[DAD]

Everybody is standing around wringing their hands at the demise of the Silver Crown division of USAC. We are all looking for reasons for it's poor health and blameing anything and everthing that comes down the path. What we forgot to mourn for was the "Champ Car". That was really a race car, and the people who raced them were the cream of the crop in open wheel racing. Champ Car racing was the means to an end, that being the "National Championship Crown". I think they would take the Indy car races as well as the champ car races, total them up and come up with a national champ. In other words you could win Indy but not be the National Champ. When you went to a champ Car race you saw all of the best drivers in the country race and you didn't have to leave Illinois to do it. The drivers came to the fans back then and they did not have motor toters. When you took Indy cars and seperated them from Champ Cars, Champ car racing died shortly thereafter. Come to think of it Indy car's died too.

It is no longer a part of a summer long battle of the greatest drivers in the world as we saw them. Back then an Indy driver was just a little below God and much higher than the Pope. Now it is a division raced by the Old Guard of racing who really dont want to race 20 times a summer and enjoy the less active life style afforded by the Silver Crown schedule. Nothing will bring Open Wheel racing back to it's glory days of the 50's and 60's. In the past racers raced Champ Car because they were moving up. Now racers race Silver Crown Cars because they have already got there. Like the song says "Is That All their Is"

Honest Dad himself

[miledirt]

Bottom line: there were 22 cars at the Hoosier Hundred. Fact, the continuing decline in the USAC Silver Crown car count has gotten worse each year for at least the past 10.

For those who are in leadership and have greater knowledge of the situation, they better figure it out or else there will be fewer and fewer fans in the seats, Sargent won't be able to make any money and we'll lose the biggest promoter the series has.

Blaming this on the economy is lame. Kokomo had 30 sprints at the WoO show with a packed house. If DuQuoin could get back to the high 30's, low 40's in car counts, the fans will be there. A few years of the low 20's and the labor day classic will be in trouble. And that kills me

[Kansasdirtfan]

Nice post, Kody. Thanks for weighing in. It's always good to hear from someone with actual knowledge rather than mere supposition.

[DonMoore10]

What are the preliminary costs to be eligible to race a Silver Crown event? Not equipment, but fees to register the car etc? Seems to me there was a heated dioscussion about this a while back.

[flatout]

Kody, thanks for following up. It was interesting to read that richening up the fuel causes the motor to run hotter. That is the kind of information that needs to be shared. A lot of the teams that I spoke w/ @ Indy were seeing temps 250+. I know some of the drivers I talked to said that they had their temps spike when behind another car & when they backed off or got space saw the temps drop back down a bit.

Personally, I think some of the issues that are coming out is because of previous comments about only needing to change nozzles & jetting. Nothing is that easy when it comes to motors. Also, I think it is dangerous to discount comment like those posted by a SC owner like Kunz(sp?). Anyway you cut it, the field was down by 1/3 this year over last year. As you and Kevin stated, it is a combination of factors that contribute to a lower car count. Throwing in a new fuel only adds to that mix. Hindsight being what it is, it would have been great to introduce the ignite fuel to the SC field the way it is being done w/ the sprints next year.

[racephoto1]

Like Kevin Miller said, a lot of different things contribute to low car count, he didn't mention purse cuts though. If I'm a car owner that would set off all the bells and whistles for me.

If they don't have the money to cover the purses in the races they promote, it makes me wonder about their financial solvency. You should never enter into a business if you don't have the money to cover your expenses.

[SC90]

Originally Posted by rj1 In my experience watching the sport in multiple forms, a car owner would say one thing and then within a week stab a guy in the back and say he never said such thing if it serves his interests. Don't believe me? Look at Indycar the past couple weeks. I'm a design engineer on diesel engines, so I really can't relate to the moaning because designing for the differences of bio-based fuels was started across the industry almost a decade ago and that information is readily available, and engine builders in auto racing should be intelligent people. So can you or someone else please with knowledge of this illuminate this to me, what changes are being made to the current systems?

Experience IN the sport is a lot different than experience watching the sport. What is your point? Bio-based fuels may have started across the industry almost a decade ago, but that doesn't mean that Silver Crown owners have the extra $$ handy to be the first to jump on the bandwagon. Has NASCAR changed to bio-based fuel? Why, or why not? Surely NASCAR owners have deeper pockets than USAC owners. If the change to bio-based fuels was such a great idea, then all racing should have changed a decade ago as you suggested. I agree with your thought that engine builders are intelligent people. My disagreement is that USAC Silver Crown owners have deep enough pockets to continue to pay development dollars to engine builders to develop engines that will run efficiently on a new fuel system.

---------- Post added at 3:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 3:03 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Kevin Miller USAC IS NOT MANDATING ENTHANOL FUEL IN SPRINT CAR OR MIDGET RACING IN 2013. We have offered $10,000 bonus's to the top USAC team in National Sprint or National Midget series who uses Ignite Ethanol fuel to get a Top 10 finishing position in our annual points.

Then why is USAC mandating ethanol fuel in Silver Crown racing? If you don't think it is appropriate in Sprint Car or Midget Racing in 2013, how can you justify that it is appropriate for Silver Crown racing? I remember the old saying, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

---------- Post added at 3:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 3:07 AM ----------

Originally Posted by KodySwanson People blame Ignite, but unless you attended the fuel meeting held at Team 6R's shop, and left your email address, you wouldn't know that Ignite Racing Fuels, Team 6R Racing, and I have been working together to generate sponsorship- local in Iowa and directly related to Ignite & Ethanol's participation in our series, to create additional tow money to be paid directly to each team that participates. (Without any help or incentive from USAC). Kody

Who was invited to the "fuel meeting" held at Team 6R's shop, and when was it? I wasn't invited. Was this another secret meeting? It's hard to attend meetings when you don't know they exist.

---------- Post added at 3:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 3:23 AM ----------

Originally Posted by racephoto1 Like Kevin Miller said, a lot of different things contribute to low car count, he didn't mention purse cuts though. If I'm a car owner that would set off all the bells and whistles for me. If they don't have the money to cover the purses in the races they promote, it makes me wonder about their financial solvency. You should never enter into a business if you don't have the money to cover your expenses.

Good point about the purse cuts! Did any employee of USAC take a pay cut? I'll check the tax records (public information available to anyone who is interested) to see if there was a pay cut for any of the USAC officials. Surely if the purses have to be cut for the competitors, then pay cuts should be equal to the purse cuts. Hmmmm. I think I know the answer, but I'll double check the records to be sure.

[sp6967]

so when will usac make ethanol mandatory in sprints and midgets?

[IndyBound]

Having been away from the board while most of this thread was being discussed, I wanted to take the time to read thru it before adding anything.

Thank you Kody Swanson for another well written post and for addressing two issues I have been very vocal about for years on here. First is the Silver Crown purse and how USAC feels the division will continue to grow when they are constantly cutting the purse or thinking the teams should run for the same purse or less than they ran for ten years ago.

Second, it has been a pet peeve of mine for the past ten years that USAC dosen't do enough to promote themselves, an article in the local newspaper on the day of an event in Phoenix, Richmond, Kanasa, New Hampshire or any where else they go once a year does not do enough to put butts in the seats. Kody, your post talking about only racing in front of 500 to 600 fans in N. C. for a USAC race and 4,500 in Fla. for a Must See Extreme race is exactly what I have been talking about for years. One group promotes themselves the other dosen't.

Thank you to Sharon Banks and the other car owners that have posted on this thread, you all have made many great points. An I feel certainly understand the state of what has happend to the Silver Crown division over the years better than anyone.

I will admit that all of the Silver Crown teams that I have traveled to the races with on a limited bases over the pass ten years have pulled away from USAC before ignite fuel came on board, two of those teams bought the boat anchor cars that some have mentioned in this thread.

Their reasons for pulling away from USAC are varied and personal in some cases, as a general rule of thumb what drives a car owner away from a racing organization, the economy, ill health, personal reason, simply being worn out or burned out from years in the sport of racing, loosing sigth or not agreeing in the direction the racing group is trying to go in.

I will also admit over the winter when it was first announced that Silver Crown would change to ignite fuel I feared it would be the end of the Silver Crown Divison. At LRP a group of Ignite representatives came up and sat two rows in front of me, did I ask them a question? No! I had all ready decided to support one of my favorite types of cars whenever I could. Those chances are fewer and fewer as the past several years have played out not because of fuel but because of the race tracks that have been lost to the Silver Crown Division, Syracuse, Richmond , Nazareth, Phoenix and Oswego; I had hoped Oswego would become a yearly event that didn't happend.

Early in this thread someone requested bring back PRA, I had to wonder if they knew both Jason's were working at USAC, they were brought on when MR. Miller let Greg Staab go. An how successful was the PRA? They gave the traditional style cars some races to run at during the boat anchor era but never became a long lasting sanctioning body. Would Jason and Jason resurrect PRA at this time? Even though I don't know either one of them, I would think it is a safe bet to say no.

I hope I get to watch Silver Crown races for years to come, I don't have the answer if ignite fuel will save or further destroy the division or even if they willl continue to be sanctioned by USAC or go to another sanctioning body for the betterment of the division. In my mind those are all questions that remain to be answered. I am just a fan of Silver Crown/Champ Car racing and have been long before I ever had the chance to attend one of there races in person, a fan that hopes they survive.

I thought the LRP race a few weeks ago was a good race even with the low car count and was extremely happy we decided to go. We had discussed two other dirt sprint car events to go to that night, but was totally happy the decision was made to go to LRP and hope I can make at least one more Silver Crown race this year. Which I know isn't much but like I said eariler most of the tracks I have attended Silver Crown races at in the past are now gone, so are the teams I would go racing with.

Patti

[KodySwanson]

Quote:
Originally Posted by KodySwanson

People blame Ignite, but unless you attended the fuel meeting held at Team 6R's shop, and left your email address, you wouldn't know that Ignite Racing Fuels, Team 6R Racing, and I have been working together to generate sponsorship- local in Iowa and directly related to Ignite & Ethanol's participation in our series, to create additional tow money to be paid directly to each team that participates. (Without any help or incentive from USAC).

Quote:
Originally Posted by SC90
Who was invited to the "fuel meeting" held at Team 6R's shop, and when was it? I wasn't invited. Was this another secret meeting? It's hard to attend meetings when you don't know they exist.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

While this meeting was held at Team 6R's Shop, and put on by Ignite Fuels, we did rely on USAC a little bit. We created an invitation that was sent out through USAC. The invitation was distributed by USAC to all current members of the Silver Crown series, who had submitted their email to USAC.

Just in case that didn't reach everyone that was interested in attending, I started a thread here on IOW on March 28 and attached the invitation for anyone to see.

The link to that thread: https://www.indianaopenwheel.com/showthread.php?t=58250

I'm sorry that you didn't know about the meeting. If you have any questions about what was discussed, or personally about the fuel or its use, I would be happy to make sure that you get in contact with one of the representatives from Ignite Fuels. They are all very knowledgeable, and have been happy to help in any way they can.

Thanks,

Kody