[ronmil]

I haven’t seen any comments on here yet, but Haubstadt didn’t have it’s usual dust free surface last Sunday night. Wonder if Tom was experimenting with a new recipe?
Also, where were the fans? Very poor turnout. This is not a criticism of the track surface, just an observation.

[flagboy55]

Ron. I was just watching at home and noticed the same thing, but not quite as much as maybe you might have. It was still a track that Ohio folks would die for. Actually the only part that looked bad was the sprint B I think if I remember correctly. At any rate the features looked pretty good on Flo

[SoIllSprinter]

I was surprised at the crowd as well. Head scratcher being it was a midget week race. As far as the surface, it isn’t dusty but it did seem to be dustier Sunday. Sprint race was fantastic as usual and there wasn’t much dust for its entirety. On the other hand the midget A was a slog. I used to love seeing the midgets but the last few times here and at other tracks it is a yellow and red fest. Contact is constant, many times almost seemingly on purpose. The sprint feature ran in under 10 minutes, the midgets, closer to 45. Frustratingly difficult to watch.

[openwheelfan1]

I too noticed the track was a little different, but for the most part relatively dust free. Since we live a couple of hrs. from Haubstadt I don’t know if their weather forecasts in the week leading up to the event Sunday were as variable as ours, but it seemed we had rain forecasted for much of the week and in reality got a few drops one day. With bright sun Saturday and Sunday, it’s hard to play catch up.

I was very surprised at the crowd or lack of. I wasn’t expecting a Sprint Week crowd, since it was Sunday night, but was surprised it wasn’t larger.

Although I enjoyed the midget feature, I have been disappointed in many of the midget features I’ve watched on Flo and at TSS. There seem to be an awful lot of bent parts at the end of the night at all the midget races I’ve watched. To a point, I get it….these are predominantly young, talented AGGRESSIVE drivers trying to move up as quickly as possible by winning and getting noticed, and they have backers and car owners that expect results, but a clean pass for position is starting to be a rarity.

[nathans1012]

Do you all think the size of the crowd had to do with the high as all godly he!! gas prices?

That was my first thought.

[Chief Wahoo]

Originally Posted by nathans1012 Do you all think the size of the crowd had to do with the high as all godly he!! gas prices? That was my first thought.

Yup and I predict this will be the lowest turnout next month for ISW. Sure hope I’m wrong, but with prices continuing to increase I see no other out come. Why I mentioned on LPS thread that this is the time to increase the free kids age to 12-13. Heck even go to up to 16. Your going to lose families that can’t afford to buy 3-4 tickets and especially if they have to drive a couple hours one way. I’d much rather get 2 paying fans, then zero just because they can’t afford 1-2 more tickets.
Just post that the policy has changed for this year and will be reevaluated next year. Times are tuff and tracks are gonna lose fans ( not because of Flo or NOS ). They need to start thinking outside the box.

[jdull99]

Originally Posted by nathans1012 do you all think the size of the crowd had to do with the high as all godly he!! Gas prices? That was my first thought.

[DaleDuBois]

With the price of gas and diesel, we will see fewer racing fans. Mostly at the tracks not real close to a bigger city like Tri-state. I see tracks like Lincoln Park and Bloomington getting mostly local people. Then there are the racers and some of their haulers only get 5 miles per gal., most racers only race for the fun of it and when it costs too much to have fun they will stay at home or just race less. The way the price of fuel is going up we will see tracks closing before long as some tracks will have to dig into their pockets to pay the purse. I don't know of any business that will keep operating when they are open if they lose money every time, they are open. I think by Fall the way fuel is raising lots of tracks will be closed. Most Americans are not stupid as they know what caused of this high-priced fuel, it is the ones now in charge of America. As I remember back when ***** lost the ******** by fraud, he had gas down to almost $2 per gal.

[The Old Coyote]

"Then there are the racers and some of their haulers only get 5 miles per gal"

Also, think about all the fuel used by all the track prep equipment!!!

[sw1911]

Originally Posted by nathans1012 Do you all think the size of the crowd had to do with the high as all godly he!! gas prices? That was my first thought.

Not to forget the rising cost of everything else. The value of my house in Arizona went up 29% in the last 12 mo. That translates into higher rents. There are a growing number of people out there who simply cannot afford their rent increases. But things are so bad in Cali, Wash. and Ore. that there are people lined up willing to pay Arizona rental rates. That's kind of an off topic and extreme example but back here just rising food and energy costs are forcing people to rethink those discretionary expenditures.