[david mitchell]

I have been reading the responses to my original question about the Silver Crown Cars and the fantasy race at Terre Haute. Something strikes me as very strange and alarming not only about the Silver Crown Cars ,but about all of Open Wheel racing.I hear things like unless you grew up with them, they are passe",dinosaurs, etc.Take a look at your average crowd at any Usac race.Do you see any really young people.People who go consistently know virtually everyone in the crowd or have seen them before.Do not include anyone involved with the race car.It is an older crowd and declining. I am 54 and probably on the younger side of the crowd.That is not good.How long before all of the series are" unless you grew up with them."This is alarming. I find it ironic that most of the drivers are under 30 or even 25, but the fans are much older.How the sport is grown, I do not know.I guess it is philosophical. There are people who care how things continue after they are gone, and there are those who don't.I hope it continues for others to enjoy, but right now no matter how much we love it, I do not know if it is sustainable for generations after we are gone.

[GYATK94]

I have to agree with your observations regarding the lack of young people in the crowd. Being 22, I always feel in the minority when I attend races.

The growing up with it comments are interesting. My parents would take me to the weekly winged show at Haubstadt back when they ran. However, that history hasn't limited me to wings. I enjoy both, but I did attend more USAC than WoO and ASCoC races this year. Either way, though, sitting with my parents every week and creating my own races with die cast cars on the bleachers is clearly where my fandom started.

I've got a friend who I took to 4 or 5 races this year, and he enjoyed them, but I still think the only time he will go is when I invite him. So, maybe growing up around it is necessary. I'm sure there are exceptions where fans found the sport later in life, though.

The silver crown thoughts are also interesting to consider. Admittedly, I would choose sprint cars or midgets first. I have some understanding of the silver crown history and have full respect for them, but I just prefer to watch sprints or midgets. Maybe that's due to not seeing the champ car races before my time. I'll say one thing, though. One of my favorite experiences of the year was at the Hoosier Hundred. I snuck out to where the photographers were standing in between turns 1 and 2 during practice, and watching them work those cars through the corners while standing only feet from them was amazing. I plan on attending that race again next season and hope to also get to the one at Terre Haute.

I'm not really sure that I've answered any questions that you had. I just figured I would offer my thoughts as a young fan. I can assure you that you'll continue to have this young fan in the stands, and I'll be doing my best to spread the word, whether I'm successful or not.

[bigsby]

I'm 29 years old and have been going to 15+ open wheel shows a season for the last 6 or 7 years. I didn't grow up with the sport, sure I went to a few races with my dad as a kid at our local track Tri-State Speedway, but by no means was it a weekly thing. I started to go again as a young adult and really caught the bug. I try to make it a point each season to take at least one friend along that's never been to a race before. Some of them have become regulars with our small group, others are a one and done. I am well aware of the typical age landscape in the grandstands and have thought about it quite often. The older crowd definitely outweighs the younger people, some tracks more than others. I see a lot of the same older people at multiple tracks I go to, but I can say the same thing for the younger crowd.

As for Silver Crown, maybe it is something you needed to grow up watching. I've only seen two SC races, both at Eldora with the 4 Crown. I do much prefer sprint cars and their shorter all out races. However, I do understand and appreciate the differences in Silver Crown to sprint cars.

With all that, I guess I'm just trying to point out that I don't feel your outlook on the generational gap is a bleak as you make it out to be. I've seen more and more of a younger crowd over the last several years and feel it will continue to grow. Young people just don't know about it, so it's up to the young people like myself that do to educate and bring more fans to the track. For the older generation, reach out to the younger crowd that you do see at the track, educate them on the history of the sport. Help bridge the generational gap.

[SDHill89]

I'm kind of like these other two, I'm 27 and go to 40+ sprint and midget races a year and have been going with my dad since I was 3. I think growing up with it makes a difference, but I think there are some other factors too.
I think one big factor is during your teens and early 20's, there's a lot of stuff to do like sports, school, partying, chasing girls, cars, just generally being out because you can, ect and that all cuts down on young people's time, money, and interest in going to the races. I'm a huge fan and go as much as a possibly can but as a teen I maybe went to 15 races a year for a few years. I've noticed as I've gotten older I see more and more people my age there with their young children. It seems that once people get out of the going out and partying stage and get married and have kids, they come back to the races and bring their kids with them.
As far as Silver Crown goes, I like the big cars and the history is awesome, but I enjoy the sprints and midgets a lot more so I rarely go to a Silver Crown race because usually I'm at another race somewhere.

[Nate]

SDHill89 brings up a good point. In my younger years I use to go with my dad to a number of races but as I got older and got more into women and playing sports in high school and what not I kind of strayed from the racing scene. Now I'm back into it heavier than ever but I'm also closing in on 30 now. I've noticed a lot more of my friends my age attending more races now that they've gotten out of the bar scene and have either gotten married or had kids.

With Silver Crown I think you have a niche fan base, last week I mentioned the idea of having an "outlaw" SC race and got the picture pretty quick that although it sounds like a good idea on paper when you look at the grand scheme of things that isn't the case. The reason I mentioned it is because I enjoy Silver Crown racing and my idea was that it might spark more interest. But again, I'm into racing pretty heavy these days, I'm a single guy that likes to be at the track whether its sprints, midgets, late models, Silver Crown, etc. However, as an above average fan I'm also willing to travel from Louisville to places like Du Quoin, Indianapolis, Salem, etc. Not everyone is. So "unless you grew up with them" and considering they have a short schedule, how many people are willing to travel to see Silver Crown races when many fans aren't as familiar with them as they are sprint cars

Not sure if that makes any sense reading it back to myself but I tried.

[Tumey's 55]

There is very little marketing done for open wheel racing, WoO is perhaps an exception. In general what little marketing that is done is to current fans. No easy answers because marketing takes money. There are opportunities for free or low cost marketing but not enough of this is done either. I agree that age of fans is an issue, skewed heavily to the over 50 crowd. I went to a stock car track in NC and was amazed that there were fans of all ages present. Point being there is interest among younger folks in racing but how do you reach out to those who do not know about sprints, midgets, etc.

[sprinter31]

A few years ago I was in Leaders Edge picking up a rear end, and this came up in conversation about the crowds. As they were all being in there 50's and the only young people at the track were the drivers. So after having this chat I started really observing the crowds and you guys are right 50 and up. Here is the sad thing I am a High School Vocational teacher in Illinois I got the local track to give me free passes for students that done well in class and different things. Non of the kids wanted to go to the races. I have invited many students to go to the races with us to help out and I would pay their way and they don't want to go. The big Kicker is last weekend I could not go to the races on Friday cause I coach football, my son was going to go and run he is 25 been racing his whole life. He didn't go cause he had no help, he call about 5 guys to see if they would go and help him, pay their way in and nobody wanted to go. Video games and Beer are more fun. Good thing is the car is in one piece LoL Crowds in Indiania I feel are still good but in Illinois not so good, our track in Iowa we race at you cold throw a hand full of rocks and hit no one in the stands. Sad but to the Silver Crown question I will go to a crown race any where love those cars But I am old too Lol

[farriswheel]

I feel like the decline in young fans could correlate directly with the number of tracks that run weekly shows, nowadays. I can remember when I was young (I'm 31 now...OLD) going to Tri state Speedway every Sunday. I think it's hard for youngsters, who didn't grow up with a parent racing, to even know when and where there's going to be a race, and to get an adult to take them to the track. That goes back to the marketing of the sport. I've introduced a lot of new fans to dirt track racing, and have found that once you get someone to the track, they typically want to go back time and time again.

It also helps when the drivers are fan-friendly. I feel like the tracks that have hometown drivers that are well-liked, tend to have a lot of their youth t-shirts in the stands, which will eventually grow up to be adult t-shirts and lifelong fans.

[sp6967]

I think it has to do with birth rates. when I was young the smallest family had 3 kids nowadays people tend to have 2 or less. there are just less young people to get hooked, plus the entertainment dollar has a lot more to choose from.

[jim goerge]

I feel all the above post make really good points. I was like most of you as far as going racing with a parent, and during high school I wasn't there a lot but went a couple times a year I think most younger people would rather go to their schools games and such. When I was growing up most race cars were at garages so you could at least see the cars, Stadium Motors 00 was bout 3 blocks away and when they fired the car up it was like a magic sound to me as I went there with a couple of friends, my friends would stay bout 5 minutes but I was there for hours or till they told me to go home lol I"d talk with dad about going to Haubstadt and we"d cheer old 00 on and it won a lot of races. My dad always asked me if I wanted a buddy to go with us and more often than not they wern"t interested but next day they wanted to know how 00 did. I became hooked and was ready to go with dad and his buddies when they started going to USAC races. I guess what I"M trying to say is that now days younger people have so many things to chose from that unless they were brought up going most won"t. So next year if you younger guys see a heavy set guy with a walker stop me and say Hi