So we are then stuck with crappy shows on Speed that no one seems to watch.

No, we can skip the crappy shows on speed and watch the real racing at our local track. Here are some numbers to chew on, just a real rough estimate, 150 local tracks run every week in the USA, an average of 1500 fans in the stands, 225,000 fans attending races at non televised events every week. I think my estimates are low on both tracks and fans in attendance but it's still more than people attending tennis or golf tournaments a week, I guess the tv coverage for them is because they have balls.

To give you an idea about how little 30,000 is, they wouldn't even register on the Nielsen guide and that's not good for sponsors.

It goes without saying that if I am not at a speedway any given weekend there are only the following reasons:

1. Day job has taken me out of the country/offshore.
2. Weather
3. Season over.

That is pretty much it.

I think the point is that USAC did not advertise nor even mention on their website that these races would be webcast. I think that if this was on Speed or even Versus enough casual fans would watch to double or even triple the number that went out of their way to find out about these races and invest the time to watch(or sit and hit refresh )

A niche sport just like drifting, bullriding, air plane racing, etc. And those things are on TV all the damn time. Non-wing sprint cars, in my opinion, put on a much more exciting show than any of those things. The product would sell itself in a big way, I think, if someone with some vision, a blank check and a set of balls took a chance on it. Easier said than done, I know.

I agree completely.

I bet the number on the old thursday night thunder shows was a hundred times that, Just by virtue of being on ESPN2 A good many by just stumbling onto it. Which is what this sport needs as the advertising and word doesn't seem to be getting out.

Just the number of sports bars and restaraunts having ESPN2 times say a average of 20 patrons would have been infinately higher.

Still 30,000 hits in ten minutes shows there is demand there and interest. Lets get 5-10-20 thousand to some of these shows in person

And airplane racing, bull riding, and drifting are probably all time buys - the sponsor packages the show, buys the time from a network, and keeps whatever the difference is. And hopes that he shows a profit.

Get someone to pony up that kind of bucks for a sprint car show/series, and then hope that the number of eyes watching is sufficient to move that Nielsen ratings meter....

Like Kevin Miller posted earlier, at least part of the reason for the traffic overload was because it was the only race going on - anywhere. If this race had taken place in June or July, lots of folks would have been attending their local shorty....

I give up.

Found a solution to those with tired fingers from hitting the refresh button for the USAC video feed!!!





Rob Hoffman