Originally Posted by 97juicedgmc:
i understand what dads saying but at the same time, not everyone goes out on the track the first time and becomes a track champion..... everyone should strive to do there best and better themselves but doesnt mean the new guy who wants to support the class but has little expierence should be fed to to the wolves , burning up tires, tow money, fuel, wreck it a time or two with little to no reimbursement. i can vouch for that guy i raced motocross for years decided to go mini sprint racing 2 years ago and new nothing about them but the first season i honestly contemplated on selling the car because it was expensive and hardly any pay out , and i was working sooo hard all night every night to try to see what worked and learn everything i could to try and make a difference. but i definetly was there to race and for me i always raced as hard as i could whether it was 20th or 1st place, my first season my goal was to do better then the previous week but a more even paying field would have made it a little easier a 10th place finish out of 25 cars was an accomplishment to me my 5th time in the car
also its been proven that a more even payout has a much larger car count and and keeps costs down for the race teams , no ones going to spend the extra money for built motors achohol injection etc to win $50 more then 2nd , which is why alot mini sprint rules are going to strictly stock motors no power commanders , alchohol, etc .. which is why the racesaver 305 sprints became so popular there rules are very plain jane and payouts are very even across the field .... gives the top notch guys no incentive to go out and buy a $26,000 new henchcraft car a 2013 motor and best of the best parts to win $350.
What was that purse like in your moto-cross racing? I can remember what it was like back in the 60's and early 70's. I can't imagine anybody leaving that kind of money for 4 wheel racing? Can you site the source of your claims about car count and pay back? Without race maps in your pc a stock 1000cc motor is way too lean to live long under racing conditions. Without a driver and sharp pit crew that $26,000.00 race car is going nowhere. The winners will always win and the wana be's will always cry cheater. Work on becoming a winner and not a being cry baby.
I'm kinda of old school in my ideas about making money and life in general. I believe in "differed gratification". That means you skimp today learn all you can so you can do better down the road. Us baby boomer seem to have bought our kids up to believe that they should start out on top and then gradually work themselves down. A lot of your peer's seem to think that if they lay around long enough Uncle Sugar will come along and take care of them. I can't hire people to work for me because they can make more money waiting for a check in the mail and spending a few hours a day on a street corner.
Most racers are not to that point yet but, you are not thinking like business people either. First thing off the bat.
1. Big time racers like the Outlaws and USAC are supposed to make their money off of the front gate ticket money. That's why they can ask for a larger purse, now-days sometimes that does not work out. If the promoter can not generate enough front gate money for a profit and the purse for these guys chances are that bunch may not come back next year. Filler classes are payed out of the back gate, when they have a big money race for them pit pass price's go up at many tracks?
2. In days gone by all racers were payed off of a percentage of the front gate, there used to be a much larger crowd back then. That is where the shady promoter first appeared. He would tell the racers the front gate was down and so was their purse, Then the racers started putting people at the gate with counters to count the fans and that was when the big fights began.
3. Mini sprints at most tracks are filler for the big guys. We give them time to work on their cars and don't set the promoter back a whole lot of money. They like to make our purse out of the back gate receipts, PIT PASSES and entry fees. That is why they like high car counts, they also look at how many people bought pit passes to support that class, you know "friends and relatives". We compete with with the bombers and mini stocks for a chance to race at their track.
4. So ask your self if you were a promoter who would you rather have 40 Hornets with with 5 helpers each or 20 mini sprinters with 1 helper each. I Wonder what happened at Lawrenceburg?
5. What we need to do is make ourselves more valuable to the promoter. We do that by helping him get more people in the front gate. A lot of you guys are worrying about the final product "Purse and pay back" when we need to worry and work on the front gate and helping the promoter make more money.
6. Today as it stands the promoter is doing us a service by providing us a place to race, and we help pay our way by buying a pit pass and furnishing him bodies in the pits.
7. What would happen if we generated more fans and brought more people through the front gate for the guy giving us a place to race?
8. We are right on the verge of crossing over from a support class to a feature class, Our groups will be the ones that make it happen. Our friends out in Kansas are doing it right now us Easterners should be able to do the same thing.
9. We need to start thinking like business people and not like people looking for a hand out. If we want more money!! We are going to have to work for it....
10. My Daddy told me a long time ago "You take care of the penny's and the dollar's will take care of themselves."
There is nothing wrong with the pay out we got now we just need to make a bigger pie to cut it out of. If we can't do that we had better be happy with what we got.
GET OUT OF THE GIVE IT TO ME I DESERVE IT MENTALITY!!!!!!!!!!! and go to work.
Honest Dad himself