Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I, like many of you have seen the highs and lows when it comes to sprint car fields over the years. I've seen area tracks get to the point that for a weekly show the car counts were so bad only two heats were run. In particular, the class that usually gets hit the hardest is the 410 class. It's still not uncommon today to see fields that can only produce three heat races. Regardless the size of the fields, there is one constant. The driver that's missing from the field is rarely the driver that consistantly runs top five or top ten. When car counts are down, so is sponsorship. I don't agree that paying more money at the top is a solution, or putting large amounts of money up as a bonus for the winner or the top two or three finishers in an A Main. I think the Kings Royal purse this year did make that clear. Tied for largest field at Eldora I believe.

What about.....structuring bonus money as an incentive that just might draw a larger field or at least offer incentives to less funded teams. This format would be set in place at the beginning of a season, and would commence during the second race of the season. There would be four ways to earn a bonus amount. The amount of money paid out would be determined. 1. $? paid out to a first time A Feature winner. 2. $? paid out to the driver that finishes highest in top five for the first time in the season. (if two are in the top five for the first time the higher finishing driver gets the bonus unless one of them wins the Feature. In that instance both bonuses are paid) 3. $? paid out to the driver that finishes highest in the top ten for the first time. 4. $? paid to the highest finishing driver making first appearance at the track. It's not a complicated structure and would not be difficult to track. A driver is no longer eligable for bonus money once the higher level is achieved. For example if a driver collects top five money he only remains eligable for first time winner. A top ten bonus winner would still be eligable for top five and Feature winner bonuses.

Here is another method: "purse within a purse" A certain amount of money is set aside and paid out in decreasing sums to the top four or five finishing drivers each week that are not in the top five in points. Example $2,800 total....payout could be $1,000., $800., $600., $400.         Thoughts or other ideas............?

Sounds like a great idea for Okoboji Motors to become more involved with Drivers not Track Owners and Series Owners!

Trash me all you like.....but at least have the courtesy to leave my work place out of your remarks. Thank you. 

Inappropriate. 

Comments like these, personally attacking posters, make this forum less fun. 

Keep It Real

Who attacked what? Grow some thicker skin if thought that was an attack, more drama on this forum than a soap opera

Technology has ruined pretty much all racing from mods up and i don't know how to unlearn  what has been learned in the last 20 years. Sprint car class classes waited too long to make cost saving rules. The first pro built 360 ascs engines cost 14k and the payout were close to current payouts. That along with most racers being willing to spend many times what they win annually makes having a good purse only delay race car owners running out of their race budgets. I think more good paying races are causing people to race more often which in turn causes them to sell out sooner. Races without a B main for drama suck.

     I see it like this.  Mr. Brennan can give away his money to anyone he wishes, any way he wishes.  It's his money, not mine.     Everybody has an opinion on how to spend other people's money.  For the most part, their opinions don't count.

     So here's my worthless opinion.  Putting big money at the top of any purse will attract the car/driver combinations most likely to be able to win that big money.  They are usually the good drivers who, because they are good drivers, have high dollar owners backing them.  That combination is why they win a lot.  Let's call them the superstars.  We know who they are.  There are national superstars and local superstars.

      The top heavy purse attracts the superstars, but probably cause the car counts to go down for those that aren't superstars.  For as long as the WoO have been around, people have complained about the local hotdogs staying home. There are a lot of talented drivers driving for low funded teams- almost like it was a hobby or something.

     Spreading any extra money out over the field a little more probably helps increase the car counts over time.  An extra $10,000 for the winner generally goes to a superstar. An extra $1,000 to each of the top 10 finishers would probably land in the hands of 5 superstars and 5 local hotdogs.  That type of thing seems like it would help improve car counts.

     Any bonus program of any kind is good.  Any bonus program that is complicated loses some of the pizzaz. The old K-I-S-S theory works best for most endeavors that involve monetary rewards as incentives.  Yeah- it would be cool to have all that extra bonus money provided by sponsoship from businesses, not from the track or sanctioning body.  But... and this here's your big but... who is going to go hustle up that sponsorship money?

This.  You know the dudes real name use that, no need to bring up his place of work.  What's next, his kids?

That Chuck is behind everything!!!!  

Next we're going to hear that Chuck was behind the JFK assassination.

How am I a Sioux Falls guy???  You sure seem to know a lot!  

Leave Troll!  Start a thread about your subjects instead of tagging onto one with a different subject.

No problem Wayne

Wow, you know everything!!   Wow you're an amazing Troll...

I have had this user name for sometime now as you can see.  

schristensen  = steve christensen

I can use my name because I don't have to hide behind the posts that I type.  Adults don't hide behind user names.

Just so you know, I am not employed by Chuck or any of his entities.

Amen! 

What the Okoboji Midpack Bonus Program doesn't sound good! 

Actually I live and work 45 miles north of Sioux Falls.  Why don't you drag your sorry ass up here and introduce yourself!

And if I were " Todd that works at cleavers deli inthe pawn shop"  where are all the people that are complaining about bringing a business into it.

At Least msweeter had the person correct.

All the trash talk aside, sounds like a good idea to me...

But then again I'm not shelling out the $$....

Back to your original post, payoffs and bonuses, I know you have said previously that 5000 to win and 700 to start is too big of a gap dollar wise from front to back. Curious if a 4000 to win 1000 to start payoff would be better, just looking for your opinion. The former payoff at Husets was 2500 to win 300 to start so it would still be a 3000 vs 2200 difference between first and last curious if that would be a problem?

As far as bonuses I will never be a fan of time trials for sprints  or anything else. I would "like to" see Badlands take their 2000 in qualifying money and put it out as hard charger bonuses 1000, 600, 400 for the 3 cars that pass the most in the feature. And yes also inverted starts using point standings. Since the track for the first time ever now has a worthwhile points fund I don't think there would be sandbagging but I could be wrong. Maybe invert the top 12 in points like Nascar dirt tracks did in the 1980s and 1990s. It would be cool to see Dobs, T Mac, Kaeding etc charge forward from the 5th and 6th rows or even further back on a weekly basis!

The worst president of my lifetime:
Ronald Reagan

Thanks for your response. As I stated, my ideas were just that....ideas. You offer very good ideas, also. I'm not a fan of time trials either...jmo. When I mentioned sometime back about the gap between the $5000. to win and the $700. to start, my opinion was two fold. First, I was pleased to see Badlands take the lead in raising the purse. That was long over due. The rest will now have to follow. Secondly, I did voice a concern in that the spread between winning and running up front and running mid pack on back had gotten wider. And we all know the same guys are going to be the ones who run up front with only a few exceptions. It will always be that way....and I have never said the front runners haven't worked hard and spent hard to get there. But even when you add the tow money that Badlands now pays, the spread from top to bottom is pretty significant. My ideas weren't about raising the start money at all, or simply just giving money to the less funded teams. My thoughts are to give the mid pack and back guys something to race each other for.....more of an incentive than a bonus. The incentive needs to be dollars because that is the neccessary evil that keeps them going. And thae can stretch a few dollars probably further than the well funded teams. 

I also like your thought of using the qualifying money elsewhere. I'm a firm believer that the high achievers that run up front are going to show up and race every chance they get. Back when fields were thin....the top dogs were still racing, it was the rest of the field that thinned out. Thinning car counts usually means thinning crowds, and sponsors pick up on that. Local racing and racing in general requires a pretty balanced business model. I don't have the answers....but I sure do have the concerns. And promoters and track owners do pick up on the fans concerns. Sometimes they just might not notice it until the crowds thin out.