I too, have been reluctant to comment, so many moving parts……

First, all opinions and ideas are valuable; sincere questions deserve to be respectfully answered. But any attempt to intimidate or stop free expression should be opposed. Polls and discussions are only a starting point to organize ideas; they are not final results, they should be kept in perspective.

Free expression doesn’t mean, however, all interests are equal. Obviously, those taking the greatest risk should have the most authority, and so on down the ladder.

Second, sanctioned drag racing is an entertainment business. Not all promoters and racers recognize this but sometimes they can be persuaded.

To the business side, there are three general financial interests here, in order of importance –
1) The Blankenships deserve to make a fair profit to cover their promotion work and risk-taking
2) The racers provide the entertainment and deserve an opportunity to recover their costs by performing in a fairly compensated competitive format
3) The spectators deserve to see the best show possible for the price of admission

To the entertainment side, at this point CCE is a regional brand-specific car show and bracket race series of moderate size with some specialty classes added. To the economics, it has been generally proven over time that spectators will not come out in sufficient numbers to make bracket racing promotion a profitable endeavor.

To both the entertainment and economic sides, Max Wedge and Hemi Super Stock are specialty nostalgia classes, subsets of Nostalgia Super Stock. These specialty classes are basically funded by the racers themselves with some support by sponsors, but they also have some added spectator appeal.

At reduced car count levels, which were already encountered in 2008 due to fuel costs and unfavorable weather, available funding will likely not allow enough support of small specialty classes. Even the larger bracket classes are being put in jeopardy as proved by the experimental ’Mopar vs. The World’ format.

Lately, the general economy has sustained major damage that will take years to repair. It is doubtful fuel prices will remain as low as they currently are. Even if they do, car counts could be lower in 2009. Lower car counts lead to less revenue.

So I believe it is reasonable to question how regional brand-specific bracket racing can survive this near-term environment.

As previously proposed, there needs to be a cooperative group effort to improve the situation.

However, this group first needs to ask the right question, which is, ‘How can we all work together to best structure the racing program to enhance both interests, entertainment and economic?’

Support of the existing series is needed, as others have said. Conditions might improve in a year or so.

But the series also needs to be attractive to the racers now. Racers attend events for many reasons, some like season-long points chases, some are content with one or two events, others prefer favorite tracks.

Geography, also previously mentioned, is an issue especially important to season-long racers. Leaving the western markets in Chicago and Indianapolis has reduced the balance and growth of the series. Perhaps there is more potential to the east; this is a very difficult choice which needs to be researched well.

Needed more than anything else though, is a change of perspective on what is good entertainment. There needs to be an attraction, something that makes CCE the place where both racers and spectators want to be.

That sizzle needs to be scheduled when spectators are most likely to watch, at night. And then the results need to be reported quickly and completely to every media outlet available with the goal of growing future interest.

The best outcome would be to both increase the car counts and the number of paying spectators. The SS/AH cars are of course a proven attraction. Are they affordable? Brand-rivalry formats such as NSS are also crowd pleasers. In the near future, nostalgia racing likely will grow.

One event with a NSS addition seems to be a reasonable experiment to try.

The Blankenships are good people, racers themselves who have the best interests of other racers in their hearts. Depending on what their vision and expectations are, they have various challenges to overcome.

For the entertainment side, however, the formats, promotion, public relations and communication departments could be better. And that improvement would eventually benefit the economic side.

Ultimately, CCE will be what the Blankenships, and secondarily, what the racers want it to be.

- Bob Wilkiewicz
355X ‘Psychotic ReAction’
Max Wedge/Nostalgia Super Stock