This is a poll to guage the interest of the 305 Racesaver Class next year in Indiana. I am not involved in the organization of this class, but am interested in how many cars can be expected. I would like to know what the deciding factor will be in your decision to become involved in the Racesaver program. Most likely it will be the purse and how responsable the rules will be governed. I have made the suggestion that the payout should resemble Eagle Raceway's breakdown of: 1st $700 2nd $500 3rd $400 4th $350 5th $325 6th $300 7th $295 8th $290 9th $285 10th $280 11th $275 12th $270 13th $265 14th $260 15th $255 16th through 20th $250. After researching other RACESAVER payouts across the country, I have noticed that their payouts are similar to Eagle Raceway. PLEASE ONLY VOTE IF YOU ARE A CURRENT CAR OWNER/RACER OR POTENTIAL RACESAVER PARTICIPANT. Anyone that is almost certain they will get a car, I can add your name to the list if you want just send PM.
Please do not hijack the thread with comments about how much you hate wings and the Racesaver 305's. Wing haters seem to be a common thing here on IOW. If you need to address your displeasure start a new thread " Why I hate wings" or you can select option 3 in the poll.
Car count:
#1 Mickey Smith
#2 Luke Bland
#3 Bill May
#4 Josh Web
#5 Evan Pemberton
#6 Kerry Kinser
Interesting results so far.
I would like to see names of those that plan to participate.
I have been surprised by the amount of chatter and interest this has stirred.
It will be interesting to see how many 305's are at the season opener in 2015.
I'm not going to vote in your poll because I am not a car owner, but I do want to make a comment.
I feel it is not realistic to expect a purse like you have posted above. The total for 20 positions is $6,300. That amount is too high for a support class.
Here is Bloomington's current purse structure for a 20 car field as posted on their website:
The purse you have posted above is only $15 less than the modified and super stock purses combined.
In my opinion it would be unrealistic to expect any track to increase their payout by 41.5%.
To keep the total purse the same, they would need to replace the modified & super stock class with the Raceceiver class. 20 modifieds & 20 super stocks would bring in more pit pass & general admission ticket sales than 20 Raceceiver sprints, so to me that doesn't make sense either.
I suggest waiting until an official announcement is made by Bloomington Speedway regarding schedule and purse structure.
Originally Posted by Panama:
Interesting results so far.
I would like to see names of those that plan to participate.
I have been surprised by the amount of chatter and interest this has stirred.
It will be interesting to see how many 305's are at the season opener in 2015.
I posted this in another thread; Id like to see people on here post on this thread if they plan on running the 305 class next season,so there can be a running list of drivers/owners who plan on fielding a car. I think if people will commit on here, it will help lure out some other potential drivers who may be unsure about putting a car together due to a low car count. I think the two biggest deciding factors for drivers/owners will be the Payout Structure, and the car count. Nobody will want to commit if there is not going to be enough cars to field a class, so I think an ongoing list would help with that.
Also, I like the payout structure Kerry posted, I think if its any less than that it really wouldnt make sense, when compared to cost of operating a car. If they are adding a class, they are obviously expecting an increase in overall purse. Coming from my half-assed driver perspective, I want to race for two reasons; competition (high car count), and a good purse. The second factor will cause the first.
Im not saying 305s are special and deserve more pay, I think purses should be increased across the board. Modifieds should make what the 410s currently make, and the 410 purse structure should be increased to something comparable to one of the weekly tracks in Ohio (Attica, Fremont)
Yes payout needs to be raised across the board. I have heard from many retired sprint car drivers that in the 80's the payout was close to the same but the investment has certainly increased over the years. Also, I wish the term support class would go away. Some of these so called support classes have put on better races at times than the highest paying class of the night. Not saying these classes should pay as much as the non wing sprint feature but I still think they are worthy of a reasonable payout.
As a support class we are probably racing on back gate revenues. We are there to give the "Big Boys" time to work on their cars, and give the track more time to sell Hot dogs, Popcorn, and Cokes, and to help prevent massive traffic jambs on the way out of the race track. Hopefully the "Big Boys" draw a big enough crowd in the front gate to pay their purse, catch up on the shortage of the support class purse, pay the rent and hopefully give the operators enough money to keep the darned place open.
It is getting harder and harder for them to do that right now. With flack from the homeowners that chose to put up big houses all around a race track because after all it was out in the country at one time, environment lovers that think internal combustion in any form is the new sin of modern society and a government that need more and more taxes just so "they" can survive. Track are falling by the wayside.
Racers need to wise up, unless they want to turn the sport into a back gate only form of racing AKA Go Karts, They need to help those promoters make money and not begrudge them a living.
Fans out in the stands need to become mini promoters and work on friends and co workers to give racing a try, who knows them might like it also.
On many occasions the support class races are better than the main card race. Maybe because I watch them more intently maybe I didn't have time to watch the big race, but whatever the reason they are still support and until the front gate revenues can afford a bigger purse they will continue to be payed like support racers.
An old saying "It takes Money to make Money" In our case it's "loose money" and unless you are prepared to loose money as fast as the "Big Boys" you had better stay in the support role.
If the purse is $250 to start and $100 tow money, I will sell my non wing 410 tomorrow. That's more $ in one night than I can get running 2 tracks with the 410.
I would think that a bigger purse would bring in more cars , more cars would equal more fans and family attending, which will result in more revenue for the track through the front and back gate. Its like the movie Field of Dreams, but for racing..."If you Pay more, they will come"
Also, while some may see the support classes as a way to fill in the gap or let people get popcorn between the "big Boys" track time, I would think as a driver my primary objective would be to drop the hammer as hard as anyone,and let the big boys know that youve got em in your sights. That's just my way of thinking and I would want to do as good as I could in the 305 class, with the objective of moving up to the 410s.
