In most parts of the country we are only a month or two into the racing season for the open wheel racing that we all love. An observation from many of the post on here this week car counts are extremely low all over; 11 sprints at LPS tonight, 18 sprints at the Burg tonight, 10 sprints at Montpelier last night, Wed. night 7 Ford Focus, 4 .25, 8 midgets and 5 young gun started their respective features at the Speedrome. Oswego Speedways supermodified ranks aren't doing any better, they have not had twenty cars start a feature yet this year,
As RaceFan20 mentioned in another thread when racers are invovled in crashes they are finding it more and more diffcult to come back. Sponsorship money is harder and harder to find in all levels of motorsports in todays economy.
So, you can call this a suggestion, challenge, novel idea or whatever on any given night at any one of your favorite race tracks if you are fortunate enough to find you have an extra $25, $50 or even $100 in your pocket go down into the pits after the races, thank your favorite driver for entertaining you on that evening and give them what ever you can to help get them back to the track next week. This idea is espically helpful to a racer down on his luck, one young supermodified driver comes to my mind in three weeks of racing he lost an engine on week #2 and severly damaged the race car in an accident where he was involved in someone elses crash with no where to go on week #3. We all know what a crash like that looks like. So if your favorite driver is in the stands on the night you find youself able to help he surley can use that help.
Again just my two cents worth, do what you can to help.
I totally agree with you. I have another suggestion which would take tracks' cooperation to implement. In the 1960s I was fortunate to be stationed in El Paso, home of Sun Valley Speedway. Every time a car was in a wreck, they passed the hat through the stands for donations. They didn't wait for the next week, they started soon after the track was cleared. I am sure that none of the spectators were able to donate much, but a dollar or two from a number of fans adds up. I have always wondered whether that was a Texas thing or a 1960s thing. Either way, I haven't seen it again.
I would like to see tracks try it. Every little bit helps.
Great ideas. I have been thinking about the same thing at my home track. We are on week 4 after tonight. One racer I know has blown two motors, and didn't race tonight as he burned his arms and legs at work. We had 6 late models, 12 modifieds and maybe 14 four cylinders and street stocks each. Many of us are happy to be at the track again as our season is so short.
I think I am going to try my best to help someone out when I can. I don't want to sound all debbie downer, so I'll stop. Racing is an expensive hobby, and so is photography. Things are starting to slowly get better in my line of work. I think a lot of us know what's important to us. Thanks for the reminder Patti.
Originally Posted by dirtnonwingfan:
I totally agree with you. I have another suggestion which would take tracks' cooperation to implement. In the 1960s I was fortunate to be stationed in El Paso, home of Sun Valley Speedway. Every time a car was in a wreck, they passed the hat through the stands for donations. They didn't wait for the next week, they started soon after the track was cleared. I am sure that none of the spectators were able to donate much, but a dollar or two from a number of fans adds up. I have always wondered whether that was a Texas thing or a 1960s thing. Either way, I haven't seen it again.
I would like to see tracks try it. Every little bit helps.
Dirtnonwingfan, drivers going into the stands to take up a collection still happends today at many tracks for drivers that have been seriously injured or more recently many of the tracks Jesse Hockett has competed at did whatever they could to help his family out during this difficult time. The racing community is a close knit group of people and most do whatever they can for the betterment of the sport and to help their fellow racers in time of need. You are so right every little bit helps, anytime I have been at a track where the drivers pass their helmets thru the stands to help one of their fellow racers the spectators generosity usually means that racer and his family receive several thosand dollars to help them at a very difficult time. While I had never heard of passing the helmet after every crash before I am sure many racers could use help like that in todays economy. With sponsorship money being harder and harder to find having a friend or a total stranger walking into a racers pit after a race offering to pay the weeks fuel bill or buy a tire or giving $25, $50 or $100 shows great generosity. Every little bit does help.
