Tracks cancelling are hurting themselves and their sponsors

i agree racin 90 good post by king eddy. as for as canceling races a few rainouts now would not brother me as dry as it is. have a good day stay cool, and remember take the good with the bad cause it all works out in the end.
 
ok first off i agree with tom smallwood. second, there is alot more than the heat thats keeping belleville from racing. those of you that dont know don or what he has to go through should not bash. don has done a fantastic job with the track since he took over. i will continue to support don and his decisions.

Austin "Bigdog"
 
When Belle Clair races, I will be there......They didn't race last night..bummer, Maybe next week. It's not the end of the world.
I think a lot of the complainers are actually just big fans of the place and are just looking to vent because their favorite track isn't running.
There is something about Belle-Clair..... Edge of your seat, up close and personal, you never know what's gonna happen next lap type of racetrack. It's addicting!!
 
Big Dog 71. Enlighten us to what Don has to go through. Inquiring minds want to know. I know it can't be an easy thing being a promoter of any track, but more so at Belle Clair, with the city and others to contend with, to keep this long running establishmenti (65+yrs.) in business.
 
first off, i am not here to argue. I understand the race tracks cant afford to loose money every week. However, i dont see where the local tracks are worried about the racers loosing money weekly. if a track has 100 race cars on a night, how many of those cars loose money?? Do the race tracks do anything to help with this? with my modified, if i dont get top 5 i loose money, with my sportsman it was top 3. On the nights when the race tracks have a loaded grand stands and a packed pit area do they ever INCREASE the payout afterwards? The only place i have seen or heard of that is fayette county (brownstown, IL) and royal jones race track in new mexico. My other little complaint, and this goes back to belleville before hoener was the promotor, but how many times did i drive there through rain for them to cancel once everybody got to the track and unloaded????? I just dont like a double standard. I have been saying for years these race tracks should run a few less nights, apparently during the summer, to help themselves and the racers. I hope belleville opens up again next year, but if they schedule to race every friday night in july and august i will just laugh........ Letting HUNDREDS of people make plans just to cancel them a day ahead of time isnt very nice in my opinion. I myself think it is kind of funny because I havent been planning to go there, but feel bad for my friends that have to change their plans or their gears at the last minute.
 
Jimmy Cummins said:
i dont see where the local tracks are worried about the racers loosing money weekly. if a track has 100 race cars on a night, how many of those cars loose money?? Do the race tracks do anything to help with this?
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Please feel free to tell us what the track should do for you.... also have you attended a track where you didnt miss a schedule race?
 
Jimmy Cummins said:
first off, i am not here to argue. I understand the race tracks cant afford to loose money every week. However, i dont see where the local tracks are worried about the racers loosing money weekly. if a track has 100 race cars on a night, how many of those cars loose money?? Do the race tracks do anything to help with this? with my modified, if i dont get top 5 i loose money, with my sportsman it was top 3. On the nights when the race tracks have a loaded grand stands and a packed pit area do they ever INCREASE the payout afterwards? The only place i have seen or heard of that is fayette county (brownstown, IL) and royal jones race track in new mexico. My other little complaint, and this goes back to belleville before hoener was the promotor, but how many times did i drive there through rain for them to cancel once everybody got to the track and unloaded????? I just dont like a double standard. I have been saying for years these race tracks should run a few less nights, apparently during the summer, to help themselves and the racers. I hope belleville opens up again next year, but if they schedule to race every friday night in july and august i will just laugh........ Letting HUNDREDS of people make plans just to cancel them a day ahead of time isnt very nice in my opinion. I myself think it is kind of funny because I havent been planning to go there, but feel bad for my friends that have to change their plans or their gears at the last minute.
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Yea, I'm sure you lose money most weekends as a race car driver. Especially you, heck, when was the last time you finished in the top five? And, I'm guessing driving out of your way to another track to avoid one that ran out of Kleenex for your whining azz, saves you money? I think it's sad, momma drew comes to the best track to watch races and her son races elsewhere. All becausE of a bad call here and there. I haven't been coming to this track as long as you, but since the first day I came, you have done nothing but whine. But you got better, and was putting on some good shows. I even became a fan, even though you griped very time something didn't go your way. I and several fans used to miss you, but now your like a wart on a hand. Glad it's gone and not missed. In fact, I'm sure only one person misses you and it's pretty sad you wouldn't be there for her as she did bring your whiny azz into this world. But I'm guessing the world is getting use to it, most kids have no morals for there parents anyways. And you might be laughing at Belleville, but a laugh everytime you finish tenth or worse.. So I'm guessing I get more laughs in than you do. So go right on ahead, keep spending your extra money on gas to get somewhere else so belleville can save moneyfrom you not using all the Kleenex.
 
what i meant was i dont know the last time a race track did something to reduce costs for the racers. if you ask many people, things are getting out of hand in a hurry because of the technology.
 
So Jimmy, let me get this straight....

You feel a promoter should also be responsible for ensuring that you loose as little money as possible on your hobby? It's a business James. They don't owe you anything other than providing a place to race. Your fortunate that your hobby actually pays you back some money. Most of mine don't.


If what your suggesting is, that tracks increase their payout on nights that they actually make money....well, that has to rate a top ten in the "one of the stupidest thing I have ever heard" category. That would be like me saying....ok, I've had $10,000 in chicken sales today.....everyone come back for a rebate.

If there are indeed two tracks still increasing the payout based on car and fan count,,,, I would be willing to bet that they don't pay a year end point fund or they were paying a reduced (or sub par) payout to begin with.

Would you be ok with the promoter reducing the payout on nights that the grandstands and pits were not packed????

And btw...Don cancelling on a Thursday (for a Friday race) is hardly what I would call a last minute thing.
 
Jimmy Cummins said:
what i meant was i dont know the last time a race track did something to reduce costs for the racers. if you ask many people, things are getting out of hand in a hurry because of the technology.
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Then it is the sanctioning body's responsibility to reel things back in. Not the promoter. Asking the promoter to recuce the cost or increase the payout will put more money in the hands of the high-tech teams as well.

Jimmy Cummins said:
if a track has 100 race cars on a night, how many of those cars loose money?? Do the race tracks do anything to help with this?
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The last time a racetrack did something??? How about getting sponsors like Kettler, King Edwards, Hooters, etc. etc. to pay increased purses???? I kinda think thats happened this year???? Tow money??? Free pit passes or B-Main money for those who don't qualify for the feature???? Driver appreciation night with free pit passes???? I think I've seen all of those things done a time or two.
 
Jimmy - Don't worry about it I think most people understood what you were trying to say except a couple of folks.
Have missed you at Pevely & Tri City this year.
 
pc36 said:
Momma drew is not his mom.
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Jimmy's Mother's name is Debbie, TOO..! However with that being said.. We have been trying to race at Belleville the last few weeks, too just like other's They canceled the races, TriCity did not! That is why you saw us at Granite! If Belleville hadn't canceled we would have been there!

Darkstar44 said:
Jimmy Cummis is a d@mn fine racecar driver!

Brian #44
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Yes he is, no doubt .. and Jimmy is not afraid to go out of town and try different places to race and TONY, you shouldn't dog him for that!
 
Momma Drew said:
Jimmy's Mother's name is Debbie, TOO..! However with that being said.. We have been trying to race at Belleville the last few weeks, too just like other's They canceled the races, TriCity did not! That is why you saw us at Granite! If Belleville hadn't canceled we would have been there!

Yes he is, no doubt .. and Jimmy is not afraid to go out of town and try different places to race and TONY, you shouldn't dog him for that!
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well somebody has to lol
 
Just a few thoughts on this topic.

1. Racetracks must consider the safety of its fans, competitors and employees when the weather dictates. I remember 1997 at Gateway International at the Busch Series race. It was 99 degrees that day and two people who suffered heart attacks that Saturday died later. Their heart attacks were directly attributed to the heat, according to then-Madison County Coroner Dallas Burke. At least nine other people who went to the track were taken to hospitals, and more than 150 people were treated, most for heat-related problems. Do we really want to bring that kind of misfortune on our sport, especially having lost so many tracks for various reasons over the past 30 years?

2. While we're on the topic of weather, I'm surprised so many tracks just recently started treating lightning seriously, given the fact it is so dangerous and deadly. I know I joke about "The Electrifying" Brian McCormick, but had the outcome been different, his family would have suffered a great loss, and we probably would have lost Godfrey Speedway about ten years before the track eventually closed.

3. Yes, it would be desirable to start racing later in the day, but when you combine curfews with multiple car classes, that math doesn't work out any better than the math I saw posted in another thread addressing what it costs to put on a show. Really, even under the most ideal conditions, four classes of cars are plenty.

My name is Doug Jenkins, and I support this message.
 
i ran my sportsman car 4 times this year before i sold it and got 2nd, 5th and 6th at brownstown, indiana and 3rd at farmer city. it wasnt legal around here. since i got my new modified together i have been struggling. I prefer to go to race tracks that pay 75-100-125 to start rather than 50 or 60 bucks. As far as what i think a promotor could do to help out racers, I say if a sanctioning body wont do anything to find a different sanctioning body, such as USRA. A good example would be the way UMP, in my opinion, has hosed the weekly UMP guys such as Mike Hammerle, Jim Moon, Kloos, Keifer, etc etc to where guys can pick and choose big shows and then run the summer nationals and blow the guys away in points that race 2 or 3 nights a week locally. I get the impression they just worry about the big time guys and not the local guys.
 
One of the people who passed away was from Breese. I remember it quite well. He was a great man and a huge race fan.
 
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