Originally Posted by Shooter311:
I'm afraid that alot of logical rules to help make this sport less expensive will make the cars boring to fans compared to their counterpart.
I'm curious what solutions we all have....not complaints about usac or powri or other groups but just ideas that could have a positive impact on a new series.
This topic has been discussed on IOW so many times I've lost count. The president of USAC says it's business as usual with their midget series so we will see if more than 22 midgets (17 teams) show up at the Hut 100 in September.
Now, if you own a dirt midget in the midwest, you have four choices to race ur car.
1. USAC... it's spend, spend, spend... get out ur million dollars and let's go racing. Apparently Kasey Kahne isn't buying it as he has pulled one of his midget teams for 2009. If he can't afford it, I don't know who can.
2. POWRi... not many big buck teams but a clone of USAC. And apparently it's business as usual for them also. The economy in the greater St. Louis area must be immune to what's going on everywhere else in the U. S.
3. BMARA. Another USAC clone governed by membership. They rubber stamp everything USAC does and they are on life support right now with a 50% drop in participation since 1999.
4. CHIL BOWL... Buy a midget and race it once a year for the worst midget purse based on a cash cow winning promotion. Like Punxsutawney Phil, these midget owners only come out of their hole once a year, head for Oklahoma, spend their life savings and put their midget in the barn for the rest of the season.
What can these organizations do immediately to help cut costs? The tire monopoly is a big problem. Midget owners are forced to buy one brand of tire. Some teams can buy tires for a reduced cost, some get them for free while the majority pay full price $140-180. The tire monopoly involves large sums of money being exchanged for the exclusivity. If American Racer can sell a midget tire for $80, Hoosier can do the same. I don't get it. I just bought a trailer tire similar to a midget tire in size for $56.
Promoters and midget orgs need to stop charging owners/drivers for pit passes and entry fees. Do you pay an entry fee and work pass everyday to enter your work place? Since when does Joe the Water Truck guy potentially make more money at the track than the owner/drivers? Do you pay up to $35 at a track to see the water truck guy or the pit steward?
And finally, you stated that new rules will make the racing boring. Would you please tell me what midget race you attended that implemented new midgets rules?????????? Where was that???????? There are only two midget orgs in the U.S. that have stepped out of the box and did some thinking on their own and that is IRS in Chicago and ARDC on the East Coast. Despite the ARDC quirky race rules, they have banned the new Esslinger and Fontana engines.
And to Duke Cook (superduke).. Is ur mother making u read my posts? If you don't like my posts, then just stop reading them. Real simple.
