Few buddies of mine and I were talking about this. Winged Racing has all of these high-purse races (Knoxville , Kings Royal, Every week in PA) and non wing doesnt have many at all.. I seen on the Kokomo Schedule they have a $26,000 to wing Winged race. Was surprising to me so see that on the schedule but no non wing high purse races (aside from the Smackdown) Why is this? All the non wing races i attended seemed to have a good fan count so they should be able to increase purse right?

Why?
Probably because you will likely get same drivers and teams for $5,000 to $10,000 as you will get for $25,000. So no need for it. Has a track thought about it; probably but why take that financial risk for a track when there's no need to do so. Also I think that the All Star Race in October is probably being promoted by some one other then the track promoters just like last October's WOO Sprint Show.

"you will likely get same drivers and teams for $5,000 to $10,000 as you will get for $25,000. So no need for it"???
Then why are wingless drivers going over the "the other side"???

I was talking about the non-wing teams. The way I see it many of the big Wing sprints teams won't show for less then $3,000. USAC teams show up to weekly shows. That was my point.
Now I do think the payout for the Smackdown could be raised as the car count is huge for that show. Last years Saturday portion of the Smackdown car count was about 75 / 78 cars. Running two features helps attract cars. Personally I like the Smackdown format and I think the payout could be around $20 - $25k for that show or you could boost starting pay and tow money.
Just my opinion though.

For a similar reason that the CB only pays $10,000 to win.

Corn Belt Nationals at Knoxville pays $20,000. Saturday night at Ocala is now $10,000 and fall Haubstadt show is now $12,000.

Not wing territory money wise but it's a start.

why no big paying non wing races? because car owners and drivers are idiots for showing up for next to nothing purses.

Overall, its because the fanbase on the winged side is Much bigger and there are way more winged cars out there... Did I just say that on IoW???

Because if you have a 5000 to win non wing show at track A you will get 25 to 30 cars . You have a 500 to 1200 to win show on the same night at track b you will get 50 to 60 cars. Top Wing guys won’t run for under a majority of 8 to 10 grand. 95 percent of the top non wing guys will show up for 500 to 1000 to win if there is no other races and probably have 50 cars at these shows .

The money to pay the higher purse had to come fro somewhere, either the front gate or the back gate. As bsmith8 above says, it is pretty common for LPS to draw 40+ cars for $1500/win while Tri-State draws 24 (or so) cars for an MSCS $5000 to win, so a track promoter can’t rely on the back gate with promise of a higher payout.

A ticket for the final night of the Knoxville Nationals is about $50. I think the price for a GA ticket for the King’s Royal is around $45. The point is a promoter has to put butts in the seats at these prices to make enough $$ to pay a larger purse, and historically non-winged fans won’t pay those prices. I don’t know how many threads there have been on IOW about how they wouldn’t go to this track or that, or this event or that because the cost went up from $14 to $15 for a weekly show or $22 to $25 for a USAC show.

I Would LOVE to see at least a couple $25k to win events be developed over the next couple of years. I think it would help retain teams and drivers and create a “buzz” for non wing racing that might get it noticed by more people.