Just thought I'd separate this topic from the other.
My team and I put about 19 hours into yesterday's event. 4 1/2 hours driving each way, and about 10 hours at the track. We got quite a bit of practice time, which was nice, but not necessary. We had two 8 lap heats, with one caution between the two. 16 seconds per lap x 8 = about 2 1/4 minutes each heat race, plus an extra 2-3 mins for that one caution. Our feature was 15 laps, no cautions. 15 x 16 = 4 minutes. So, in total, that's 8 1/2 mins of racing + 2-3 mins of caution laps. Less than 10 minutes for a 19 hour day.. ?? An extra 10 laps, which the guys including myself who started at the back needed in order to win the race, would've taken an extra 3 mins. This is what we race. We usually put on a great show, and you'd think that we might deserve a little more respect from the track officials.
We stuck around to watch the feature races after ours. They must have taken over an hour each. And to finish the night off, all but 3 Late Models pile into each other at the end of their feature. Looks good on Barrie Speedway for the way they treated us.
Sorry to go off on a big rant here. I'm not really mad, because we our day did go very smoothly, but I'm just disappointed with Barrie Speedway. I enjoy racing there, but they've got to make it a little more worth it for us if we're going to return.
sorry to hear you were the victim of the back gate mentality that pervades our sport and drives new fans away. This past weekend I attended two dirt events at Oshweken and Merrittville, where two special divisions were brought in. Oshweken had ESS sprints and a Lucas Oil 50 laps sportsmen tour race on tap. Rather than dropping the thunder cars or mini stocks, they maintained all divisons which means an extra long night, expecially since they don't start until 7:45. When I saw the track dust up during the heats, I knew it was going to be a long night. The ESS feature ran first (thank god), but didn't end until 11:05. The sportsman 50 lapper ended at 12:10, and they still had to run the thunders and minis. I saw young families leaving before the ESS feature even began. When will the promoters learn that if you bring in an extra class or greatly extend a regular class (the sportsmen had 34 cars), you have to drop something to get the fans out at a half decent time???.
Merrittville's had ESS also and a 56 lapper for sportsmen, but were smart enough to have the mods off (at Gennesee Speedway at a Lucas Tour race), but the final checker flag was still at 11:05 which is a tad on the late side for a 7:15 start. ESS ran second last and half the crowd left after their feature ended at 10:30. (ps kudos for the ESS drivers sticking around for autographs etc). I'm just afraid that the late nights created by bringing in extra classes are ticking off the casual fan. The back gate mentality shown by many promoters, especially at a number of tracks, shows a complete distain for the fans, and are almost creating club racing, where no one watches.
As a visiting division, you guys should have run first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, they did run first. It was unfortunate that they cut your feature by that much, but even in doing that, we didnt end till midnight. The thunders had a tonne of cautions...all mostly caused by one car in particular...lol..but yea, I think they knew that we were gonna be late...they cut our feature down by 5 laps as well to 15
Notice to all promotors at South Buxton Raceway Saturday night They had a Special night show Southern Ontario Sprints ( 3 Heats, B main Heat, Final 20 Laps, Sport Stock 2 heats & Feature 20 Laps,Comp 4 2 Heats & Feature ( 15 Laps ), Modifieds 2 Heats & Feature 25 Laps & Pursuit races for the 3 classes Show started at 7 P.M. and ended at 10 ;25 P.M. this was with 2 red flags inthe S.O.S. feature. Hopefully Glen Styers took notice as he was there with his 2 sprint cars. Buxton played it smart they dropped one class Sat. night (Late Model ) Next sprint night July 14th they drop the Modifieds.Congrats South Buxton hopefully other tracks take notice it can be done
Well, they did run first. It was unfortunate that they cut your feature by that much, but even in doing that, we didnt end till midnight. The thunders had a tonne of cautions...all mostly caused by one car in particular...lol..but yea, I think they knew that we were gonna be late...they cut our feature down by 5 laps as well to 15
I was real happy that they let us run first, because usually we're last at Barrie.
At Grand Bend, they put a 1/2 hour curfew an all the divisions' feature races. I like this idea. If the race goes smoothly with no cautions, there's no problem getting the race finished, but if there are a lot of cautions, too bad - you're off the track. Usually after a half hour of them screwing around, all the fans are ready to see them leave the track and have a different class take a turn. This would've been nice for us at Barrie, as our race went by so quickly. If it continued to go that smooth we could've run at least 200 laps in the time that it took the thunder cars and the late models each to do their features. I know that wouldn't have made for a good race. I was fine with them cutting our race down to 25 laps from 35, but 15 is not near enough laps to come from the back and get a chance at winning the race (especially with no cautions).
Another thing that I didn't mention is the price of admission in the pits. $22/person. I brought myself and three crew guys. That's a lot of money to watch 10 mins of mini trucks racing. I'll say it again, if things didn't go as smooth as they did for us yesterday, I'd be really upset with the way we were treated.