The last post by Spridge, is the best on this thread thus far, IMO

[Kirk Spridgeon]

Originally Posted by Chris Nunn Why cant a Danny Holtsclaw or a Jeff Bland, Jr., or a Kenny Niflis be able to have a shot at USAC? On any given day, anyone can beat anyone.

There's nothing that says they can't. Just like Dave Darland, Jerry Coons, Tracy Hines, and Levi Jones did before them. You either pay your dues to get to a top ride or find someone to foot the bill.

Racing USAC is never going to be as cheap as running at Bloomington & Paragon. Why should it be? It's the elite level of sprint cars, and it should travel and pay well. I would love to see drivers like JBJ, Danny, and Niflis want to be full-time USAC drivers and put together a deal to do it. The beauty of sprint cars is that no one is stopping them.

[captrat]

First, this a great thread and I am impressed by the civility and positive feel of it. 3 decades ago I was having a very similar conversation with USAC about the challenge to the sprint car series by a fledgling group known as the WoO. The USAC philosophy of the time seemed to center around the idea that all of its series were to be stepping stones to Indy, and that would suffice to attract and retain top drivers and car owners. We all know how that worked out. IMHO USAC must carve out its own unique place based upon the following. 1. Non-wing racing is a more competitive form 2. The SC cars can be made a desirable goal, but not at the expense of the sprinters or midgets 3. Remove all side boards from the cars, this will make them visually distinctive from their competitors and be a fan pleaser 4. The reality is that the sprint car pavement races will always have car count issues as long as highly specialized cars are allowed 5. There needs to be 3 special sprint car focus events within the schedule each year (Hulman in Spring, Speedweek in Summer and L'burg in Fall). 6. Media coverage, for now forget live shows etc., instead focus on short highlights( in a perfect world a half-hour "This Week In USAC" featuring highlights from all divisions; am I the only who remembers Ch. 8 in Indy showing taped highlights every Sunday eve. 7. Midgets, I love'm but their history has often had these periods of decline-no good answers except to reduce cost, but how? 8. SC should concentrate on a balanced schedule hopefully 10-12 races standing on their own when possible. Just my thoughts, and I totally agree bashing has no place, but perhaps these kinds of discussions can lead to something positive.

[MHess]

I like these threads...usually lots of entertaining reading. I agree with Kirk that guys should be able to make a living running USAC. You also need the regular joes to make the field full and that is where we are lacking right now. What's the incentive for a regualr joe to come run with USAC? And don't give me a line about the cahllenge of beating them. I'm not worried about beating another driver but I only have one motor so its not going to be set on "kill".

Thanks for the reading!

[rl07]

"Regular Joe" racing is happening all over the place. So do you want a bunch of weekend warriors to be racing USAC (and not being able to travel, or race during the week, because of work), or do you want a core group of guys who are doing it for a living?

Yes you have some good points. But how often do you have a full field of "Professional" USAC drivers??? Remember we are talking about a $60,000 car, winning $4000.00. At least the WoO regular shows pay $10,000.

I think it would be nice to have your high budget guys, but also make it feasible for some fast local guys to join in and race. Right now it seems like if your not a big name they don't care if your there, instead of showing up and them saying "thanks for supporting us." There are a lot of sprint car & midgets out there, you would think if USAC was doing there job, they would have a pit full of cars...??

The beauty of sprint cars is that no one is stopping them.

Just like no one is stopping every single USAC driver from going to Indy or NASCAR right, anything is possible with enough money

[Chris Nunn]

I just love sights like the one I saw at the Sheldon Kinser Memorial this year.

[Vukie]

Originally Posted by racephoto1 Spridge , do some more research you whippersnapper. If you have any old USAC year books , check out what the Hoosier Hundred and Hulman Classic used to pay. Eldora wasn't the first place to pay good money. Heck , I remember when purses paid overages, and Iowa, Oswego , and ORP should have! But that was loooong before your time.

Bob Sweikert won the first Hoosier 100 in 1953 and earned $6,971 for his victory. In today's dollars that would work out to $56,567. The purse that day was $24,708 or $200,496 in 2009 money. At least that what the website I used figured out for me.

Lets look back 50 years to 1959 and the Springfield race, Len Sutton won $5,081 from a purse of $19,381 in that year.

[ryoung99]

Originally Posted by DonMoore10 Syracuse, NY Sacramento, CA Stockton, CA Mile dirt Fresno, CA Mile dirt Del Mar, CA (there may be a new surface for this track that wouldn't work) Beulah Park, Mile dirt Columbus, OH (had an AMA flat track race there Aug.16) Tulsa State Fairgrounds 3/4 mile dirt, great facility. Not sure if the horses are still running there or not. Yes, I'm well aware of the problems there a few years ago.

If there were SC dirt races in California at Stockton, Sacramento, Del Mar (Bay Meadows), Vallejo, etc. I would build a dirt SC car to race. There are plenty of young drivers in this area I could put behind the wheel for these events including, Kyle Larson, Dillon Silverman and Justin Grant. I would love to give any/all of these kids that opportunity. But I cannot justify the investment in the car and the travel that would be required (and I would not build a dirt and pavement car, just cannot afford it).

Honestly I think this is where USAC has gone awry. Back in the day you raced with USAC, midgets, then sprint cars then SC cars to get a shot at Indy, that carrot has gone away.

Then, thanks for Jeff Gordon and Thursday Night Thunder, you raced USAC Midgets, Sprint Cars and Silver Crown cars to get to NASCAR. Worked for a bunch of guys... and in some way still does (just ask Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, etc), you just might have to go through trucks and Nationwide to get there and there is much more competition than when Gordon did it.

Now, what is the carrott? When you see guys like Darland, Coons, Hines, Jones, Gardner, etc not getting the shot at either Indy or NASCAR one begins to lose the attraction and when costs escalate without a the opportunity for payoff, it is only a matter of time before investment decreases as well.

I think often people put to much on Midgets as the reason guys are got to that next level. We have seen a larger decline in the guys coming from USAC since the SC debacle occured. I think if USAC would run the package effectivly (as they once did), you would see an increase in the number of racers going to USAC to a premier series and that would drive investment back into USAC teams as the dream would be alive. Midgets teach you how to drive smoothly, SC teaches you how to drive on big tracks. It is the combination of those two skills that I can see as attractive to owners of the larger racing series.

If you bring back a formula that gets racers to that next level, not by negotiating but by creating aproduct the next level desiers, it will create investment in your series. The investment by the large dollar teams breeds more competition as it makes quality used stuff available for the lower budget teams. Think about it, if somebody wants to put together a "good" SC team can they even find quality used stuff to start with (so they can upgrade later)? Hell it is getting more difficult to find quality used midget cars.

Then a guy like me who is getting older and just loves racing (and who wants to save for retirement anyways), says what the hell, let's go put this deal together and get some young talent to drive (thus giving that young talent potentially the chance of a lifetime). The program can work, it just has to be coordinated and focus on a formula that the owners at the next level will value and when you think about it the key to the next level has been more success in SC than midgets.

Apologies if my thoughts jumped around a bit, sometimes my brain moves faster than my fingers can type.

Rick

[SUPERDUKE]

Originally Posted by vukie bob sweikert won the first hoosier 100 in 1953 and earned $6,971 for his victory. In today's dollars that would work out to $56,567. The purse that day was $24,708 or $200,496 in 2009 money. At least that what the website i used figured out for me. Lets look back 50 years to 1959 and the springfield race, len sutton won $5,081 from a purse of $19,381 in that year.

the hoosier 100 was the 2nd highest purse only the indy 500 paid more!!! For years when indy 500 drivers where the stars driving on the championship trail!

Vukie,
While I appreciate would Bob made in the Hoosier Hundred - but at that time it was also (a) the biggest dirt race in the country bar none (b) a race that reguired tempoary bleachers to accomodate the fans. Unfortunately neither of those statements is true at this time.

Pat