Brent brings up a good point that’s rarely talked about. The cost of wing racing is higher. Now maybe due to more popularity sponsorships are easier to come by for higher amounts. Maybe that offsets the increased cost? But as big as a USAC fan as I am, I’ll say this, there’s been a lot of good racing with wings lately. And the High Limit deal has added more
Originally Posted by flagboy55:
Brent brings up a good point that’s rarely talked about. The cost of wing racing is higher.
Thats not a totally accurate statement. I believe this thought is a common fallacy among this board that wing racing costs way much more.
The only material difference is that amount of times they rebuild the motors. They pull their motors every 5-8 races depending on the situation. Rebuilds are about $5K with no damage and if you break something its $10K or more. These motor builders are agnostic to what type of car that motor sits in.
Does Ballou's Don Ott cost less than Danny Dietrich's OTT, No. Does Hoosier charge less for the tires, no. Does fuel cost less at a non wing race, no. Do chassis cost less, no. Shocks etc....... All the stuff costs the same. The transportation to the track is the same from a gas/diesel perspective. Its the same conversation as saying 360s cost less than 410s. Not really. The 360 motors are 60K for top of the line, but yet they race for $2500 to win.
The perception is that wing racing costs much more when its relatively the same. If it cost 8-10K a night to run a top tier winged car, its probably 3-5K a night to run a top tier non wing car. The wing guys race for about twice the money. So this is all about relative from a cost spent per money won perspective. If you're talking about total outflow of money, yah those wing teams spend more but they run almost 2x the amount of races too. They travel more, but they get tow money, which USAC doesn't pay unless you leave the DMA over 400miles.
My whole point is its all relative and neither is cheap.
Arguing one is better than the other is moot. They're both good. I love non wing racing, but the speed of the wing cars, especially here at Volusia, is like a drug for me. I know there's zero chance for '24, but man if USAC came back it would be great!
Winged racing can be good, especially when traffic is in play. Evidence can be seen in the highlights from a dusty Attica all star race. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiqUsHXQ7Ag
Number three; You have the right to free speech; As long as You're not dumb enough to actually try it —The Clash
I will admit wing racing has become more entertaining of late, but the side by side comparison at Knoxville during the USAC show was lights out in favor of non wings. USAC out performed the wings on a wing friendly dry slick surface.
