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7/7/19, 5:59 PM   #71
Kirk Spridgeon
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I don’t blame anyone for being mad about that situation, or voicing their displeasure about it. Using an absolute like “all” is just asking for trouble. The event is an expensive one and Knoxville depends upon PPV income with all their major events. I hope people will be patient with the process, because it’s evolving and the ultimate motive is to supply live events to fans for less cost, but I understand the frustration. All I know is that they were down to the wire working on a solution.

I was responding to the claims of a terrible crowd, the event feeling insignificant, and it being underwhelming. Those could not be farther from the truth. The crowd was one of the three biggest USAC racers will see all season, the car count was where we had hoped, Friday was a classic, Saturday was good except for the lead, and people flooded the infield after the race. The competitors did a great job, and there were only minor issues. It was a major win and will only grow next year.
 
7/7/19, 6:03 PM   #72
dsc1600
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Almost everything I’ve read about this race on this forum has been negative.

1) the date selected, how dare they run against Lincoln Park
2) how dare they have the 360s and 410s running with the wingless cars
3) floracing vs DirtVision
4) talking about the crowd size

I’ve said this before but it’s as if the wingless crowd have 10 of these races to pick and choose the way the complaining has been.

Keep in mind that in the next 5 weeks, the Outlaws will be racing for 175k, 150k, 25k and 20k twice. If you want to get the wingless cars to a level even close to this, you have to support a track that is willing to take a chance.
 
7/7/19, 6:31 PM   #73
SoIllSprinter
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Just got back from Knoxville. Thoroughly enjoyed the show, the hospitality, and the fact we have a chance at a great event into the future. I will be back. I put pencil to paper to see the cost . Tickets: $55. Parking: $20 Hotel: $140. Gas: $70. Food and drink: $30. I won’t add in incidentals that weren’t necessary. So the total was $315. Worth it.
The crowd was large. Larger than most every sprint week crowd. Knoxville is so massive, any crowd on the front stretch under 10,000 will make it look like it is sparse. The half pot of the 50/50, which called the winner at about 8:15, was a little over $3,000. In my experience, that number indicates a large crowd and they only sold tickets for it through maybe the first half of the heats.
As someone mentioned earlier, it seemed as if the Raceway really wants this to succeed and grow. Talking to some staffers and some folks at the hall of fame, they want this to go and grow.
That brings me to this point: this was a Knoxville Raceway promotion. USAC and Power-I WAR were sanctioning bodies involved, but they did not run this show. There was one USAC flag and one AMSOIL flag. The pit officials were Knoxville Raceway, Doug Clark and his crew flagged it, when there was an accident, the USAC mule didn’t respond. When the announcers called for the cars, they announced nonwing sprints, not AMSOIL USAC sprints. The screens on the scoreboard and infield called the cars nonwing sprints, not AMSOIL USAC sprints. The greatest input from USAC people, other than awarding show up points for competitors, was Klepper splitting the nonwing announcing duties with the WAR announcer.
Long way to say this, Knoxville Raceway promoted this event, it was their event, not USAC’s. They have a contract with Dirtvision to broadcast their events, therefore it was Dirtvision’s to air. Those of you with FloRacing would have seemed to me have got a nice bonus with their being allowed to broadcast the feature. My guess is they didn’t have to be allowed to do that, probably a negotiated deal USAC made with Knoxville to try to take care of their subscribers. Some say it was advertised as an event for FloRacing. I don’t know if was specifically listed or not. Would those of you that are subscribers not have done so if you knew this was not part of it?
Last thing, longest post anywhere I’ve ever written and I’m getting tired😄. I listed my cost to attend this event above. Someone posted the FloRacing package for the whole thing is $180. To attend the show was $315 for me traveling from 6 1/2 hours away. I said this in an earlier post, but I’ll amend that statement. Part of the charm of attending an event are the sights, the sounds, the smells of racing, and meeting and visiting with the folks in the stands. The two day ticket was $55, Saturday’s finale, which was the only one broadcast to FloRacing I am told, was $30. Putting a value to what those who view online don’t get, and I’ll value it on the low side, say you get 60% of the value sitting at home. That would be $18. I know not all events are built the same, but you got this feature plus every USAC show for $180. Just saying, you got this feature and paid $162 for the entire rest of the USAC schedule. Sounds pretty cheap to me.
Once again, loved the show, hope it grows, will support it as it does.
_________________________________________________
Last edited by SoIllSprinter; 7/7/19 at 7:33 PM.
 
7/7/19, 6:40 PM   #74
Re: USAC screws paid Floracing fan
ThePurple73
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Thank You Kirk for the explanation. I think unless a person has been to Knoxville you can't appreciate how big the main grandstand is. I think on TV based on camera location you only see the bottom 15-20 rows.
Knoxville fans love non-wing racing. Knoxville was non-wing until 1982, as were the Knoxville Nationals.

Bringing 51 cars was a major accomplishment. My guess is more locals will race next year. It would be great to see a Midwest swing that included USAC/CRA/PowerI/War. I remember tremendous racing andd huge crowds at Knoxville when the Pennsylvania, California, Indiana area cars would all converge on Knoxville about 2 weeks before the Nationals, great, great racing. Would be wonderful to see it again. My hat is off to those that made this week end happen.
 
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7/7/19, 6:55 PM   #75
miledirt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon View Post
I don’t blame anyone for being mad about that situation, or voicing their displeasure about it. Using an absolute like “all” is just asking for trouble. The event is an expensive one and Knoxville depends upon PPV income with all their major events. I hope people will be patient with the process, because it’s evolving and the ultimate motive is to supply live events to fans for less cost, but I understand the frustration. All I know is that they were down to the wire working on a solution.

I was responding to the claims of a terrible crowd, the event feeling insignificant, and it being underwhelming. Those could not be farther from the truth. The crowd was one of the three biggest USAC racers will see all season, the car count was where we had hoped, Friday was a classic, Saturday was good except for the lead, and people flooded the infield after the race. The competitors did a great job, and there were only minor issues. It was a major win and will only grow next year.
“I don’t blame anyone for being mad about that situation, or voicing their displeasure about it.” Agree about the unfortunate situation with Flo and their subscribers

However, thanks Kirk. You and your team do an incredible job and thrilled that hopefully the first annual Brandt Cornbelt Nats was such a success in car count, attendance and racing.
 
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7/8/19, 12:33 PM   #76
Re: USAC screws paid Floracing fan
cletust2
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My dad and I made the trip from Ohio not knowing at all what to expect since we were Knoxville first timers. Both of us were very impressed. Racing on both nights was fantastic. We are already making plans to come back next year.
 
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7/8/19, 1:28 PM   #77
Re: USAC screws paid Floracing fan
hilly
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Three of us from south-central Indiana made our first trip to Knoxville. We thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the racing. Plenty to do in the area during the day instead of just laying around drinking beer. I'm sure we will be back next year. For what it's worth, the tour guide at the sprint car HOF said that the only time he sees the campground behind the track packed is during the nationals and the campground was packed for this event. He seemed very impressed with turn out. My hope for the future is to get more of the excellent regional drivers to make the trip. I would love to see Cummins, T-Mez, Hopkins, Boyles, B. Short, etc.... ripping around that place.
 
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