Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Hubie:
I disagree with wings completely.

Me, too. Well, except on airplanes. THOSE are okay, I guess.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by ModernDayCowboyFan92:
This may be far out there, but what about trying to make a seperate pavement and dirt series and maybe add the wings on pavement, and try to talk to the AVSS and HOSS groups about trying to make one strong series, and adding race dates. It seems like there would be enough cars to have some decent car counts. I can remember going to Plymouth Speedway and a couple other northern Indiana pavement tracks, and when the winged sprints came in they would pack the place. Seems like a few years ago, like when USAC would run at Winchester and at the Michigan tracks that more of the AVSS guys would take the wings off and run with them. Maybe USAC could reach out to some of these guys and invite them back to their races or something of that sort.

Kalamazoo speedway last saturday evening ... Low car count but excellent racing.. Too bad only 2 michigan drivers showed without their wings.. Wings are ok for me I can go either way . The problem weather its usac or avss/hoss at Kzoo the fan base there would pretty much prefer fenders :( Us that know winged and non winged pavement sprints love it !... Im more of a pavement fan than a dirt fan especially after doing Millstream sunday evening.. Its just not fun sitting in showers of dirt and not being able to see the track. Eldora can be just as bad.. If you do away with the pavement shows I may have to find something else to occupy my weekends .. :7:

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

wings........hell no!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

:22:I too think that co-sanctioning with other pavement series (whether it's ARCA, AVSS or HOSS) would help the car and fan count. I know for us, we had to miss the Kalamazoo race due too finances, it just killed us to be at home less than two hours from a race that we felt we could have run well in. I like the internet broadcasts that have been shown this year, it would be nice for the racers if they were archived so we could watch them when we get home from the race. I know that Must See Racing archives their races after they have been shown on Comcast. I like the idea also of putting wings on the cars for pavement, if that happens I know of another car that will be there!

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

I knew Kalamazoo Speedway would provide great racing...It is wide, smooth and has nice banking...I worked trying to sell tickets for the Wolverine Midget Nationals Chuck Painter promoted. Great track....But I noticed...no one was talking about it here...I got updates from www.tjslideways.com.

That is Gordon Johncock country up there.

I will say this...Michigan has some fine paved tracks..and I have not even seen all of them..Springport...Berlin...I know there are others

I always thought it was great to go to Winchester and see Jeff Bloom and Marvin Carman run roadsters there with USAC..it really spiced it up...But someone in power said..."we have got to get rid of these roadsters"....Who has their fingerprints on that?

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by 50mcrewguy:
:22:I too think that co-sanctioning with other pavement series (whether it's ARCA, AVSS or HOSS) would help the car and fan count. I know for us, we had to miss the Kalamazoo race due too finances, it just killed us to be at home less than two hours from a race that we felt we could have run well in. I like the internet broadcasts that have been shown this year, it would be nice for the racers if they were archived so we could watch them when we get home from the race. I know that Must See Racing archives their races after they have been shown on Comcast. I like the idea also of putting wings on the cars for pavement, if that happens I know of another car that will be there!

Haven't you guys run that 50m car a few times with Cameron Dodson and Coons and some others when USAC and some winged races were at Winchester?

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Seadog:
Haven't you guys run that 50m car a few times with Cameron Dodson and Coons and some others when USAC and some winged races were at Winchester?

Yes we have, we were at Winchester in April when we were rained out. Also we had a decent car at Anderson then got crashed at the start.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

I wish they would have made it a 2 day deal, Kalamazoo on Friday and Berlin on Saturday. We always ran the sprints at Berlin back in the 90's and they always had a great crowd !
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

:5::8:

Originally Posted by Checker'd Past:
wings........hell no!!!!!!!!!!!

I was beginning to think you died, where have you been lately

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

I had a short attack!!!!!!!!!

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by 50mcrewguy:
Yes we have, we were at Winchester in April when we were rained out. Also we had a decent car at Anderson then got crashed at the start.

Are you running Winchester or Toledo next month?

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

No wings
No last chance race
Run a B main and you might find yourself running a C main
Not as wide of a tire

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

When the guys in the USAC office are making more money than the racers on the track, something is wrong with that.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by rocket5612:
Kevin,

My suggestion to you is, if you want more cars, work on your schedule. Racers with full time jobs are who made USAC, and then carried it after the Texas and Indy scoring debacles nailed the coffin for sanctioning Indycars. Today's working environment does not allow a lot of time off for these guys to go racing. Race on Saturday nights for the most part. If racing weekdays is necessary, do it as few nights as possible. Remembering of course that people who do real work for a living get around two weeks of vacation time. This is especially important since nobody is making a living racing in USAC, except the guys who rent their rides out to the wealthy individuals who choose to spend their money trying to "make my kid the next..."(take your pick of NASCAR driver who came from USAC). A 20-30 race schedule is plenty sufficient in my opinion.

Next, work on making the series' one car for pavement and dirt. Do whatever it takes to make this happen. Please do not go to the chassis manufacturers and get their opinion for what to do. They are in the business of selling cars and parts. Asking for their opinion is like asking the oil companies to develop alternative fuel vehicles. Having dirt and pavement cars plays into their hands because instead of selling two cars(one primary car and one back up) they sell at least four (one primary dirt and pavement and one back up dirt and pavement) for each driver.

Narrow up the RR tires in the sprints and midgets on dirt. Require an offset rule for dirt that allows the same rear axles to be run on dirt and pavement(this would also elminate the flips that occur from drivers "getting over on the LR" which will increase safety). Require the engine to be on the centerline of the chassis and at the SAME location from the rear axle to the motor plate for both pavement and dirt. Require the seats be at a minimum height while maintaining the required head room above the driver and the main frame rail (I believe 2" is required above the driver and 4" is recommended but I'm not sure on that). Eliminate direct spindle mount hubs on dirt. Require six pins for both surfaces. Require a specific size fuel cell be used. Also, in the midgets close up the allowable wheelbase. Only allow about 2" or less to move not 10" like it is now. I am not as "up" on the sprint car rules to say but I am willing to bet there is a wide gap there too. Nobody wants to be 100% like NASCAR but one thing I will have to say about them is they are not afraid to write rules and then back them up by ENFORCING them. USAC does an extremely poor job of enforcing their own rules. Go to a NASCAR late model race sometime and see all the various things they check on the top running cars. USAC fails miserably in comparison to those guys when it comes to tech inspection.

Next, for the survival of USAC purchase ARCA and get the USAC brand back on TV. They seem to have a good thing going and you could run shows where you race the Silver Crown cars or Sprints then run the ARCA event. This gives the fans a great package like NASCAR does with the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series' in the same day/weekend. Plus ARCA already runs some of the same tracks as USAC Sprints and Silver Crown. (Winchester, Salem, DuQuoin, Springfield etc). Eventually, I would turn the Silver Crown series into a 200 lap event series with either "breaks" or pit stops whichever can be made to work best. Too often the same guy leads all the laps in the Silver Crown series and there isn't as much passing due to the lack of chances to work on the cars.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. People can take them or leave them, but its what I think needs to be done for the long term survival of USAC racing.

Excellent suggestions for Kevin Miller, from Rocket 5612. You composed that well - great job and thanks. From an old (really old) AAA and present USAC fan and my 46 year old race fan son (the kid's only been going to sprint/midget/silver crown for 43 years).

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

A few thoughts:

Adopt a new format where heat races actually mean something. Invert 16, Top two in each heat go to a dash. Something similar to the Outlaw deal. Dashes are far more exciting then last chance races.

We also need to package the shows within a 3 hour time frame. No race should end after 10. When I grew up in California going to the pits after the races and hanging around the drivers meant everything. Here(Indiana) we race load up and head to the car wash while street shitters are running. If the feature ended at 9:30 and u said stay till 10 and talk to fans i'd say no problem. Leaving a track at midnight during sprintweek sucks for the racers and the fans.

Pavement sprints...most teams going to Richmond will have 2k wrapped up in three sets of tires. Anyone can do the math on that one after travel hotels etc etc. Hoosier sold midget tires to teams for Iowa that were unreturnable and will never be used again(8.5). We all know Hoosier pads Usac's pocket which I understand.....but doesn't Usac need to look out for their competitors on this one? There were 20 cars there and the racing was great. More pavement tracks like that....Anderson can have there HBO special not 50K sprints and midgets.

Another thought is the good ole frisbee toss. Each driver sign one and throw it over the fence before the feature. If your frisbee has the winning driver on it u get a free usac shirt. More stuff like that that makes it more of an "event."

Everyone seems to think TV is this answer. Maybe we should have starters then. Or how about we tie a midget behind a sprint and race that? How about some suggestions on how to make the racing better besides "we need tv"
and bring back the "combo car." Maybe instead of pavement sprint races run 10 races with wings on the dirt car that would be fun.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Jackslash.com:
When the guys in the USAC office are making more money than the racers on the track, something is wrong with that.

There is nothing wrong with someone making money. And I'm quite certain that USAC is not making money hand over fist like some of you people think. Especially when they're promoting races on their own now, taking the chances that all those other tracks are taking. I'm all for seeing the drivers and teams get some return, and that has actually improved over the last few years. No one has said anything about the raise (albeit small) in purses this year in USAC. And that doesn't even include the $10,000 to win races that have been added this year....

I really wish we could get out of a mindset from 10-20 years ago or more. This is 2009. As much as the pavement side of things is in the tank, I can't believe that you could ever find better racing than we have on dirt right now.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

If I remember correctly the last purse increase was in 92 or 93 before they raised it this year
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by MRmcgillicutty:
Adopt a new format where heat races actually mean something. Invert 16, Top two in each heat go to a dash. Something similar to the Outlaw deal. Dashes are far more exciting then last chance races.

We also need to package the shows within a 3 hour time frame. No race should end after 10. When I grew up in California going to the pits after the races and hanging around the drivers meant everything. Here(Indiana) we race load up and head to the car wash while street shitters are running. If the feature ended at 9:30 and u said stay till 10 and talk to fans i'd say no problem. Leaving a track at midnight during sprintweek sucks for the racers and the fans.

The beauty of USAC racing is that the heat races are solid anyway. Outlaw heat races are still usually bad, even with the dash format. If they would just make guys transfer through the heats to make the feature invert, things would be much better. With a car count like we had in PA, you can do the same thing - heat invert was 6 or 7, and the top four would get to start in the first three rows. Unfortunately, dashes often lead to less exciting feature races.

Ya know, they pleaded with the teams to stay after Grandview and especially Big Diamond. I heard Klepper tell the fans repeatedly to heat to the pits and meet the drivers, teams, and cars. That race was over EARLY, and there was only one quick support feature to run. There wasn't a race the next day. And by the time the fans got in there, there were about 3 cars still outside the trailers. It seems like you guys always try to set a track record on loading up. And the funny part is - you could dang near cover travel costs to Pennsylvania just on t-shirt sales if you'd just stick around a little while. The PBR fines bull-riders who don't stay for 15 minutes after the event to sign autographs. Pretty simple...

I don't envy the teams, especially those who run multiple divisions. But it seems like no one is willing to do their part. I surely wouldn't be such a die-hard fan if not for guys going the extra mile and giving me a face and a personality to go with the cars on the track. I have found with all the people I've brought to races - they don't want to watch cars go around the track - they want to watch people they've met and can identify in cars wrenched by people they've met and can identify. Thank goodness for guys like Robbie Stanley, Tony Elliott, and Jack Hewitt being around when I was younger to get me hooked on sprint car racing and sprint car drivers...

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by kinser:
If I remember correctly the last purse increase was in 92 or 93 before they raised it this year
Posted via Mobile Device

So the new staff at USAC raised the purses after their first year. Seems like a good thing to me. I hope they can keep it going and raise purses more often than every 15-20 years...

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Can I be smart for a change and say. I don't know the answer

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by MRmcgillicutty:

Another thought is the good ole frisbee toss. Each driver sign one and throw it over the fence before the feature. If your frisbee has the winning driver on it u get a free usac shirt. More stuff like that that makes it more of an "event."

I love this idea.:6: I would think that the fans would absolutely eat it up.

---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

---------- Post added at 02:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon:
I really wish we could get out of a mindset from 10-20 years ago or more. This is 2009. As much as the pavement side of things is in the tank, I can't believe that you could ever find better racing than we have on dirt right now.

Well said.:6:

---------- Post added at 02:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon:

I don't envy the teams, especially those who run multiple divisions. But it seems like no one is willing to do their part. I surely wouldn't be such a die-hard fan if not for guys going the extra mile and giving me a face and a personality to go with the cars on the track. I have found with all the people I've brought to races - they don't want to watch cars go around the track - they want to watch people they've met and can identify in cars wrenched by people they've met and can identify. Thank goodness for guys like Robbie Stanley, Tony Elliott, and Jack Hewitt being around when I was younger to get me hooked on sprint car racing and sprint car drivers...

VERY well said.:8:

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon:
So the new staff at USAC raised the purses after their first year. Seems like a good thing to me. I hope they can keep it going and raise purses more often than every 15-20 years...

What I am saying is that in all those years there wasn't a purse increase and there was only a tiny increase ? Where has all that money gone all of those years ?
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Seadog:
Are you running Winchester or Toledo next month?

I don't think we will be ready for Winchester (work gets in the way!) Maybe Toledo if we can get together the parts and the time when we get home from Richmond. (Crewing the 94 sc car, driver Mike Lichtey from Canada)

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by kinser:
What I am saying is that in all those years there wasn't a purse increase and there was only a tiny increase ? Where has all that money gone all of those years ?
Posted via Mobile Device

Away from racing! It's not hard to see that a really good crowd is not as common as it used to be. And there's definitely not as many sponsors willing to throw money into this deal anymore. The tracks have to pay that money - and most aren't willing to spend a whole lot more than they're spending now. So we need more people to attend and support sprint car races to raise the money more...

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon:
I really wish we could get out of a mindset from 10-20 years ago or more. This is 2009. As much as the pavement side of things is in the tank, I can't believe that you could ever find better racing than we have on dirt right now.

This is a point well taken. Racing is ever changing, like the shifting sands. It's always been like that and always will be. Racing was great back then, but as far as dirt is concerned, it is great right now, too. There have been low points, but we're not in one, right now. In fact, it took a couple of days after Midget Week was over for me to decompress. It was just that good, IMO. One of the best weeks of racing I've ever experienced. The bar has been set very high for Sprint Week.

Asphalt racing obviously has problems, right now. With it's tradition, it deserves to be fixed. I hope someday they can find a way to add more events and find away to get more people to compete. When they do, hopefully it will be adding to the overall schedule or running it as a separate entity and not in a way that takes away from their already successful product, dirt track racing. JMHO.

Jerry

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

How about this if you don't transfer thru your heat you cannot start on the pole of the feature!
Frank

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

What I mean is where has all of the money gone that USAC has made all of those years ? I do agree with you that the teams and drivers need to hang around for awhile after the races. I have always enjoyed hanging out and having a couple of cold ones after we get done racing but you don't see that much anymore.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by franksphoto:
How about this if you don't transfer thru your heat you cannot start on the pole of the feature!
Frank

I bet if they took a poll, among race fans, not getting your qualifying spot back if you didn't transfer out of the heat race would win 90% to 10%. And as Paul Harvey used to say, that's "From The What It's Worth Department".

Jerry

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by franksphoto:
How about this if you don't transfer thru your heat you cannot start on the pole of the feature!
Frank

Originally Posted by kinser:
What I mean is where has all of the money gone that USAC has made all of those years ? I do agree with you that the teams and drivers need to hang around for awhile after the races. I have always enjoyed hanging out and having a couple of cold ones after we get done racing but you don't see that much anymore.
Posted via Mobile Device

Frank - that's what I was saying above. They do it in CRA, and it works great when we go out there in the fall for the Oval Nationals. I love it. And the penalty for not making it through the heat is not crazy....you just can't start in the front three rows.

Kinser - I honestly couldn't tell you where it has all gone. I'm sure Kevin Miller would like to know, too. But I can tell you that USAC LOSES money by sanctioning races and showing up to work them. The sanction fee does not even cover their costs. But you always hear about how terrible that sanction fee is and how they're raking in the dough.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

TV is not the end-all-be-all on this topic. Would it be great and help? Of course it would. It would be great for us race fans that can’t make it to all events, but first you have to make a product attractive enough for a network to take on….or be able to sell sponsorship to take care of the cost of buying TV time. Right now neither of those is an option….on a big scale. You have to work on the product first and then TV will come. TV is an easy sell for people on here. Problem is there are not enough of us who love it. So, it’s hard to get on TV as such a niche. Most of my non race friends think that racing is Nascar because that is what they see on TV. I have to explain what an open wheel car even is because they have no idea. TV should be the last piece of the puzzle, not the first IMO.

The main thing right now is that it costs too much to run pavement to justify the means to do so for most teams. You can’t buy a pavement car and go run “local” with it. So if you can only run it a few times a year, why buy one? When you do run the car, again, it costs too much to do so. I realize it is going to cost money to race. Seems that the tire bill alone is one major thing that kills the car counts. That is the first step that should be taken. I know the bigger teams will spend what they want to, but something needs to be done so you don’t “need” a new set of tires every time you hit the track. This goes for midgets too. I have heard several teams’ reason for skipping a pavement race is that the tire bill is just too large. To me, that seems like an easy fix. Bottom line is that the cost to race pavement needs to come more in line with dirt or it will never take off again. You can build your own dirt car if you want to. You might not be able to compete with the big boys, but you can be in the game. Pavement racing does not work that way because it does not make sense to build one (hard to compete with a Beast anyway) that you can only run a few times a year…..when you do it costs so much more. Something has to be done to bring the cost down or the count will continue to dwindle. A car that can run both would be good, but you don’t want to cause the same problem on the dirt side. You don’t want “local” drivers to have to have a different car on dirt than they can run now. Then you are transferring the problem to the dirt. Any way the current dirt cars could be run on pavement with some modifications you could add on (then take off when going back to dirt)? I know that is not ideal and they would not be as good of a pavement car, but anybody that wanted to run could. I don't know if that would be possible as I don't know the mechanics of it. The problem then becomes what do you do with current pavement cars that would obviously be a better car? Really tough situation to change and make all sides happy.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by 50mcrewguy:
I don't think we will be ready for Winchester (work gets in the way!) Maybe Toledo if we can get together the parts and the time when we get home from Richmond. (Crewing the 94 sc car, driver Mike Lichtey from Canada)

Good Luck!

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by openwheelKT:
Really tough situation to change and make all sides happy.

It really is. I think it'll take several changes at once just to arrive at a happy medium. I can't see any one, single change, all by itself, making a difference without causing harm somewhere else.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Kirk Spridgeon:
Frank - that's what I was saying above. They do it in CRA, and it works great when we go out there in the fall for the Oval Nationals. I love it. And the penalty for not making it through the heat is not crazy....you just can't start in the front three rows.

Kinser - I honestly couldn't tell you where it has all gone. I'm sure Kevin Miller would like to know, too. But I can tell you that USAC LOSES money by sanctioning races and showing up to work them. The sanction fee does not even cover their costs. But you always hear about how terrible that sanction fee is and how they're raking in the dough.

Not that it means anything to you, but I have agreed with just about everything you have typed on this thread. Your use of common sense is nicely applied. And your grammar is exemplary.:9:

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Since this thread has migrated to this topic, I had to reply.

I've been saying it and saying it and saying it: USAC needs to look at how the AMA Supercross events are packaged. Those shows pack BIG venues, are very efficiently run and have a "big deal"-type feel to them. And let's face it, if you like motorcycles the racing is great, but what USAC has to offer is light years better, IMO. The AMA markets these guys' faces and names, and then pairs the recognition and the racing with a really cool driver intro deal where they walk through the crowd, etc.

Kevin said USAC continues to chase TV. If they could land some sort of deal and pair that up with something in the ballpark of what the AMA does, the sky may be the limit. The racing sells itself and there are personalities -- a lot of them young -- out there that would also sell themselves. If USAC is already losing money putting on shows, what's a little more over the course of a year or two to work towards an actual profit? I highly doubt the AMA is losing money with 25,000 (maybe more, I don't know) asses in the seats at football stadiums across the U.S.

The days of household, Indy-made names alone drawing 10,000+ fans to Buttf&$#, Indiana are gone. That pipeline has been closed, and we all know it. Doesn't work anymore. What does work in this day and age, apparently, is the AMA's method and if you ask me, USAC needs to take a long look at it.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Fisher79:
Since this thread has migrated to this topic, I had to reply.

I've been saying it and saying it and saying it: USAC needs to look at how the AMA Supercross events are packaged. Those shows pack BIG venues, are very efficiently run and have a "big deal"-type feel to them. And let's face it, if you like motorcycles the racing is great, but what USAC has to offer is light years better, IMO. The AMA markets these guys' faces and names, and then pairs the recognition and the racing with a really cool driver intro deal where they walk through the crowd, etc.

Kevin said USAC continues to chase TV. If they could land some sort of deal and pair that up with something in the ballpark of what the AMA does, the sky may be the limit. The racing sells itself and there are personalities -- a lot of them young -- out there that would also sell themselves. If USAC is already losing money putting on shows, what's a little more over the course of a year or two to work towards an actual profit? I highly doubt the AMA is losing money with 25,000 (maybe more, I don't know) asses in the seats at football stadiums across the U.S.

The days of household, Indy-made names alone drawing 10,000+ fans to Buttf&$#, Indiana are gone. That pipeline has been closed, and we all know it. Doesn't work anymore. What does work in this day and age, apparently, is the AMA's method and if you ask me, USAC needs to take a long look at it.

You have excellent points here. However, USAC is already behind the eight ball when using moto-cross as a model. Moto-cross can set up and tear down in a large stadium in any large metro area in a few days. Located right in the middle of potentially big populations. A number of USAC's venues are as you said in BF, Indiana which complicates the big crowd draws. With moto it's 50,000 fans within a half hour versus USAC's 1,500 fans within two hours. And USAC's venues at best hold 3,000 or 4,000, save Phoenix, Richmond and a couple of others.

And it will have to be promoted and sold as "totally bad to the bone action". We as die-hard fans know it is, but USAC has to convince the 15 - 25 year olds that it is.

Also, we all as die-hard fans/drivers/owners hate the cars with starters, but I believe it is imperative to bring these cars into the 21st century and make them more TV "friendly" if that is the direction we want to go with this. It's a necessary evil.

Just my two cents.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Fisher79:
I've been saying it and saying it and saying it: USAC needs to look at how the AMA Supercross events are packaged. Those shows pack BIG venues, are very efficiently run and have a "big deal"-type feel to them. And let's face it, if you like motorcycles the racing is great, but what USAC has to offer is light years better, IMO. The AMA markets these guys' faces and names, and then pairs the recognition and the racing with a really cool driver intro deal where they walk through the crowd, etc.

But the thing you are missing is the fact is that a big part of the appeal of Supercross is that kids actually own and/or ride dirt bikes. And they have major manufacturer support as a result, which is where much of the heavy promotion actually comes from.

In modern circle track auto racing, there is no connection between what's on the track and what those in the stands would ever tinker with or drive. That's not just a USAC issue, and I have no idea how you solve it without starting from scratch (and still probably failing anyway).

Quite frankly, if you compared the average age of the spectators to the competitors in a USAC national series race... Chris Hanson from Dateline NBC would be ready to do a sting operation right there.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Originally Posted by Seadog:
You have excellent points here. However, USAC is already behind the eight ball when using moto-cross as a model. Moto-cross can set up and tear down in a large stadium in any large metro area in a few days. Located right in the middle of potentially big populations. A number of USAC's venues are as you said in BF, Indiana which complicates the big crowd draws. With moto it's 50,000 fans within a half hour versus USAC's 1,500 fans within two hours. And USAC's venues at best hold 3,000 or 4,000, save Phoenix, Richmond and a couple of others.

And it will have to be promoted and sold as "totally bad to the bone action". We as die-hard fans know it is, but USAC has to convince the 15 - 25 year olds that it is.

Also, we all as die-hard fans/drivers/owners hate the cars with starters, but I believe it is imperative to bring these cars into the 21st century and make them more TV "friendly" if that is the direction we want to go with this. It's a necessary evil.

Just my two cents.

Good points there, too.

What if they set up a tiered system in which they ran these Supercross-type events near big/bigger markets: Kamp and Route 66 (CHI), Granite City (STL), Lawrenceburg (CIN), Anderson, ORP and Terre Haute (closest good dirt facility to Indy, unless you count Kokomo), Knoxville and Osky (Des Moines), Las Vegas, Perris (LA), Devil's Bowl (Dallas), the list goes on. The rest could just be your "average" show.... Maybe there would be some trickle-down in fan interest.

As far as starters, I don't think they're a necessity at all. Again, look at what the AMA does. They run all the practice and qualifying stuff during the afternoon, and while the gates are still open, that stuff takes place prior to the advertised time on your ticket stub. Get all that stuff out of the way and you're down to your heats, B and feature, which you can easily do in a two-hour window. And nearly everyone already re-works the track; so why can't there be a re-work in between the preliminaries and when the bulk of the crowd arrives?

Just throwing ideas out there. Growth is good.

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:00 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Gary Silverman:
But the thing you are missing is the fact is that a big part of the appeal of Supercross is that kids actually own and/or ride dirt bikes. And they have major manufacturer support as a result, which is where much of the heavy promotion actually comes from.

In modern circle track auto racing, there is no connection between what's on the track and what those in the stands would ever tinker with or drive. That's not just a USAC issue, and I have no idea how you solve it without starting from scratch (and still probably failing anyway).

Quite frankly, if you compared the average age of the spectators to the competitors in a USAC national series race... Chris Hanson from Dateline NBC would be ready to do a sting operation right there.

True, but when I talked about the young personalities it was with the thought that the Chad Boats, Cole Whitts, etc. could connect with a younger fan base. And isn't that what anyone is shooting for these days?

As far as kids owning bikes, that is true. But show me a kid (or an adult, for that matter) who doesn't get fired up at a non-wing sprint car doing its thing and I will show you a person with no soul! That's your connection right there.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

Instead of going to starters (an thus increasing the costs to the teams) to make the race evening more 'tv friendly', how about figuring out a way to get more puch trucks at the events. Be able to push off a whole feature in one shot (24 cars, 24 trucks). That would help with packaging it for tv, as well as increasing fan interest. Lets face it, todays youth are used to instant stimulation. If you force them to sit through a 10 minute break everytime a race starts or there is a red flag becuase there are 3 push trucks shoving off 22 cars, they will lose interest in the racing and look for another form of entertainment. And if we dont have that 8-15 yr old crowd getting hooked on racing now, how bad of shape is everything going to be in 15 years down the road.

As much as most of you hate wing racing, take a look at Knoxville and how they package the nationals for Live tv. They have the trucks to push off a whole feature at once, quick cleanups and restarts after reds. Before we got to showing the racing on tv, we need to package it so when people watch it, they are hooked the first time.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

:2:USAC wont pay more, they are, to busy getting their .25 off the ground. All this means to me is that they get their hand in the owners pocket faster. Big problem with USAC is that their drivers are going no where! Look at Darland, Coons and Brad Kuhn (and a lot more) why isnt USAC helping them and taking them to the next levet? USAC is only interested in getting money, not promoting a event or driver. When was the last time a Silver crown, Sprint or Midget driver from USAC went to another division, like NASCAR or IRL? How much did it cost the sponsers or parents to take their driver to the next level after USAC.
USAC plays favorites and always have, they make rules up as they go and enforce only the ones they want to when they want to. People are not dumb when they had enough they Quit. Promoting drivers that are only running a few races or have ties to some big names in racing is all USAC does, they only want the money or free stuff.
We can always watch Lawn Mower races from England if we cant get TV time from USAC:8:.
Sory if I offend some USAC officals ( who go to the tracks ) but that is how I see if first handed. Your not loosing the big name teams even though some are cutting back, you are loosing your base the guy who loves racing and works for a living mon-fri at a real job. No race fan is going to pay to see a 6 car race no matter who is driving.

Re: The Rumor Mill
 

I have been sitting on the sidelines on this one waiting to see where this would go. If I am not mistaken, the proposals to save USAC, the car owners and the entire sprint car way of life boils down to: One chassis for pavement and dirt, limit tires/wheel width to make horsepower a non-issue, have a tire company invent a super tire that never wears out and never slows down, increase purses so that racers can afford to race, race closer to home so that travel expenses can be reduced and get TV coverage to make everything better.

Now I hate to be the wet blanket here but there are always unintended consequences to these proposals and if it were really easy to implement them don’t you think they would have made the move by now?

Let’s talk one chassis for pavement and dirt; How do you police that? I saw on an earlier post that there would be a limit as to the engine set back, offset and wheelbase. What happens when a local (which we rely on heavily at the dirt tracks) wants to run USAC. Do they have to buy a special car that conforms to USAC specs? Do we all run dirt chassis on pavement? What dirt wheelbase/engine set back? Do locals that have a slightly different car get to run?

Same for the tire/wheel rule; Do you think local racers on a limited budget will step up and buy new wheels and a spec tires to run just the USAC shows? If you could get the WoO, All-Stars, MSCS and whatever other sanctions together and agree to limit the RR this would work. Without it this is a pipe dream. The reason USAC went to 410 was because it became the standard for sprint cars by the WoO and local tracks. USAC made the switch so that more cars could run with them not as the leader of a larger CID movement.

Now on to the tires. Yes they are a MAJOR expense for both large and small teams. I have begged for a one set limit for over 1 year and it has gone nowhere. We run 2 sets typically for each racing night because every time the tire undergoes a heat cycle (run on the track) it slows down a little. Not wears out, but slows down. Therefore if my car is going to have a shot at winning I have to bolt on new tires each time my competition does. If we all have only one set then there is no competitive disadvantage.

Before we hear from Don Moore, hard tires are not the answer either because they slow down just as much if not more. They also lack grip which means the cars will slide more in the corners. The reason there is not more passing on pavement is generally the grove is narrow and the drivers (well most anyway) don’t want to slide into another car while attempting to pass. Most of them have learned that open wheel to wheel contact is not good for their health or the car’s longevity especially on pavement.

I know that Hoosier contributes to the point fund for each tire sold. It is here that USAC can be of the biggest help to the participant by negotiating hard with ALL the tire manufacturers to obtain the best price and most money for the point fund. There should be full open disclosure of each bid to the competitors and the contract should be rebid each winter. I don’t care which brand wins the bid if everyone has to run the same tire.

Now I have been very outspoken in the past when a promoter makes a killing on a USAC race via the back gate. I also know that promoters don’t always pack the stands and they have expenses as well. Too many promoters fail to promote nowadays. I would like to see a return to the days of a percentage of the gate against a guaranteed minimum purse Part of the sanction fee paid to USAC would be set aside for track specific marketing. Additionally the promoters would be required to spend a certain amount advertising the USAC race in the local media. USAC could leverage a revamped marketing department to helping the promoter with advertising copy and media buys. This would make USAC, the participants AND the promoter partners in putting on a quality product and producing a profit for ALL.

As far as racing closer to home/on more weekends, I am all for that. I burn EVERY vacation day, personal day and sick day that I get at the bank to attend all the races on the USAC schedule. My wife is very upset that I have not gone on vacation with her and the kids in 4 years. Most of our past vacations centered around a race somewhere that I left for two days early or stayed after for a couple of days. But realize that when you limit the series to a local base you also limit your ability to attract national sponsors for the teams, the events and the all important television.

In conclusion, I think we all recognize there is a problem. But beware of some of the “easy” fixes proposed because they may create more problems than they solve. Most of you probably remember the push to put starters on midgets since that would make the series more fan and TV friendly. Sounded like a good idea and it had a noble purpose but it almost killed the series. We don’t need to go down that path again.

The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarially reflect the opinions of my team or sponsors.

Rob Hoffman