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February 21, 1999
How Loud Must We Shout!!!!!
Recently I covered SpeedWeeks 99 at one of our local tracks. I was
able to meet a lot of new drivers from out-of-state and from within our
state. And even though they all came from different parts of our
country and this state, they all had alot of the same compliants.
Purses that were too small, very small attendance at their races,
no respect from track personnel, etc., etc., etc.
One of the smartest ideas that I found during that time was the
NASCAR SK Mods that had several tracks go together and make
it where their rules were the same, making each track have a
much larger car count and purse. They also agreed that each
track would run on a certain night and not all at the same time.
This does give the driver and his team more places to run without
worrying about rules since they are all the same now.
Two sister tracks, Orlando SpeedWorld and New Smyrna Speedway,
run the same rules. But if you want to go to another track and you
have built a car for these tracks, more than likely it will cost you a lot
more than just a temporary license from that track. You may have
to buy entirely different tires, switch carbs, and still you will find your-
self out in the cold at the end of the line because their engines are
just a little more engine than what you are allowed at your track.
Florida is very lucky, we have tracks everywhere. So why can't we
get together and conform these rules so that we can run different
tracks? Why do some tracks have full grandstands every time they
race and others very few? Do you have the answer to this?
Tracks that are full in their grandstands and have really good car
counts will pay hired purses to their racers, that is just how racing
goes. And at this moment, it seems to be the dirt tracks that are
doing this every weekend. More and more asphalt drivers are
turning to dirt because they do pay higher and they have more
competition at them. And when two are located very close to each
other such as Clewiston and Thundercross, one races one night and
the other the next and the cars and drivers still get to race all weekend.
Full grandstands, large car counts, and special events pull these fans
to the dirt every weekend.
Maybe the time is coming that our asphalt tracks need to look at
themselves and see what they can do to have the same attendance
as our dirt tracks. Maybe the SK Mod tracks that got together
have the right idea - conform the rules, take specific nights, and the
crowds and the cars will come. It is much better having a 30 car
count in a division than 4 and this is becoming what we see at alot
of our asphalt tracks.
Florida is full of talented racecar drivers that work very hard on
their cars to bring them out on the weekend to entertain you the
fans. But for all their hard work, they do deserve some respect and
the right to race for a halfway decent purse and full grandstands.
Maybe if we could conform our rules at our local tracks, no driver
would be considered an outsider at a track and made to feel
unwelcome. And maybe it would stop costing so much to race
at other tracks since you would already be "race-ready" with
the same rules applied everywhere. And maybe so many of our
asphalt drivers would not turn to dirt for gratification.
-Jane Smith
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