Monte, your points are well taken, and true. The professional climate today does not allow for match racing, as you and I remember it. The cost is too high, and with all the national events the schedule is too full. I suppose it's a natural progression....

That being said, I do think that the lack of big name match racing has hurt these local tracks badly. The biggest pure spectator crowds that I can rembember at old Keystone Raceway Park (now PRP), Beaver Springs, and the rest were on nights where there was a Sox-Jenkins match, A Nicholson-Stiles, or things like that. I have pictures of those evenings here when the place was absolutely packed with spectators, who paid an extra ten bucks admission.

Those guys bought the big names to the people...to those who read about them but were not in a position to drive to Indianapolis or St. Louis. Since those days, nothing has come to fill the void.

I'm not sure what the answer is. Here in the east, the Nostalgia races draw big crowds and are money makers, and the tracks are fighting over them, and that's the one bright spot that I see. The bracket guys are self supporting, but will not draw a crowd by themselves....they can probably pay the light bill, but will not make a living for the operator. The problem with some of the booked n circuits is that folks are usually disappointed in the overall quality of cars...there will be one or two good ones, and a bunch of leakers. A couple of those and the paying public will not come.

I think, if I was promoting, that the key would be to have something for everyone. Maybe a booked in circuit once a year, special events for whatever niche' segment is out there. I am one of the few who believe that the faster bracket classes can draw a crowd, if marketed right. However, the electronics and the other stuff that make them cookie cutter cars would have to go, so that is not realistic, either. One or two of the IHRA style "Night of Fire" would probably work.

If there was a way somehow to get a Del Worsham or a Phil Burkhart, An Allen Johnson or a Greg Anderson to the local tracks that would be the answer. But, that isn't going to happen. On top it off, we do not participate in a politically correct sport, and that is another thing working against them.

It's a real dilemma. As much as I love this sport, I am not sure I would invest in a drag strip right now.