So why are all of the big series dead set to have there "speed weeks" finished before the end of the Daytona 500 weekend?

LODLMS- Jan 15 through Feb. 9th
WOOLM- Jan 24 through Feb 15th
WOOSC- Feb 5 through Feb 8th
Usac Sprint Car Feb 9 through Feb 15th
Asphalt- Feb 6 through Feb 15th (New Smyrna)
Dirt Car BBM- Jan. 29th through Feb. 14th

It sure seems like someone could have ran this week and or next week, and pulled some premium viewers. Now I will say all of the groups listed above did seem to pull good crowds. The Late Model crowd seems to be solid everywhere. I was impressed with the crowds at New Smyrna. Posting 2 sell outs. If these tracks really do make $ off the streaming, why would you want to be stacked all on top of each other? It seems like the Dirt car stuff picks back up the beginning of March. Just kinda, think someone like USAC could have done really good this week.

If we roll the clock back a few decades, 767, it might be a little clearer:

When the 500 was older school and NASCAR was up and coming, that was the marquee event everyone was headed to Florida to see. The various series that ran dirt took that as an opportunity to promote their sport. Draw NASCAR fans away earlier in the week and maybe, just maybe, make get those fans to start following their dirt series. Most fans went south for Daytona. After that, why stick around? Head back north. Besides, as the 500 approaches, motel prices start getting jacked up. Two weeks prior to the 500 you could get a room for a song and save some cash.

As time went by, though, NASCAR and Daytona have lost some luster, as by evidence of the grandstand removals and sparse crowds for the undercards, and the people who pretty much go south to watch USAC and the winged stuff are just those fans - dirt fans. Most could care squat about the 500.

Now New Smyrna is a tad different for they run a whole bunch of different classes and on asphalt to boot. Some of the runners there are your NASCAR drivers. So that track is like a cross-pollination of NASCAR/Modified fans who are just looking for stuff to do when the big track is not running. Once the 500 is done the pavement fans are gone. New Smyrna s smart the way they run, and when they run, to make a nice buck.

But you have an interesting point. If I am correct in my analysis of the fans heading south and most NASCAR fans could care less about the dirt, why NOT run the dirt tracks a little more, spread the dates out a little more, or a little LATER when the weather gets a tad warmer? Hell, the coldest race I ever went to in my LIFE was a WoO race at Volusia some 15 years ago.

Good post, 767.

Good topic, and both you guys are right. The crowds pre 500 weeks were outstanding and blessed by near perfect warm weather. Did see that Bubba's had a record high crowd for their Sat night Lucas Oil late model show. I went to New Smyrna Wed and Volusia Thur, and every year these local tracks have huge crowds, blessed by the out-of-town fans. I'm not sure how big the crowds were at Ocala for the USAC races, as I was not there. Friday truck race and Saturday ARCA / Exfinity attendance looked strong in Daytona as I scanned the stands.

But, I'm not sure where these local short tracks would get any race fans for post Daytona 500 races. Lucas did consider running post 500 week from an article I saw after East Bay closed. It would be a HUGE gamble to put up big race purses and expect local crowds to support them. Yesterday, Tuesday, I drove out of Daytona back to the Orlando airport. Two days after the 500, the town looks empty. Race fans are gone, campgrounds are empty, traffic is normal, and restaurants crowds are slim. Everyone is gone. I could be wrong, but having been to Daytona enough, I don't think there are enough local fans that would attend any short tracks after Speedweeks is over. It's like the headliner is gone, and so is everyone else. I know I had no desire to stay in Daytona after the 500 was run, except Monday in case it rained out.

Several years ago, I attended the March AAC basketball conference tournament in Orlando. I could not believe how few fans attended a major college basketball tournament, feeding into the NCAA March Madness. Everyone attending said the local fans didn't care about college basketball. Point being that all the attractions in FL certainly draw more crowds than weekly short track racing.

I see the next race scheduled for Bubba's was March 22nd. Maybe by that time there is interest once again for local racing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't see a local promoter putting up big race purses after the 500 is over, even with some streaming support.

WoO Sprints are going to give it a try at Volusia for a couple of nights in early March. It is advertised to note that it is "Bike Week" so I guess there ARE tourists there that they might reel in. I am thinking that this attempt at this time of the year might be a first. Good luck to them if they can make a buck off of it.

The Outlaws tried the bike week shows last year. I wasn’t there so I don’t know what the crowd was like, but they only had 19 cars on Saturday night. Friday was rained out.

It is hard to argue with success. We’ve been attending the WoO shows at Volusia for about 10 years now, and for the last 3 years, the Friday night shows have been packed and the Saturday night show has been sold out of seats, SR only. I know that some of the people near our seats are people in town for the Daytona activities that likely would not be there for races after the Daytona 500. The last couple of years there have been a few PA Posse teams that participate in the racing at Volusia that (they say) are there as a tune up for their season. I’m not sure how many would attend if the event was closer to the opening of the PA season.

If WRG did not make money on the Bike Week shows I am sure they would not put it on as they are the promoter. Believe this is the 3rd year they have done it even though they do struggle with car count as last year they only had around 20 cars but think weather forecast played into that.