In July of 1990, I raced in my very first race of any kind ... a non-wing sprint show at Lawrenceburg Speedway. I was fortunate enough to finish 10th in the feature that night and received $225 for the effort. I was campaigning a 1983 Osborne that I had purchased from a gentleman in Reynoldsburg, Ohio (that was a family friend to Rodney Duncan). The car was a former Indiana Andy Hillenburg car that I paid $2400 for the complete roller w/ spares. My father purchased a steel 377 motor from Terry Winterbothem for $2500 and racing we went! Oh, and I purchased 4 used aluminum "flat-centered" Weld wheels from Ray Smith of Smith's Speed Shop for less than $200 total to roll the car around on.

* does anyone know what Lawrenceburg pays for 10th in the A-Main today (2009)?*
FYI ... 2009 Lawrenceburg Speedway ...2009 Purse Structure
Sprint Cars Feature
1. $1,500
2 .$800
3. $600
4 .$400
5. $350
6. $300
7. $275
8. $250
9. $225
10. $225
11. $225
12. $225
13. $225
14. $225
15. $225
16. $225
17. $225
18. $225
19. $225
20. $225

Consi (Non-Transfered Cars) must take green flag:

1. $80

2. $70

3 $60

4th on back $50


Last Friday night, my son finished 10th in the A-Main at Gas City Speedway. He received $225 for the effort. He is campaigning a 2009 Ultra-Max that he purchased from Benic Ent. He uses a Gaerte 410 aluminum motor. He uses Weld wheels (lol).

my, how times have changed

Praise God we all have the passion for racing that we do!! Be blessed this racing weekend!!

Sounds like a rebuild on a top line motor these days is more than you had in the whole car.

I don't know if he cares to comment or if I have my facts straight but a former racer I know went to tracks based on what TENTH PAID and if that would cover his night of racing cost *Travel and pitpass, Tires and fuel). He also said that many tracks didn't pay beyond tenth back then

Yes I noticed this also we ran in the late eighties and the pay from second on back was 2009 standard. They did pay heat race money that is unheard of now. Ran bloomington last year ran heat race and bmain collected 25.00!

For further comparison, Check https://www.indianaopenwheel.com/showthread.php?t=18563
his startup cost vs todays. USED startup roller with motor. This is pretty good equiptment to start and their have been a few better bargains but 20,000 without hauler, tools fuel cans ect ect.

The purse hasn't risen much but the price to race has quadruppled in just about every area

One more weekly show comparison that will make you feel warm all over:
http://fremontohspeedway.com/purse.html

Grandstand size, as in comparison to the Indiana locals:
http://fremontohspeedway.com/Aerial.jpg

Adult General admission is $12. Pit passes are $25

So what other tracks run 410 wing sprints within 200 miles on Sat? KC maybe. Sharon?
The fact that four and sometimes 7 run within a 150 mile radius of Indy can keep purses down. Not to mention a track that only pays 500 to win or 1000 for single feature nights. Which in a way is great cause if you can make a 305 run, Your running against simular speeded cars.

What does that matter?

If the car count is there (which it is at most Indiana tracks), and IF(that's a BIG IF) the butts are in the seats, there could be 15 tracks within 150 miles?? I showed the grandstand to use as a comparison in size to the Indiana locals, and how many people may actually be in the house on any given night. Or. If your referring to car count, the last weekly show at Fremont had 26 410's and 25 305's. So being the only track within 150 miles doesn't seem to matter on the car count??!!

The question I have is ...what would be the currant cost of a 7 year old roller and a steel block -wet sump used motor....I got a 2001 roller [8yrs old] I'd sell for $4000.motor about $5000 .....the problem promoters can't pay a purse based on the cost to racers,racers should down size to the purse...come one a disposible $60k car racing for$1200 to win and from 4th back break even for the nights out of pocket expenses..not logical

As Steve Kinser once said, "If you want to be a millionaire and run a sprint car team, start out with two million."

A question that comes to my mind is................. Does the track owner /promoter work as hard getting fans to come to their track and want to come back, as the race teams do in getting their car there? ............only way your gonna see higher purses is with more fans in the seats.......