Quote:
Originally Posted by DonMoore10
And that last post brings me to this point. When are all the promoters and sanctioning bodies going to wakeup and decide that they have to improve the entertainment value of open wheel racing. By that I mean some new and fresh ways to present the product. The presentation of the product hasn't changed since I started going to races a zillion years ago. How many McDonald's restaurants have you seen torn down and a fresh building erected to attract the comtemporary customer. Do you still watch a 7 inch screen black and white TV? Would TV commercials that you saw many years ago work in today's market?
Where we have been:
1. Racing till all hours of the night... and morning. A major turnoff to me and the fans. Great way to send home the fans pissed. Did the powers ever think of getting all the nonsense preliminaries over like hot laps and qualifying by 7 PM? People come to see racing, not a bunch of jacking around.
2. Same racing format for a zillion years. Qualify, heats, semi, feature. A zillion years ago the midgets had the Austrailian pursuit race. That seemed to have disappeared. At Montpelier a few years ago, the midgets ran two 20 lap features. The fans loved it. Haven't seen it since. There's an idea that worked and nobody picked up on it. Duh.
Recognition of drivers winning the race. The driver used to carry the checkered flag around the track after the win. I presented this idea several months ago and it was resounding yes to that including drivers. Well... I been to several indoor races and haven't seen it yet. Another idea to sharpen the entertainment value that nobody's picked up on. Duh.
Problems with the pill draw/point system. Haven't seen a good solution to it yet. So if ur in the fourth heat race and tie several others with points from previous heat races, you may want to plan on loading up early. Another bad deal for the racers and fans. My suggestion of another draw to break the ties... haven't seen that either.
When the pill draw is used, how about running the heat race for 8 laps or so, wave the checkered flag and reverse the order, then go another 8 laps. Total the points from each race. Something different to try.
Racing with radios. Get the guys off the track that don't want to get in line. I'm personally tired of watching race drivers go lap after lap (with radios) and not get in line. Either get in line immediately or load up and go home.
Start the clock for intermissions and stick by it. 10 minutes and we're starting to race. No exceptions. BMARA does this and it works.
Now... costs of racing. We can post on here all day, but the fact is that almost every racing organization has done nothing... that's nothing.. to reduce the costs of racing. And now we have $4 a gallon fuel costs to contend with. USAC is the biggest problem, allowing bigger engines, namely the Esslinger and Fontana driving up costs for owners to stay competitive. This is just one example. Plan on USAC doing nothing as long as 20-40 midgets show up to race, mostly multi-millionaire/factory supported teams/some with salaried drivers racing for $2500 to win. Stop and think of how rediculous that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When are we going to make some drastic changes in tires to even the competition. I keep hearing it won't make any difference.. OK... when was it tried?????????? Why do we need such big tires to race? Did anybody ever think that we would attract more participants if the costs weren't so high?? The fans on this message board love to see a big car count. Duh. Are you listiening promoters and sanctioning bodies?
Outlaw purose built cars. I've already posted on this many times and I keep hearing that it can't be done. Register one car for the season would be a start. Legislation could be worked out for this with some creativity.
Can anybody name me one item that has been initiated by the new order at USAC to drastically reduce the cost of racing????????????
And finally as much as I love POWRi/Siner/Brown/BMARA..... guys you need to step out of the box and reinvent midget racing with some fresh ideas. We don't know if they will work unless we try them. Is anybody trying???????
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Don -
I said it 15 years ago, and it bears repeating now....
There are a ton of track operators, but very few promoters....
Your latest post says a ton about what is wrong with most short track race tracks/operators. They have a "monkey-see, monkey-do" mentality. There is almost no innovation and they've got a thought process that says that the back gate will pay the purse.....after NOT promoting...