hadn't been for Kevin. In 06 and 07 when I won the National Midget Championship, it paid less than 6K to win, less in 07 than 06. I have been told the numbers that they had in the bank and how it was dwindling. I have seen the presentations that Kevin has gone to major companies with and they don't bite. Another thing you may not want to believe is that the 3 National Series do not bring in very much revenue. Do the math. Sanctioning fees times the number of races. The amount of members for the 3 series. So someone has figured out that they can sanction different series in all forms of motorsports, sell insurance and make money. Pretty smart if you ask me. Just because a series carries thebUSAC banner, does not mean they are taking the series over or have anything to do with the operation of the series.
Now pavement racing. Yes, we can blame USAC or sanctioning bodies for the cost of the sport. But when pavement tracks don't want to schedule your series, what do you want to do? Yes, wing pavement is doing ok for half the purse of a USAC race. I do get the, if USAC would promote, and I don't disagree there a little. Without sponsor dollars, there is no advertising.
Midget racing has been hurting all over. There used to be cars in AZ, CO, WI. They are gone. Going to blame USAC for that? Belleville would pull at least 10 cars from AZ and that many from CO. Plus the west coast cars. I know there were 300 cars at chili bowl. But so many of those are 1 off deals. I went through the pits there, seeing who I could approach for a ride. Couldn't come up with hardly anything but luckily, there was one that came available. One.
At a USAC Silver Crown meeting, Kevin said he would commit X amount of dollars. The owners could choose how to spend it. All of the dirt shows were self supported. However, there was not 1 pavement race that was. It was going to take pretty much all of the money to get a few pavement races. Here was my suggestion. Do away with pavement for about 2 years. Work on adding a couple more dirt shows as there were 6. Take the money Kevin offered and add tow money, great point fund, etc. Build the car count back to 25 or 30 cars at least. Now in a couple years, come out with a pavement rules package that you have to run your dirt car. Yes, it can be done. Now you have a pool of 25 or 30 cars plus to pull from for a pavemet race. The track owners are going to see how strong the series is. Owners don't have to sink a ton to run pavement. I understand there are pavement cars out there that become boat anchors but at some point, you have to stop the bleeding for the future. Of course the few pavement only owners there, shot that down in a heart beat.
Comparing USAC to WoO is not a fair comparison. Like someone posted, you can see any of the USAC drivers at any weekly show. That hurts USAC but we want to race so which comes first?
Ok, pick me apart. I have big shoulders. Well, ok I dont, but you get the point.
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