I am not a driver, car owner or track owner/promoter. I am just a fan trying to understand the logic. Over the last couple of years there have been some threads and several comments about how purses for nw sprint car racing needs to improve, or costs need to come down (yeah...like THAT will happen!).

So this past Saturday night, Paragon drew 32 cars paying $1400/win and (I think) $150/start. LPS drew 22 cars and paid $1500/win and (again, I think) $150/start. Plymouth drew 15 cars and paid $2000/win and ?/start. Waynesburg (WRP) drew 25 cars and paid $3000/win and $300/start. Lawrenceburg/BOSS drew 29 cars and paid $1500/win and $250/start. Tri-State/MSCS drew 17 cars and paid $5000/win and $250/start. Using Indianapolis as a base, approximate driving distances (per Google) are: Paragon, 40 miles; LPS 47 miles; Lawrenceburg, 98 miles; Plymouth 122 miles; Tri-State 145 miles; and WRP 171 miles. Using 10 mpg and $3.00/gallon for diesel, the min and max costs for round trip fuel are $24 (Paragon) and $102 (WRP).

Yes, that is 140 nw sprint cars, which I agree is a LOT of cars. What I don't understand is why the track paying the largest purse had the second lowest car count. Is this due to the travel distance? Is it due to the sanctioning body? Is it due to the fact that a track upset a bunch competitors? Is it because the purse is "front end loaded" and not spread far down he field? Or is it drivers/car owners want to "cherry pick" and try and guess where the weakest field will be to get the best finish?

With that said, looking at the situation Saturday night, what incentive does a promoter have to take a risk and up the purse? If upping the purse means less cars, how is that logical?

Steve

This was covered pretty heavily in a Tri State thread Also Waynesfield was a normal show I believe. Most of their fields are somewhat local to Lima.

Steve, don't try to think like car owners and drivers. It's not good for your health...

As a self financed car owner/driver what influences me unfortunately is "tow" money. On any given night based on 25-28 cars at any track there are 6-8 that are potential winners, there are another 10 that will make the main fairly easy and another 10-12 that are attempting to make those last 4 or so positions in the main. The $ spread difference between making the show and not is too great at some tracks. Example: $250 to make the show vs $50 to not qualify makes it tough to make ends meet and discourages attendance. Out of the 140 cars that raced last weekend at 5 tracks meant 40 went home or over 28% that didn't make the show

That question has certainly been mulled over.

One take: Very, very few people make any money in auto racing. Many are in it to have fun (and when the fun goes out of it, it's time to do something else). Knowing they're going to be in the hole wherever they go, the purse is something to think about, but not the determining factor on where a bunch of guys show up.

Some places are more fun to race at than others...

b o s s was at the burg and I thoroughly enjoyed the great show they put on. I must admit though that I expected about 40 cars instead of 29, as they generally bring in a big car count at the burg. the next day I looked at area n w sprint car results and surprisingly it appears that most of the ones I'd expected to be at the burg who went elsewhere went way up north to Plymouth, so I don't think there is a good answer to the question presented.

Think maybe they just wanted an opportunity to run at Plymouth being it's not a 410 Sprint track every weekend...not tryin to ruffle any feathers- just think that might've been the case??

Many of us are just weekend warriors and the drive to tri-state is 6 hours roundtrip from indy plus the time change so by the time we stop at the car wash we won't get home until 3-4 am. When you have work and racecar to prepare from Monday-Saturday, Sunday is about the only time to spend time with family and if you get home at 4 am then Sunday turns into a recovery day and not a family day.

Thank you for the perspective. I very much understand that point of view.