How many would attend?
 

Lincoln speedway in Pennsylvania traditionally holds their opening weekend the last weekend in February. If they luck out with even close to decent weather it can be SRO.. This year with them watching the weather and today (Thursday) being an exceptionally nice day they moved opening day up to today. Paying $5K to win. And still are are planning to run the regularly scheduled 2 day show this weekend. Saturday doesn’t look great but Sunday not too bad and I may ride over…
My question is if an Indiana track tried this how many fans & cars would show up?

Re: How many would attend?
 

Thursday might be the lightest crowd at Lincoln. If the weather is half way good this weekend it will be packed. I also think Thursday will be good enough to make a profit. In Indiana, I don't think people would turn out. Might get the cars. Paragon has the No Way Out 40 on March 11. This is the earliest that I remember seeing an Indiana track open. That might be a better way to judge.

Re: How many would attend?
 

This is a sprints only show and I bet the checker is thrown by 930 probably by 830

We've had NWO for over a decade and really it's all dependent on weather on fan count.

No sure you could rank Lincoln with any IN track, Them people are tough and seem to be enough fans to keep two tracks a night pretty well attended. A nice Icebreaker has had full grandstands and a packed infield.

Me personally, If I ran a track would schedule every Sunday afternoon until mid November. decent paying. Weather don't look good, you could cancel early in the week Hot laps 530 checker by 9. Two classes.

The weather is supposed to be in the 60s this afternoon so if people can get out of work, it should be well attended.

I remember going to the Lincoln opener must have been 1998 and the Grove got snowed out the next day.

Re: How many would attend?
 

Originally Posted by oppweld:
I remember going to the Lincoln opener must have been 1998 and the Grove got snowed out the next day.

I went out years ago to the opener and the grove the next day. A young Kasey Kahne won at the Grove. Lincoln is the only one that runs really early anymore. I think oversaturation is a factor there, as it is here. Teams and fans get burnt out, and run out of money.

In 1999 I don't think it was the opening weekend but still pretty early. Kevin Gobrecht won at Lincoln on Saturday, Port Royal Saturday Night, and at the Grove on Sunday afternoon noon raising his profile that led to him getting the Blaney Amoco ride with the outlaws!

Re: How many would attend?
 

Originally Posted by motorhead748:
Lincoln speedway in Pennsylvania traditionally holds their opening weekend the last weekend in February. If they luck out with even close to decent weather it can be SRO.. This year with them watching the weather and today (Thursday) being an exceptionally nice day they moved opening day up to today. Paying $5K to win. And still are are planning to run the regularly scheduled 2 day show this weekend. Saturday doesn’t look great but Sunday not too bad and I may ride over…
My question is if an Indiana track tried this how many fans & cars would show up?

I would. I've sat in 28-degree weather at LaSalle (IL) Speedway for the Thaw Brawl about 7 years ago. Had 5 layers of clothes on plus 2 hoodies, and heavy jacket, and a large blanket. :32:

I was there as well when Kasey won the opener. As a kid I was in awe of the conditions they would race in. In the late 80s at the Grove they ran a few days after a huge snow storm where you had to park around huge snow piles in the parking lot.

Re: How many would attend?
 

I just checked FloRacing, and it will be on tonight starting at 7:00 pm EST.

Watching now and the crowd looks good. Lots of whining on social media about this sudden race date😆

Re: How many would attend?
 

That crowd looked huge, Lincoln hit a home run tonite.

Re: How many would attend?
 

Lincoln was packed to the gills last night.....they hit a home run !!!

Re: How many would attend?
 

Real nice crowd for a Thursday night in February. Very efficiently ran show. Hot laps at 7:00. Racing ended at 8:37. Having only 25 cars and no B Main helped. Thought feature was decent. The heat races were a great advertisement for qualifying. Not much action. Running one class helped. During MidgetWeek when some promoters add a third class, and the night drags on, think of how efficient this one was.

Not sure if you would get a sprint crowd that big but have seen lucas oil latemodels pack brownstown like that early in the year

Proves that wings are better 😉But seriously I thought that was awesome. I echo Brent’s thoughts about the efficiency of the program. I think only one yellow all night. The crowd was great. But I think the biggest factor was a near perfect weather day. And that’s why they did it anyway. But to answer the original question, I don’t think you could have pulled off anything close to that successful here in Indiana on a weekday in February, even with perfect weather. That was a crowd ISW would be happy with.

Re: How many would attend?
 

The heat races were a great advertisement for qualifying. Not much action.

Ok I’ll bite. Tell me why.

76, there’s no helping wing heat races

Re: How many would attend?
 

Originally Posted by yeleyfan76:
The heat races were a great advertisement for qualifying. Not much action.

Ok I’ll bite. Tell me why.

Since nobody will answer. Simply put it's flat footed no passing racing with the leader in clean air and the next car only getting enough to stay within about thirty feet. It's not good racing. Winged racing with dirty air and two good grooves is great. Otherwise It's what you complain about. Qualifying. You don't pass anyone in the first lap and it stays green. Little chance at advancement and not enough laps or cars to dirty the air for everyone.

Run two 25 lap heats and a 40 lap feature. finishing position of both heats is the lineup for the feature outside and inside rows.

Re: How many would attend?
 

With winged cars and only one division, the track does not widen out. You need a support division OR qualifying laps before the heats will be more than what we saw on Thursday night at Lincoln. When you have 7 or 8 car heats you will get the "wing thing heats" as Mr. Nungester described. Here in Central Pennsylvania most tracks have two and sometimes three divisions with the support division(s) running first heats, which in my opinion makes it better for the 410s heats. Sometimes, depending on the track conditions, tracks will run one or two support heats, then run the three or four 410 heats, then finish up the support heats. Features are usually much better than the heats because the track will change with more cars and more laps and the team that makes the best choice in set up will get to or will stay in front. By the way, traditional sprints are better than wing sprints, wing sprints are better than modifieds.

Re: How many would attend?
 

To think the original question of the thread was whether the Indiana fan base would support a February event, much less a nite race on five days notice. The answer is a hard no. The crowd on Thursday rivals some ISW crowds which are always aided by out of area travelers. Todays crowd was very good as well.
As for qualifying to aide passing in the heat races, it was evident that the faster cars moved up to redraw spots sans Macri. So qualifying would have done nothing to improve the show. Based on the snoozer heats at Bubbas last week I’d say qualifying did nothing but burn up tires and fuel.
Charles I’d would love it if your twin 25 lap heats and 40 lap feature idea was the format. That sounds fantastic. Draw for spots no TT. All competitive on track action all of the time.

Re: How many would attend?
 

Originally Posted by yeleyfan76:
To think the original question of the thread was whether the Indiana fan base would support a February event, much less a nite race on five days notice. The answer is a hard no. The crowd on Thursday rivals some ISW crowds which are always aided by out of area travelers. Todays crowd was very good as well.
As for qualifying to aide passing in the heat races, it was evident that the faster cars moved up to redraw spots sans Macri. So qualifying would have done nothing to improve the show. Based on the snoozer heats at Bubbas last week I’d say qualifying did nothing but burn up tires and fuel.
Charles I’d would love it if your twin 25 lap heats and 40 lap feature idea was the format. That sounds fantastic. Draw for spots no TT. All competitive on track action all of the time.

That's all Im looking for is a way to make the heats better and mean something.

Non wing sprints with their dished noses and side panels are using aero on bigger tracks. That and the shock packages, A car with the left front in the air anymore is not working right. Used to be the norm.

Re: How many would attend?
 

I wonder what it felt like today, Sunday? Looked pretty windy, but they had a good crowd. Its been cold in Connecticut lately
Good race , tho... Lincoln is usually pretty competitive
I went to the Icebreaker a few years ago, before COVID, got really lucky with the weather that year

Originally Posted by revjimk:
I wonder what it felt like today, Sunday? Looked pretty windy, but they had a good crowd. Its been cold in Connecticut lately
Good race , tho... Lincoln is usually pretty competitive
I went to the Icebreaker a few years ago, before COVID, got really lucky with the weather that year

It was a good show with a crowd that most any track would love to have. I made the 522 mile ride over on my motorcycle and had a great day!

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
Since nobody will answer. Simply put it's flat footed no passing racing with the leader in clean air and the next car only getting enough to stay within about thirty feet. It's not good racing. Winged racing with dirty air and two good grooves is great. Otherwise It's what you complain about. Qualifying. You don't pass anyone in the first lap and it stays green. Little chance at advancement and not enough laps or cars to dirty the air for everyone.

Run two 25 lap heats and a 40 lap feature. finishing position of both heats is the lineup for the feature outside and inside rows.

The original question had nothing to do with wing vs non wing but instead comparing fans/tracks/regions.
I’d agree with 1021 that a DLM race with their fans might could pull it off but I’m not even sure about that on 5 day’s notice on a weekday.
The bottom line is the sprint car fans in that region support their races and the cars. And that is very much evident when walking the pits. All of the cars are very high caliber and with support. That doesn’t happen overnight and those tracks have been building their shows for decades.