Re: Think about this.........
 

this subject has been beat to death, but s/ss will never recover until cost goes down and dial in is eliminated. spectators will never understand bracket racing.

Re: Think about this.........
 

That's basically the short version of what I posted on another thread. That's it: dead-on!

No, no, no, no, NO! This is a myth, and an oft-repeated one at that. Bracket Racing is NOT complicated. It's not! Anyone who has ever watched The Price Is Right can understand Bracket Racing... and that sure isn't rocket science!

Explanation and promotion are all that is necessary. And to the "no fans"... did we all forget about 7,000 fans at the U.S. Class Nationals? Many national event tracks don't draw fans to the Divisional races or National Opens because either 1) they are not promoted well enough or 2) families set aside a certain amount of disposable income, and if that means they can only go to "1" big show a year, yeah, of course they are going to a National event before a Divisional. I remember Billy telling me that Maple Grove's Divisional race used to be a really big deal when it was the premier event on their schedule, until they got the Keystone Nationals, and then focus shifted to that.

Weather killed MIR this year. I believe the President's Cup has historically done pretty well.

Also, I've told the story several times before: Short version, I met a father & son wandering the pits at a Divisional race. I took it upon myself to talk to them, take them up into the stands and explain to them who and what they were seeing, and they "GOT" it in less than 5 minutes, and had a great time.

Dale - retired? I thought I saw a car with your name on it at the S/SS Combo at Fayetteville.

Re: Think about this.........
 

bracket racing is not hard to understand, it just has nothing to do with racing. i used to go to eddeyville in the seventies and the place was packed with spectators. now, you have to bring someone with you to watch you. name one, any one other sport where if you go too fast you lose.

Re: Think about this.........
 

Michael, I agree with you completely concerning the "father and son" story. As a hardcore fan since 1962, I attend 6 to 7 Nat. events including Indy, 3 to 4 D-1 events, and the Dutch Classic every year. On numerous occasions I have explained SS and Stk. to the spectators in the stands near me. I am also a huge fan of Comp. eliminator, and I also explain it; and, believe me, it is harder to explain Comp, especially CIC, to the average fan than it is to explain SS and Stk. However, after a fan understands what is going on, they inevitably like and appreciate what they are seeing. Let's face it, it is virtually impossible to like something that you don't understand.
Bill Seabrooks - superfan1
Bridgeport, CT

Re: Think about this.........
 

They will play the ladder, change class, change combination including chassis, join the club and race one of the new cars (Jeg):rolleyes:

Re: Think about this.........
 

Seriously, how many cars would be at a S/SS race if the race was a heads up format? I agree it is fun to races heads up and win, but even if the economy wasn't in the tank there would still be a handful of people who have the time and money to build and run a heads up deal.

My 30 year old son started going to the races when he was in diapers, when he turned 14 we started building him a "bracket car" it was a low dollar deal but very competitive car, he won a few races with it. But he could never understand why I would want to run a class that required an occasional tear down, all the p issing and moaning, and heads up runs that unless you ran in an obscure class or spent a ton of money on a cool old car, you just weren't going to win.

He sold his bracket car and went to work for Doug Herbert who let him and the rest of the crew drive his super comp dragster and has since been trying to get a dragster. But his current job with the rail road keeps him moving around the country to much to get the task complete much less go racing. So hwen he is in my part of the country he take my middle of the pack F/SA and goes bracket racing.......

Re: Think about this.........
 

it would be packed with cars in a heads-up format if they made it affordable. comp will survive if they quit making you buy the latest, greatest head. crowds would come back to local tracks under this. we lost everyone to circle track because of the competition.

Re: Think about this.........
 

As others have mentioned. I have brought my SSer out to the track and it does generate a lot of interest for being a 69 camaro. Which some may think is odd since everyone has a camaro at the track. What generates interest is the fact that it doesn't have crappy fiberglass front end hanging off of it or a hood scoop like 95% of the camaros you see at tracks. The downside is that only generates interest with the older 45 and up crowd. 95% of the youngsters want a American, Mullis and Undercover dragster that has a 565 cu inch and up motor that runs 7.20's at 180 mph plus.

Re: Think about this.........
 

I think rules and regulation are the only thing that will control cost. Now you figure out who will and how they will. I can tell you one thing for sure no one in nascar is going to get in Mike Helton face so I think it starts with NHRA getting someone with some seeds and leave him alone.

Re: Think about this.........
 

[QUOTE=Michael Beard;

Weather killed MIR this year. I believe the President's Cup has historically done pretty well.

[/QUOTE]

NOPE.....the year before Royce lost several hundred thou also even though I heard IHRA paid him approx 2/3 to 3/4 of it to cover his loss. It was upwards of $300,000. The race only made money several years ago....and not much even then.