I would think that running a race track (and I don't) would be like racing a race car. If I ain't reving my engine enough I drop the gear ratio (ticket price) and tell my driver to perk him up a little (advertise to the crowd) with a little more hype in the good old IOW. They have a great race track, they can sure pull some quality cars and drivers, they just got to make it so people can afford to as well as want to go see a race on Friday night.
Yes, midgets were on the card, see the Gas City midget thread for results. It was a crash fest with a yellow or red about every two laps. I think only 8 cars finished.
I had not been to Gas City in a couple of years. Crowd was way down compared to what it used to be. Racing was good and it was a shame crowd was so low. Interesting that they introduced and interviewed a couple of drivers in front of the crowd and there was almost no response, very little acknowledgement of the drivers. Several on IOW have addressed the need to get drivers in front of the crowd but did not seem to go over well in my opinion which was disappointing.
Im sure the track worker in turn 4 has a lot of experience but I hope he pays more attention in the future. While standing on the track during cautions he had his back to the cars just watching accident clean up on the other end of the track. Was nearly hit once by a midget. Not sure I have ever seen a track worker as unaware of his surroundings as he seemed to be. Not trying to criticize just would hate to see someone get hurt.
All in all an an enjoyable evening and I hope folks support them better in the future.
Agree with Tumey's 55, they interviewed a couple "name brand" drivers and the crowd did not seem interested. Also not only the turn 4 worker but was also disappointed by one of the push trucks. While one of the trucks was pushing Logan Jarrett off after a red flag another truck cut him off with the 29 almost running into him. I'm not sure if the woman riding along in the truck was the guys significant other or what but if you're going to ride along in a push truck at least try to help the driver out and pay attention.
That being said I do applaud Gas City for Friday night, yes the crowd count was down as well as the car count but they are doing a lot of things right. Yes, the worker and one of the push truck drivers/passenger weren't paying attention but the track was prepared very well last night resulting in the fact they didn't really have to farm it too much as the night went on not to mention it produced good racing. They had bike races for the kids in which only 3 kids took part in but I do applaud Mel for trying new things to get new fans, especially younger fans, in the stands. Even with all of the reds in the midget race I was home at a reasonable time so not a bad night at all.
