Part of what hurt drag racing

goinbroke2 · 09-15-2014, 12:15 PM

You know, I went to a mudbog race in the spring, all the trucks were open trailered but there was only about a dozen. There was about 1-1500 people who all paid $25 per carload to go and sit on a grassy hill and watch the trucks go 50ft in the mud, get stuck and then wait 10-15 minutes for the truck to be pulled out. Another truck, 50ft, 15 minutes, repeat...this went on for 4hr's or so and everybody was buying fries/hamburg's etc having a great time. I thought it was a load of crap.
So..what was the difference?

Well, carload of people for X dollars?
Make it more of a carnival atmosphere?
All the action is directly in front of the people (100ft total?)

These same crowds were at the Exibition as well watching the demo derby. Personally I view them as "mouthbreathers" who watch with their mouths hanging open and yell "lookit that!" when there is some kind of destruction of damage.

Society isn't about cars anymore as was mentioned. Add to that the "reality tv" mentality and everybody wants to be entertained from their couch/seat/etc while stuffing crap down their yap. "hey lookit, bubba caught a fish...hey lookit, he built a birdhouse" whatever...dumbasses.

At the track this weekend a couple things I noticed were;
1) Lots of motorhomes/toterhomes/tractor trailers all enclosed trailers.
2) Even street cars are running in the 12's (or 11's, 10's, 9's)
3) Those who are racing are dedicated dragracers and they brought family with them, that's the only spectators.

I think people have X amount of money, some decide to spend it all on dragracing, others buy planes/boats/cottages. Dragracers are dragracing, there are just less people interested in watching automotive things in a world of instant gratification. Those that do want to watch it, are out watching what they want to watch.

So how do we make it more appealing to watch?

Everybody has already said lots of idea's from better promoting to hyping grudge matches and everything else.

1988, had one track to go to and it was stuffed with people/cars/fans. There was beer sponsorship (and they handed out beer sat night)
2014 there is 4 tracks in the same vicinity, all are quarter full and require the group of racers to travel to all four tracks for points. No beer or cig advertising allowed (which was huge money) so everything is a little tighter.

I've got 1 of my 2 kids into it and he will be for life, but he only replaces me. At least the cycle will continue...

09-15-2014, 12:15 PM	#11
goinbroke2 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NS CANADA Posts: 888 Likes: 1,604 Liked 387 Times in 151 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing You know, I went to a mudbog race in the spring, all the trucks were open trailered but there was only about a dozen. There was about 1-1500 people who all paid $25 per carload to go and sit on a grassy hill and watch the trucks go 50ft in the mud, get stuck and then wait 10-15 minutes for the truck to be pulled out. Another truck, 50ft, 15 minutes, repeat...this went on for 4hr's or so and everybody was buying fries/hamburg's etc having a great time. I thought it was a load of crap. So..what was the difference? Well, carload of people for X dollars? Make it more of a carnival atmosphere? All the action is directly in front of the people (100ft total?) These same crowds were at the Exibition as well watching the demo derby. Personally I view them as "mouthbreathers" who watch with their mouths hanging open and yell "lookit that!" when there is some kind of destruction of damage. Society isn't about cars anymore as was mentioned. Add to that the "reality tv" mentality and everybody wants to be entertained from their couch/seat/etc while stuffing crap down their yap. "hey lookit, bubba caught a fish...hey lookit, he built a birdhouse" whatever...dumbasses. At the track this weekend a couple things I noticed were; 1) Lots of motorhomes/toterhomes/tractor trailers all enclosed trailers. 2) Even street cars are running in the 12's (or 11's, 10's, 9's) 3) Those who are racing are dedicated dragracers and they brought family with them, that's the only spectators. I think people have X amount of money, some decide to spend it all on dragracing, others buy planes/boats/cottages. Dragracers are dragracing, there are just less people interested in watching automotive things in a world of instant gratification. Those that do want to watch it, are out watching what they want to watch. So how do we make it more appealing to watch? Everybody has already said lots of idea's from better promoting to hyping grudge matches and everything else. 1988, had one track to go to and it was stuffed with people/cars/fans. There was beer sponsorship (and they handed out beer sat night) 2014 there is 4 tracks in the same vicinity, all are quarter full and require the group of racers to travel to all four tracks for points. No beer or cig advertising allowed (which was huge money) so everything is a little tighter. I've got 1 of my 2 kids into it and he will be for life, but he only replaces me. At least the cycle will continue...