After I saw a post on Alpar by Myron, I typed this letter to the president of the host club.
DC
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Hello, I stopped by and talked to some of the members Sunday morning
at the tent to say hi and see how things were going. I'm a racer, and
have been to this show since 2008. Granted with the economy the way it
is, it's kinda understandable why the turn out was so poor. However, we
the racers have been trying to get Tim at SGMP to move the race to
early or mid April just to take advantage of nicer weather and temps.
Many of us thought we had them convinced last year to move it, but for
some reason they kept the same dates. I know what their logic is,
Holiday weekend and Monday to travel. We don't buy into that because if
you looked around the track by 3pm it was empty and everyone was
already heading home.
To give you a racer's perspective of things I can tell you the heat
just kills us, the track and our enthusiasm to keep coming back to this
heat. While we got lucky this year with the lack of rain. Years past
have not been so lucky and reap havoc on the drag racing schedule for
the weekend. While the racer turnout was o.k this year and the smallest
in the past. I can tell you I know of a LOT of racers who choose not to
come because of the heat and the weather. I'm pretty sure the same goes
for the car show crowd as well.
I'm not a car show guy. The way I see it the Host car club has to
take an active roll in promoting and conducting the races too. The
track does a good job running the races but they run the races like any
other bracket night. The payouts are a little sketchy too. Car count
has a lot to do with that but, there is room for improvement. There
needs to be "Manufacturer" class sponsor to help with the payouts and
prizes for each class. When I first came to this show in '08 it was run
pretty good with a LOT of emphasis on the races, prizes and money.
That's what brings the racers in. In '09 the "Arm Drop" race was the
feature of the race with a payout to the winner of $1350 and a huge
trophy and bragging rights, Last year (which I won) had no club
sponsorship what so ever and was worth 500.00 to the winner and 200.00
runner up and no trophy. This year it was almost an after thought. The
Arm Drop race was a joke with such a wide margin between the cars
involved and no one enforcing any rules. There were several sand
baggers getting away with murder. This absolutely made int NO FUN for
those involved. But what it proves is no one' cares about how it's
being done and the track is just doing the very minimum possible. When
MOPAR MUSCLE Magazine was the title sponsor there was some pride and
class to the show/race. You guys need to get them fully involved again
and get some real sponsors for each class.
We realize this show was thrust upon your club. But now it's time to
step up and turn this thing into the next "Garlits Show with Drag
Racing"! It can be done. You just have to throw the bait out there to
draw the crowd!
The bottom line is you can't let the track run the racing event
without any club participation. Otherwise it's just another bracket
race during the heat of the day. People would rather stay home and run
their local track with better payouts at night like they normally do.
1) Earlier date, Mid March to mid April
2) Major Class sponsors for racing (that way the track won't have to
solely rely on the entry fees for the purse)
3) Get Mopar Muscle back into the picture (Magazine exposure and
coverage afterwards for this event is huge)
4) maybe involve Jr. dragsters to get more families out there racing??
If you have any questions or would like to talk, feel free to contact
me:
813-732-4327
Chris Duerden
