Racing has always been more expensive to do then the money made doing it. We want others to help cover the cost to do it. Sponsors to help pay for the race cars, sponsors to help pay the race purse, sponsors to pay for the traveling series.
We as fans want a $100,000 to win race, but do not want to pay more $15 to see the race. Maybe it's time we pay what the real cost of something cost. No free lunch anymore.
When you buy a gallon of gas. It has alot of taxes that are added to the gallon. State and federal to help pay for roads we travel on with out tolls. This is why California always has the highest gas prices,they have the highest amount of taxes to fund things in the state.
I am an old fart and I can remember when gas went to 55 cents a gallon everybody act like the world was coming to an end. I can remember a time when the manual dials on a gas pump could not handle the fact that gas was now a dollar and there weren't enough spaces to show gas prices higher than 99 cents.
How many people reading this can remember when we had the oil embargo and they were literally lines at gas pumps that had no gasoline in them. I can remember when I was a kid there were weekends that we did not go travel to car races because we were worried that we cannot find gasoline to fill the car up to drive back home.
This is one of those moments where we need to unite as Americans and not be fractured,pick political views. If I have to suck it up and pay a little bit more at the pump to keep my son-in-law safe here in America versus having him to pick up a weapon and travel to a foreign land to fight yet again about oil. I am ok with it.

After pretty much missing all of last year. I will go if I have to crawl to get there lol. Luckily we live very modestly, and are vehicles are fuel efficient. Every since paying $5.50 after hurricane Katrina, I always anticipate the oil companies sticking it to us every chance they get.

Yes it will. We were going to do Indiana Sprint week and a bunch of others. But will probably only go to Paragon as it's in our backyard.

Jason

Great post!
I remember when gas hit 55 cents, & lots of people said they'd stop driving if it ever hit $1....haha
A few years earlier, a guy in our HS bought a 427 Chevy with two 4 barrels, & we were in shock when he spent $8 on gas cruising the first weekend he got it...

I have no interest in 95% of the racing that takes place within 100-200 miles of my home. That being the case, travel expenses always eat up a high percentage of my racing budget. So yes, I'll have to cut back on the number of races I attend. If inflation doesn't negatively affect your racing attendance then I suspect you're in the minority.

I also suspect that most tracks are going to be quick to cancel in the event of any iffy weather forecast. Especially so if it's a traveling series. My daughter lives near 411 speedway in TN. and they had a Lucas LM race scheduled for this weekend and they've already pulled the plug.

"If those numbers come to fruition and become reality all nonessential travel will be drastically curtailed for the average household. Scary scenario for sure."

Environmental extremists force USA to beg Venezuela, Saudi Arabia et al to increase production instead of reversing ***** day one restrictions on domestic production. Lack of national energy policy that doesn't change every 2 or 4 years is killing us.

With most rigs getting 6-9 MPG while towing, the average team will probably spend and extra $50-$100 just to get to the races. Rear sprint car tires have increased about $50 from two years ago. Most teams wear out approximately 2 tires per night. A faster dry track (Terre Haute or Lawrenceburg) and you could be wiping out 3-4 in a night. A rubber down main event kills three tires every time even on a small track. Payouts aren't increasing. I'm starting to see a problem.. Those big tracks are going to struggle for car count.

Just in tire costs you are likely to spend at minimum $100 per race more than in 2019-2020. Looks like every local team will be spending more money this year if they want to race. I would assume this means local car counts will be up and traveling car counts will be down.

That is really not a fair criticism of oil companies. Gasoline prices have doubled in two years but not because of what the oil companies did. But if you want to retaliate for being sticked, buy some oil and gas ETF.

https://www.investopedia.com/article...17-uso-ieo.asp

A great post? Not hardly. Most people who go don't have an infinite supply of money, and it's short sighted to think that $5 a gallon gas isn't going to hit other areas hard as well. It's like people who support the $15 minimum wage. Yes, it helps those in minimum wage jobs, but the increases are simply passed on to the consumer, in effect, it is simply a tax on the people and it ends up impacting the people its supposed to help. Much of the wage increases were eaten up by inflation before the Russian invasion.

The increase in fuel costs, costs to heat buildings, produce other products are coming down the pipeline shortly. And at some point, people are going to have to make some hard choices, just like they did in the 1970's. I was around then, and a lot of people did without. Money that could have been spent elsewhere fueling the economy was spent getting to work, or keeping the lights burning at home. Going out to eat was a rare treat, not an expectation.

Of course, you're all going to be better off when we are all electric, and taking out loans to pay for those $70,000-$80,000 electric cars and trucks that may or may not get you to the track and back. Bankers are licking their chops at the prospects.

Sir, paying $5 a gallon for gas isn't going to keep your son in law out of a war. Not being dependent on hostile governments for critical resources is a far better solution.