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

Member of this message board since 1997

I went to Knoxville from Indiana and that Masters Classic is a joke. That and 2 b mains and a feature that half the drivers were not really trying for $30-35 is rediculous. Food prices are high also. Saldana even admitted after that they were just experimenting and hot lapping.

I just paid $28 dollars to watch a Williams Grove Outlaw race a few weeks ago. That's about what it cost 7-8 years ago. I just paid a $1.60 for a 20oz soda, that cost me $1.00 in college 7-8 years ago. Nobody realizes $.60, but the price just increased 60%. If the same thing would have happened for an outlaw show, the price would be $45(vs 28) dollars now. Same deal for the purses, local PA tracks have been paying $2.5-$3K to win for 7-8 years, yet a good motor costs $15K more now, alone. I've been fortunate enough to see the Indy 500, nascar at Daytona, the Brickyard, Formula 1 several times, 20 straight cup races at Watkins Glen, Trans Am, Grand Am, SCCA, etc....no form of motorsports is more entertaining for your dollar then Sprint Cars. I have no other reason to say that, I am actually an SCCA member and licensed competitor. I love road racing, but when it comes to excitment, it pales in comparison; $14 dollars on a Saturday night in the Pigeon Hills buys me a show that can't be matched(not including other sprint car tracks). That doesn't even take into account that our local dirt tracks are some of the few places left that are b.y.o.b (vs $7 beer), and you can even bring food in most times. Bang for the buck can't be touched.

I defend Knoxville and the powers to be......that run it 99% of the time. (see my other posts in other threads over the years.)

That said .... I didn't make either the Thursday night or Friday night shows last week.

I was there Saturday night and during the delay mingled and chatted with some folks that were ......... and at work we got a little 'koffee klatch' of racers too.

To a PERSON those that were there Friday night are not HAPPY (nor Sneezy, Droopy or Dopey.)

The Masters Classic from what I have seen (in person) over the years and now heard should be given a decent burial and replaced.

It has always been kind of a lame idea and now it sounds like it is becoming an embarrassment.

The NSCHoF is full of non wing drivers and maybe a great idea would be 2 nights of sanctioned or non-sanctioned non wing cars doubled up with the WoO and x-nay the reverse finish deal ..... just 2 solid night of the best of both worlds.

I would guess it might require higher ticket prices but hells ...bells it was 30 bucks Friday night according to the posters here.

If you double the crowd you could argue for the price to be the same as for the MC admission last Friday night and you might just see a bunch of happy campers at the end of those 2 proposed nights.

R.A.

S.H.S.

Exactly!

To amend my previous post instead of letting all kids in free make it that purchasing an adult ticket gets a kid under 16 (or whatever age you want at least including 12) in for FREE.

Empty seats generate $0, a seat being filled by a free kid will at least get a couple $ at the concession stand and if the track is lucky the kid wants to go again and brings the paying adult back again and again.

Speaking for myself if I go to the races by myself (which I often do) I will buy one adult ticket and spend nothing at the concession stand. If my 2 kids got in for free my wife would also go along so now they sold 2 adult tickets and there is no way my wife and kids will let me get out of there without spending at least $10 at the concession stand.

Of course this is a wasted effort if the track wastes time all night long and all of the people with kids get sick of going to races that don't get done until 11pm ever week. There are very few instances that races should still be going after 10 pm. Start ON TIME at 7 pm keep the show moving and be done at 10 pm. I realize that tracks are at the mercy of the weather but if you want people to come back don't jack around keeping them there till 10 pm watching push trucks run around the track.

The only race that I find it at all acceptable to be racing past 12 am is at the Nationals.

Comparing sprint car racing to movies, college football and big name concerts is not legit. None of those has the attendance problem that sprint car racing does.

I don't know what movies cost everywhere else but here $7-$8 will get you into any movie at any theater within a 200 miles of here. I would bet that on any weekend at any hour of the night most multiplexes have more buts in the seats than any given weekly show at the local racetrack.

The last few concerts I've been to (Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride) have all been sold out months beforehand and KC was the only one of those that cost more than a WoO ticket at any of the 3 tracks within 100 miles of here that have them.

Big time college football doesn't have any problem at all selling tickets at whatever price they ask for them. I don't follow PSU so I can't say for them but The University of Iowa has only had about 4 games over the last 8 yrs that haven't sold out Kinnick Stadium (70,000 seats) and they usually are sold out well in advance often without any tickets ever being made available to the general public. Face value of Hawkeye football tickets is somewhere around $70 I believe.

Again if the stands are full then by all means charge whatever the market will bear but look around the stands at the races sometime, I usually see more empty seats than full ones.

If the stands are only 30-40% full on a perfect night (clear skies 75* at race time with a overnight low of 65*) maybe the track needs to try something different than the status quo of continually raising ticket prices.

As for the WoO being a premium product, whew that's a good one. The WoO sells names only, weekly shows are almost always better racing.

Last WoO race I went to I had a free ticket, it was worth my cost but not anywhere near the $40 that it cost others to purchase a ticket.

Hawker, I agree with a lot that you say...I can't speak for other tracks but kville has been doing some discounted/almost free ticket deals for the last several years...But, one of the problems is you want to figure out a way that your regular customers are not getting there hands on the free tickets, which happens, when the purpose is to get newbies involved....then you don't want to alienate your paying customers by giving away 2 to 3 thousand freebies every week...eventually they regulars aren't gonna like it...I know a lot of tracks are having fan appreciation nights and the night is free admission and I think this is a great idea for Kville to do sometime, if they could get a sponsor for it.....A few weeks back kville had Pella Corp Night and did the discount/free ticket deal and had about 8000 fans in the stands. And from what I heard, they basically about broke even for the night...while this is better than losing 10,000 to 15,000 bucks for a weekly show, it's not good enough, tracks are in this deal to make a profit. Hopefully you are gonna make a few hundred new fans from deals like this but it won't show on your bottom line for a few years...

I don't think many people would argue that the biggest problem in sprint car racing, and especially 410 racing is the cost to run these cars...which forces tracks to increase purses and increase ticket prices, which ultimately has hurt attendance,(plus economy,and follow the leader racing until the A)...The WoO is the only group that could save 410 racing in this country, but they won't and why should they...I've heard so many people comment about if 410 weekly racing ends, the WoO will be in trouble...I think they are crazy...if weekly 410 racing continues there slow demise, the WoO will only prosper...If your the only game in town, people are gonna flock to their races on the one or two times they appear at your track...used to not be a big fan of Ted Johnson but I'm starting to rethink that now...