[jonboat15]

LOL...Not many people from baltimore and philly are coming to the central PA area for races. They seem to have other interests.

[k-bob]

Yeah to go to the Grove from Philly means not only 90 mi drive, but trying to get there through Friday PM Philadelphia area traffic... lincoln further in miles.

Bridgeport on the other hand is in the Philly metro area probably 5 + million people within 50 miles of that race track... running 305s more often these days

By the way if anybody's at bridgeport for the USAC race in a week or two, and you want to grab some local food without much traffic or travel, John's Seafood, only five miles north of the track will do a really nice broiled crab cake to go. Family place, closed tues I believe but open wed.

[dsc1600]

There’s definitely people from southern Jersey and reading area that go to the grove for the big shows. But probably not that common for a regular Friday night deal because of the traffic as mentioned above.

[yeleyfan76]

It’s pretty simple actually. The population is larger within a two hour radius of Harrisburg than a two hour radius of Indy. Secondly as has been discussed before, the average age of the fans doesn’t increase much at all here in Pa. The age out there keeps going up. Those two factors alone are huge. They pay a lot of money here in Pa and don’t need a sanction to do it. WoO and ASCoC are here a lot yes, but the majority of the season regular payouts here would make Indiana promoters close up. It always comes back to money. Fred Rahmer said way back in the 90s, “sure racing on the outlaw tour would be nice and could win some big money, but why do it? The money offered in Pa is great and you can sleep in your own bed.” He put triplets thru college just racing here. In central pa sprint car racing is a way of life for a lot of people. I live 15 miles north of Philadelphia and 16 miles from the Turnpike bridge to NJ. It used to be if you lived here sprint cars sucked and our big block mods reigned supreme. Unfortunately a bunch of tracks closed around here and the sprint car tracks still run weekly. Population and age are the two biggest differences between Pa and In. Oh yeah and riding on Americas first super highway the Pa turnpike is also a bonus! (humor)

[Charles Nungester]

Wolfgang said it was worth going to PA every weekend vs the outlaws tour and he could be home two days a week.

[BrentTFunk]

Originally Posted by jonboat15 LOL...Not many people from baltimore and philly are coming to the central PA area for races. They seem to have other interests.

What about Baltimore Billy ? lol

[ThrowbackRacingTeam]

Actually go to Hoseheads right now and you’ll see they are having car count problems too this year in PA. By the end of this season I think you’ll see promoters cutting back on scheduling next year. They had this season scheduled out when gas was still in the 3’s. Now that it’s in the 5’s, things are going to change. Not to mention the tire shortage problems. Less shows with more fans and cars is the answer for now….or at least while we weather the storm of the next 2 1/2 years.

[Charles Nungester]

Originally Posted by ThrowbackRacingTeam Actually go to Hoseheads right now and you’ll see they are having car count problems too this year in PA. By the end of this season I think you’ll see promoters cutting back on scheduling next year. They had this season scheduled out when gas was still in the 3’s. Now that it’s in the 5’s, things are going to change. Not to mention the tire shortage problems. Less shows with more fans and cars is the answer for now….or at least while we weather the storm of the next 2 1/2 years.

You're already seeing tracks scheduling back. Adding classes to both try to get fans and purse paid. I-96 said they lost on the FAST/Boss show and have been making Social media threats, Without 2000 fans have sprints, without 1500 fans we won't be racing. Normally Id say, Well they're not promoting good enough, But clear to me, People are skipping enterainment dollars in order to pay for necessities.

If you think this last only two and a half years, Add two and a half too it. Right now jobs are still strong, but when the spending stops or is limited to necessities. A whole lot of jobs are going bye bye. We haven't even started. It's the perfect storm for deep recession or worse. no finger pointing or name calling. But anyone thinks we're even close to going in the right direction needs to look deeply at what's happening.

[ThrowbackRacingTeam]

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester You're already seeing tracks scheduling back. Adding classes to both try to get fans and purse paid. I-96 said they lost on the FAST/Boss show and have been making Social media threats, Without 2000 fans have sprints, without 1500 fans we won't be racing. Normally Id say, Well they're not promoting good enough, But clear to me, People are skipping enterainment dollars in order to pay for necessities. If you think this last only two and a half years, Add two and a half too it. Right now jobs are still strong, but when the spending stops or is limited to necessities. A whole lot of jobs are going bye bye. We haven't even started. It's the perfect storm for deep recession or worse. no finger pointing or name calling. But anyone thinks we're even close to going in the right direction needs to look deeply at what's happening.

Agree 100%. I am cutting back in other areas to try to maintain my race fan budget but it’s getting tough.

[k-bob]

Given prices of gas... and some day a new car... I feel lucky to have a 20 min drive to bridgeport. Now rebuilt along lines of Lawrenceburg, races are on flo, sell season passes. Watch heats on flo, and show up for feature knowing what happened and the order of events ... even if ticket office has closed.