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In the old days of open wheel racing there we true promoters, not race organizers. I grew up in Columbia, PA in Western Lancaster county which put the family within one to one half hour drive to Williams Grove, Reading, Allentown and the fairgrounds at Harrington, DE. I there was a AAA/USAC, ARDC or URC race at any of those tracks, you knew about it. Sam Nunis, Roy Richwine and others made sure small town daily or weekly newspapers published stories about Indy 500 drivers who would be driving in those events. My dad only liked open wheel, open cockpit races so local stock car tracks were out. In the early 50's we were at a AAA midget race at Reading when the promotor talked about the same cars and stars would be racing at Old Bridge, NJ later in the week. My dad was a traveling salesman who had several customers who raced at Old Bridge but was never there as it was a stock car track. Needless to say I saw my first asphalt race a few days later at Old Bridge. Today, what are called promoters are race organizers. They are great at putting together events, open the gates and expect people to show up, but as stated before there is too many choices for the entertainment dollar and you need to sell your product better. A good example in minor league baseball, its the same game where ever it is played at all levels, but the promotional events at the ballpark, before, during and after the game are what puts people in the seats and more importantly brings them back. I also agree that there are far too many shows where there are too many divisions. However, local racing as become back gate driven in order to survive. The answer is, times have changed. The local newspaper basically does not exist anymore, along with a lot of racing publications, so what do we need to do? Change what we are doing. How? Race track promotors/organizers need to remember a phrase my grandfather said a lot; "If you don't like what you are getting, change what you are doing." Join the local Chamber of Commerce could be a start. PS, My dad was at the first race ever run at Williams Grove as a 16 year old, along with my grandfather, his uncle and his two brothers. He also saw midgets race at Hershey Stadium before WW II and later in the 60's when they reopened the track.
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