If, the only cost difference in the cars are the wings. If pit passes are $30 at both and stands are $15 at both, why is Fremont Speedways local series payout so much higher than any local payout for non-wing?
It seems like non wing racing as a whole is paid significantly less than weekly wing shows. Even at a National level. Why is that? Other than the All Stars and WAR, I don't see any sprint car racing on TV nationally? There is easily 150 sprint cars within Indiana racing most weekends split between three or four tracks each day (Friday/Saturday).
We all know how expensive racing is and I also fully understand that only one person wins each race. But places like Williamsgrove, Fremont, Port Royal, and Lincoln (who all compete against eachother) pay double our purse here in Indiana.
My original post was used as a reference to the websites attached.
If you look in your mirror and see a line of cars behind you, be kind and pull over.
Originally Posted by Sandy Lowe:
Do you know what Fremont’s average car count was for all of its regular shows that it paid this purse?
A quick look through the results on the Freemont Speedway website (I had to go through the race recaps as they didn't seem to post results anywhere) showed that they were averaging in the mid 20s for their 410 sprints. They had a $10k to win show that brought 40 cars. All similar to the typical car counts of 25-30 at each track and bigger shows (to win) bringing 40 cars here in the midwest.
If you look in your mirror and see a line of cars behind you, be kind and pull over.
IMO one reason the NW payout is lower goes back a number of years. When wings were becoming more popular at some tracks. it soon became obvious that a bigger/better/faster/more expensive motor was a big advantage. It was then thought that since the wing cars were more costly to run that they needed a bigger purse. There may have been some truth to that 30 yr ago. But not today. The NW cars have just as much invested. Couple that with the fact that on a night when the premier non wing sanction (USA C) has no races scheduled, it is very likely that you will see some or most of their stars at a weekly $1500 to win race. So where is the incentive for a promotor to pay more?
I once had a well known Indiana promotor tell me as we stood looking over the pits, those wings are killing me! I can pay less NW.
Originally Posted by spankytoo:
If, the only cost difference in the cars are the wings. If pit passes are $30 at both and stands are $15 at both, why is Fremont Speedways local series payout so much higher than any local payout for non-wing?
Also for comparison is that general admission for a regular show last year was $15 at the burg, and $14 at fremont. Both had $30 pit passes for regular shows.
Last year Lawrenceburg had 6 regular sprint shows paying the standard purse of $1,500 win/$225 start ($8,275 for 20 cars - highest in the state) plus $100 to each car that didn’t start the feature. If the car count was 21-23 all cars started the feature with the additional starters earning $225 each. At those 6 races the average car count was 22.67 cars per night.
Lawrenceburg also had 2 higher paying local races. The King of the Midwest Sprints paid $2,500 win/$250 start ($11,235 for 20 cars) and the Dick Gaines Memorial paid $3,000 win/$300 start ($11,200 for 20 cars). Those races had car counts of 17 and 19 respectively for an average of 18 cars per night.
In the case of Lawrenceburg Speedway a higher purse meant a lower car count. If racers want more higher paying races they need to support the higher paying ones we have now.
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Would it have anything to do with how many butts a promoter can get in the grandstand? There is no weekly NW shows in my area so I cannot really judge. But wing races in my neck of the woods have fuller grandstands. Though I would think Indiana would be a place that would draw a better NW crowd.
