Locally absolutely not as we have 5-6 tracks within 90 minutes of home.
Eastern Storm is in our plans currently.The price of gas here went to $4.25 yesterday and I fully expect it to raise to $5.00+,we shall monitor the situation & plan accordingly.
The general outlook by the "experts" is for crude oil to reach $180.00 to $200.00/barrel in the near future. Those numbers, if attained, will equate to gasoline surpassing the $8.00/gal. threshold and diesel fuel would likely go for over $9.00/gal. Those numbers would equate to a 200 mile trip to the race costing a spectator whose automobile gets 30 MPG between $50.00 & $60.00 for gasoline alone. If you look around a parking lot at most racing events there aren't all that many vehicles that are capable of 30 MPG on average and even fewer motorcycles. As the old saying goes, you mileage may vary.
The race teams are faced with an even more ominous reality if and when fuel prices get to the aforementioned levels. If the tow vehicle gets 8 MPG on average, which is a realistic mileage number when pulling a decent sized trailer, a 200 mile round trip to an event will cost upwards of $225.00 using 8 MPG and $9.00/gal. as baseline numbers. Once again, your mileage may vary.
If those numbers come to fruition and become reality all nonessential travel will be drastically curtailed for the average household. Scary scenario for sure.
Silver Crown Championship Dirt Cars properly driven on a one mile dirt track are classic poetry in motion. Using that analogy, Jack Hewitt is one of the greatest poets of all time.
The Fuel price is only part of the equation. Wheat now doubled. meats from 8-28% and this will only compound as fuel goes up Electric rates up1/3rd That link I posted said that it's costing the average family 2-4000 more a year just on essentials and that was LAST WEEKS PRICES.
My truck gets 8mpg on a good day pulling the trailer. If fuel prices get to 6 to possibly 9 dollars a gallon. It will definitely dictate where and when we run our car.
I live in the Philadelphia, PA suburb area in Montgomery County. The closest tracks to me are Grandview in PA and Bridgeport and New Egypt in NJ. All three main attraction are NE type modifieds, which are ok but I will not attend unless there is some sort of stand alone sprint/midget program or at least run a combined program. I usually travel to Central Pennsylvania (two to three hour trips one way) to get my racing fix. With the pandemic, grandkids commitments, and part time work situation I have cut back drastically on racing events. Adding the cost increase of everything associated with travel will have a major impact. Looks like I will be getting FLO soon. There is a lot of non racing events on FLO that also interest me. I will add that no matter what the cost are going to be, three of use will be heading out to Indiana for the 500 and several short track events in May, other than that trip, I guess it will be a weekly decision based on weather and economic conditions.
I will not be going to PA this year, a trip I have made last 3 years. Indiana sprint week will be cut in half along with Ohio sprint week. Along with the race fans and the race teams, promoters will be suffering, figuring fuel costs of all track prep equipment, push trucks etc. When you take into consideration all of these factors, I feel the local Friday/Saturday programs will suffer.
