Don I am a promoter of fair events. We do several forms of motorsports. This year has been pretty hard on local participents and really hard on the fairs. I know several of our events lost money this year, and that was including the pit passes and entry fee's. So if we are not going to charge those fee's, then the loss would be much bigger. Thus meaning these events can not happen again. Now I do not work for the big tracks or do shows that are able to make huge amounts of money, so I do not know what there answer is for you. My response to you being a small time nobody promoter.... Drivers and owners want me to garuntee a purse for them to race to. Drivers and owners want me to prepair a track for them to race on. Drivers and owners want me to purchase saftey equipment to help them in a crash. Drivers and owners want me to have my facility up to code so that there individual insurace will be good when they race there. I am good with these demands and I follow through with these items. If I really need to I could list out MY COST for these items. Now lets look at the drivers. Now as a promoter I need to advertise who is racing to drawl the fans in to cover the expenses and your purse. How many drivers will commit 1-2 months in advance of a race? At my last show I spoke with 24 drivers the week of the event that said they were coming. 12 showed up, 4 of the 12 never spoke to me. Its no different than drivers on this very board that say they are running somewhere and never show up. Ok so at my level I can not trust the drivers for my advertising. So now I want to go a different direction. I provided everything the drivers need to race. Its race day, only 100 people show up. That money is not even enough to cover my expenses to allow you to race. Are you going to race for free since I am losing money?
1 other thing to think about. I may have 2 or 3 shows that lose money, but 1 show that makes enough money to cover the other loss. Many places oporate like this.
I normally like alot of what you have to say on here, but this is one I can not agree with from my own personal experience. sorry for being long winded.