BrentTFunk (Offline)
#23
8/27/14 6:43 PM
Hey Racer X get away from ******** and just look at racing. When racing has thrived historically have been in tough times. That is a fact. When midgets were king it was when our country was recovering from the depression and 2 World wars. How much was gas then? I bet it tripled by the seventies, yet things were pretty good. The cost to compete I think also has a lot to do with it. Dirt is doing better than pavement right now, but that could always change. Not everything is political, including common sense
3 Likes:
dstensland, mc/rider, ronmil
Tumey's 55 (Offline)
#24
8/27/14 6:59 PM
To get back to those pesky facts gas was over $4.00 per gallon in the summer of 2008 and only was down for a very short period of time. Gas price in 1980 was $1.25 and in today's money that translates to about $3.50 per gallon. Gas price in 2008 is a bit of a red herring anyway. If the economy is to blame for poor attendance then every short track that is struggling might as well fold. There is no dramatic turn around in the economy on the horizon. To simply blame the economy is to give up. The two guys who have commented that are running tracks have it right. It is about promotion and meeting the need the consumer has. I don't have the answers or I would be buying a track. My fear is that the hard core fan may not like what it will take to get butts in the seats. We may be too set in our ways.
3 Likes:
BrentTFunk, PJ Wright, TQ97
flagboy55 (Offline)
#27
8/28/14 2:27 AM
I think mike makes a good point about how the TV races helped promote short track racing. Mav TV is doing a great job of it now, but not everyone has it. To his point, when the outlaws were on TV was back in the time they built the dirt track in joliet. The first woo race there was almost standing room. They never duplicated that crowd. Why? A lot of first timers came and got covered in dust, so the sport we love kinda shot itself in the foot. That said i don't think they would have filled it up the first time had not the TV races drawn interest.
BrentTFunk (Offline)
#28
8/28/14 7:08 AM
Just for the record, I have spent a good portion of my free time studying attendance and trying to help promote racing. This is only what I have found, and may be different from other places. I feel that many other thing are having a worse effect than the economy. On any given Sunday at Kokomo 75 to 80% of those in attendance come from at least 50 miles away. If gas prices were the only problem, I don't think it would be that way. Not saying it is not a factor, just that it is a lot more to it than that. I am always amazed when ever I return from a race anywhere, and there are pages of people on this site who did not attend, but lived pretty close to the track. Didn't have that in the old days.
6 Likes:
flagboy55, i love dirt track racing, mowerman, PJ Wright, racer-x, ronmil
TQ29m
(Online)
#29
8/28/14 9:40 AM
Don't ya think social media has had a big influence on that, I know in the late 40's up thru the late 70's, even further into the 80's, best ya had was a "land line", couldn't keep many informed that way, then along came the cell phone, internet, tweet, twitter and no telling what else, I know myself, I like to be able to just peek in, and see what's going on, I no longer have the income I had a few years ago, I spent it all on racing, now I only get to indulge when it's close by, I mean within 20-30 miles, almost like it was when mom and dad could only go once a week, to Columbus, to see a race, we had 2 choices, Thursday nite at the 25th Street Fairgrounds, or the "Pit" on Sundays, just off 7 at the East edge of Columbus, both about the same distance from our house, 15 miles or so, one way. That also was an effect of the economy. Bob
"Being old, isn't half as much fun, as getting there"! Ole Robert I!
2 Likes:
BrentTFunk, SWScaleChassis