Make Divisionals Great Again

[1320racer]

you don't have to sell it to me or any other racer, it needs to be sold to kids, young men and young women and the truth is it can't be, their country, their world is very different then ours. Many things have changed and many more will, least of which is how young people feel about cars but the bottomline is of the few tracks owners in each division that will still PAY to host a divisional and lose money doing so more often than not, they are not going to spend more money marketing the event and for those that do market it, it's largely done on fb.

[Greg Gay]

At the Divisional race at New England Dragway for the last several years, they have been bringing in a couple of wheelstanders and a jet truck to run amongst the alcohol cars, and a few sportsman cars. I live about 100 miles from the track, and I see the advertising on TV. This race is late August, so it is already getting dark a little earlier in the evening, making the flames show up better. It is also 2 1/2 months after the national event, so time for the spectators to get their fix of drag racing. They seem to fill the stands pretty well. I don't know any of the specifics on profitability, but I'm sure it helps. The alcohol cars are already there, so that part of the program is free to the track.

[Steve Stasko]

Norwalk Divisional this year...

Saturday, June 3
Pit Gates & Tech Open (Tech Closes at Noon) — 7:00 a.m.
Spectator Gate Opens — 7:00 a.m.
Camping/Motorhome Move-In — 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Super Street, Stock, Super Comp Qualifying (Q3) — 8:00 a.m.
Rumble Wars X8 Pro Mod Qualifying (Q1), Super Stock, Super Gas Qualifying (Q3), Stock Eliminations (E1) — 10 a.m.
Rumble Wars X8 Pro Mod Qualifying (Q2), Super Street, Super Comp Eliminations (E1) — 12 p.m.
Autograph Session — 1:00 p.m.
Rumble Wars X8 Pro Mod Eliminations (E1), Top Dragster, Comp & Top Sportsman Qualifying (Q2) — 2 p.m.
Pre-Race Ceremonies — 3:45 p.m.
Top Alcohol Dragster & Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying (Q2), Rumble Wars X8 Pro Mod Eliminations (E2), Exhibition (Wheelstander, Jet Dragsters), Super Stock, Super Gas Eliminations (E1), Top Dragster, Comp & Top Sportsman Qualifying (Q3) — 4:00 p.m.
Rumble Wars X8 Pro Mod Eliminations (Final) — 7:50 p.m.
Top Alcohol Dragster & Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying (Q3), Exhibition (Jet Dragsters) — 8:00 p.m.
Fireworks — 9:30 p.m.
Secure Grounds — 10:00 p.m.

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...and time trials at that, so handicaps didn't need to be explained to the casual spectator. Also, the fans saw more racing here than watching eliminations. I think there were 12-14 Alcohol Dragsters for example...so they saw them all trying to get in the show, as opposed to the 8 who actually made it.

1000' AHFS dumps and throttle stop racing don't attract crowds. If they did, they wouldn't have finished us 8 hours before the show was over.

[Steve Grady]

Originally Posted by Steve Stasko

Norwalk Divisional this year...



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...and time trials at that, so handicaps didn't need to be explained to the casual spectator. Also, the fans saw more racing here than watching eliminations. I think there were 12-14 Alcohol Dragsters for example...so they saw them all trying to get in the show, as opposed to the 8 who actually made it.

1000' AHFS dumps and throttle stop racing don't attract crowds. If they did, they wouldn't have finished us 8 hours before the show was over.

That "show" provides one of the nicest facilities in the country run by one of the best families in the business to give us a beautiful place to race.

[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 Steve Grady

That "show" provides one of the nicest facilities in the country run by one of the best families in the business to give us a beautiful place to race.

I'm not putting the facility or the people down. They've figured out how to make it work. I was trying to drive the point that you can't really sell what we're doing to the general public as a main event attraction.

[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

[B Parker]

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