[duel]

Tyler C. Indiana is not wing country. There are sprint cars and winged sprints. Usac, are you paying attention to what is going on? Start paying. Tony is taking your talent lol.

[revjimk]

Whole bunch of USAC guys racing with Allstars recently....
Sunshine is starting to figure it out too

[flagboy55]

Duel, you’re right. I’m pretty sure if I go buy a Sprint Car a wing is an option as opposed to standard equipment. I love both as I’ve stated many times in here but wingless is just better. I just wish we had the same depth in non wing that the wing guys have. Could you imagine how awesome it would be?

[chrismattlin]

For many years now, winged sprint car racing has been a superior financial proposition to traditional sprints. But USAC held one perceived advantage: a better opportunity to progress your driving career to the upper echelons of motorsports. You needed to be a highly diversified driver to be a star in USAC- and the "big" teams at the top recognized that. Those stars had to be proficient in sprint cars and midgets on 1/4 mile dirt bullrings, 410 monster cubic inches on hair-raising 1/2 mile high banks, race strategy and car conservation in a champ car on elegant dirt mile tracks, and high speed barnstorming on America's iconic speedways in both midgets and champ cars. The racing world deemed those who could master such versatility as ready for the big show.

Much has changed in the last decade: we now have a Sprint Car National Championship with no pavement serving almost as a novelty wingless series in nostalgic pockets of the country; a Midget National Championship, pulling it's philosophy from a lower series, no longer racing on tracks even a 1/2 mile in length; and a Silver Crown National Championship that has what may as well be nearly zero car owners hiring the sanction's star drivers (at least on a full-time basis) making it little more than "club" racing.

That last paragraph might be boorish, yet I still love it for what it is, like a son. I understand why those decisions were made a decade ago- we were living through "The Great Recession", although we didn't know it at the time, and money was short everywhere, but especially for racecars and their progenitors gallivanting the country. We came out of those meager times, but failed to return to our former selves, and our past glory.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope: USAC is due to return to storied places such as Winchester, Indiana, and there's a new man in charge at one of USAC's most prolific pavement mainstays, IRP, doing yeoman's work to rekindle the romance. And with the Midget National Championship's resurgence in high paying races and a plethora of professional-level teams, we can only hope to see them blistering around a mile-long pavement track like Phoenix someday in the future.

MUGA
a S r g
k A e a
e C a i
___t n

[flagboy55]

Good commentary Chris. I too hope USAC can get more pavement back, at least in the midgets. There’s already too much in the Crown cars, but that’s just my opinion. Wing Country? That’s an interesting question. I was disappointed by the crowd last night at Kokomo. It wasn’t bad but not what I expected from what’s the biggest paying dirt race in the state. I expected wall to wall like the Outlaw race’s there. Curious why? Are we really a non wing state? Are the Outlaws better? Sunday night? Midget week coming up it will be interesting to see how that crowd compares.

[dsc1600]

I think a lot of factors to the crowd not being as big. First and foremost, the woo is generally a much bigger draw than the All stars. Second, a Friday night show that starts the weekend will usually draw better than a Sunday night show that ends it. Plus the WoO show was the first big race of the season in Indiana where as last nights show was right before the biggest weekend of the year in Indiana. Also Circle City having 2 shows with the same cars the same weekend probably hurt a bit too.

[chrismattlin]

Originally Posted by flagboy55 Good commentary Chris. I too hope USAC can get more pavement back, at least in the midgets. There’s already too much in the Crown cars, but that’s just my opinion. Wing Country? That’s an interesting question. I was disappointed by the crowd last night at Kokomo. It wasn’t bad but not what I expected from what’s the biggest paying dirt race in the state. I expected wall to wall like the Outlaw race’s there. Curious why? Are we really a non wing state? Are the Outlaws better? Sunday night? Midget week coming up it will be interesting to see how that crowd compares.

I would argue that there is too little pavement Silver Crown racing. It's history has seen a near even split of pavement/dirt over modern times (since the IndyCar boys all but left the division). This season is scheduled to see seven dirt events and five bouts on he pavement. So pretty close.

2019: 4 dirt, 6 pavement
2018: 5 d, 5 p
2017: 5, 5
2016: 5, 4
2015: 7, 4
2014: 7, 3
2013: 5, 3
2012: 4, 4
2011: 5, 3
2010: 5, 4
2009: 5, 4
2008: 5, 4
2007: 4, 9* ("Gold Crown"/SuperSpeedways)
2006: 5, 9* ("Gold Crown"/SuperSpeedways)
2005: 5, 5
2004: 7, 6
2003: 6, 6
2002: 6, 4
2001: 5, 8
2000: 6, 8 (This season featured my favorite, and probably most ideal, schedule.)
1999: 6, 9
1998: 6, 7
1997: 7, 5
1996: 7, 4
1995: 7, 3
1994: 6, 3
1993: 6, 3
1992: 5, 2
1991: 5, 2
1990: 6, 3
1989: 6, 3
1988: 6, 3
1987: 6, 2
1986: 7, 1
1985: 8, 1
1984: 5, 1
1983: 9, 0
1982: 10, 0

But the current schedule is absent any dates on major speedways. It's kind of the elephant in the room, but the superspeedway niche of American oval track racing has been on the downturn. IndyCar is proud to pull 50,000 fans at Gateway when they used to regularly entertain north of 100,000 yearly at places like Michigan. NASCAR has razed scores of grandstands across the country in an attempt to not look foolish on television. And USAC is nonexistent on the scene.

I think I can speak for us all when I say that I wish all these key players I've mentioned could come together and work together to straighten things out so that there's a future for this type of racing. We need not events, but happenings. We need Earl Baltes' and Humpy Wheelers. We need heros. But most of all, we need some passion. We need to lift our sport up onto a pedestal and stop smacking it down. We need to celebrate the heroes and tell their stories. And maybe most of all, when an Earl Baltes or a Humpy Wheeler comes along and is offering some high quality surf-and-turf, we all need to run and hand them our money! Because if we don't, there might not be a "next time".

[chrismattlin]

I went back and edited in that breakdown of Silver Crown races (I'm coming for you Richie and Spridge ) because I wanted to see if my hypothesis was right, but maybe @flagboy55 is correct: you could argue there are too many pavement races, even historically. But I believe that data metes out where the series' best years occurred- those leading up to the Gold Crown "experiment". And that pavement began to feature heavily on the schedule once the IndyCar boys began to vanish.

The seasons leading up to that ill-fated engagement with the France family featured some of the most balanced schedules the division has seen. The 2005 season saw an identical split between surfaces, but most importantly, the schedule featured 4 of it's 5 pavement race dates at major American speedways: Phoenix, Richmond, Pike's Peak, and Milwaukee. That season could be described as a precipice, or the culmination of numerous years of successful and prestigious events. And then the booming superspeedway industry came calling and the siren songs were sweet and the promised upon rewards were irresistible. Who could really blame anyone for deciding the path that lead to the next couple of seasons that we'd all kind of like to forget?

I believe the Silver Crown division has done the best job of getting itself back on a strong path since coming out of The Great Recession. It's schedule is closer to resembling those years which I perceive as it's peak. Car counts are resurging, and the star drivers are turning up again (albeit not in large part full-time, yet). It's in the red-zone, but needs that last oomph- and I believe that final push involves some iconic American speedways, and with it, some *really* big name drivers who know that car owners with funding are often impressed by hot 'shoes on big tracks manhandling an absolute beast of a racecar, all the while exhibiting enough stellar racecraft to conserve that beast just as long as it can mechanically take it. The perfect training grounds for the American oval track hero. Something that's, in large part, missing in the American motorsports scene on the whole. (Bless your hearts, Larson and Bell, and R.I.P. BC)

[cmakin]

I had a very quick conversation with a non-wing team owner the other day and was told that the money available for wing racing is far and above what is available from non-wing. Me? I like both, but my preference is obvious. What I do like about non wing racing is that a privateer team can excel, and even win championships competing with better funded teams. Not sure that it can happen with wing racing. I guess what is needed is something to generate the enthusiasm and cash in non wing racing. What would do it? I have no clue. If I did, I would do it.

[Puppy]

Originally Posted by duel Tyler C. Indiana is not wing country.

What did he say?

Originally Posted by flagboy55 Duel, you’re right. I’m pretty sure if I go buy a Sprint Car a wing is an option as opposed to standard equipment. I love both as I’ve stated many times in here but wingless is just better. I just wish we had the same depth in non wing that the wing guys have. Could you imagine how awesome it would be?

Kind of an oxymoron isn't it? Non wing is better but wish it was deeper LIKE the winged racing... Hmmm