Atco is done

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by Steve1118

Spectators are not where the money is made, though the more the better. Spectators actually are way to measure interest and exposure. The money comes primarily from local business partners. The Baders are masters at that. That is how WDRA came to be. The group is basically a group of owners whose primary goal is to run profitable businesses.

Spectators are the track operators best revenue stream. The racers pay their own way. entry fees pretty much cover the purse and some overhead. Most racers bring at least 2 people with them as crew or friends. The track can make some money off of the spectators even if the gate price was $10/head and you get 200 spectators there that 2K in the track operators pocket with no outlay. Plus if you can sell them some beer, soda and hot dogs that helps as well. watching a bracket race with a bunch of dragsters is like watching paint dry. Most of the track operators do not do any sort of advertisement. There is lots of free places to advertise. Local news should be notified of special events at the track. All kinds of social media that can be used for no cost just some time.
Unfortunately, people are not as interested in cars as they used to be. Look at Stock and Super stock. most of us are well north of 50 years old. There are some 2nd and 3rd generation racers out there but not nearly enough to sustain the sport. Cost to build, maintain, transport, and actually race a car like ours is out of the reach of most young people today. That why I am always a champion of not lowering the indexes. Keep it to where a person with a decent job could get involved in class racing.

[Steve1118]

Spectators are the gravy, but not the operator's bread and butter.