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

The efficiently run program part is something that needs to become a focus of all the tracks around here. You could fill a lot of the empty seats at NFL games with all the fans who walked away from our sport over the years due to bullshit like we saw at Williams Grove on Friday. Us diehards don't care as much but the casual fans who have families certainly do. Too many classes, too much time wasted on pill draws, not starting on time and just overall unnecessary downtime are things that we see way too much of at a lot of these tracks. 

How right you are. I sickens me when I see a family of three or four with a child or two walk away from the race track before the best race of the night is to be run. Usually because as you say, too much bullshit getting in the way of the racing. Chances of those folks coming back is pretty slim. Dad by himself or with some friends maybe, but hard to get the wife and kids back I would bet. It's time I think for the track promoters to understand that the hook to keeping people coming back is to guarantee the top billed class of cars gets their A Main in every night before the late hours arrive. If that means it's the first Featured event, so be it. It's either that, or again as you state, cut the number of support classes. I'm not sure what you are referring to that took place at WG, but I can guess. Another thing to consider is to have some sort of entertainment specifically for the kids during the down time. Another thing I would recomend the tracks do is have an exit survey at the gate for those folks leaving early. That would open some eyes! Ask people flat out why they are leaving before the event is complete. The answer is obvious, but hearing it first hand might make a difference.

I know it not ok to disagree  with  the  usual experts on here but  really if you actually go to the races you would know that wg,pr,lincoln is always done b4 midnight name a race you went to that wasn't?And you would realize it all depends on amount of wrecks, severity of wrecks and other factors and do you really want to pay more money for less races?Let me get this right you wanna pay 30 bucks to drive an hour to be home in two hours ? If you have to be home by 10 whats the point of going.And if you actually went to races and you didnt notice selinsgrove runnin 2 heats for 9 street stocks or whatever they called them was among the stupidest thing i have ever seen but you didnt bitch about that.  It is on the weekend kids can stay up past 9 maybe you cant but most kids can. I dont blame wg for friday because it was litterally the only spot it rained in the whole state.Live a little bit try staying up past 9 on the weekend.And get off of the computer and go to the races and enjoy or just stay home and shutup .The races were to long,the track wasnt right,the cars were goin too fast , there was people having fun near me,waaawaawaa stfu go to races and enjoy what you get!

^^^^^^^^^ This dude nailed it.

I live plenty thank you very much. Rarely a dull moment in my world. Sorry I skipped out on Selinsgrove Saturday but I had something way better to do and I took the opportunity to do it. There's way more to life than racing. That said, I live on 4 hrs of sleep a day so it doesn't personally bother me and I don't know which part of your ass you pulled the part about being home by 10 out of but I never said that. All I'm saying is, every track should do their best to get everyone out the gates no later than 11. Of course shit happens that can cause things to run late such as accidents but I constantly see tracks shooting themselves in the foot by dragging the program out unnecessarily. I think a lot of times they do it for concession sales but that's just conjecture on my part. The fact is, we are diehards. We're the ones who drive to the track when there's a 70% chance of rain knowing full well what might happen and we're the ones who fill Lincoln up at the end of February when it's 41 degrees outside but the fact is, the sport can't survive on us alone and these tracks around here often times operate as if everyone is a diehard and that simply isn't the case. Casual fans are the difference between a mediocre crowd and a packed house. It has always been that way and it always will be. We need to keep those people coming back and we want them bringing their families and hopefully they'll become diehards like us one day. It's nice when the racing is done early enough for people to take their kids to the pits to see the cars up close and to meet the drivers. I think having that personal connection is crucial in making new fans. The problem is, thanks to inefficient programs and/or 16 support classes, that doesn't happen very often. A lot of times, by the time the support classes are done, its damn near midnight and a lot of the teams have long since left and the kids are falling asleep. I see it all the time. 

I literally couldn’t agree more.

+2

First hand accounts have fuel consumption as high as 1 gallon per lap for many teams!!!!!!!  Also, IMHO 35 laps would not have improved an already great race.   It seemed Freddie "used" the tires up right around lap 28.

At the speeds they are racing I believe the All Stars need to reconsider their tire rule.  It is asking a lot of a rightrear to fire/cycle for a third time after blistering speeds in Time Trails and heat races...On 90% of the tracks the ASCoC race it is a 100% great rule - on some tracks i believe it is at least questionable.  I've always applied to the thought 1 size doesn't fit all.

One of the best nights for Selinsgrove just shows the guys that dont go there the only way you can go fast there is with track time Freddie has gotten better every time he goes there,Lucas has definitely figured it out and Ryan Smith has run good there before.

Anyone know what happened that the Coldren car wasnt there ran two cars Friday in New York?

And whats going on with the Starks car seems like mechanical failure every night to bad its alot of time in the air not to get to race.

Good that Trent Shaffer made the show one of his rare trips.

correction: "the fastest track in Central Pennsylvania". PPMS (Pittburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway) is the fastest dirt in Pennsylvania ...

dttfowtm ...  
Proud Member of Sprntlover's Babysitting Service
Pa Posse Says Race or Shut Your Pie Hole!
Work hard & become a leader. Be lazy & end up a slave.
I Challenge anyone to give an example of a program that
the government has managed efficiently and/or cheaper
than the private sector. Please no enactments, laws or
statutes.

Done  by midnight, You make that sound early, Add over an hr drive than, not a good night for small kids or old men like me. YOUR TIME WILL COME, I been going since 1968, when younger didn't care when they got over, I agree about the 2 heat races for the pro stocks witrh 9 cars, STUPID!!

Seriously??? You think people get upset if they are at the races past 9? Or folks with an hour drive expect to be home by 10? If you choose to disagree with other peoples opinions, at least disagree with some friggin common sense! You're being ridiculous and coming accross like an idiot.

honestly in speaking with drivers of both late models and sprint cars Selinsgrove according to them is faster thanPPMS.

Selinsgrove is .537 8 feet off the inside rail.....they were half way up the track and in the upper 15's and lower 16's long into the night.  for Comparison Williamsgrove is .519 and Port is .507.

what is tough on drivers and equipment is the corner speed - to a driver they will all tell you there is no faster track in the corners anywhere!

A top clocked speed yes i agree there will be faster radar reads than selinsgrove heck at the end of the back straights at Williamsgrove and Port are probably consistently higher.

PPMS track records: SS @ 14.784, SLM @ 16.919 ... now measure the track 3/4 up & tell me I'm wrong?

dttfowtm ...  
Proud Member of Sprntlover's Babysitting Service
Pa Posse Says Race or Shut Your Pie Hole!
Work hard & become a leader. Be lazy & end up a slave.
I Challenge anyone to give an example of a program that
the government has managed efficiently and/or cheaper
than the private sector. Please no enactments, laws or
statutes.

Ok i'm the idiot ,we will go with your idea less divisions=less racing ,less time for teams to prepare, less time to get anything to eat ,consessions,ect, we will work around your schedule you have it all figured out.i am sorry that the 3 races you went to this year were to late for you. i sure hope everyone understands how your plan has it all figured out and they listen to your brillant deductions.My opinion has about 50 times more common sense then your stupid post you cant comprehend anyones point but your own. you still think your ideas are good .damn man just stay at the home and enjoy bingo and jello night .

harddrive not trying to be difficult i went here; https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pittsburgh's+Pa+Motor+Speedway+(PPMS)/@40.4217,-80.260463,716m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xa8bd753de701552d!8m2!3d40.4214431!4d-80.2598943?hl=en-US 

i use to have link to an official listing.

at this link went to both tracks and measured around the inside gaurd rail selinsgrove was 2,758 feet PPMS 2,639 feet....now granted a circle may have been placed a little inaccurate but Selinsgrove is definately bigger.

I put gears in a sprint car and Selinsgrove demands the most.

With age comes wisdom. I didn't give a shit about it until my friend brought his 4 year old son to his first race at Port Royal. The kid was having a great time. He got to meet Ryan Smith and sit in his car, got an autograph and he was having a ball. Problem was, he was falling asleep as they were pushing the feature out at 10:30. The little guy was fighting it as best he could but he lost the battle and never saw the feature because he fell asleep. My outlook on this subject changed due to that experience and so did my friends as he hasn't been back since. On that particular night, they started a half hour late for no reason which is still a common occurrence, they ran time trials for both sprint cars and late models which took a long time and the econo late drivers were apparently told that each heat race paid 50 grand to win because they couldn't seem to go more than 2 laps without gooning each other and spinning out. Not to mention, the program itself was just not ran efficiently at all. Those wasted minutes here and there add up. I get it. You're a young diehard who is full of piss and vinegar. But for the majority of people attending the races including some diehards, their life doesn't revolve around it. I've never heard anyone complain about races not being over by 9:00. That's just ridiculous and no one even insinuated that much less said it. Those casual fans are crucial to the success of a race track and without them, we are shit out of luck and whether you like it or not, most of them enjoy the races but have zero desire to be there for 4 hours. 

MAYBE???????? The numbers that are put into the computer to figuire out lap times is always controversial. Every track wants to be the fastest.  Tracks are all unique in their own way and plenty fast. 

I don't care if I don't get home until 1:00 or 2:00 AM, and it's just a 45 min drive, so there you go assuming things again. My solution wasn't about reducing the classes as much as it was maybe looking at the way the classes are arranged. The top billed class doesn't always have to be held last. Or offering some sort of participation event for the kids during down time. I'm guessing pounding down a few more beers and back slapping your buddies is enough for you. It's pretty evident you don't care about anybody elses night at the races but your own. Your opinion seemed to be telling people to stay home. Some opinion!!

The wreck idea is complete BS and people tend not to say anything when there is legitimate reasons for running long. It’s when you’re getting out past 10 for a single/double class show with a reasonable amount of cars and nothing has been on the track for 15+ minutes. See the earlier AsCoC earlier in the year at WG. The other big one is dicking around when there is impending wearher. Not callling WG for Friday but nights like when Lincoln had the FireFighter race. Those are things that drive fans up the wall and rightfully so.

No shit people didn’t saying anything about Selinsgrove because they ran the overall show efficiently and the “wasting of time” was cars on track. 

Probably at 4 years old he also didn't know the differnece between the heats and the feature. All he will remember is that he enjoyed it. I took my kids when they were young too , never had a problem with them sleeping or being bored. Yes , on the hour plus ride home they slept, oh well , they had fun. I just don't understand when somebody goes out for an evening of any kind of fun , why they need to be back home at a certain hour or it ruins their evening. Go to a movie then , they basically are on a set time frame.