[68camaroSS]

Although I am a die hard racer and race fan and support what is said 100%, I would like touch on an issue that is often overlooked in a discussion as this, which is a big part of the equation. Many racers are not viewing the races from purely the occasional spectators point of view. There are several factors, but I will only mention a couple. It has become a sport they cannot identify with. Secondly, it requires preminum time they may not be willing to regularily invest. Even going to a local race, you get to the races early afternoon, and if you go rounds, you will be there until 11-12 pm at night. Then if you have to drive a distance back home, by the time you get home, it is the wee hours of the morning. This puts a damper on the average racer trying to get friends or family to go with them; for many, it is too far and too many hours at the track to want to go. A loyal race fan is more than happy to devote this time, the average fan will probably not do so on a regular basis and want to do other things on their weekends. Even for local spectators it makes for a long night if you stay for the duration, especially if they bring their kids, and they need to be home before it gets real late. Then a lot of time is spent sitting around waiting. Spectators want to see constant racing action, not 30 minutes of down time between rounds, or unnecessay delays, when this happens they will get bored and leave. Much could be done to expedite the local racing program from unnecessary delays. Also, its hard for me to believe, but some people actually don't like all the noise and smoke for an extended period of time. A lot of the excitement of the "old days" is gone, that match racing and grudge racing from touring professionals brought to the program, that sparked outside interest and drew people to the track with slick radio advertising. Today, if you don't have a huge interest or connection in racing to begin with, the time, expense, and emotion investment required can be a major obstacle in developing new interest. Just a different persperctive...