Reply to:
I think you make some valid points, however I'll make the following counter points.
Are you willing to pay $20 in General Admission weekly @ Knoxville if they raised the purse as you are suggesting? If you are, what % of the fans that attend do you think will go find something else to do?
2 years ago the car count in the 410 class was very poor, if they raised the 360 payout, would the 410's have made a resurgence or would 410's be the dying class?
I know 3 years ago, they surveyed the teams in the pit area asking if they dropped the 360's, but raised the purse in the 410's to $4000 to win, $600 to start if the teams would move up or just get out of racing (majority said get out of racing is the feedback I heard).
The bottom line is that the 360's don't put enough butts in the seats to constitute raising their weekly purse (think about the 360 Nationals for a minute, until they moved the dates to be the weekend prior to the 410 Nationals, they were lucky to have 300 people in the stands on the prelim nights and the finale wasn't much more than a regular Saturday Night crowd (and they ran 410's as a support class with them back then on Saturday Night).
I am positive that there are multiple reasons why the car count is down, weather forecasts, expenses, fuel for the hauler, races closer to home, it being a HOBBY for many of the 360 competitors is another one that comes to my mind (they do it because they want to, not because they want to become full-time racers). Just like anything, I'm sure it's cyclical, plus some of the guys running 305's have moved on straght to 410's and skipped 360 racing alltogether (if you're starting from scratch, it's probably about the same amount of $$ to change from 305 to 360 or 305 to 410).
I think the benefits of the Hoosier Tire rule won't be seen for at least 1-2 more years (tires being cycled down to the 360 and 305 teams at lower costs than new tires).
If anyone noticed, quick time in the 360's last week was 15.520 and the quick time for the WoO was 15.018. To me, that will fix 410 car counts eventually, it won't be long before the 360's outqualify and out-race the 410 motors (don't laugh, a NASCAR Cup engine is a 360 and they are over 900hp, so the technology already exists). Maybe in 2 years we'll just get back to racing "Sprint Cars" instead of fragmenting them by having 305, 360 and 410's.
|
