Originally Posted by jim goerge:
the $5000 is not the purse, that is to win. Which should be a lot more for the races to keep up with the cost of owning a car
It should be a lot more, but where does the money come from ?
If you plan on keeping up with the cost of owning a car 99% of car owners will come up short.
Bottom line is that racing for most is a money losing deal, lotsa money. If you go into it expecting anything else your not realistic. Don't spend anymore money on racing that you can throw away, pretty much sums up most racing. There was way more tracks and racers when there was more DISPOSABLE income. Hard skinny tires, a lot less horsepower needed, parts lasted longer yada yada. Oh yeah, also didn't need huge haulers and all the fluff to impress god knows who.
While I'm at it I will also say that most car owners are to much in the box with their thinking. They'd rather have the same driver wreck car after car then to take the chance on a unproven driver, it aint black magic driving a racecar. It actually comes easy for some folk, theres way harder things done then driving a sprintcar.
I was sitting in the stands at East Bay Raceway in Florida for a 410 non-wing sprint show, 2005 I think was the year, good field of cars, nice track, great middle of February weekend. The feature winner is being interviewed in victory lane and starts complaining that the race paid way too little for guys who towed from California, and he sort of shamed the track owner/promoter for the low purse. His right to say what he wants, as I listened to his rant I looked around at the crowd in the stands, for the entire evening there was maybe 300 paid admissions at the track, maybe. So the track owner takes a beating in the pocket book, and gets a verbal beat down by the main event winner, that had to be a bitter pill to swallow. Just where is the money supposed to come from? Printing programs, paying track employees, insurance, etc. is not free. Dan Kazarian told me they need to sell 2,600 adult admissions to make a profit for a sprint car show at Perris Auto Speedway, that was in 1998.