Make Divisionals Great Again

[Billy Nees]

Ya know, just among the track owners/operators that I know or know of in Div.1, there are people who race with or are friends with Pro/Stock, Pro/Mod, Drag Radial and Fastest Street Car Racers. I don't know or understand why these track owners/operators can't get together some kind of a "buddy-deal" and put together some kind of a show if that's what it will take.

[BKSG1198]

I know we chat about this almost every year on how to make Divisionals Great and I have a lot of insight from talking to track owners when setting up my MA Schedules on how they feel about the Divisional Events and for the most part track owners are not big fans of having them due to the cost factor and let's be honest it's up to the tracks to spend the additional funds to help market those events and not all tracks have that deep of pockets to do so.

When you have Alky at these events, the tracks have to get additional insurance and the Top 10 in each Division in Alky get in for free along with a certain amount of crew and the track pays the purse on top of the fee that they pay NHRA (It's a base fee for certain amount of cars - I was told at one time by a track owner it's $15k for 350 cars and then it goes up as the count goes over 350....so when we complain about $60 crew pass, it's because the track is trying to re-coup some of that money)....when you look at 2023 D1 Alky points there were 22 TAD that earned points but, only 10 TAFC earned points in D1 with 2 who made a run so they could earn the free status next season. I mentioned at the MG August race that the Alky guys are mostly business men / women, they should be getting together to do their own purses, I know DJ Cox did at Cecil one year to help the track out. Then you have Alky qualify on a Friday at times that won't attract any crowds because people are working (12,3,5) it doesn't make any sense, I think you move Alky to qualify on Saturday and elims on Sunday to make it a show beginning at 3-4pm, let Stock, SS, .90, Comp get their qualifying rounds and maybe R1 in before the "Show" starts and be done for the day and run TS, TD, Alky, Jets, Benny the Bomb, Wheel standers, etc. for the fans. They always say that Alky runs on Fri / Sat so they have a travel day.....ummm most these guys have drivers who drive their stuff to the next location, and they fly in.

I know Bobby does a great job of promoting the "Car Show" with Stock & SS but let's all be honest kids today want to see a lowered Honda that can barely go over railroad tracks than see Stock, SS and the .90 cars. Our last .90 race was at Maple Grove on October 15th, we ran with a car show called "Static Struggle". The place was packed with about 250 show cars all Hondas, all fart boxes, all lowered and it stunk like weed....lol. The field where we park for the NE & LODRS was packed with spectators filling the stands, the concession stand was wrapped around the building with people buying stuff, they definitely made a killing on that day with just those cars and then you add in 100 T&T Cars at $50 a pop with no payback. Why I think your also seeing NHRA partner to run Alky cars at events like Cleetus & Cars and the Norwalk Night of Fire.

One thing you notice when you ever watch on NHRA.TV telecasts there is reasons we kick things off early in the morning with sportsman and you'll hear Alan, say maybe after SG or Comp runs "From this point forward, everything that goes down this track will go faster than 8 seconds". It's to tell people the "fast, not complicated cars" are coming out...people want to be able to understand classes and not try to figure out why this guy went 9.50 and the other guy went 13.23 and won. Thats why when you go to a NE.85% of the people are there to see ...John Force.

How do you make it better? I think you put together a 4-5 hour show that highlights the fast classes, if they want to come in early to watch Stock, SS, .90 they will come but, people these days are looking for the best bang for their buck, they don't want to be priced gouged, kids have the attention span of about 3 hours before they are bored....I saw this on a page today about Pomona:

"Im really perturbed in Pomona raceway I dont care what association it partakes in but if its $15 for a hot dog or $23 for a sandwich it better be at least descent it amazes me the cost of everything and get sub-par absolute junk . I understand inflation but these venues are failing if you disagree you are the problem . No common family can come out here and afford for a good time"

[Pistol Pete]

You are Spot On Rob, on saying the car show at MG was lowered Honda’s n such.
Most young kids today if their parents weren’t into class cars or .90 classes they sure
as hell are not building or buying one to race.
They love racing their Honda’s or whatever else that makes a lot of noise.

But yet, the Pan American race that Atco had as their last race, Wasn’t it Packed With
Spectators ?? Go figure…..

[DG]

I don't know if trying to get average fans to come out to a divisional race is going to work. I think focusing on making the event more attractive to the racers families and friends would be more effective. They are the low hanging fruit. We all have family and friends that want to support us, but don't come out very often because they spend a lot on money for a ticket/pass watch us go down the track for a 10 seconds a couple of times and then sit around bored for hours on end. If the track is a few hours drive away, hotel and other costs come into play. Heck, I kind of discourage people from coming out because I know they will just get bored and never come back. People want affordable and enjoyable experiences that they will look forward to coming back to the following year. Some ways to attract these people are:

>people like camping, provide space for them to bring their RV on site for a nominal fee, this will allow a group of buddies or a family an affordable option to stay over night, eat and drink
>allow friends and family to come and go all weekend so they can enjoy other nearby activities in the area like golfing, gambling, amusement parks etc in the hours between us going down the track. Let the event become a race-vacation.
>Include a free event tee shirt for the kids under 12 to show all their friends back at school
>kids under 18 get in free, heck they might bring their friends along
>host a racer BBQ with local cover band Saturday evening for us to all gather at
> provide a bounce house for kids which allows young moms a little break
>provide a shade/tent area to get out of the elements, just like NHRA provides for its VIP's at National events
< host a local car show

[B Parker]

I hate to say it this way but unless you're racing a class or have friends that are doing it in another class. Watching most of our sportsman racing is like watching paint dry. How many of you are in the bleachers after you make a pass watching other classes? Not me unless I have someone that I want to check out how they have done. For me personally I have seen enough pro runs to last me a lifetime. I still may go up to watch a round of Pro Stock.

What we do have is the greatest traveling car show on the planet. It would be great if tracks could capitalize on that.

Everyone will say I'm nut's no way to do it. I said that about being able to go to the corner store and buy some Pot. No way that would ever happen.

You can now bet on about everything under the sun.
You want to watch the stands fill fast get gambling involved. I don't think it would be that tough for the Pros that do it for a living to set it up.

Please all you old people don't think they need to put betting booths at every track. I can place a bet in less than a minute on my phone on about every game. I don't understand why it has taken so long. BP

[Ed Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

How do we do it? Why don't tracks want them? Why is there little to no crowd at 90% of them? I would like to have a few track owners/managers on my Tuesday show to educate us. Maybe someone from NHRA could do the same. There are many questions.

Talk to the people at No Problem as there is always a crowd all 3 days at our D4 divisional every year.

[CMcAllister]

These days, the buzz is all about No Prep, No Time, Drag Radial, Cash Days, Street Outlaws, boosted and sprayed, grudge, etc. If it helps tracks make money and stay open, good for them.

National events are fuel cars and everybody else for filler

Local tracks don't typically get spectators for bracket shows and rely on specialty events to get people in the gate.

Not sure how much more can be packed into a 3 day Divisional, or a race like the Dutch, when it seems like they have trouble getting it all done if there are any weather or on track incident delays now.

Not sure how you can attract people who don't understand, or appreciate, class or .90 racing without dumbing it down or fundamentally changing it. They might show up once, but if it's not their cup o tea, they probably won't keep coming back.

Different audiences. Not a lot of Jamey Johnson fans showing up at a Limp Bizkit show. Not even if it were free.

[JeremyDuncan]

As a non retired working racer the Economics of of Division race are way out of wack. Too much time from work for way too little potential to win $$$. Add in the ridiculous long delay in receiving contingency money when you do Win and Runner up, only makes it worse!

Once upon a time Top Fuel, Funny Car, & Pro Stock were contested at Division races. That went away when not enough people were showing up to justify the teams and tracks costs. Now Non Alcohol categories subsidies the Alcohol categories with the high entry fees to payouts Time is now to move TAFC and TAD out of Divisional races and raise the payouts for the Sportsman classes.

[rboyle]

Some realistic low cost options I think could help
Incorporate car shows also where space allows. Most of my local cruise nights get a bigger crowd than a divisional
Track promoters can do their own podcasts especially to cover last races results and next races scheduled events
Local band night is a-good idea or DJ
Food trucks are usually better than concession stands
Gambling used to take place in the Raceway Park grandstands unofficially but if the announcer says just “who ya got in this race the Mopar or Chevy?” It drums up the people a little.

[1legjerry]

I'm a big drag race fan, but I will not watch throttle stop racing ever. even if my best friend is in the final. Get back to index and heads up racing.