2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Kankakee needs a new promoter

Rumor is spoon river promoter is done unless he gets a good deal

Spoon river is best track in illinois in my opinion.. would be a shame to see it go. Think it'd be OK as a special events facility as late model drivers love it and said so this year. Local drivers haven't been supporting it

My guy’s 76 & 20 love Spoon, I’ve never been but watched it on the stream a couple times. When the prep is right it looks like a great place. Been to Kankakee a lot over the years. It’s always seemed to be in jeopardy from time to time. Hopefully someone can step in and save them both

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Originally Posted by jason88cubs:
Kankakee needs a new promoter

Rumor is spoon river promoter is done unless he gets a good deal

Spoon river is best track in illinois in my opinion.. would be a shame to see it go. Think it'd be OK as a special events facility as late model drivers love it and said so this year. Local drivers haven't been supporting it

Just curious, why would local drivers not support Spoon? Is it pay? Track conditions? Treatment? No point funds? Are local drivers "obligated" to support local tracks? I agree, Spoon can offer great racing.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

All tracks are in danger.
Period.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
All tracks are in danger.
Period.

Pretty sure Haubstadt and Knoxville are safe. :D

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Knoxvile has lost money on almost every race but the nationals for decades now. Several tracks have that one or two big races that carries it. But I've seen them counts go from well over a hundred cars down to 50-60.

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
Knoxvile has lost money on almost every race but the nationals for decades now. Several tracks have that one or two big races that carries it. But I've seen them counts go from well over a hundred cars down to 50-60.

You think they lose money on the 360 Nationals, Late Model Nationals, Capitani Classic, or any WoO race?

I'd venture a guess that the 360 Nationals and Late Model Nationals are both larger monetarily than any non-wing event in the country.

Ken, you’re probably right. Obviously the LM Nationals doesn’t rely on ticket sales for survival. I’ve heard from people that have been there saying the LMN crowd is unimpressive but as you indicated it pays well

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Originally Posted by kendirt:
You think they lose money on the 360 Nationals, Late Model Nationals, Capitani Classic, or any WoO race?

I'd venture a guess that the 360 Nationals and Late Model Nationals are both larger monetarily than any non-wing event in the country.

At none of them do they open the back strait grandstand and at most of them the main grandstand looks less than half full.

I was told they lost money on most every show but the nationals and this was before the 360 got big. Ten or so years ago?

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
At none of them do they open the back strait grandstand and at most of them the main grandstand looks less than half full.

Main grandstand half full is 6000 people.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Spoon looks to be more in trouble then Kankakee. Kankakee has a few parties interested in promoting the track. They still get a pretty good car count on Friday nights. Both are very good tracks as far as the racing is concerned. I think if Spoon was in a more populated location the car counts there would be a lot better than what they have been the last number of years.

Both are good tracks. I'd hate to see another track go bye bye.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Did anyone ever get it so alcohol was sold at Spoon? I remember back in the day it wasn't allowed.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Originally Posted by jdull99:
Did anyone ever get it so alcohol was sold at Spoon? I remember back in the day it wasn't allowed.

Last time I was there you could bring in a small cooler with alcohol. They charged $10 every time you brought it in so that was pretty cheap.

Looks like spoon will be back in 2026 from what brad denney wrote on Facebook

Originally Posted by jason88cubs:
Looks like spoon will be back in 2026 from what brad denney wrote on Facebook

Where did you see that? I looked on both Brad's personal page and the Spoon River page.

Just went to Spoon a few weeks ago for steel block sprints and several fender classes. I did a head count of only 68 people in the stands, worst crowd I’ve ever seen at a track. Track prep was great and racing was good. Promoter had to have lost quite a bit. They still don’t sell alcohol.

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Worst crowd I ever saw for the Knowles Memorial, which was one of their signature events. They don't sell beer and even if they did it isn't going to make the crowds grow.

Originally Posted by kendirt:
Where did you see that? I looked on both Brad's personal page and the Spoon River page.

Go to spoons page oct 12 post

Brad commented on a post by a mark Richard

Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

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Re: 2 illinois tracks in danger
 

Originally Posted by B99:
Worst crowd I ever saw for the Knowles Memorial, which was one of their signature events. They don't sell beer and even if they did it isn't going to make the crowds grow.

But ideally it would help the promoter make a few more dollars...