I think something that would help is more ways to win. That is to say, divide the racers into several groups. 4.00 - 5.00 class [Loyds Super Fast Class] 6.00 - 7.00 class [Brenda's Delicious Biscuits class] for electronics and no e. A sponsor for each class with a modest payout plus some grab bag prizes.

Then the 4 class winners, or however it is structured, run for a larger purse.

I am just brainstorming.

When working with the Halls at Rusk, I had a weekly newsletter and many grab bag goods from local businesses. The local business was recognized by decals for shows class winner, dead-on dial, perfect reaction, etc. Plus the announcer would mention them.

Thoughts

More thoughts a racer can proudly display

*"Bud's Exxon Class Winner." decal
*"Top Eliminator." decal

Or, enjoy a bottle of glass cleaner or car wash from the grab bag.

Or dinner for two at Whataburger.

To me, this is one of the keys; on any race outing, several racers will receive "something" for winning a few rounds. Consider its goodwill and encouragement.

I like your thinking, Larry.

Most of us see the real need to grow the sport (or reduce the shrinking of it), by bringing in new racers.

I would really like to see a TRUE "Beginners" class, (need to think up a better name for it - Novice? Whatever). For first-time racers, or rookies, or some criteria that bumps them out of the category or requires them to move up after maybe 10 races, or a full season, 3 wins, etc.

Many tracks have had some form of this over the decades, (or intended to), with classes such as Sportsman, Trophy, Street, etc. But somehow they all end up being dominated by good, experienced racers. A newbie who gets killed in Round 1 by superior drivers in much better cars every week, probably isn't coming back but once or twice, (if that). And he / she is not getting the seat time needed to improve their driving, their confidence, or their car.
Test & tune nights do not make a good training ground for a prospective bracket racer.
I really think this needs to be considered by track owners. Even if the class only has 5 or 10 entries, it wouldn't add a lot of time to the event, and with no payout, (or minimal, like $100 to win, $50 to R/U), it would not add a lot of cost, either. You could even set up a ladder where the instead of worst being paired against best, they are paired with more equal skill/RT &/or ET levels.
Nothing breeds confidence in a driver like winning their first round or 2, progressing to class wins, etc. That makes them want to keep coming back again.
Getting spanked repeatedly with a .00X or even a .02X package while they cut a .280 light and run a half second over or under is a discouraging way to to tell them they are not welcome or worthy to come back. Competing among a group of drivers with similar skills and experience would help build some friendships, camaraderie and encouragement for the sport. Just my $.02.

I have occasionally thought about doing like old Mr. Dirt (Bret Kepner) used to in St Louis - Volunteering to teach a free Bracket Racing 101 class for beginners, at an area track, no idea if the track Mgr would be interested in allowing that. Could begin by covering the basics, such as track layout, Safety #1, car prep/setup, staging, timing system, dialing, MOV, starting line, and maybe eventually deeper stuff like driving the stripe & race strategy. Track could hand out flyers on T&T night. I don't know, these days the lawyers would probably not allow it...

Good job Foot. Good ideas.

Well most tracks in our area would send in race results to local newspapers and they would run them on Thursdays.
Then they would send the results into National Dragster. I will admit it was always nice to see my name in the paper and people I work with ask if that was me who won last week? And of course it is cool to see your win in National Dragster.
The tracks would have stickers for winners and perfect dials or reaction times.
Texas Raceway used to have some of best racers in the Country and they did a track newspaper and posted results there to. And when you won there it meant something.
Now most tracks do not do those things any more.

Myself and many others will help anyone we can if they want. If there is new racers I usually introduce myself and let them know I am available if they need anything and I keep extra spare parts and fuel.


I agree with Footbrake Jim,
A lot of tracks have a Friday Test and Tune deal and that usually gets some new people there. May be a good idea to have a basic Brackets class for those guys and try to get the interested and competitive.

Throw the gate for a $25 car/driver fee, track provides safety, timing and scoring, and a trophy for winner and r/u.
Let the racers decide what the purse will be, and how it will be divided, by what they throw in the hat before 1st round.

goob- if you won't race for a trophy, you're not really a racer

goob2- i said it

One local track used to charge every car/driver $15 to come through the gate, this was over 5 years ago, and that gave you an entry from there you picked the class. If you wanted to race trophy there was no fee and a small buy back fee. Footbrake and top were basically gamblers races from there but all of the entry and buy back money went in the purse. This track was in a great area for spectators which helped a lot.
Most tracks have lost site of the real basics. It's the old sales adage about make everyone feel important. Tracks have the greatest fee advertising tool in facebook and these forums and few can take the time to capitalize on it. With a cell phone and a few minutes time a track can post anything and everything going on at their facility. They can post nice winners photos and even articles promoting their track. Most can't even seem to post a winners photo forget about mentioning runner-ups and semis forget about a short recap of the race, maybe even spell the racers names right!
Round money seems to be a thing of the past at most tracks any more, and I understand it when you do the math and try to keep entry fees affordable.
Winners "kill" stickers are a modest investment and would sure seem to generate interest.
Tracks could increase spectators by giving away a few free spectator entries at the high school. A relationship with the tech classes would go a long way to get some involved. Even promote a grudge night between local HS's even make it a teachers race in their personal cars and each school has a team of teachers that could get a quick lesson in bracket racing and race for the bragging rights of the school and a trophy. Show the teachers how bracket racing can be used as a teaching tool for some of them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eman,

Eman, good job, good ideas.

The only way to keep out experienced racers is make it zero payout. Experienced racers won’t bother. Let’s call it Trophy Street, make the entry $20. Winner gets $20 and a trophy, runner up gets a trophy.

Also, new racers need seat time. One time shot won’t cut it. Two should be a minimum, three would be ideal.

No buybacks in this class. DOT street tires required. No slicks, no drag radials.

Take their picture in the winners circle & post it on the track website.

quote:

Originally posted by SlyFox:
The only way to keep out experienced racers is make it zero payout. Experienced racers won’t bother. Let’s call it Trophy Street, make the entry $20. Winner gets $20 and a trophy, runner up gets a trophy.

Also, new racers need seat time. One time shot won’t cut it. Two should be a minimum, three would be ideal.

No buybacks in this class. DOT street tires required. No slicks, no drag radials.

Take their picture in the winners circle & post it on the track website.

OK what is an experienced racer?
How many passes makes you experienced?
What about jr racers are they experienced?

The What a burger deal is the best idea

quote:

Originally posted by FootbrakeJim:

Test & tune nights do not make a good training ground for a prospective bracket racer.

Actually it can. There is a guy who races with me that learned to bracket race at TNT and then later helped run Friday TNT at a previous track, I believe in Ohio somewhere.

They would take their TNT cars and have them put a number on them and they ran the TNT like a bracket race. You could opt out if you really didn't want to do it and you could make as many passes as you wanted to either way. They just ran it with handicaps to get the career TNT guys to better understand how bracket racing worked.

It got lots of guys lining up and bracket racing their buddies and learning to enjoy the competition. It really helped grow their bracket program. Our track has really been resistant on allowing him to do it though and it shows in our bracket program almost completely dying. I would be surprised if we have one next year and we have the premier track anywhere between Topeka and Ennis. One of the longest shutdowns in the nation and we have Musco lighting.

quote:

Originally posted by Hotrod Corvette:

OK what is an experienced racer?
How many passes makes you experienced?
What about jr racers are they experienced?

What part of "experienced racers won't race for zero pay out" was difficult to comprehend? It will police itself.

Professionalism / Integrity attracts the good sponsors / business partners.

Trust

quote:

Originally posted by SlyFox:
The only way to keep out experienced racers is make it zero payout. Experienced racers won’t bother. Let’s call it Trophy Street, make the entry $20. Winner gets $20 and a trophy, runner up gets a trophy.

Also, new racers need seat time. One time shot won’t cut it. Two should be a minimum, three would be ideal.

No buybacks in this class. DOT street tires required. No slicks, no drag radials.

Take their picture in the winners circle & post it on the track website.

This^^^

At the track I mentioned with the $15 entry for everyone and it got you into trophy plenty of experienced racers ran for the trophy and every class. Some with dedicated trailered cars came and just ran trophy. One of the other things the track did was open early and have open time runs then have time trials for the classes.
Making people welcome goes a long way to growing your customer base. An owner or promoter that recognizes new faces and makes a point of speaking to them goes a long way.

all are welcome, their $ is green BUT the test/tune crowd, trophy crowd needs to be told at most tracks that there a rules that you must obey and failure to do so results in a personalized and immediate escort out the gate.

Zero payout doesn't always keep experienced racers out of the Trophy class. Sometimes dumb little things matter. When I was living and racing in Topeka, (15+ years ago), they had a run order on race day mornings that always began with Time Trials, working from slowest to fastest classes. Typically JD, Trophy, Sportsman (footbrake 12.0 & slower), Pro ET (No-E), then Super Pro. But when eliminations began, they changed the run order, and ran Round S/P first, (they usually had 100-140 S/P entries back then). So for the Sportsman racers, it was usually a gap of 2 hours or more between last TT and 1st Rd, and the air would change drastically from 10:00 am until 12 or 1:00. Trophy had the same rules as Sportsman, (No-E, slicks allowed, same ET break). One of the Sportsman racers figured out he could toss an extra $20 to add a Trophy entry, and then used Round 1 of Trophy as a time run immediately before 1st Rd of SM. The guy was a very good, long-time racer, who probably didn't need that help, but other SM racers saw him use it to his advantage, so it soon became an epidemic, with a bunch of copycats. They started running the high schoolers and beginners out of the class. The next off-season, we formed an advisory group of racers from all classes, met with the track management, and recommended they should either change the rules for the Trophy class to eliminate most of the SM cars, or run it on Friday nights, instead of with the bracket series. I moved to TX the next spring, but I believe they changed it to Street class, and ran it on Wednesday nights with the T&T crowd.

Why not just say that Trophy cars and drivers can't be double entered into any other class?

Mike, there were several proposed solutions, and that was one of them.