Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles Nungester
That race was never about Earl Making money, But fulfilling a promise he made to try to have a million dollar to win race one day. His Objective was to not lose too much holding it by selling sponsorships ect. I don't know this for a fact but several people told me that MOPAR put up 40g to put their name on the race. That leaves a ton of sponsors on the table.
There were also many factors he allowed to happen the way they did that had a major effect on the Gate take of the show.
1. Allowed Racers to Choose, Wing or Non Wing and if all the money would be to win or spread out.
2. Late date of Race (Replaced 4 crown that year) Kids still in school ect.
3. Limited Participation to 100 entries.
4. 2 nights for one program
5. He also notified his track regulars and the Sprint Bandit series ahead of time to get their registration in, Which may or may not have kept some other top teams out of the event.
While Id say it was well attended, it was probably half what a Kings Royal or World One Hundred have. Still much better than the four crowns I've attended and he paid ten grand to win each several years with a extra ten if you won all four. This ended a couple years before Jack actually did it.
I'll just say Im very glad I witnessed it and that he held it and held it the way he did.
Thanks Earl!
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Actually, it was 150 entries. The reason I know, I was entry #150 and barely got in. I even overnighted my entry to make sure I got the last spot. Sad part was only 137 or 138 cars showed up. Several people bought entries and then tried to sell them to the highest bidders when the race filled up. What they didn't take into account was that there wasn't 150 people with the guts to run Eldora non wing so many people wound up wasting their entries. Look at the shirts that were made and see how many names are listed and they were no shows that weekend. And several drivers in the race were not listed on the shirt because they bought other people's entries.