tri city speedway last night

jmcgrew47 said:
I'm a nonsmoker that really dislikes smoking in the grandstands. However, I saw no more smoking this week at TCS than I do any other week at any other track.

Secondly, It's Joe Weekly Racer that gives Lucas Oil Racer a platform in which to race. Without Joe Weekly Racer, tracks would not survive and the Lucas Oil Tour would go out of business.

Let's break down the Math. 46 Lucas Oil Late Models x 4 crew per team (including driver, rough estimate) = 184 pit passes. Let's be generous and say 200 pit passes.

200 pit passes x $35 = $7000

32 Modifieds x 4 pit passes per entry = 128 pit passes. We'll be generous and say 150.

150 pit passes x $35 = $5250

$7000 + $5250 = $12,250 Not nearly enough to cover the purse for even the Late Models, let alone both classes.

Don't bring up admission because you really want to cover as much of the purse as possible in pit passes.
Click to expand...

So now you are saying that that one race ALONE covers the purse for one race??? Give me a break. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck dude. We all know how much money is generated off of concessions. Take that estimated crowd of stands and pits people and add another 10-15$ each and then give me another number. Figure in the profit off of those and compound it it over the season to BANK your payout. Don't just rely on one race to pay for the show. Anyone who would do that is just plain ignorant to buisness. Tammy and Kevin are not stupid people. Just leave the lower classes out for a week. Plain and simple. 50% of the crowd left after the latemodels ran their feature race. What does that tell you????
 
Before I write this, let me peface my comment by telling you that I have a degree in business. Therefore, my view of this is truly from a business standpoint.

You suggest using profits from other nights to cover the loss on a big night. That is a recipe for disaster. In this industry, profits are very unpredictable. Weather, car counts, and fan attendance vary every week. A good business man in this wild business climate would focus on being profitable one week at a time. Some weeks will be great, some won't.

Looking at this past Friday. 122 cars were in attendance. We'll estimate that they sold 500 pit passes. That's slightly better than 4 per car. 500 Pit Passes x $35 = $17,500. That is still below the total payout for just the late models. So fan attendance did have to cover much of the night's payout. There are other costs involved as well though. Fuel and maintenance on the track vehicles (2 tractors, 1 water truck, several push trucks, and a few tow trucks), Ambulance service (was never needed thankfully but they aren't sitting there for free), electricity, royalties (I imagine Lucas Oil is getting a cut), and paid employees and security. I'm sure there are more costs but those were the ones I could immediately think of. Money is made on concessions, but I can tell you that the profit margin on food and drink sales are not nearly as high as you'd think. If the margin is 10% on that stuff they're doing great. I'm sure they got some sponsorship money as well but it's unknown how much.

The bottom line is this, without support classes they can't pay the big classes. The only option would be to raise ticket prices and/or pit pass prices. Considering that people complained about paying $2 extra on admission and $5 extra on pits a couples of weeks ago with the big make up race/extra pay Mod/crate special on July 3, I don't think raising the prices on the Lucas event above where they currently are would fly.

When it comes to big races, you are simply stuck with 3 or 4 classes. If you don't like it, stay home. They did a great job of hurrying the late models along. If you didn't want to stay for the whole show, you shouldn't have done it. Stop blaming the track and its promotors for every little thing. Be thankfull that we still have 4 tracks to go watch racing in the immediate St. Louis area.

Change your diaper, **** on your binky, and quit your crying!
 
I agree and you also forgot to mention the pit passes from the street stocks who get paid conciderably less, let me guess, maybe so they can get the payout for the Lm. I think so. You are totally right, that is why they call these classes support classes.
 
Also, if you have to race week to week to cover one race then you would have to wonder how at the end of the year if the track would have some kind of profit for the year. That would then bring you to the fact that kevin and tammy are doing this for nothing and the work and money all year and during the off season as well as any money spent in the off season is all donated. Both time and money.
 
Before you say anything I have a degree in Reality. So therefore my comments are clearly from a reality point of view.

Concessions mark up is nearly 60% at most venues. Maybe even more. 2000 people spending $10.00 each is what???? That is a conservative estimate for the amount spent. H e l l, I saw some people that probably spent their whole bankroll on booze. All that matters at the end of the season is what the final numbers are. Plain and simple.
Plus on top of it all 50% of the people left after the Lucas Oil feature race. The tracks make a good amount of money on these shows or they would not even bring them to the place.
 
50/50 drawing!!!

Did they even announce the 50/50 winners name? Because see the abundance of the crowd left after the late model feature and i would say those people were a little mad when they did.because they should have called the 50/50 way before when it was called. I have supported the track every friday, but the 50/50 drawing needs to be a little more consistantly drawn lets say after the 1st feature of the night, especially if its late models. I buy 50/50 tickets every week and i don't think it was fair to us who bought them & the people who left before they announced it. Its like your getting free money from those people who left.
 
MizuriDirt said:
Plus on top of it all 50% of the people left after the Lucas Oil feature race. The tracks make a good amount of money on these shows or they would not even bring them to the place.
Click to expand...
And of the 50% that stayed, probably 1/2 of those came with the lower class cars. So now you would be missing a lot of pit passes & about 25% of the fans.
 
Will cry babies ever stop crying?

For all of you who think that being a track promoter and make a million dollars along with trying to please everyone every day, get off your a** and open your own track and so us how its done!!!!

People need to get of Kevin and Tammy's a** and thank them for giving us a top notch facility with the highest payouts in the area. They also have a great track to race on 99% of the time!

Kevin and Tammy keep up the great work and ignore the cry babies who have nothing better to do but sit around and look for something to bi*ch about to feel important!!!!
 
paradise1 said:
For all of you who think that being a track promoter and make a million dollars along with trying to please everyone every day, get off your a** and open your own track and so us how its done!!!!

People need to get of Kevin and Tammy's a** and thank them for giving us a top notch facility with the highest payouts in the area. They also have a great track to race on 99% of the time!

Kevin and Tammy keep up the great work and ignore the cry babies who have nothing better to do but sit around and look for something to bi*ch about to feel important!!!!
Click to expand...

I have way better things to do than sit around and complain about how a track is run. If the Gundakers can't take criticism then they are in the wrong line of work. When I pay for a seat at the races I am a customer. If you go to a restaurant and you get a bad piece of meat do you just keep on eating it???? Same thing bucko!! Heck no you would voice your opinion just like fans do when they are not happy with the product that the Gundakers put forth. Oh thats right... Open your own place to eat if you don't like the food. Good answer.:rolleyes:
 
Shed some more tears!!!

No matter how you break it down, crying is still crying!!! Do some good and give Kevin some of your expert advice on how to prepare a track properly after all of the rain we have had.
 
MizuriDirt said:
Open your own place to eat if you don't like the food. Good answer.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
How about stay at home and cook your own food. Or to put it in your terms. Sit at home and turn on the tube and watch Nascar each weekend. Oh what there tracks are not exactly up to snuff every week either. (IE Indy) Well dude guess you better stick with the stick and ball sports and get off the track.
 
Nobody is cryin here!!

Like I said before, if you can't take criticism and put it to good use then your business will suffer. Its obvious that some people here have a vested interest in Tri-City. You can argue back and forth like a child all night and it won't change the fact that the decision to run 4 support classes Friday night was just plain stupid. I never mentioned anything about how piss poor the track conditions were. But now that you mentioned it, yeah it was pretty crappy.

If they didn't run all the other classes then they would have had time to work the track DURING the show. Not before the show because of all the rain.

So stay home...yeah thats a stroke of genius. That will really fix low attendance and unhappy customers. Some of you people need a dose of something to clear up your vision. It's clouded up by those rose colored Tri-City glasses. Get you nose out of the Gundakers butt and look around a while. But as long as they have fans that are happy with boneheaded moves like running all the other classes with a premier show they will never change. It's a shame that they did all that work to improve the place after the previous ownership. It looks like they are trying hard to make it work. But, 1:00am or later is just assinine.
 
Hey, they clearly advertised a 4-class show. You knew what you were getting before you came out.

BTW Mr. Reality, I broke down the numbers for you. How much more real do you want?

Yes, the mark-up on consessions is in the area of 60%. Factor in food cost, paper cost, labor, equipment maintenance, facilities maintenance, energy (electric and natural gas), and waste and you wind up literally making pennies on the dollar. Like I said, a 10% profit margin is a good margin. More than 10% is phenomenal.

Earlier you said you had better things to do then complain about how a promotor runs a track. What the hell are you doing then? I know, you call it criticism. However, for constructive criticism, you should offer solutions, not just point out faults. I offered a solution for your proposal. Raising ticket and pit prices. However, who is willing to pay more than $25 to get in?

There's only two ways that a 2-class race with big payouts would work. #1 - Insane car count. #2 - High dollar sponsorship. Car counts are too unpredictable and big money sponsorships are tough to come by during periods of economic recession.

Sorry bro, your option just doesn't work.
 
MizuriDirt said:
I have way better things to do than sit around and complain about how a track is run. If the Gundakers can't take criticism then they are in the wrong line of work. When I pay for a seat at the races I am a customer. If you go to a restaurant and you get a bad piece of meat do you just keep on eating it???? Same thing bucko!! Heck no you would voice your opinion just like fans do when they are not happy with the product that the Gundakers put forth. Oh thats right... Open your own place to eat if you don't like the food. Good answer.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

no its not the same thing. your dealing with a $5-$25 steak and 1 person. not 75 -100 race cars and 1000 - ????? people and who knows how much $ involved in each car and track prep each evening. there is plenty of complaints to go around but to be a race promoter is a unforgiving job. so give them some slack and enjoy what they have to offer us. it could be worse.
 
MizuriDirt said:
Like I said before, if you can't take criticism and put it to good use then your business will suffer. Its obvious that some people here have a vested interest in Tri-City. You can argue back and forth like a child all night and it won't change the fact that the decision to run 4 support classes Friday night was just plain stupid. I never mentioned anything about how piss poor the track conditions were. But now that you mentioned it, yeah it was pretty crappy.

If they didn't run all the other classes then they would have had time to work the track DURING the show. Not before the show because of all the rain.

So stay home...yeah thats a stroke of genius. That will really fix low attendance and unhappy customers. Some of you people need a dose of something to clear up your vision. It's clouded up by those rose colored Tri-City glasses. Get you nose out of the Gundakers butt and look around a while. But as long as they have fans that are happy with boneheaded moves like running all the other classes with a premier show they will never change. It's a shame that they did all that work to improve the place after the previous ownership. It looks like they are trying hard to make it work. But, 1:00am or later is just assinine.
Click to expand...

i do beleive tcs advertised that you shouldnt expect the feature (lm) to start before 10 pm. so i would expect a late night b4 i even bought my ticket.
 
I enjoyed the show at Tri City. It was rough in 3&4 but that is where most of them were driving. If that track wasn't "racy" then how did Moyer go from the back to 11th before pulling off??? It was my first time at the 3/8 mile track and I am glad I went, money well spent.

Tammy- You have to be the happiest ticket taker lady I have ever met. You did a great job of welcoming fans to the track.

Kevin- You might want to put a tape measure on the track. I think Feger opened it up to 7/16 mile.

Great Show.
 
Feger definately takes the longest possible way around the track. When the highside has grip, he's almost unbeatable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.




Back
Top