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I remember Gary Bettenhausen saying once that the good ol' days were not necessarily that good.
I think that's true. It's just our selective memory chooses to remember the good, and not the bad.
I think Chris is right about one thing. The sizzle for champ dirt cars was the opportunity to see Indy 500 drivers races on local tracks, especially for people who could not, or did not want to, get to Indy. You could see Foyt and Andretti up close and have a real chance to get their autographs.
Now, for champ dirt cars (Oh God. I forgot. SILVER CROWN.) to survive, we must excite the fans in other ways. Maybe we should look at what is done to excite people with monster trucks, mud pulls, and ESPN's extreme sports.
And for all of those armchair promoters out there, there is no easy answer. The simple fact is that race promotion is very hard work. Work for a promoter for a while and you'll get your eyes opened.
But, for me at least, all of the negativity expressed here, and elsewhere, is a huge factor in turning people away. Why would I want to spend my money on fuel, food and tickets when everything I read tells me how horrible things are? Why would I want to go where idiots are running things?
When I first attended champ dirt car races, we talked about how great that duel was between Andretti, Unser and Howerton, not how stupid USAC was.
Maybe to find out what is wrong with Silver Crown racing a person should look in the mirror, and stop living in the past. Let's live for the future.
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