EsCoRtLvR

At one point in time, the racers were paid by advertisers, not by the track so much, so EVERY event they could show up to made them money. Now the racers rely on the events for payout and only go to the ones that net the most profit. And this is the reason there are no fans in the stands.

Stangonline

You mean the guy in the bell bottoms?

I was there as a vendor and paid good money to do so. Attendance seemed down vs previous years and there was a general lack of interest in parts. If things went well, I was prepared to sign up for a couple other races...but sales sucked, attendance sucked and general enthusiasm seemed minimal. I will not give NMRA another penny.

Not to mention - after the vendor fee, they STILL charged me an additional $95 for the weekend for admission as a spectator...like I was going to be spectating anything other than the back of my booth. NMRA, no one likes to be nickel and dimed. RIP NMRA - can't wait for the next guy to come in and clean house, like you did to FFW (although they asked for it too). I guess people don't learn?

Good seeing you, Scott.

Scott

Not bell bottoms ! lol

Good to see you too, was going to stop by but had to run early due to work call.

I do not see who is going to save the event / series, they are going to have to revise rules or fall the same way FFW did when they were to high and mighty to adjust to the times with their rules. My brother started a big debate on this through Power TV maybe someday it will get some traction.

Personally I think they need to combine NMCA / NMRA and do away with a lot of the slower bracket classes to make it more for the spectator and not so much how many bracket type cars they can pilfer money from. No one wants to watch that. As soon as the go away from the actual show part of it and making the spectators happy the FFW and NMRA series have gone to crap. I realize the economy does not help either but when your season opener sucks that kind of sets the tone.

Scott

I can try and understand some of the racers perspective on the 1/8th mile front but from a spectators stand point that bores the crap out of me and I don't think I am alone. It's over and done with to quick. I want to see two cars battle it out the length of the track and not for 3-4 seconds at a time. Seems like 1/8th mile has become more popular as the economy has tanked so maybe that is a cause and affect of the times. OR that racers are pushing it so hard now that their cars can't stand up to a 1/4 mile which kind of sucks too. Will see how the series goes being moved from Sunshine to BMP. Drag racing has always been 1/4 mile to me and I think the spectators too which at the end of the day should be a big part of the equation to keep our sport in tact. No spectators equals not being able to support the local tracks which in the long run puts them all out of business. Just my opinion.

Razor

Case in point. Top Fuel.. being only 1000ft now. Not the same.

From a spectators point of view.. 1/8 mile sucks.

As to the NMRA.. its a nice cash cow. They make tons of money on admission, vendors, and racers. The only one really making out is the NMRA. 25 per person, 100 to run your car, payout is didly. The press they get on MMFF, 5.0, and race pages.. pushes the attendance.

I race true street. The website at NMRA - National Model Railroad Association | NMRA.org forum for true street only has like 5 guys posting. So the web is not anywhere in the response this class gets. Yet 103 cars entered the event. Thats 103 x 100=10.3K with less than 1k in payout. So they made 9 grand on that one class. Is it going away.. not as long as magazines keep pumping the adds.

As long as they keep printing pictures of the event, once in a while getting a racers car in the press.. they will always have turnout. Case above.. 9 grand.. not counting supporting staff that came to help. Like wife, sons, daughters, friends.. etc..

Its not about the racers.. its about making money. They know it. They churn the publicity to make it happen.

Scott

I agree completely. I get the financials of it from having all of the events at BMP for TR and N2S. The slower and bracket cars are the cash cows but no one wants to watch them. It's why our TR events gained popularity when we switced to slick tire formats.

Fun Ford slowly faded away like NMRA will because they left the spectators behind which eventually caught Fun Ford and NMRA is not immune to. With this crappy economy so many companies have honed back in on custmer service which has been great but the racing series still seem to be stuck in the past.

Stangonline

I'd also like to add this little tidbit.

I had an attorney friend bring his two kids out on Saturday. For whatever reason, they couldn't get there until later in the day (like 2ish). He ended up not coming in the gate because of the high entry fee (I didn't tell him what the cost was originally, because I didn't know months back) $75 for him and his two kids. I know, his fault for getting there late and I'm sure he could afford it but his value vs reward system kicked into place.

After what I saw for attendance and racing - I wouldn't pay $25 for a full day to watch it ever again, let alone for 2 hours - can't blame him.

GetSome

My boy Joe Charles ran in the Coyote Stock class and went 10.90@118mph with a factory sealed 5.0 coyote engine with Ford calibration in a '01 Bullitt.

Stangonline

Joe is a great guy. Be brought my coyote block down to the race - let the fun begin!

senor honda

Scott, Are you still hearing crickets?
Are you still driving a Ford?