hows drag racing down south ? it feels like its dying up in the north ...car counts ect

curious maybe its our market up here in new england but at epping Nh new england dragway .....Dead no car counts ..barely any people on weekends

only thing doing well it seems is mayb Pro and super Pro and maybve not vs years before

8.50 index ...... 4-6 cars
9.50 index ....2-3 cars to give example


you get the idea , my thing is whats the future of this . i mean no families at track like i hear from the old timers saying it used to be a family affair .  

maybe im missing it but hows it in your local area ? can we blame just the economy ?

Seems the sport is dying as in less and less younger people getting involved and when the older guys give it up there just less and less to take over .

post up your guys thoughts on all of this and maybe insite of your local track

Things are slow around here but seem to be very different from track to track. Local track has low count but Holly springs is pretty packed. I think it is the economy. I also think think some of the tracks have become so so money oriented they are pricing ther self out of buissness. Now it is a 100 bucks min. to bracket race not counting towing to the track. Alot of people around here don't have it. Think it would be better if it would they would get back to grass roots offering something that is more afforable to get the ## 's up. I still think for most of us race for fun and not money. I guess guess it is fun to race race for big bucks but when you have no realistc chance at winning it takes the fun out of it. Ijust don't get to race enough to have double 0 lights all night.

the insurance for track owners is killing it. If it weren't for lawyers, there would be the same track count and sport vibrancy of the 50's.

Tracks are closing left and right because of the liability insurance the owners have to carry.

Waivers be damned, doesn't matter what you sign, its always someone else's responsibility to ensure you don't hurt yourself.

With NHRA all but killing the sportsman "importance" and making PRO the only division that gets any coverage, mention, etc...

The ability to attract dollars to fund a car is tight.

The crap economy that our wonderful President keeps burning into the ground, sure ain't helping the independent guy make it work.

Most tracks have the die hards, that tend to run off the newbs, teens, etc, because they mess up protocol and staging, and wet the track, or oil down, or etc.......

The cycle is coming around were most exhibitions of speed will happen on streets again, instead of someplace where the risks are controlled, medical personnel are standing by, and grandma aint going to back out her driveway into the path of a car coming at her at 200mph.

That would make a great reality show!  

car and spectator counts are down in Canada as well.

get a reality show in your state about racing, have them show up at the track and count the $$$$$$$$$

At Milan ... grudge night, which is merely a glorified test & tune with no scoreboard other than win lights, (but, a lot of money changes hands), gets a better car count than a normal race weekend.
At least once a month they have a special, larger show there, though.

The economy, fuel & food prices, depressed wages are very much part of the equation.
 
What may be bigger is the generational divide of interest. 1st there was the ricer generation and now there is the "I can't take my hands off of my smart ass phone long enough to do anything else".
 
All sports need new blood to have a future....the teens and 20's group by and large do not know about racing & if they do they do not care.
 
For all I know....the USA may have a sever decline of population if the male and females are just sitting on the couch texting each other.

Lem Evans wrote:The economy, fuel & food prices, depressed wages are very much part of the equation.
 
What may be bigger is the generational divide of interest. 1st there was the ricer generation and now there is the "I can't take my hands off of my smart ass phone long enough to do anything else".
 
All sports need new blood to have a future....the teens and 20's group by and large do not know about racing & if they do they do not care.
 
For all I know....the USA may have a sever decline of population if the male and females are just sitting on the couch texting each other.

Lem..........so true!

Lem Evans wrote:The economy, fuel & food prices, depressed wages are very much part of the equation.
 
What may be bigger is the generational divide of interest. 1st there was the ricer generation and now there is the "I can't take my hands off of my smart ass phone long enough to do anything else".
 
All sports need new blood to have a future....the teens and 20's group by and large do not know about racing & if they do they do not care.
 
For all I know....the USA may have a sever decline of population if the male and females are just sitting on the couch texting each other.

the biggest challange I faced as a teacher was to generate an interest in things mechanical. Getting the newer generations to think for them selves is a real problem.

.... or kids get "bored" and go shoot somebody........ btw that shit happend 30 minutes from here. One of our service writers knows the father of the one that drove the car real well ....... messed up deal.

At my local track its the same as you all .About half as many cars in all classes (pro super pro street) And most racers are 30-60 year old .It is all about how much it costs to race .Fuel cost are hurting all forms of racing spectators feel the financial pinch as well .The track owner hasnt raised prices but we know he isnt making the money he used too.Very few go to friday night test and tune including me .The average guys income hasnt kept up with the cost of living .I am retired and have to work side jobs to keep up .Doug:cry: 

i think it will be harder in the next 10 years for drag racing ,

like lem said not enough younger generation to get involved with the sport and the older guys to young guys turn over wont be good .

i could see it taking a huge decline


walk into a middle school i bet you 80-85 % of kids dont even know what a dragstrip is ....and few might

it starts with kids in anything as sports , Myself i am 24 years old and young to most of you i started racing Go karts when i was 5 years old 5hp briggs and got into racing that way at a young age .

what im getting at is if your started off young most of the time you will have exsposure and an interest of it . Circle or drag racing

im with lem.theres no intrest in tinkering with veh any more. hell we cant find any decent younger techs that want to work.i would like to think that since im an auto enthusiast and have a passion for what I do it has helped me be a better tech and can understand quicker certain issues on a veh.i love my hot rods,i love my job(can be a pain at times)it all goes hand in hand.the younger generation could care less imo...

torino501 wrote:im with lem.theres no intrest in tinkering with veh any more. hell we cant find any decent younger techs that want to work.i would like to think that since im an auto enthusiast and have a passion for what I do it has helped me be a better tech and can understand quicker certain issues on a veh.i love my hot rods,i love my job(can be a pain at times)it all goes hand in hand.the younger generation could care less imo...

A good point ... young people CAN'T work on their own street car engines anymore because they are all electronic controlled.
For me ... that IS where it started.

I very seldom attend a reg sat night race anymore even as a spectator.Most of the races I do attend are all Ford events or All Nostalgia events. The Nostalgia events are always jammed packed w/guy's between 45 and 70 yrs . They are usually accompanied w/family . I think most of the problem is mostly because of what Lem's comments were. 

i ask myself im 24 years old ......

own a house , work for a great company , ect do better than most my age

yes my mustang isnt done and i dont have what some have in it but its a dmc cage chromoly cert to 8.50s and mini tubbed ect

so i have some involved ........what im getting at is i ask myself what am i getting involved in . I mean when im 40 years old is there going top be any classes or what will it be like . Most Guys around my age dont even know what a big block ford is let alone anything car related .

i wonder somtimes if im on a dead end road with my age and the way the sports going . But i will keep plugging along until it gets better or worse

5pointslow wrote:i think it will be harder in the next 10 years for drag racing ,

like lem said not enough younger generation to get involved with the sport and the older guys to young guys turn over wont be good .

i could see it taking a huge decline


walk into a middle school i bet you 80-85 % of kids dont even know what a dragstrip is ....and few might

it starts with kids in anything as sports , Myself i am 24 years old and young to most of you i started racing Go karts when i was 5 years old 5hp briggs and got into racing that way at a young age .

what im getting at is if your started off young most of the time you will have exsposure and an interest of it . Circle or drag racing

Agreed. My dad started me working on cars by just simply doing stuff ourselves to save money and that is how my interest started. Today at age 48 I still do everything I can on my own stuff to save $$.

rmcomprandy wrote:

torino501 wrote:im with lem.theres no intrest in tinkering with veh any more. hell we cant find any decent younger techs that want to work.i would like to think that since im an auto enthusiast and have a passion for what I do it has helped me be a better tech and can understand quicker certain issues on a veh.i love my hot rods,i love my job(can be a pain at times)it all goes hand in hand.the younger generation could care less imo...

A good point ... young people CAN'T work on their own street car engines anymore because they are all electronic controlled.
For me ... that IS where it started.

Also as was said earlier, at $100 for entry fees, that is pretty stiff ask someone to shell out each week, and people just don't have it. It seems to me that inflation has far outpaced incomes. That is why it's taking me so long to get my turd done. To many things taking what little free cash I have available, so I am trying to find a pt job to generate some extra cash.

HorsinAround wrote:

5pointslow wrote:i think it will be harder in the next 10 years for drag racing ,

like lem said not enough younger generation to get involved with the sport and the older guys to young guys turn over wont be good .

i could see it taking a huge decline


walk into a middle school i bet you 80-85 % of kids dont even know what a dragstrip is ....and few might

it starts with kids in anything as sports , Myself i am 24 years old and young to most of you i started racing Go karts when i was 5 years old 5hp briggs and got into racing that way at a young age .

what im getting at is if your started off young most of the time you will have exsposure and an interest of it . Circle or drag racing

Agreed. My dad started me working on cars by just simply doing stuff ourselves to save money and that is how my interest started. Today at age 48 I still do everything I can on my own stuff to save $$.

rmcomprandy wrote:

torino501 wrote:im with lem.theres no intrest in tinkering with veh any more. hell we cant find any decent younger techs that want to work.i would like to think that since im an auto enthusiast and have a passion for what I do it has helped me be a better tech and can understand quicker certain issues on a veh.i love my hot rods,i love my job(can be a pain at times)it all goes hand in hand.the younger generation could care less imo...

A good point ... young people CAN'T work on their own street car engines anymore because they are all electronic controlled.
For me ... that IS where it started.

Also as was said earlier, at $100 for entry fees, that is pretty stiff ask someone to shell out each week, and people just don't have it. It seems to me that inflation has far outpaced incomes. That is why it's taking me so long to get my turd done. To many things taking what little free cash I have available, so I am trying to find a pt job to generate some extra cash.

My Dad was a mechanic when I was young until he hurt his back and was not able to pull heads and trans out by his self. We all know how all the old iron stuff is heavy but he always did his own work on our cars/trucks. I started helping him and my brother when I was old enough to start pulling on wrenches. I have been around old school stock drag cars most all my life I will be for 47 in a few months. I agree the cost of entering a race is a lot more now then when we was carrying my brother 69 Mach 1 it cost more to TNT than it did to race back then. I still love racing and can't wait till I get my trans built in the ranger and make a few passes in it. As far as the tracks around here they still look like they are doing good we hadn't had one to close yet but one is up for sale again.

I've been to Bunker Hill a few times this year and the first one was just a regular program, and I think the only spectators were family members. The other time was when they had the wheel stand competition and it had a decent turn out, not great, but decent. As soon as the finale was over, they all started leaving.

Its pretty much the same thing at the big events too. When the lower classes are on the track, a lot of the crowd is out looking around in vendor alley. Then when the big boys start lining up their toys, the stands fill up again.

rmcomprandy wrote:
A good point ... young people CAN'T work on their own street car engines anymore because they are all electronic controlled.
For me ... that IS where it started.

That is how I learned everything. I couldn't afford to pay anyone to fix anything but I could figure it out for free.

richter69 wrote:.... or kids get "bored" and go shoot somebody........ btw that shit happend 30 minutes from here. One of our service writers knows the father of the one that drove the car real well ....... messed up deal.

I would be surprised if the kid knows the man as his father. Obviously, the dad isn't doing his part.

torino501 wrote:im with lem.theres no intrest in tinkering with veh any more. hell we cant find any decent younger techs that want to work.i would like to think that since im an auto enthusiast and have a passion for what I do it has helped me be a better tech and can understand quicker certain issues on a veh.i love my hot rods,i love my job(can be a pain at times)it all goes hand in hand.the younger generation could care less imo...

Welfare pays more in 35 states that minimum wage. What's the incentive to work. Welfare should mean that your kind of wondering if you are going to eat 3 meals a day.

"Also as was said earlier, at $100 for entry fees, that is pretty stiff ask someone to shell out each week, and people just don't have it. It seems to me that inflation has far outpaced incomes. That is why it's taking me so long to get my turd done. To many things taking what little free cash I have available, so I am trying to find a pt job to generate some extra cash."

[/quote]
Maybe that's the biggest componet. $100 entry fees...where else does the "player" pay to put on the show? Anyone think The NBA players gotta pay $100 and hope like hell they win to break even?

It has seemed to slow a little but not too bad a lot of people are taking longer to get their projects done because they have had to take decreases in pay due to the economy. I think it's more of a slump than anything.

I have two kids one boy and one girl and surprisingly my daughter is the one into racing she wants to help me anytime I work on my car and very enthusiastic. My son lives with his mother other than every other weekend and she lets him play video games all the time and he is constantly talking about that I try to get him into things other than that. My daughter is gonna be six in the next month and I plan on buying her a Junior to get started into the sport once she is old enough. We have spent time looking at them on the interweb and she has a pretty good idea what she would like to do.

I think part of the decline is so many children have X-box and Playstations as babysitters these days. A lot of parents are lazy and some just have to work to much to be as involved as they would like (which is sad honestly).