Originally Posted by david mitchell:
I don't believe pavement racing can be saved. No one wants to save it.You could easily save it by putting in strict rules and enforcing them. Credit goes to USAC for attempting to save the aspect of the sport I really enjoy.However, the majority of race fans do not care for pavement.It seems everyone is dirt crazy for some reason.I like both, and feel if you want to call yourself an all around race car driver you should be good on both surfaces.Bryan was a perfect example. He could run Kokomo one night and run Winchester the next day and be just as competitive.Very few have that ability and talent.
Actually, there are many people who want to save pavement racing. The problem is, the people in position to do just that, are not stepping up. And those that do try and step up, make it worse.
the different rule packages all across the country, and from track to track are the biggest contributor to low car counts in my area. I work at a pavement track, and we run the same classes as a track 30 miles down the road on a different night, but we share almost no race cars. Different tire and wheel rules, different weight rules, engine rules, and a few other minor things. Why in the world they refuse to work together for the good of the sport is beyond me. They will not even try to discuss it.
Back when I promoted, more than a few times I took a red-eye drive to some other parts of the country to sit down and meet with other promoters to make sure we kept our rules the same, and we tried our best to honor each others big races. You know, not schedule against each other when the big shows were on the line.
But, even in the dirt racing scene, they are starting to take the same path as pavement started about 15 years ago. Too many people starting up new series/ classes with different sets of rules. People can not travel on off nights any more without buying parts/ tires, or changing stuff on their car. Hell, a lot of times, they just can not go cause the engine rules are different.
Pavement winged sprint cars use to have one series in the Michigan area. Now we have three, and there is very little cross-over. 30 car fields have dropped to 15. Dirt is no better. We now have 3 totally different rule packages up here. 30 car fields were common. Now a full field is rare. The kicker is, we still have about the same number of cars as we have always had.