Make Divisionals Great Again

[Bobby Fazio]

Originally Posted by Doug Hoven

Unfortunately I can't see Maple grove participating in any sort of "Free Spectator" day at any of their events.

Maple Grove is open to the idea when I spoke with Kenny Koretsky a few times this year. They hosted a carload special at our divisional in May and brought in a much higher spectator count than in recent years. Only problem was it started at 3pm which I hate because it doesn't get anyone in the gate early enough to watch us sportsman. We run our E1 around 3pm and make way for Top Alcohol the rest of the night which is the main draw. They qualify and run all eliminations and then there were fireworks at the end. Sunday is a ghost town when we complete our eliminations. I say qualify Top Alcohol on Saturday evening as an attraction and then run their eliminations on Sunday as another attraction to get people in the gate both days. Track is paying their entry fee and purse so they should be open to it.

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

I say qualify Top Alcohol on Saturday evening as an attraction and then run their eliminations on Sunday as another attraction to get people in the gate both days. Track is paying their entry fee and purse so they should be open to it.

How much time will this add to a Sunday schedule? Not everyone is self employed or can burn vacation time with ease. Depending on where you live...you're burning a half or whole day on Thursday for travel, Friday for time runs, and then potentially Monday for travel if the race runs late due to added time from track prep, any oil downs, etc. Don't forget weather delays either. Cecil County, 2018...around 50 racers left because they couldn't stay for Monday eliminations.

I agree that we need spectators in the seats, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the racers.

[Bobby Fazio]

Originally Posted by Steve Stasko

How much time will this add to a Sunday schedule? Not everyone is self employed or can burn vacation time with ease. Depending on where you live...you're burning a half or whole day on Thursday for travel, Friday for time runs, and then potentially Monday for travel if the race runs late due to added time from track prep, any oil downs, etc. Don't forget weather delays either. Cecil County, 2018...around 50 racers left because they couldn't stay for Monday eliminations.

I agree that we need spectators in the seats, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the racers.

To run an 8-Car Alcohol field on a Sunday would be 3 rounds. According to NHRA.tv Maple Grove D1 the first round of alcohol was roughly 30 min and there was some delay in there someone hit cones, E2 was roughly 11 min, and the final round was 6 min. This included dragging, spraying track before they came out. I don't think that would kill your travel time. Most racers on this forum long for the 1970s when there were 1000 cars at a divisional with packed stands, top fuel, pro stock, etc. Did you finish on Saturday back then?

Originally Posted by Steve Stasko

Super Gas E1 got pushed off until Sunday morning...but the point is...we weren't the show, and the place was packed with spectators. Most of the afternoon and evening was spent running "fast" cars down the track

Super Stock was part of the show at Norwalk D3 if they went out at 4pm. It also looks like Alcohol ran eliminations on Sunday since all I see is Qualifying on that schedule. I guess Bader and I think alike.

Why pay for for a wheelie exhibition when stock and super stock provide that free of charge? Could give that money to the best wheelie... hmm I just had another idea...

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

To run an 8-Car Alcohol field on a Sunday would be 3 rounds. According to NHRA.tv Maple Grove D1 the first round of alcohol was roughly 30 min and there was some delay in there someone hit cones, E2 was roughly 11 min, and the final round was 6 min. This included dragging, spraying track before they came out. I don't think that would kill your travel time. Most racers on this forum long for the 1970s when there were 1000 cars at a divisional with packed stands, top fuel, pro stock, etc. Did you finish on Saturday back then?

Most racers long for the 1970's because there was a specific set of rules with fair and equal application of tech inspection. That's a whole different discussion though.

If we're going to run Alcohol on Sunday, then there's no need to have a three day divisional. Turn it into a Saturday-Sunday event...Time Runs Saturday, Eliminations on Sunday.

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

Super Stock was part of the show at Norwalk D3 if they went out at 4pm. It also looks like Alcohol ran eliminations on Sunday since all I see is Qualifying on that schedule. I guess Bader and I think alike.

One time run of wheelstanding door cars is much more exciting to watch than one time run of Super Comp. I'm sure that was planned on purpose to have those cars runs as filler at that time, even Super Gas...again, fast door cars. You missed my point on the Alcohol Time Trials on Saturday. 12 dragsters and 10 funny cars in two sessions, as opposed to 8/8, 4/4.

[Mark Yacavone]

Well, I keep wanting to go off on certain "unwatchable" categories. Not going to do it though. Too many friends involved. Plus they are helping to keep the whole Div. scam afloat too.
I did realize one thing, in reading this thread. You could put a half dozen smart guys, that have been around for 50 or so years in a room, and you would never get a consensus on how to make Divs great again (as if they ever were).
Besides, I get an uneasy feeling that this is all a bit like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. :-(

[B Parker]

Mark it seems that not many are smart enough to think out of the box. Can't make the last couple of generation car kids. They would rather sit on the couch and kill ****. Time to bring in FanDuel and let the good times roll. This isn't rocket science. They could set this up real easy. You want to get the bigger payouts, car counts higher and the tracks making more money so they can stay open. Get that kind of money involved or sit back and wait until the last car goes down the track. Just off the cuff lets say you have a 64 car field in Stock or whatever class. After the ladder is set and before first round pick the last 6 cars. Get 6 out of 6 it pays back x amount. Get 5 out of 6 get x. 4 out of six x Pick the last two cars it pays x . Pick winner and runner up pays x. This is just off the top of my head I'm sure the Pros that run off track betting could make it real fun. You realize how much they could pay back those 6 places.

You can bet on just about anything why not racing. BP

Originally Posted by B Parker

Mark it seems that not many are smart enough to think out of the box. Can't make the last couple of generation car kids. They would rather sit on the couch and kill ****. Time to bring in FanDuel and let the good times roll. This isn't rocket science. They could set this up real easy. You want to get the bigger payouts, car counts higher and the tracks making more money so they can stay open. Get that kind of money involved or sit back and wait until the last car goes down the track. Just off the cuff lets say you have a 64 car field in Stock or whatever class. After the ladder is set and before first round pick the last 6 cars. Get 6 out of 6 it pays back x amount. Get 5 out of 6 get x. 4 out of six x Pick the last two cars it pays x . Pick winner and runner up pays x. This is just off the top of my head I'm sure the Pros that run off track betting could make it real fun. You realize how much they could pay back those 6 places.

You can bet on just about anything why not racing. BP

BP , Pretty much like horse racing. I believe We’ve discussed this here long ago. Don’t think that would fly. I was audited three times earlier in my racing. Schedule C small business and I never lost one audit however I remember the IRS saying they they look at what I was doing and considered it the same as horse racing. After that I abandoned the C.

[B Parker]

xxxxxxxx

[doglover44]

Id like to see more live streaming like Motor Mania