Mipro:
Those kinds on initiatives are a great thing... and help the Speedway tenfold.
It's probably an appropriate day to mention the Military / Police / Fire / Ambulance Appreciation night that Delaware Speedway does. Show ID from one of these services and you get in for free. Awesome idea.
I'd love to see the owners / promotor try some new ideas to get some new fans in the stands... but in the business atmosphere we saw this year I don't know if this kind of thing could happen. I seriously doubt people would be allowed to bring coolers in, and a friend of mine took her 5 year old to one of the NCATS races and had to pay $55 to get in. She likes racing (it kind of started out by coming to see me, and evolved from there ;D) and her young lad does too, but for a young mother to pay $55 to get in to a NCATS show is a bit much. That was the one where the regular show was cancelled to get the NCATS deal in, as some of you might remember...
I think $14 is a pretty good value for a single adult, but when you are bringing the whole family it can add up fast buying $6 cheeseburgers and so on...
Not everyone who would like to come to the races may be able to do so every week. I get it that there is a large overhead to keep the gates open, but I would think it would be much more beneficial to have more regular customers every week than once a year customers...
Tex If only the track owners would get it. Find a sponsor for the first night of racing to help offset costs.Still charge regular admission to get into the pits.Let any and everybody including families into the track for free in general admission,the track is still going to make a fortune from the concesions and souveniers.Its not going to cost the track anything to have the extra fans there.But in the long run , if some of these fans enjoy what they see,great for the track on a weekly basis. Plus some of these new found fans could potentionaly be future sponsors for the track or drivers.
I agree it is like fna appreciation night....even a 2 dollar admission...a toonie night or something...i unno,
Price is not always the whole issue... Peterborough ran the free night for its 40th, if I remeber correctly its free every 1st night of racing. Anyhow i have been there on a free night, but the week after, it was back to its ussual small numbers.
As for price alone, Peterborough is 10 bucks to get in. Down the road at Kawartha its 14. Think Peterborough has more fans in the stands? Nope.
Either way its a problem for a marketing/ business guy to figure out, we are racers. All we can do is support the tracks, and not be so hard on them over smaller banquets and other little details.
My prediction is many tracks have taken such a hit this year, they are in the position to shut their doors. I beleive they are holding out hope that they will make up for it next year. I doubt that is realistic. So when we have tracks on possibly life support, is now the time to give them a kick over a 20 dollar trophy..
ross, you are right about losing money, but who didn't! next year could be a stellar season, does that mean we get more? i friggin doubt it. to us racers a $ 5 trophy means alot, they could have done things alot different to keep people happy. why did sponsors have to buy tickets? thats biting the hand that feeds you! mr. simpson knew the importance, why do you think he wasn't there.