[ossuks]

With Easter being about resurrection and it being Easter Monday why not discuss the need to re-stock the fan base in non-wing sprint cars. Was reading through the thread on DD's sprint ride and seems that thread was turning into a debate on the lack of young fans at the tracks today, with an emphasis on non-wing fan base. The use of smart phones at tracks was also a topic to discuss. I have some thoughts, jump in add your own, also, not meaning to be negative ,but, we first must define the problems before a solution can be discussed.

I have spent most of my 60 years chasing non-wing cars, have seen midget counts in the 100+ all the way to a night in Colby Kansas with 7 cars. Have seen the grandstands at the Hoosier 100 full along with 5000 plus in the infield, and crowds that did not reach 3000. There were week nights at IRP (ORP) that the stands were completely full, today the Night Before the 500 has turned into a mid-day show with empty stands. Also, have seen Indiana Sprint Week grow to what today is a must see, must be, event with packed stands.

You can finger point, you could say that my years at USAC we grew the sport, or we did not,there was a time when the sprint schedule was 14 races and we added wings to get to that number, there was a time when there were no pavement races, it grew to the point where there was 45-60 sprints or midget on any night on live TV. Went to Bellville with a car count in the low 20's, grew it to the 60's, and then watched it dwindle back to nothing. Been all over the map, seen glory years and seen lean years, read where USAC was at there highest now, not even close, others think they are at their lowest now, not even close! The point is the peaks and valleys come and go, and have never really seen a real reason or person to blame. What we all seem to agree on today is we need to find a way to get younger fans to the track or the fan base is going to continue to dwindle and nothing positive will come from that! Oddly, my other lifetime passion is Horse Racing and that arena is also facing the exact same problem. 20 years ago I sat in a OTB with no empty seats and was the youngest guy in the room on a regular basis, today that room is 30% full and I am still the youngest person in the room!

I really only have one reason, concern, thought, ect.. on the biggest hurdle to why the younger fans are staying away...TECHNOLOGY!!! 9 horse races take almost 4 hours!! If you go to a stand alone Sprint car race with 4 heats, semi,and a feature, that is 20 minutes of green flag time!! Lets say you travel an hour there, spend minimum 3 hours at the track, then an hour home! 300 minutes for 20 minutes of entertainment! Add in the fact that seldom is the weather perfect, it is not free to get in, I am going to get dirty, ect... VS I can watch high definition TV, there will be 4-6 games on at once, there is a race on, numerous other alternatives, all from the climate controlled venue of my choice, action at my finger tips, no down time, and that is all on my phone. I have other options, like a TV as big as (fill in adjective) with technology that brings a better picture than live. The more I think about it, if I could get the smell of the track in a spray can I might never leave the house again!! AND, that is a smidgen of what technology offers, have not even brought in video games. You tell me how you are going to get junior to buy into the world we grew up in vs the world he is growing up in? Like I said, point fingers, blame support classes, any one of a dozen reasons, and to me it all comes back to this generation has way to many options via technology to ever get them to travel to a race track!! I know what they are missing, I know that you can not replace that feeling you get at the track, I also know that today's generation will show you how they feel when using the latest technology, and how that feeling is important to them. My 4 year old granddaughter has an ipad that she does amazing things on, she can watch cartoons, draw, design, create, ect... on, she can get on the internet, she can type, learning to spell! Do I want her to learn to like fishing, racing, outdoors activities, sports, ect....yes, do I want her to put her ipad down and ...hell no.... if she is going to be successful in her world she better be technology savoy or she will get left behind!!

Conclusion: Find a way to incorporate technology into live events so it gets the attention of today's younger generation and you might be able to Resurrect the sport!