Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

first i would like to clarify that i'm not a socialist but i have given this some thought for 10 years now , as an owner. We all look at the "big money races " and dream of winning but the odds of taking home that $10,000 is very small when compared to the normal weekly shows. Example is the burg for 10 grand. 71 cars show up and 24 made the main but only about 3 teams can go home making money. Earlier this year there was a feasco race held at Twin Cities and all the drivers and owners got together and agreed to all run for the same money. It was a good show and the drivers raced just as hard to finish as high as posible knowing they were going to receive the same money as the guy that finished last. Racers will race for the trophy and if there's money that's great too. I don't know what the total purse was at The Burg but lets say it was $30,000. I would like to see the Total purse promoted and divided equally among the cars that MAKE THE MAIN. I am positive the teams and drivers would run just as hard to gain positions and there should be a very nice trophy for the winner and a couple smaller ones for the next two places. This would put the burden of making the main on the teams and help spread the dollars around to the smaller budget and less sponsored teams. If you have the big bucks you will still , more than likely , win the show and receive the honors & SSN write ups. ( but don't look for any time on "speed news or win tunnel) Your right when you say something has to be done or soon the big dollar teams won't have anyone to race.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Still wondering the price difference between a 1986 transporter,and a 2007 transporter,or does that not get included in the price of racing??

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by Andrew S. Quinn:
Still wondering the price difference between a 1986 transporter,and a 2007 transporter,or does that not get included in the price of racing??

IMHO thats a unrelated cost to the actual cost of having a car on the track. It's a luxury if you want to have a huge totter home and a elevator trailor.

You can get to the track with a pickup and a two axel enclosed trailer (I say enclosed because in these days. It's a neccessity to lock things up)

Chuck

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by Rex W.:
What happened to the mscs steel block support series?

I suspect the MSCS steel block support series didn't take off for a number of reasons, but I give Sam Stockton a ton of credit for taking a shot at it. I would offer this thought though on why it may have failed. If they cannot afford an aluminum block, what would make somebody think that they could afford to run with a traveling series? :confused:

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

I agree with the profit sharing concept. Give a little more to the winner and pay fairly even money throughout the rest of the field. I guarantee car counts would improve (not that there is a problem with car counts!). The promotor isn't paying any more but, the smaller teams benefit a little more. It's definitely something to consider.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
IMHO thats a unrelated cost to the actual cost of having a car on the track. It's a luxury if you want to have a huge totter home and a elevator trailor.

You can get to the track with a pickup and a two axel enclosed trailer (I say enclosed because in these days. It's a neccessity to lock things up)

Chuck

Thats why I am asking,Chuck. Theres lots of luxuries you can throw at at a sprint car that cost plenty of $$$ too.

You can go in a pickup and an enclosed trailer,or an open trailer for that matter,but there sure seem to be plenty of teams with $$$ for all the nondescript Toter Homes and plain white trailers going down the highway.

How many "blue collar" teams are out on the road every weekend earning a living here in Indiana?? Does the hobby blue collar racer really need a Toter Home and a huge enclosed trailer that costs plenty,then complain of the cost of racing???


To me, if your gonna compare costs of racing,then add in everything,not just the cars,shocks tires and engines. Add in the price what transports you to the races as well.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Our toterhome was an investment. We found a good buy on one that was cheaper than a dully. Resale on the totor we feel we can break even, but the dully we would lose 5 to 10 thousand on. Not only that the luxury of not having to buy a hotel while on the road.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

"(not that there is a problem with car counts)!" Cecil98


Shouldnt that tell the complainers something???

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

steel block 305 non wing class, i dont understand why this wouldnt explode in indiana...there seems to be plenty of older chassis floating around that would work great for this too...and it would really make sprint car racing pretty accessible for younger guys like me who would love to actually drive a sprint car, and not just wrench on them because we cant afford our own.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by Rex W.:
"(not that there is a problem with car counts)!" Cecil98


Shouldnt that tell the complainers something???

Apparently there are a lot of poor little rich kids in Indiana. No complaining here. Good for them. I'm happy for them, and unashamedly, I wish I were one of them. And it's okay that working stiffs are getting squeezed out, it's been happening for a while now. I am hopeful that sprint car racing will survive without them. They will just have to find something else to do on Saturday nights. Maybe run a stock car, maybe watch sprints from the stands......or maybe not.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by chadsniffsmethanol:
steel block 305 non wing class, i dont understand why this wouldnt explode in indiana...there seems to be plenty of older chassis floating around that would work great for this too...and it would really make sprint car racing pretty accessible for younger guys like me who would love to actually drive a sprint car, and not just wrench on them because we cant afford our own.

about 5 years ago i had 2 sprint rollers and tried to get something going with the 305's or some kind of limited class and i couldnt get a track to try it..and most of the guys who were running sprints already had a ton of money in their motors and didnt want to try it either...i think if someone would run a 305 or limited sprint class you might have alot of cars ...there is so many guys and gals young and old who would love to try sprint car racing..as i found out when i had my cars used cars are really not that bad to get it is the motors that will cost you...the 305's are pretty big up in ohio..i even justed watch one car race ready with a 305 get bought on ebay for $6000 thats $1000 cheaper than my buddy just spend on his 600cc mini sprint..

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by Al Soran:
There's the problem. I say steel block, and everyone in sprint car racing immediately thinks Bowtie or Dart. "How can I spend more money"? Go ahead and get your Bowtie or Dart. If you run steel blocks, I guarantee some kid who wrenches at the local oil change facility will go to the junk yard and find a block out of an old pick up truck, and he will eventually whip you....or not. But, that's the point. Give a regular guy a little hope. Why else would he get a sprint car? He wouldn't, and they don't. They get modifieds.

Did Opperman EVER run an aluminum block? Kenny Weld? Did the two of them ever have any good races? Have any fun? Did Opperman come from money? Would we have ever seen him run if he were starting out today? Unlikely.

there is a couple of things about running a stock cast block (even with it being prepared)

1. if there is not a cubic inch rule trying to find good 400 blocks are almost gone

2. most of your stock blocks have core shift and the less the core shift the more power you can make ( I have about 8 stock small blocks at home and everyone of them are core shifted)

steel blocks are not a bad idea but if tracks are going to go to them we might as well go to a crate engine and that would be fine with me too.

as for everyone talking about the blue collar guy in my opinion if you want it bad enough you will figure a way out to get it.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Cecil and Rex you are right there are no shortage of sprint cars at this time. What I have been talking about is the future. In 1986 there was no shortage of sprint cars either it was nothing to see 40 cars at Bloomington on a Fri. night. Then everthing started sky rocketing in price while purse didnt increase then we got down to 14 cars on a fri. night in the early to mid 90s. So the promoters wisely chose to switch to non wing cars because they were more inexpensive to run. They were more inexpensive because you didnt need the killer motor like the wing cars did. So sprint car racing grew back to where it is right now. But unfortunatly we are back to where horsepower is a must, and that costs money. With purses the same I see the same thing coming as the early 90s. Myself I do not want to see it get to that stage of 14 cars. What do we do when that happens? But if we take a look now and start making small changes we might not go through that stage. Motor rules will not work in my opinion. But unhooking the cars will in my opinion. The greatest thing that could happen is that we do not have to change anything and find a way to get more fans in the stands. If more fans then maybe the promoters will be able to pay us more. If you can sell out stadiums to watch monster trucks then we should be able to sell out sprint car shows. Our show is much better. But they promote so much better than we do. You have to make sprint cars a show like they do and you will gradually see things change. Again these are just my opinions and I may be way off. Hopefully I am wrong and sprint car racing will be strong as ever 10 years down the road. Please no hard feelings with anyone for my opinions. I value your opinions as I hope you do mine.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

He's right, Burg when it was winged started 25-40 cars every night. By the early 90s we had a couple shows with 9 cars.

Chuck, who was told by some highly respected person that this would happen before it did. He said I'll give it ten years tops and by 93 we were having very low car counts and the ones who remained went All Stars or WOO. Joey Saldana was one of them. Pup went to them then came to USAC and the remaining teams just kinda dryed out and raced when they could afford too.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

how about a RR spacing rule with the only RR wheels you can run is like a 3 or a 4 off and RR can only be no more than 21.5 inches. then don't let them run the DT3 under 9psi. that would help unhook them a little.

Nick Johnson

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Are these problems restricted to the dirt cars?

Could the answer be so obvious as a "slick tire" rule? Run an asphalt tire on the rear and then 850+ horses = more smoke and dust.

just a thought:headbang:

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by wbr:
Are these problems restricted to the dirt cars?

Could the answer be so obvious as a "slick tire" rule? Run an asphalt tire on the rear and then 850+ horses = more smoke and dust.

just a thought:headbang:

*** people complain about dust now & u wanna make more??? lol

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

A couple of things that has helped to keep my costs down have been to dig through the big teams scrap piles and not buying brand new parts. You can save alot of money at Indy Race parts Bernie is a huge help to us blue collar racers!

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

If you can sell out stadiums to watch monster trucks then we should be able to sell out sprint car shows. Our show is much better. But they promote so much better than we do.....Riskybrisky

Hey kevin, there is a slight difference with the monster truck deal. In our area, at least, they come to US Bank Arena once a year. I'm not sure it would sell out if it was a weekly show. I took Brad and Brett a couple of times when they were little and, believe me, one time a year for that crap was enough!!! LOL

PS..that was a great run a funfest!

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by cecil98:
If you can sell out stadiums to watch monster trucks then we should be able to sell out sprint car shows. Our show is much better. But they promote so much better than we do.....Riskybrisky

Hey kevin, there is a slight difference with the monster truck deal. In our area, at least, they come to US Bank Arena once a year. I'm not sure it would sell out if it was a weekly show. I took Brad and Brett a couple of times when they were little and, believe me, one time a year for that crap was enough!!! LOL

PS..that was a great run a funfest!

Cecil, for gods sakes man, save yourself some trouble and use the quote button to quote other posters.:rolling:

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

when i don't want to quote the entire post, i just cut and paste what i want. there may be a way to do it using the "quote" button but, i don't know how. not super computer savvy!

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by cecil98:
when i don't want to quote the entire post, i just cut and paste what i want. there may be a way to do it using the "quote" button but, i don't know how. not super computer savvy!

To cut a portion of a post just place your cursor at the end of what you want cut and hit your backspace button until it is erased.

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

[QUOTE=Dwight Clock;15051]To cut a portion of a post just place your cursor QUOTE]

Like that!! Got it. Ok Joey, I'll be good from now on! :emote20:

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

[QUOTE=cecil98;15058]

Originally Posted by Dwight Clock:
To cut a portion of a post just place your cursor QUOTE]

Like that!! Got it. Ok Joey, I'll be good from now on! :emote20:

:thumb:

Re: To Kevin Briscoe
 

Originally Posted by sprint4:
Good point Al...

The block for my 360 came from a 1972 Chevy pickup... 4-Bolt main... I got a few suggestions from my engine builder as far as serial numbers to look for. I picked it up for $100 from some random guy I found in the Tradin' Post, a local classified paper. That's nowhere near the cost of a new Aluminum, Dart, or Bowtie block...

I can't recall what it cost to have it magnafluxed and to bore it out, but it wasn't more then a couple hundred bucks. So I spent maybe $300 to $400, for a block ready for a rotating assembly.

Just some more food for thought.

I've never seen you race before, but you've just gained one more fan for the engine in your car. I think it's absolutely awesome what you're doing with a dream of racing sprint cars. Gives me the hope that maybe in the next 30 years I'll be able to afford one of my own.

Good luck in 2008