Good point

Wow - a little of everything has been said on this thread. I think that is good. A good dialogue and to get the opinions out. I have a few of my own questions, observations and opinions I would like to throw in . . .

1) The threads title was about car counts at the burg. Somehow it turned more into a discussion about the racing surface this past Saturday.

2) Dave you say you are happy with the 24 cars. I can tell you this much for sure . . . the fans ARE NOT HAPPY with 24 cars! Yes, there have been some high caliber cars and great racers in those 24 cars, but 24 cars isn't a hell of a lot of sprint car racing when you don't even need a consi. If I were you I would BUST MY ASS to get AT LEAST 30 cars a week. I LOVE LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY and SPRINT CAR RACING, but I can tell you that both me and some of my friends aren't going to continue to pay $15 to see 22 sprints, 24 mods and who cares how damn many mini-sprints. I would pay tow money or $300 to the back or whatever you have to do to get some of the middle of the road and lower budget teams to your track more often. What if you paid $500 at the end of the season for every sprint car that came to every weekly race? Maybe you could miss up to three races and still get the money? I don't know just brainstorming here . . . some kind of bonus something to get the count to 30-35 car average per week. I don't think it would cost that much . . . . There are a lot of cars on the bubble that go to VCS, paragon, etc. I think you can get some of those cars and NEED TO GET THEM. If you don't get them the stands will start to empty out and then it will be too late to fix. THE TIME IS NOW . . . limp out this season, do what you can to keep people happy and then make a big announcement for next years weekly incentives. Hell one less $10,000 show would probably pay for it.

3) Just a thought I been having lately . . . is $10,000 to win really the holy grail of spint car payouts? I have been watching shows with a keen eye for the last 3 years in regards to payouts and car counts, etc. I have noticed that even the $3000 to win races usually get a really nice bump in car counts just because it pays a decent bit more to win than the other regular shows . . . so that being said, I don't think most drivers totally believe that they are going to go out and dominate and win on a given night. There are usually 10 maybe 15 guys for a big show that probably really feel they have a great chance to win and that is probably an optimistic number. The rest are filling the field, need great luck, the perfect setup or an out of body experience to win. I think that if you had a $5000 to win race and spent the other $5000 increasing the back of the field numbers to a $500 minimum that you would have bigger car counts, more exciting shows and ultimately more butts in the seats! What do you guys think? Am I wrong? You get those back end guys there with the big bump at the back of the purse and create some loyalty with them!

4) Yes, the tires were higher this week on the bottom of the track. They probably could have been a little lower, BUT like DAVE said IT IS STILL THE WIDEST BIGGEST TRACK IN THE STATE! There was plenty of racing room. One thing that I do think that could have made a big difference as CHUCK noted, MODS would have helped the racing surface greatly in my opinion. Next year, Mods and Sprints during midget week. Just ignore Dyno Don when he starts whining about being up after sundown. There is a happy medium . . . I don't like paying $20 for a special show and seeing one class of V8's and being home by 9:30. The fans want value there are only a handfull that want to finish up the same time the sun sets. I told several people that the track was great by the end of the feature. If there could have been one more race (midgets or sprints) you may have seen the best race ever at L'burg speedway. The track was obviously a little more wet and fast than it needed to be and like Dave said. We should be damn happy we got to see a race at all with the rain we had, not to mention what the staff had to deal with after losing a loved one!

5) Brad and Craig . . . thanks for supporting The Burg . . . Craig . . . .ignore the grumpy lady in the pickup that wanted you to take the canopy down! LOL That was ridiculous.

6) Dyno Don ... don't think I ever met you, but been reading your posts here now for 2 seasons and I don't think you like Lawrenceburg. I do feel very certain that you really, really don't like to be up past dark. I bet you hated it when they started night baseball. (if you ever like baseball) You may even hate the Reds since they started night baseball. Why don't you take a nap during the afternoon or sleep in before you go to a sprint car race that has potential for going a little long so that you aren't totally pissed off and miserable if it isn't over before 10p?

7) Dave - also want you to know that I bust my ass always spreading the word about The Burg to anyone who will listen. Gas City, Eldora, Manzy even Florence there are a lot of people that have just never came or at least never came since the reconfiguration. I have a few ideas of my own on ways that I could possible help the track as well. I am not looking for compensation either . . . I would just like to see this track come to be known as one of the greatest dirt tracks in the country and for the Lawrenceburg Speedway to be talked about in the same breath as places like Eldora and Manzanita. (RIP)

8) Does anyone know why Ballou was not at the Burg saturday? I heard on the backstretch that he didn't like bikers. Is that true?

Wow! You guys that complain don't know how good you have it. I'd love to see 50 non wing cars race every weekend. I thought they ran a nice quick clean program Saturday night. If only I didn't live 550 miles away!

See your from MD. Going to get down to Richmond for the silver crown and sprint pavement races? Significantly closer. I am coming over and plan to make a weekend of it. Flying into Baltimore on Thur and will make the short drive down to Richmond on Fri afternoon.

Unfortunately, just reading through this thread brings to mind the story of Mansfield Motorsports Park. Spent millions to renovate and revamp, ran a great weekly program for a few years, and then became a special event only track. I absolutely love the Burg, go as often as I can, but it is irritating to watch heat race after heat race roll by with little to no passing (at least run qualifying instead of leaving it up to the luck of the draw). The wheel packing before the features on Saturday made for a very racy joint indeed, but as I have each time I have visited the 'Burg this year I left wondering what it would have been like with the tires moved a groove lower...

Maybe put it to a vote one weekend, see what the drivers think as I'd imagine they would know best.
I understand that we all think we are experts when behind our keyboards, but I truly want to see the 'burg around and successful for a very long time, just give it a shot and if it fails you can call me a moron and move the tires back for the next race.:2:

Scott, At no time was my posting every meant to be critical. Dad just passed and the track was probably all they could do to keep on keeping on. The tribute will last longer than the racing memories of the night for me no doubt.

Discussion and views (from the most extreme bashing to the greatest of compliments are what happen on message boards, Expecially when you can't see the people you talk about every day.

Dave mentioned the change in schedule. I fully understand that. Fully meant if they need help in anyway. Id of left dad sitting there if I could have helped made things any better. We All got to see what ended up as a good show.

For purses? I have no clue what the intake/outgoing is. Its already been mentioned about four to six tracks running saturdays and Burg is on the outskirts of say (Gassoline Alley)

I don't know what else I can do for 15 bucks thats much funner, So what, Florence is 12, There ain't no sprint cars.

Someone mentioned a 3000/300 weekley show and Burg could own saturday night. I don't know I do think teams would like to break even on Travel, Pits fuel if they made the show. Thats different depending on how far their traveling.

The Fremont purse thing? I don't know if its possible, It may be. Would that change things? Make them better? Make them worse? We certainly aren't the ones taking the risk here. Dave and Perfect are and I know they have been working tirelessly both on the track and off to do the best they can.

One thing I will mention, How many cars are running for championships at other tracks? What do they pay for championships, second in points ect. I know VCS gives a chassis. How about a LBurg Club? For 20 dollars you get 1 pit pass (over normal entry fee) for any normal show, Half price at say Harf Darf, BARC and Burg club shows and one hotdog, soda and popcorn at any show. Would be a ticket with punchouts. All this $$ would be put in the point funds. It would also encourage attendance at other shows durring the year

The 50/50 is great but unreliable (Better this year with some bigger shows and Section A) But didn't a portion of the Gate used to go towards this or sponsors? I don't know. It may still be that way.

Just thoughts, No demands, No expectations. I'll be there Sat!

Charles - never thought you were being overly critical. LOVE the idea of the Lawrenceburg Speedway Fan Club. Membership dues would go to some sort of incentives program for weekly racers and it would be ran by the fans. I'm sure Dave would work with us on this in giving the members some perks.

On a side note . . . does anyone know or would anyone be willing to divulge on the what the memership numbers are for HARF and BARC?

HARF and DARF have websites if Im not mistaken. BARC contact RichH on the members list of this site.

Chuck

This is the post of the year!!! I cant believe all the bitchin that goes on about Lawrenceburg. I personally have not seen a bad race there yet. The show that was most dissapointing was the WOO but I still felt I got my moneys worth. I have not met a better group of Staff from Dave on down at any other track.

The weekly show is always a good show with the amount of cars that show up. If you guys would do a little less complaining, grab a beer and appreciate all the countless hours Dave and the staff puts in you would be alot happier. Dave, you guys kick ass, keep on doing exactly what your doing and things will be fine!

I'm not sure if I'll make it down. If I do, it will just be for Saturday. Make sure you plan for drive time on Friday Afternoon. Rush hour starts early around the DC area and can easily add hours to you drive to Richmond.