I think Pavement could be hugely popular, However IMHO it's not going to work on weekends against 7 dirt tracks running within 150 miles of INDY.

My Solutions and many if all could be wrong from a owners perspective.
1. Control Cost. Tire limit. Testing. Practice's.
2. Wed or thurs nights. Possibly Sprint and Midget doubleheaders.
3. Pay for a three to five race TV package, Thats whats needed to bring both owners and SPONSORS into this sport. Add new fans and help existing fans to keep track.
4. Totally separate from dirt
5. NO MATTER WHAT, DON'T Schedule against yourself!

Chuck

my first sprint car race was imca at winchester 1964 then the little 500 in may! How much is the hoss purse? What does it pay to win? Many low buck guys should not be racing in usac! I dont know anything about wwoms? I stated usac racing in 1965 a few starts started racing nascar csra cora midgets in 1963! Raced mostly b class cars & series in 63 64 to learn! Nobody holds a gun to there head to race anywhere! I dont think most promoters want wings!!!!!!!!!!!

Gee Snoop. I guess maybe he did start great. In 1964. Before that almost doesn't count as written above. We've never raced where we weren't wanted-and we've never claimed to be USAC. Duke said low buck guys shouldn't be racing USAC. Apparently there aren't a lot of high buck guys racing USAC pavement, but they will for the dirt. When the USAC/NASCAB pipeline was flowing, it was the pavement that put Jeff, Tony and Ryan through to the next level.

HOSS purses to the promoter are under $14,000. I believe the Winchester race was $1,600 to win, $500 to start.

HOSS has NEVER been asked to take off the wings. Instead, the wings have been the selling point. Winged sprinters on pavement are a freak show. When a stock car track has one open wheel race every year, and it's HOSS, it brings out new people. I HAVE STOOD WITH PROMOTERS watching the front gate. They know their regulars and who isn't. The guy in the Wolfgang shirt, the King's Royal kid, the USAC hat, they all chose to see the show. The point is HOSS racing exposes fans to sprint car racing. If USAC wants the HOSS date at New Paris, or Angola, come and get it. These tracks can't afford a USAC purse, and maybe (picture this) they don't want to.

I love discussing this. And I don't want to confuse the fact that HOSS, or AVSS in Michigan, neither group has ambitions of going topless. I have for several years tried to get the HOSS owner to schedule a non wing race. Just to get guys ready for the Little 500. No luck.

I feel the tire costs/lack of rules are the lynch pin to at least getting car counts to a reasonable level. Geoff Kaiser is the 2008 HOSS champ. He wants the MSA two tire rule. Tom Paterson is a low buck guy who probably wouldn't buy two tires a week if he didn't have to. A tire rule isn't going to put him in the winners circle. In fact it could bring more cars to the track and he will have a tougher time making races. Maybe Tom didn't think of that...

One thing is certain. As long as one car is on the track, there will be a winner. This is about filling, or keeping the rest of the field. If USAC can do it without help, well then that's just fine. HOSS has cars. And drivers that would support USAC if they could afford to.
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Yeah Scott, I thought of the consquences of the two tire rule, but I don't know how much longer I'm going to do this and ultimately, I'm a fan first and a driver second. I would much rather see a 25 guys like Tim Cox, Geoff Kaiser, Jason Blonde, Sam Davis and yes, even guys like me rather then 6 millionaires spending twice as much as their making.
And my appoligies to Duke if I'm not good enough in his mind to run a USAC race. But I bet if I would show up, they would great me with open arms. And by the way, in looking at the top ten in HOSS points, nine of the ten have non-winged expierence in either a sprint or midget. And the tenth was our rookie of the year. So don't say we won't take the wing off.
I love watching a USAC race either on dirt or pavement. And I equally like a winged race on either surface also. Like I said, I'm a fan first. I work a fifty hour week as an engineer and I do race on a budget. And unlike others on this board that blow their accomplishments way out of proportion (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I am a mediorce driver at best. But I love this sport and I'll be going to races long after I've quit a driver. I just don't want to see it die because of a stupid thing like tires.

Tom Paterson

The idea of a tire limit would be a great start. Limit every car to 1 set of tires per night and you would see a few more cars come out of the garage. Another way to get more cars is to find a track willing to run a weekly show. The cost to build a car to run less than 15 nights a year is not worth the effort. I struggle with this in the SilverCrown Div because I fear we are going to lose more pavement dates for 2010. If you own a car you want to run it if a team could find a place to run and limit the tires you would see 20 plus cars show up.

Here's the problem. Ready for it...

BEAST!

That's the problem with pavement racing. A specialized car that costs a bloody fortune because of everything so damned specific on it, with roll bars, and this and that. Get rid of all that stuff and run a straight up sprint car. I'm cool if you want to have a pavment chassis to keep the chassis lower, but all the other stuff is not needed. That's why none of the HOSS guys would come and run a USAC show other than the Little 500 is because they usually don't have a prayer in the world.

If I'm a "lower buck" guy that can really only afford to run dirt, that's great because I can run my car weekly pretty much anywhere, and then when USAC comes to town, then I can run with them if I choose to do so. But I can't afford to run a pavement car at 7 races. It's not feasable or economical to own one. Then plus, you have to change over the motor to be competitive.

The pavement series is a good idea, but it would take quite a while for it to get off the ground, becasue until the rules on sway bars, roll bars, and all the other BS that's on those damned cars, you're never going to get a car count. I personally liked it back 15 or 20 years ago when the cars were doing nothing but sliding around the track, and it was all about balls and throttle control. But the more you lock these cars down, the less we know about a driver, and the more we know about how good the car is.

Just like the midgets, everyone has let it gone way to far, and something drastic has to happen.