Originally Posted by Jonr:
This is one of the re-occurring themes on IOW that makes me laugh.
Every x months, someone will get on the message board and complain how much more money the WOO drivers earn. They will complain about the bigger sponsorships that they receive. They will complain that they don't understand why the WOO is perceived as the premiere Sprint Car Sanction in the country.
Then every x months, there will be a post like this one complaining about the WOO not allowing their drivers to race for other promoters. The post will complain when the WOO will go to great lengths to protect their image and their drivers.
These two things are directly related. If you want to see a WOO driver, you have to go to a WOO show. If you want to be a contracted WOO driver, you will receive great benefits, but you will have to be committed to the WOO. They go hand and hand.
Again, I understand that the WoO drivers are committed to WoO, at least the full time drivers that is, which is 11 or 12 guys.
WoO is a national brand. They race all over the country and since they do dabble into Canada you could say internationally. They struggled to find series sponsorship a few years ago but now Craftsman is onboard and all the power to them. Drivers get big time sponsors because it's the most marketable type of dirt racing out there. I have no issue with the money they make or their sponsors. Never been an issue with me, you wanna spend the money to race in the big time then the more you make, basic economics. I don't have a college degree in finance but its not a hard subject to understand.
I get the benefit of running WoO. They make it worth while. Also, I get why fans are in the stands, I actually believe a lot of other series around the country should take note in the fan engagement that WoO does. May seem stupid to some but for a youngster that gets to go down on the track or in front of the crowd and gets to do the inversion draw...he's a lifelong fan. They're giving away free Craftsman tools and and have all kinds of stuff going on to enhance their program.
Personally, I just don't think we should limit drivers. Bryan Clauson wouldn't have won a Kokomo Speedway track championship if USAC had rule saying he couldn't run anything else. A third of the Knoxville Nationals field wouldn't have been there if ASCoC had a rule. That's all I'm saying.
I get it, I really do. But even NASCAR doesn't have a rule against drivers going down and running ARCA and/or CRA series which is has been done this season, especially with some of the younger or underfunded type drivers. Why? Because it won't ruin their product, although some may argue the NASCAR product isn't one to speak of these days but nevertheless there are still big bucks to be made in that department.
From guys I've talked to closely connected to the series they say the drivers want nothing to do with Badlands or Chuck anyways but I'd be curious to see just how true that is. If Schatz can go run a late model on a night off then I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to take his sprint car wherever he wants.
Like I said, not trying to get in a pissin' match over it. I have never read over what their contract says or doesn't say and have no clue of the clauses they have. I just know if I was a true racer, my series wasn't running, and I had a car as strong as some of the WoO bubbas, I'd wanna go run for big bucks.
Originally Posted by racegal:
I think there are stipulations about what tracks the USAC drivers can race at between USAC shows. I THINK that the track has to be on the USAC schedule at least once during the season or they are penalized for racing there. (They lose points or something) At least that's the way it used to be.
Not sure about that one entirely.
Seen Darland, Meseraull, etc run at tracks with BOSS this year not on USAC's schedule. Could be wrong though.