Make Divisionals Great Again

[CMcAllister]

This conversation has been coming up fairly regularly for at least the past 40 years.

I know, even from talking to guys who are local street car, drag radial, cash days, radial tire, heads up, bracket guys, most people look at you like you're speaking a foreign language when you start talking about classes, rules, weight breaks, horsepower ratings, classifications, combinations, penalties for going too fast, or throttle stops and how .90 racing works.

They don't get it. Even the people who are far from "casual fan".

You want spectators and excitement for the masses? Heads up, big motor, drag radial, door slammers, fast street car, no prep, funny car burnouts, and/or blowers, turbos or nitrous on every car in the place. Throw in a car or two into the wall.

Or nitro.

Just how it is.

Some kind of booked in show, match race, Quick 8 or other attraction is probably the best bet to get butts in the seats.

I remember wrestling matches in a ring set up in front of the grandstands. Now that was entertainment.

[tommy d]

Originally Posted by 1320racer

and you'd be wrong

Well , of course. If anyone disagrees with you they are wrong.

[1320racer]

what part of the TRUTH and the Facts don't you like?

[Bobby Fazio]

Originally Posted by Keith 944

Why are we concerned about bringing in spectators???? We pay a good amount to race.

Because without them we'll have to keep paying gooder amounts of money to race while the tracks, contingency money, track/title sponsors, midway will continue to disappear- while operation costs will continue to rise. The fact that racers don't recognize this kind of scares me.

Originally Posted by Keith 944

If nhra and track’s want more than what we pay then they need to step up and promote.

There seems to be a real disconnect between tracks and NHRA when it comes to these divisionals. I don't think NHRA is inclined to promote the event and may be content getting their cut and operating certain aspects of the race. Their business model might be working just fine on their end. All tracks have slightly different deals with NHRA and it is up to their negotiation skills. Some may have a bad deal in place, or maybe an old deal. It is probably safe to say that the more they take in at a divisional, the more they shell over to NHRA and they may not feel it is even worth gambling on promotions/entertainment and would rather play it safe so as not to lose any money if it flops.

Originally Posted by Keith 944

They are laughing their asses off reading our divided arguments and personal agendas

Anyone reading 1320's post is either laughing their asses off or is confused as all hell. Yes there are a lot of wasted keystrokes on this thread by people offering nothing aside from "nothing will ever be good and that is never was."

[1320racer]

you can count on it!

"nothing will ever be good and that is never was" and specifically Divisionals will never be great again if your definition of great is spectators in the stands and a manufacturer's midway and Bobby fyi, I was with a racer yesterday that you have previously interview who has been reading this thread and he was laughing at YOU and agreed with me 100% that spectators ain't ever coming and divisionals will never be great again according to your definition.

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

Because without them we'll have to keep paying gooder amounts of money to race while the tracks, contingency money, track/title sponsors, midway will continue to disappear- while operation costs will continue to rise. The fact that racers don't recognize this kind of scares me.



There seems to be a real disconnect between tracks and NHRA when it comes to these divisionals. I don't think NHRA is inclined to promote the event and may be content getting their cut and operating certain aspects of the race. Their business model might be working just fine on their end. All tracks have slightly different deals with NHRA and it is up to their negotiation skills. Some may have a bad deal in place, or maybe an old deal. It is probably safe to say that the more they take in at a divisional, the more they shell over to NHRA and they may not feel it is even worth gambling on promotions/entertainment and would rather play it safe so as not to lose any money if it flops.

So do we want spectators or not? In the first paragraph you're trying to sell us on the need for spectators to offset costs. In the second, you're trying to tell us that the tracks don't want spectators because of increased cost.

[1320racer]

forget the spectators that aren't ever coming our concern should be if we keep losing tracks, there's less tracks willing to lose money to host divisionals and entries will continue to increase while payouts remain stuck in the 90s and contingency sponsors continue to leave the program. Take D1, the very real possibility exist that we could lose 2 tracks over the next 10 years.

I disagree with some of your post Ed
We cannot go this on race cars alone. Promoters need money back in the pocket. That offsets what we have to pay ! All one has to do is look at what you pay, the number of entries and what it costs a track to put on an event. It cannot be a loosing proposition or break even. That means they need to advertise and get sponsors. I personally don’t want to pay more to race! We aren’t racing for the money for gods sake. Everything has gone up except for the payout. Yes we had a small increase but so did your entry!

And then there’s some raceway's that charge an astronomical amount of money to host an event because they can. The California Syndrome!

[1320racer]

disagree all you want but you can't prove me wrong. Go pitch all your ideas to your track owners and see where that gets you.

again, host tracks are not going to throw good money after bad in an attempt to lure spectators that don't exist for what we do.

What we do is not a spectator sport. Further, it's boring to watch and most don't understand it and worse think it's stupid watching handicap starts no mind throttle stop racing.

The general public knows drag racing to be 2 cars line up, leave at the same time and the first to the finish line wins. They're loud and fast, do long smokey burnouts, have flames coming out the pipes and sometimes have spectacular crashes That is a spectator sport, that's what they come to see and that's why the Street Outlaw/NPK races PACK the bleachers at every track they compete at while collectively selling 6 figures worth of merchandise at every event.

Originally Posted by 1320racer

disagree all you want but you can't prove me wrong. Go pitch all your ideas to your track owners and see where that gets you.

again, host tracks are not going to throw good money after bad in an attempt to lure spectators that don't exist for what we do.

What we do is not a spectator sport. Further, it's boring to watch and most don't understand it and worse think it's stupid watching handicap starts no mind throttle stop racing.

The general public knows drag racing to be 2 cars line up, leave at the same time and the first to the finish line wins. Their loud, have flames coming out the pipes and sometimes have spectacular crashes That is a spectator sport, that's what they come to see and that's why the Street Outlaw/NPK races PACK the bleachers at every track they compete at while collectively selling 6 figures worth of merchandise at every event.

I know two young men very well that had a vision for drag racing and set the standard for Big bucks racing. One has since passed ( god speed brother) So don’t tell us it cannot be done ! Doomsday posts don’t do anything for the issue. You can be Be part of the solution or part of the problem. But I already know the answer so go ahead.