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

I think it's time for Knoxville to extend the season by 2 or 3 weeks into September. The season is really short, and this would allow for them to end the season on a high with the WoO when they swing back this way for the final time. Rather than ending on a hangover/let down after the nationals.

I'd be all for that! Sadly the crowds would probably suffer with kids back in school and college football games. Its hard for people to attend both a football game and a race in a day. I'm a big football fan but Sprintcar racing is better than football anyday. Not everyone is like us. I do think Knoxville could race the week after the nationals and have a decent crowd. Maybe I'm wrong. Has it ever been done before? I cant remember it if it has.

I always thought it would be a good idea to do a handful (5 or so) Friday/Saturday shows. You can count on 3-5 rainouts a year and if you can schedule 2 day shows (if any track can do it, it is Knoxville).

Part of me wants them to extend the season, another is happy that they don't. 

For us locals that live in town, once school starts (if you have kids), your racing season is over (no matter if the raceway keeps going or not).  Do you go to the races or attend one of your kids' functions (football, volleyball, cheerleading, dance, scouts, etc., etc.)?  99.9% of parents are going to go with the kids's function (as are their grandparents.  From a business standpoint, if you lose 1/3 of your weekly crowd to other functions, you went from breaking even to losing $$$.  Makes no sense to lose $$$.

I remember back in the 1980's when they had a WoO show in early October.  crowds were usually decent, but the weather was always iffy (and it snowed or rained out more often than not as I recall).

As far as Fri/Sat shows go, NO ONE was showing up to the Friday night portion of 2-day Outlaw Shows before they finally scrapped them alltogether around 6-7 years ago.  If the fans will only come on Saturday Night, why would you waste the time and effort just to lose $$$?

As far as racing the week following Nationals.

I know it's happened in the past, and as I recall those were VERY SHORT on the racefan side (a lot of the local fans and race teams are "burned out" from either the racing, the volunteering to help with functions, or they are broke from the 10 days prior (or a combination of the three)). 

As a fan that attends weekly (even the crappy weather, cold, humid/hot, chance of rain) and shows that aren't sprints (Late Models, Harris Clash), I think it makes sense to take the week off and give the employees a "break" after a 2 week stint of thousands of people in town, long hours for not enough pay, and a chance to "re-charge" (and many of the local Raceteams need this break too, very few go race anywhere the week following the Nationals anywhere) the batteries and re-connect with their families after basically working and sleeping for 10 days.

If Iowa had the population base of say Illinois (12.8 million), Ohio (11.5 million), Indiana(6.5 million), PA (12.7 million), maybe it'd be different, but even the smallest of those states has 2 times the population of Iowa (3 million).  Knoxville itself is also only around 7000 people, so many of those that work at the track during the summer now have to go back to their regular jobs at the school system or local pre-schools (and a lot of the concession workers have to go back to school and will be at practices, games, etc.).

skipping the week after the nationals is dumb.   

I can relate to the two day outlaw show being a no go on Friday. Its hard to get the wife to come each week the way it is and now you tell her its on Friday too and its more to get in... I usually have to pick one of the nights and who wouldnt pick the Saturday night unless you had something going on then. They could maybe start a week earlier but crowds toward the beginning of the year suffer due to again school and cold/rainy weather. School seems to start earlier and earlier every year and Iowa's High School FB season starts a week sooner now too. Whats gonna happen when we get to year round school. Darn kids shortening my sprintcar season

I seem to remember the some of the two-day Outlaw shows having better crowds on Friday because they ran 360s on Friday nights since Saturday night's race was broadcast on TNN and was usually a very quick program. 

I never remember the Friday show having better crowds than Saturday (and I've been attending for 30+ years).

Once football starts, crowds really suck. Very few tracks are now running into Sep except on the east coast. 

I would have went to a 2 day knoxville race this year just for a weekly show. Its a 700 mile round trip for me so it has to be a couple of nights of racing for me to mess with it.

Burlington, Iowa races till end of September with a Sprint Invader show and there will be some Knoxville drivers there.

Being from an area that races from March to November, I've never understood why the most popular sprint track in all the land runs such a short schedule. We have HS sports here too, big time, but the tracks are still fighting for open dates until the snow flies. Knoxville doesn't even have much local competition. I guess it boils down to economics. If the fans support it, they would race. Have they ever tried to extend the season?

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