Originally Posted by Pitdad:
You heard the answer in the post race interview. Wind. The wind picked up as the night went on. Wind will suck the moisture right out of a track, whether it’s nature’s trade-winds or the whirling, swirling tornado caused by a winged sprint car show.

And the quickest way to shut this event down is to move it to a 1/2 mile. It doesn’t matter how great fans think it would be. It doesn’t matter how in the old days, they used to… It’s a question of car owners and drivers agreeing to strap in and risk everything on those long straightaways.

The last time we hosted Turkey Night we had 22 cars show up. The main reason was nobody wanted to run on a half mile. Your are correct. Bringing it back to The PAS or any other half-mile would kill the race.

Re: Usac: Turkey night grand prix usac midget results: Nov.
 

We attended the 2012 TNGP at Perris. It was the first time back on dirt since 1998. Very near 60 cars took time on Thanksgiving Night of 2012. Larson won his first of four that night. Car count dropped by 11 cars down to 48 the next year at Perris. In 2014 the total was 34 cars at Perris. As Scott said the car count bottomed out at 22 in 2015 which ended the TN tenure at Perris.

Having attended TN at both Perris and Ventura we enjoyed our experience at Perris much more than Ventura for the reasons I expressed above. However, the handwriting was on the wall in 2014. It's very sad that the factors that are in play doom events such as TN at the longer tracks but that's the reality in 2023. We feel lucky to have enjoyed the one TNGP we attended run on a longer track but it's evident it likely will never be held on a 1/2 mile ever again and it's equally likely never to be run on Thanksgiving Night ever again. Sad.

Re: Usac: Turkey night grand prix usac midget results: Nov.
 

Originally Posted by ISF:
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It's very sad that the factors that are in play doom events such as TN at the longer tracks but that's the reality in 2023. We feel lucky to have enjoyed the one TNGP we attended run on a longer track but it's evident it likely will never be held on a 1/2 mile ever again and it's equally likely never to be run on Thanksgiving Night ever again. Sad.

So, I will split this opinion with you. The race that hooked me on midgets was seeing them race at the Belleville High Banks. To watch them at that track was mesmerizing. The hair stands up on my arms just thinking about it. However, like PAS, we probably will never see midgets at the High Banks again and this does make me sad.

However, the idea that this year's TN was less than in the years past because it was ran on Saturday versus Thursday is silly. Racing Thursday was always a pain for the teams, and it was very difficult for many race fans. There is more than one race fan who could not get out of the house on Thursday to go to the races. More than one race fan that got completely sideways with their family because they went to the races instead of staying home. However, if you have it on Saturdays, all of those problems go away. I am sure if you talk to the promoter, he will tell you that his front gate went up because he moved the date to Saturday. Maintaining tradition is important, but making money is more important. Not only is the promoter making money, but he is increasing the purse for next year which should make everyone happy.

Originally Posted by Jonr:
So, I will split this opinion with you. The race that hooked me on midgets was seeing them race at the Belleville High Banks. To watch them at that track was mesmerizing. The hair stands up on my arms just thinking about it. However, like PAS, we probably will never see midgets at the High Banks again and this does make me sad.

However, the idea that this year's TN was less than in the years past because it was ran on Saturday versus Thursday is silly. Racing Thursday was always a pain for the teams, and it was very difficult for many race fans. There is more than one race fan who could not get out of the house on Thursday to go to the races. More than one race fan that got completely sideways with their family because they went to the races instead of staying home. However, if you have it on Saturdays, all of those problems go away. I am sure if you talk to the promoter, he will tell you that his front gate went up because he moved the date to Saturday. Maintaining tradition is important, but making money is more important. Not only is the promoter making money, but he is increasing the purse for next year which should make everyone happy.

Last three sentences are extremely important.
I remember not too long ago racing happening without fan attendance (covid). And we’ve had plenty of tracks close down.
I’m thankful for those few who actually put up with running any race track. That’s NO easy task. No track or race is perfect, I accept that.