Don't kid yourself about this Wayne.Originally posted by Wayne@Oct 24 2005, 06:56 PM
Isn't that the truth. I spent 6 years in and around the local circle track scene before coming to road racing 5 years ago. The cost structure and mindset is completely different. Their trophies are huge, the trophy girls are hot, and their sponsors and the track actually PAY THEM money to run.
We have local beater small car classes with very minimal build requirements that pay $300-$500 to win at some of the enduros. These guys have all of $600 or so into these little things (at most), and pay a $20 gate fee to race each night against full fields!
The sponsor mindset is completely different as well. The circle track guys EXPECT to have sponsors in order to even get on the track. Many of them simply will not race if they don't have sponsors to foot a good portion of the bill (if not all of it). When I tell these guys that I don't have any sponsors (at least what they think of as a sponsor $$$$$) in road racing, they look at me like I'm a complete idiot... wait, ok nevermind.. The thought of an individual footing almost the entire cost to go racing is just not in their mindset.
Having said all that, you won't find me bad mouthing circle track racing, as I miss many aspects of it. While I usually had more car repair/maintenance on my circle track car then I do on my road race car, road racing has been far, far more stressful on my family then circle track racing ever was.
Wayne
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I spent 6 years crewing for a friend's circle-track car. This was an asphalt Late Model. We weren't the cheapest class (Street Stocks were below us), but we werent' the Modified or the Sportsman either. We didn't have any of the really low-budget or 4-cyl classes. But don't kid yourself, even those cars weren't cheap to race. Unless there is some kind of spec parts rule, or a claiming rule, don't expect to see a $600 car run at the front.
Our class were all tube-frame cars w/ fiberglass bodies. There were limits on the motors, but a top motor was still $8k - $10k (and this was an iron head, flat-top piston, 2bbl carb motor). All the crew had to pay to get in, and we had to buy NASCAR crew licenses. IIRC, it was $50 for the license for the year, and $20/wk to get in. Mutiply that by 5 or 6 each week, every week. It was a new set of tires each week, if you wanted any chance of running at the front ($400).
The race paid $600 or $800 to win (I forget the exact amount), and $80- to take the green flag. I think that purse money (anything above the $80) went back to 5th place, which was $100 instead of $80. One of the reasons that the tracks can afford to pay prize money, is that they're putting several hundred (a couple thousand) butts in the seats @ $15 - $25/each.
I know part of the reason for the fan appeal is that it's local. Most of the fans know at least one driver personally. They neighbors, co-workers, local business owners, etc. So they are people that they know. That, and they can see the entire race. The track we raced at was a 5/8th mile "D", and you could pretty much see the whole track from any seat in the house. And then there's the crash factor. This is just a part of short track racing, and it's one of the things that puts butts in the seats.
Ah yes, the crash factor. The times we brought the car home w/o having fix some crash damage were far less than the times we did. Maybe one weekend out of every 4 or 5. And those Five-Star fiberglass bodies don't hold up all that well. And while we had some sponsorship (sure as hell not very much), most of the money came out of the owner/driver's pocket. IIRC, he told me that he had spent well over $50k of his own money, over the course of 6 years of racing. Some people may not see that as all that much, over that period of time. But, he also got almost $20k worth of sponsorship during that same time period.
Oh, and let's talk about track time value (amount of track time for your $$$). Typical weekend was as follows:
3-5 min. warmup period
8 lap heat race (~20 seconds/lap)
12 lap consolation race
20 lap feature
Granted, yellow-flag laps (which there were plenty of) didn't count towards the lap total, but you also weren't at speed.
So, that's 40 laps @ ~20 seconds/lap for ~ 12-13 min. along w/ the warmups, worked out to about 15 min. of track time per weekend. And pretty much the only way to break even was to finish 1st or 2nd, and 2nd was real close.
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for good short-track drivers, but I just never found it all that appealing.
Matt, you've hit the nail on the head! These kids will spend TONS of money on their cars, but there are a couple of key factors. For the most part, these kids think that just throwing money at the car (in terms of motor, turbo, suspension, etc.) will make the car faster. Very few of these kids EVER focus on driver development. This will be born out by going to just about any HPDE/lapping day, where a racer shows up w/ an IT car. You will quite often see ITC/B/A cars turning quicker lap times than cars w/ 2x-3x more horsepower.It's very difficult to explain road racing to anyone and especially the younger crowd, most of whom can't be bothered with rules and regulations which are for us old f**kers. The vast majority of the Tuner Kids were raised on the Playstation and want instant gratification - in other words, all this "going to racing school" and "building a legal car" is just a waste of time when they can go "race" their buddies on the Interstate at 1 am. Lastly, we all accept that our racecars are expendable b/c s**t happens - the Tuner Kids are driving their "baby" and while they have a desire to race, they aren't willing to accept or even understand that their "baby" can go from Creampuff to Scrap pile in a matter of seconds.
Most of these kids have no idea about car setup and are of the attitude that "hey, I've got coilovers on my car, so it handles like a race car". I have to laugh when these kids ask about what springs are best, and they talk about brand names, rather than spring rates. I'd be willing to bet that if you walk up to 10 kids at one of these HPDE events, all of which have coilover setups on their cars, that 9 of them will have no idea what spring rate, or free length their springs are. You'll get answers like "It's a Weitec Cup Kit" or "They're H&R race springs". Most of these kids don't have a clue, and get most of their information for magazines.
A second key factor that Matt touched on, is the fact that these cars are their 'baby'. Most can't afford to write them off (as they're still paying for them), nor do they want to think about having to fix the bodywork. They also need something they can drive down to the local Pizza Hut with, and do burnout contests in the parking lot, w/ the rest of their wanker Tuner Kid buddies.
And because these kids think that they way to make a car faster is to just throw more money at it, they just don't get the concept of running w/ in a defined set of rules (e.g. "But why can't I can't I put a T4 turbo on my JDM B16A?" or "What do you mean I can't run a VR6 in my '78 Rabbit?" or "You've got to be kidding, I have to run 15x6 wheels instead of the 17x8's that I have?"
Sorry to say, but the vast majority of these kids will never 'get' road racing. They'd much rather go to Hot Import Nights, have burnout contests, and take pictures w/ NOPI skanks.
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He won $300 for winning a 3 hour enduro. Those little fiestas must be tuff... not sure I could race a fiesta for 3 hours in a circle though.
And a cooler bolted down in back? 
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