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

Remember when.

WoO drivers and team owners are saying enough is enough. 100 races a year is to much, away from home base for to long.

USA sprint car series. Come one, come all. We have Steve Kinser in the house. The 11 team wanted more money in there pockets because they felt they were the show. Ted Johnson waved bye. 

ASCOC,  owned by Tony Stewart,  runs basically ohio, pa, indiana, with a few races in bordering states. The have a niche in that locals feel they have a better chance of winning. Home more than a WoO team, and cost are less. A WoO team could put a few extra dollars in there pocket. 

Winner, NOBODY

Loser,  the guys on the road that run under the banner of being an outlaw. There are NO true outlaws anymore. 

Greg Hodnett was quoted as saying once, when you run a true Outlaw schedule, you really have to win alot to make money, which Marks and Macri have done. But with the Outlaws, you can make money even if you don't win alot. Case in point, Gio Scelzi. 

According the great Bill V, GIo has raced 69 times and won $168k. He's got no tow/bonus or point fund money coming. He's had an okay year, won 5 times and ran alot of WoO races, but he'll be well behind many similar WoO teams in total winnings. 

Another example James McFadden, ran 61 times, and won $184k. No wins, but at 7th in points is scheduled to get $60k in point money. Spencer Bayston, another example, 61 races, won $162k. 2 wins but has struggled the 2nd half. Still on track to win $57,500 in points. Not to mention the bonus money they get for each race. 

It is said that part of being on the platinum deal gets teams 1500 a race. To old to remember but Shark racing usually did not travel to the west coast. I'm sure somebody can verify that, but once drydene came on board and woo up'd the dollars for being a full time member they've made the trip over the Rockies since then. 3 yrs now ? 

I watch the slm guys that run woo and Lucas and it's common place for a lot of those guys to pick and choose. They go were the dollars are. 

The one thing that might keep people away is that it is on a school and work night.

The second thing is I see tickets are Grandstands $40 adults. Kids 6 to 12 $20 and kids under 6 Free. That will discourage some from coming if you have kids in that range. 

I love when kids are free for 12 and under,  not a fan of paying for that age range. Cause then that money will be spent at concession cause kids love to do that. Adults never seem to mind paying higher prices for themselves if their kids get in free.

Bingo. Easily the most concerning thing out of all of it. Fans, drivers, and owners always complain about needing higher purses which to some extent is fine. It's when it becomes unreasonable to go to the races due to costs that it goes off the rails for me. Family  of five makes it hard to justify 200 bucks to see a race once you add up all the other things associated with a short day trip without a hotel stay. 

Everything is expensive, racing, movies, sporting events etc when you bring 5 people. I highly doubt a family of 5 is all going to special shows unless they have a relative racing in it. This might be hard to hear, but they aren't setting ticket prices for a family of 5 when it comes to big races

LOL, minding P's and Q's.  I don't miss the phone calls and e-mails and trying to calm down irate drivers, owners, promoters and sponsors.  It might have looked cool to have a site but trust me, it wasn't worth the headaches looking back at it.

I think what Sprint fans who don't watch Late Models are missing abou this is that it isn't an attempt to go head to head with the WoO, it's the Sprint version of Flo's Race Night in America.  Basically another racing option during the week to catch some eyeballs on an otherwise dead night.  Late Models easily out number Sprint 2-1 and have more that one traveling series.  

We remember the two attempts to break away from the WoO in '89 and 2007.  That was head to head with the biggest names hailing from the WoO tour.  At the end of the day the thing that made the difference was the WoO brand name was to Sprint Cars what the name Klenex was to tissue paper.  For every fan sitting on groups like this agonizing about the possibilities there are ten others who don't pay any attention to these forums.  Certain ones that call themselves racing media, like a certain crooked mouth shit stirrer that has shown up on YouTube, are trying to create controversy over another nothing burger.

I watched one High Limit race so far, good week day show with a car count in the thirties.  My only involvement is to decide whether to watch the 9/27 race or catch up on one of the streaming series.  I already spend too much time watching races on the weekends so I sometimes skip a few so I can tend to other aspects of life.  Streaming keeps me connected to racing in my 70's after chasing is for years.  It gives me ideas for road trips and something to sneak a peek at on my phone when out and about.  It's unlikely there will ever be one of these mid week races anywhere near me as there aren't enough 410's to fill the field.  The deal in this post is that people are agonizing over what amounts to a Tuesday night TV option for all but a few close enough to squeeze in a live race on a work night.

As of 9/19/22, according to Sprint Car Rating (.com) Brent Marks has won $592,321 this season.  He is the highest money maker over Donny Shatz at $383,965, David Gravel $337,565, and Sheldon H $336,325.

That's a lot of money, but considering an engine goes for around $60,000 (and you need a few of them over the course of a year) I'm guessing (not a big guess either) nobody is making any money.  Every little bit helps no doubt, but this sport is very very expensive (crashes aren't cheap either).  Given the current environment of inflationary pressures on our day to day lives I wonder how long the sport can keep up as we know it, given the rising costs to the teams and fans.

I can just hear one of the owners "We won $400 grand this year but spent $800 grand doing it."

As of 9/19/22, according to Sprint Car Rating (.com) Brent Marks has won $592,321 this season.  He is the highest money maker over Donny Shatz at $383,965, David Gravel $337,565, and Sheldon H $336,325.

That's a lot of money, but considering an engine goes for around $60,000 (and you need a few of them over the course of a year) I'm guessing (not a big guess either) nobody is making any money.  Every little bit helps no doubt, but this sport is very very expensive (crashes aren't cheap either).  Given the current environment of inflationary pressures on our day to day lives I wonder how long the sport can keep up as we know it, given the rising costs to the teams and fans.

I can just hear one of the owners "We won $400 grand this year but spent $800 grand doing it."

Are these numbers after the owner takes their cut of the purse?  If that is the case drivers not near the top of the heap aren't netting much more than a regular working man's salary.  They get a cut from the owner, file their own taxes and likely send the IRS quarterly estimates.  I'm not sure if the WoO or any of the others offer any kind of group health but they're likely paying for a private policy.  

No retirement, no 401k, no guarantees that they're going to keep the ride.  Merch helps but it doesnt look like the most secure way to make a living.  It's not as glamorous as it looks like from the stands on Saturday night.  It's not unusual to see a guy on the podium on Saturday and run into them in work mode during the week.