As previously outlined in an earlier thread, the “to win” money at the Chili Bowl has come into question, again. It’s nothing new, the topic has come up many times over the years. But I wanted to give you all a little bit to chew on for comparison and debate. Let’s do a little juxtaposition with the Chili Bowl and the BC39. Tulsa pays 10 grand to win, and Indy pays 15. One is a 2 day midweek show the other is several days that culminates in a weekend climax. Now we all can agree there’s a lot of factors involved, sponsors, etc. But stripping it down to the basics, it would be interesting to see the bottom line of both events. Brent and I were conversing at the BC and we kinda agreed that we didn’t think the BC39 was very profitable. In fact Mr Funk said he sees it as kind of a gift from the Speedway to us who love midgets on dirt tracks. I have to agree with that. Would love to hear any alternative opinions on the subject

From what I gathered at the time petry built the track for practically free. I love the race and my brother and I made some comparisons between it and the CB. That’s a good a show, mostly all fast cars and not too many of them, racing is always good. I love the bowl too don’t get me wrong but the bc race could easily become an even larger event than it is now. The rules part excludes some of cb specific cars too. Track at ims is right size and layout for the midgets, tight but not small but not a massive place.

I know they make good money on the beer sales at the BC39. Every one of our rounds (3 Coors Lights) was $24.52, enough to buy a case. 2 hot dogs were $11.50 or 2 slices of pizza $16. $40 for reserved 2 day parking. I love the event but to me that seems like overkill.

Last year I tipped the guy that made my vodka/redbull 20 cash on top of what I paid on the “mandatory” card charge, I seldom paid rest of night and got plenty of booze. I actually didn’t go this year do to my son winning showmanship at fair and doing what we call supreme showmanship where the winners of 6 divisions all show one of every species to determine a winner, my sister, brother and niece used our tickets. Gotta support your kids in what they do, I still got to watch the last mains and feature on flo.

Pancho, certainly agree with you on the price gouging. But the event itself is as good as it gets. I spend more there and have fun. By doing this however, it knocks a race off the calendar that I might go to had I not been held up in Indy. I wish it was more affordable but no one makes me go. To me it’s worth the expense

I've always found that Indiana fans love midget racing. As long as sprint cars are on the program.

Try running midget week without sprint cars on the card,and attendance will drop surely......

Interesting take Andrew. Not sure if I agree but certainly makes me think about it

Prices are in line with any major entertainment event. If you don't believe me, try it yourself and see what you have to charge not to lose money. There is a lot of overhead.

Years ago I'd tell people about POWRi midget week,and the first question people would ask me is if they had sprint cars too.

I got so that in my later years of being a hardcore fan, I went to more ond more midget races. Why? The action was great. I went where I would think I would see the best racing on any particular weekend. Most of the time it went against the popular opinion of where I really should be going.

If a person goes to a sprint car race in Indiana, the first thing they ask is "do they have modifieds with them".