One thing I have noticed when comparing the racing from the "old days" to current racing events.
In the "old days" racers and spectators both were close to the action. At local Track Anywhere USA you could get near the starting line no matter what class was running. Of course, some times folks were too close and presented a safety issue so the "closeness" needs to be balanced with common sense. Even today tracks like Texas Raceway in Kennedale and North Star Dragway in Denton TX allow both race crew and spectators to be reasonably close to the action.
To contrast, at most national events spectators must be a considerable distance from the action. Only selected crew members can be near the line and that is with big eyes watching everyone. As a spectator you are simply too far away from the action when the "slower" cars are running. All the sounds, smells, smoke are too far away.
When the Nitro cars are running the distance is reasonable, but not for Sportsman cars.
In my opinion, this distancing of the spectators greatly takes away from the Sportsman experience. As we understand, being at or near the line during a stock super stock race is very cool.
The solutions are many, here are a few ideas:
*Move fences and seating much closer to the track so folks can experience the action up close
*Move folks somewhere else when Nitro cars are running
