*Turn 2 Blog is a regular feature on InsideDirtRacing.com. Here, site operators Michael Moats and Richard Allen take turns offering their thoughts on the dirt racing topics of the day from east Tennessee and beyond.
Richard: Another weekend brought another big special event to the region as the Southern Nationals Bonus Series conducted a Super Late Model show at Boyd’s Speedway that attracted 34 cars including Lucas Oil Late Model Series standouts Jonathan Davenport and Jared Landers after their scheduled race in Indiana was postponed due to weather. As we have discussed several times on here, these special events are typically going to draw cars and fans. However, it’s a local class I want to talk about first in this blog.
Over the past 2-3 years, the Sportsman division has really taken hold around the area. At virtually every track I have been to this season, that relative upstart class has outnumbered other local divisions, often times attracting upper teens to twenties in car counts. The idea of a Late Model type class with restrictions designed to keep costs in check was bound to do well.
But as will always be the case, some will find ways to spend money no matter what rules are in place.
At the same time the Sportsman counts are rising, however, I believe some other classes have suffered as a result. I have noticed lower than usual numbers in Street Stocks, A-Hobby, B-Hobby and Four Cylinder divisions at some tracks.
Is this simply yet another cyclical change in racing or is this Sportsman class and its solid car count numbers here to stay?
Michael: I think some of it is just a normal cycle and some of it is the Sportsman class itself. The Sportsman class was created to allow drivers that don’t compete for wins in the Limited Late Model division a better shot at being competitive with rules to keep costs down or maybe a crate racer that wants to move up into something with more horsepower. There are currently a number of drivers that race in the Sportsman class that run a crate motor in that class. The class tends to be a mixed bag of engine choices. The basic rule is for drivers that haven’t won a higher level Late Model race in a number of years to compete in the Sportsman division. But that rule doesn’t seem to be enforced.
I do think it’s part of a normal cycle to see a class like that really take off. Going back to my time at Atomic, we created a class like that and it really took off. The numbers slowly dwindled and I think we’re seeing a reboot of that class today. Keep in mind having a class like that is advantageous to track owners because they’re running a class with a lower purse than a Limited Late Model class. That’s why the numbers eventually go down.
As for the Street Stocks and Hobby Stock classes, the rules are too liberal, which means the cost to compete has really gone up in recent years. Anytime the costs really go up and the purses remain the same, the numbers start going down. That is why the Four Cylinder classes in this area have almost disappeared.
Richard: I agree that the movement toward more Sportsman cars is a natural progression for drivers who want to compete in a Late Model but don’t have the money to race a Super or Limited Late Model car. And at the same time, there are only so many racers out there so if everyone starts moving to the “hot” division, it is going to take its toll in other areas.
Based on the numbers some classes are putting up, I believe track promoters are going to have to consider some realignments or adjustments to their rules to allow for combinations of classes. Otherwise, there are going to feature races among some support classes with 4, 5 or 6 cars. That will especially be true once all tracks in the area get going and further disperse cars and drivers.
I have been of the opinion for sometime that there are too many classes at some tracks as I think promoters try too hard to please too many people. Further, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference from one class to another with the naked eye. And it has to be remembered that the average person sitting in the grandstands isn’t overly familiar with subtle rules differences. They simply see multiple classes of cars that look the same as the race that just ran going around the track in too few numbers.
Are there too many classes with too little diversity or am I just looking to be nit picky?
Michael: I think there are too many that look alike. To the average person, they can’t tell the difference between a Super Late Model, Limited Late Model, Crate Late Model, or Sportsman. On the outside, they are the same. And some announcers do not do a good job of describing those differences to the fans.
I have been calling, for some time, for the area’s track owners to get together and discuss common rules, new classes, and ways to cut costs for current classes. Face it, there is little opportunity for someone to buy an old street car and turn it into a race car. They have to be built from the ground up. That’s more money to be spent just to get started. That doesn’t count the rising costs of engines as the rules get looser as each year passes. A person can easily spend 15 grand just to get going in a Four Cylinder class that pays anywhere from $200 to $300 to win each week.
Track owners are reluctant to make major rules changes for fear of running off current drivers. But if these classes only have 6 to 8 cars per week, they need to look at whether a new, less expensive class would draw more cars over a period of time. It’s things in those areas that need to be looked at very closely.
Richard: Kind of along those same lines, another point I’d like to raise here is that of the running of the show on race night. Although I don’t want to sound like a complainer, I know that’s what it may seem like. However, I would like to see promoters issue a statement before each race night that if a particular class has six or fewer cars, that class will simply draw for starting positions in their feature and run just that race.
There’s is little need for a 5-6 car field to qualify and/or heat race before its feature. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen on several occasions a small field of cars heat race only to have one or more suffer damage or mechanical failure and reduce the number of cars in the feature by that much more.
We have both emphasized this point over and over again but today’s society is not geared for doing any one thing for long periods of time. Anything to reduce the length of shows is more conducive to today’s audiences.
Michael: I totally agree. The drivers in a class with few cars will say they paid to get in like everyone else and should get what they were promised. I get that. But qualifying and/or heat racing so few cars is pointless. In those situations, I’d like to see 5 laps added to the feature and not run any heat races. They will still get plenty of track time.
Sometimes it may be necessary to stick with the schedule if there is built-in time to allow Late Model teams time to get ready for their next action. But many times, it just drags out the show. Promoters must realize the average person isn’t a die hard and doesn’t want to sit through pointless preliminary action. If a track doesn’t move the schedule along, an average person isn’t likely to come back.
