[Michael Beard]

>> I was strictly talking about MONEY that sportsman racers spend vs spectators. The amount they spend over a given period. The amount they bring into tracks.

Average of even 20,000 spectators/day over even 3 days probably spends $200+ over the weekend between tickets, concessions, etc. That's $4 Million dollars. I've read tracks claiming 125,000 attendance over the course of a full national event weekend. (what fingers and toes they're counting, I don't know) That's $6Mil in ticket sales alone. There is no math that can show 700 Sportsman racers generating more money in a weekend than 20,000 spectators. And racers get paid.

>> If the sportsman classes were that much of a "drag" on them then why dont they simply eliminate them.

Because they still make money on them. Not as much as on spectators, but money is money.

I fully agree that the Sportsman racer is extremely important, but there's no doubt that spectators pay the bills. This topic should turn back to Lynn's original intent: How do we MARKET class racing to spectators, thus making our Sportsman classes worth even more?