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

We hear all the time about how much more competition there is today for the entertainment dollar than in years gone by.

In an attempt to break the winter boredom that has already set in, I have been re-reading my collection of IMCA Yearbooks.

Now I don't know what the old IMCA's reputation was as to the accuracy of their attendance records, but all these figures come directly from their Yearbooks.

I just thought some of you might find these figures interesting. I personally was astounded by them.

Feb. 7, 1957 – Pete Folse made it two straight at Tampa guiding the #2 Bardahl Special to the checker before 9,500.

June 9, 1957 – Bobby Grim notched another outstanding victory when he won the Hawkeye Futurity at Des Moines, Iowa. 48 cars and 10,300 persons made it the most successful futurity in its short history.

September 1, 1957 – Jerry Kemp broke into the feature win column by taking the 50-lap championship at St. Paul. The crowd was 29,000.

Aug. 23, 1958 – 15,000 fans watched Bobby Grim set a new world's record on the mile oval of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. Grim's time for 10-miles of 6:36.65 better the former standard of 6:39.03. He also took better than a minute off the existing mark for 50-miles! (Underlining and exclamation point added by me.)

Aug. 29, 1959 – Jim Hurtibise thrilled 11,500 at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul with a 20 lap victory averaging 74.79 mph for the distance. Little Pete Folse made a shambles of the IMCA record book, shattering four standards on the mile dirt of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia before 15,000 fans.

Aug 30, 1959 – Jack Rounds beat Jim Hurtibise to the checker in a 25 lap Championship event at St. Paul before 15, 300. Back at Des Moines, it was "Offy Killer" Harold Leep bagging a 20-lapper before 14,000.

Sept. 26, 1959 – Again it was A.J. Shepherd at Nashville. A.J. set a world's record for 25 laps of 9:09.65 in the feature as 12,000 fans cheered him on.

Feb. 11, 1961 – An all-time record, turn-away crowd of 10,000 fans packed Tampa's Plant Field for the 1961 IMCA Sprint Car inaugural under the management of Al Sweeney's National Speedways, Inc.

Feb. 19, 1961 – Another packed house at Tampa (8,500, bringing the four day total at the Florida State Fair to 30,000) was on hand as Pete Folse triumphed in a 30-lap finale.

Feb. 1962 – One of the more memorable meets of the season was the Florida State Fair in February where Herschel Wagner set a new 25-lap record before 10,640 for a new attendance record at Tampa.

Aug. 1962 – Colby Scroggins, the Pacific Coast dirt track champion, threw another block in champion Folse's way by winning the initial sprint car go at Des Moines before 13,640 grandstand patrons, which was to stand as the record crowd for auto races in Iowa. A survey by the Des Moines Register proved that 29 Iowa tracks attracted 735,000 fans in 1962.

I think that's enough examples, but interestingly enough, the quoted figures for a lot of IMCA's Stock Car races were even higher, with a lot of them in the 20 to 25,000 range!

And there were two or three TV networks to watch(if you had a TV), no cable TV. very little in the way of other entertainment options available to people...

That's not to say that these attendance figures are bogus, but they represent a different time - and place. Lots of things for folks to do these days........

Chuck.....

The problem is our children. They have so many options today.

The IMCA, Derr, Stott, Hutcherson,etc. My youth spent waiting for that one weekend a year when the big HP stock cars would show up at the state fair. Man, they'd pack em in. What a thrill.

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

I loved the Nebraska State Fair races every year, and miss those days terribly. But, as has been said, between SOO many options and today's youth's penchant for instant gratification, racing doesn't stand much of a chance.

500 channels on TV, Wii, XBox, etc. young people have too many options and don't want to go sit where they might get dirty when they can play video games in their underwear while eating Cheetos that mom and dad bought for them.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

Sorry; I forgot internet poker players eat Cheetos.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

Member of this message board since 1997

Yeah Chuck, that was the point I was trying to make. I'm not saying it was better or worse in the past. I just found it interesting how big a following sprint car racing had in those days compared to the population base. Did sprint car racing actually take a bigger percentage of the entertainment dollars spent then versus now? I don't know. I was just kind of surprised by the numbers and thought others might find them interesting in some manner or another as well.

Just from my experience around here, when the State Fair rolled around EVERYBODY went; and most attended the racing while there.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

They don't have a lot of options today WE GIVE them a lot.

They would still play with a stick and a mud hole if we would let them

Different world. I haul my 76 year old dad to races and we have a blast. It kills me my 19 year old tells me he's too busy for races, while texting someone about something in facebook. Broke my heart when they dozed in State Fair Speedway in OKC. Different world

Those St. Paul crowds were at the Minnesota State Fair grandstand. I'm not sure what the capacity was but if memory serves me it was around 30,000. They tore the track up, put a permanent stage up and are still using it for concerts during the Fair. They're booking big national acts so I'm sure that the place still holds a lot of people. I grew up three blocks from there the final few years of the dirt track.

The afternoon races drew curious Fairgoers that weren't necessarily racing fans but they'd attend a race once a year when they went to the Fair. We don't see that kind of walk up crowd of casual fans who check out the races out of curiosity anymore. The huge crowds in the Fairgrounds and the track right in the middle of the grounds made that unique situation possible. Today's racing fans are a smaller crowd but they take their racing much more seriously and aren't walk ins like we used to see back then.

Stan Meissner

Budman88

Amen ..... brother ....amen.

R.A.

S.H.S.

Thanks Blundy Fan: What a rush of memories came to me as I read your post. The numbers in the yearbooks are correct, as IMCA required racetracks to certified the number as they got a percentage of the gate. My parents worked for IMCA during those "barnstorming" days. I sold programs in grandstands that were so packed, that it wasn't unusual for me to stand in the stairs and have fans pass programs and yearbooks down the row and send the money back to me. There was no way I could get to anyone sitting in the middle. Imagine this 10-12 yr old kid covering the entire Iowa State Fair grandstand alone. I worked my butt off for 5 cents a program and 25 cent a yearbook. When sales would slow I would go down to track get Larry Shipley's attention, who would then yell at my Dad, who was the announcer and then my Dad would give me a plug and away I would go again, yelling at the top of voice "Programs". I saved almost all my money and that is how I paid for my college degree. Think about Eldon, Iowa at the Wapello County Fair, Sunday afternoon sprint car show in August, packed grandstand and hotter then HELL...oh YEA. Then crawl into a Ford Station Wagon with no air conditioning and either head home for a few days or on to the next fair. And people say the Outlaws have a tough schedule.

Blundy Forever you have motivated me to go to my storage unit, gather up my old programs and yearbooks and sit in front of my fireplace and re-live my youth.

Thanks for the memories

Rusty [email protected]

Great!

Than this post was a success.

Bill Hitz was the Secretary of the IMCA for a while and his father, Ralph, owned the house I grew up in.

Do you remember the old Chariton, IA race track by any chance?

They used to pack them in there as well.

My uncle Pete talked about the 'old' circuit of Chariton on Friday night, Knoxville on Saturday night and Newton on Sunday nights in the 50's and early 60's maybe.

Yeah ....... he said they had to send the overflow spectator cars to a park across from the Newton track (weekly show, not any kind of special) as its lot was full.

Many of the same drivers (not necessarily the same cars) running 3 nights a week in a 30 mile radius or so of Knoxville.

Those days are gone (and unfortunately aren't ever coming back) ..... much like camping in a tent with air mattresses using a scrub wood fire to cook, with your entire family with you....not in a motorhome or camper.

Getting the 'board' from your principal or teacher and being MORE worried about getting it harder and more from your dad that night if the word got back to your folks.

sigh .............

R.A.

S.H.S.

Thanks for the interesting insight, Stan.

I never would have thought about the "casual fan" factor.

I wonder how many photographers have been told (now a days) by promotors not to take crowd shots when the stands are 1/3 full ?

Or told to cut the stands out of shots (in photoshop) during racing action when there just about empty ?

Brian 

"TURN AROUND; MATE !"

because Tulsa had cars that had identities like the drivers. Fans kept up with the movements of the cars just like they did the drivers. Worked for the NCRA all over the corridor.

Wanna know where else this idea worked? The PBR! The bulls had a following too.