There is no doubt this race is set up to be a house game provided the weather cooperates, but the fans, owners and drivers have proved willing to support this event at this particular track at this time of the year. With that history, there really isn't any basis to gripe about it now.
That is why the time to make a stand on issues such as this is before tradition sets in. I was on this board trying to take a stand against the entry fee at Farmer City a month or so ago and kept our two cars away from that event to take a stand... but I think we were standing alone.
But to answer the original question - is the entry fee necessary? Probably not.
The weekly sprint payout at Kokomo is $7405. Admission is $12 with pit passes $25 and no entry fee. This year's payout for the Klash is about $8100 or about $700 over the weekly payout. Admission is $20 with pit passes $30 and an entry fee.
The website thanks All Star Performance for bumping it's purse from last year for the Klash, which I assume means the vast majority of the increase over last year is due to the generosity of the sponsor. (Seriously, thanks All Star for stepping up to support the event and participants)
So what did last year's Klash payout look like? Let's go to the Wayback Machine and see:
http://web.archive.org/web/201010171...net/klash.html Last year's Klash sprint payout totaled $7660. $500 less than this years purse (thanks to a sponsor) and only $245 over the weekly payout.
So assuming a sponsor picked up $500 of this years purse bump, with the $8 grandstand ticket increase it takes all of 31 people's extra admission to cover the extra cost of the sprint purse over the weekly purse.
My quick math on the Modified payout shows that this year's Klash payout is about $1300 higher than the weekly payout (almost a 50% bump over the weekly payout). So the Modifieds are getting a much bigger bump both in real dollars and as a percentage than the Sprints.
But what is even more interesting is that finishing positions 4-9 actually pay more during the weekly show than they do at the Klash. Finish 4th there weekly and you get $625. Finish 4th at the Klash and take home $500.
This really is not meant to be a huge gripe about the event. It's a great event at a time of the year no one else is racing. Yes, it's set up to be a house game if the weather cooperates. You know that when you go. The time for fighting it has long passed no different than the $8 beer at the ball game or $5 bucket of popcorn at the movie. Promoting races at this time of year are a crap shoot with the weather at best, so it takes some built in cushion to justify taking the chance.
Frankly, Kokomo is one track that probably deserves to have a house game once in awhile and for people to support them when they do. They have earned it.