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How To Kill Your Local Short Track
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
- Episode #63 of "Kenny Conversation" is dirt racer and track owner Gordy Gundaker!
#racing #kennywallace #NASCAR #dirtracing
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***thumbnail photos courtesy of Charlie Marlow, Gordy Gundaker & Tri-City Speedway
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It really sucks, we lost Manzanita speedway, and canyon raceway, and Arizona speedway, people really need to think about what they say before spitting there bulls$@t on the internet. Thank you Gordy for you and your family keeping dirt racing alive. Kenny thank you for putting these people on blast.
Yep, Im here in AZ too. Luckily, Im close to and run Mohave Valley. But most of the ones in Phx area we lost
I also live in AZ now after being away for 33 years I miss attending those tracks to include Corona growing up. Now I just watch the racing on Flo and DirtVision not sure when or if I will ever attend a race again at a race track.
@garywalbert same I'm going to watch little Rick here in a few, you literally have to have all the apps to keep up nowadays.
@@garywalbert where in AZ? Mohave Valley still runs
It’s called supply and demand. Tracks will come and go.
$20 K chasses and $40K motors is what killed short track racing
Been this way for 30 years not new
@@alexbernard8266 The upper middle class and middle class in general is much smaller now though.
so dang expensive to even get into hobby classes and entry level classes like B mods and Stock Cars too. I've been a year away from affording a car for like 6 years now as every time I set a financial goal everything inflates more than said goal!
You can build HP alot less. The machine work is the majority I'd the engine cost.
Great great video! You and Gordy said it so well!!
Man those were the good ol' days as a kid. Going to Tri City or Belleville on fridays nights and I55 on saturday nights watching all classes. The Dixon, Gundaker, Klein, Hammerle slinging dirt days.
I remember
Racing has become too much of a business. The days of local people building cars and going racing are over. My dad had a full-time job and built our car and tuned it at night in our garage. We loaded up Saturday afternoon and went racing Saturday night. We didn't win a lot, but we had fun. From a financial standpoint, it made no sense, but that wasn't the point anyway. We did it because we enjoyed it. Sadly, those days are gone and that's a shame.
Heh? Who do you think races? Local people building and going racing aren’t over. That’s exactly who is the majority of racers. it was a hobby, and is a hobby. Hobbies don’t make financial sense. You’re paying for your own entertainment. That’s what a hobby is. Nothings changed.
@@dirftboth20 The expense has though, and that's the problem. Since 93 when the jobs started rocketing out of the country wages have fell woefully behind and have never caught up.
@@stealthbomber2127 Ah, it's stagnant wages. For sure. You said it was because racing was too much of a business originally. Now I agree.
Great show and great interview. I bet most of them never attend a dirt track and see what these drivers go through to prepare for these races on a weekly basis. I used to rack at a local dirt track near Erie Pennsylvania and enjoyed it. Yes we used to get rained out but that's the nature of the beast.
Whats hurting the tracks around me is they constantly start late,run five clases and dont run an efficient show. It gets to the point that heat races dont get started till 9pm. Then it 1 or 2 am before you get out of the track. This happens every week.You will see families with 2 kids leaving before heats are even over. There are some track 3 hours away that only run 3 classes and are over by 10:30. Stands are packed every weekend. You have the occasional bad night or unforseen circumstances but when its every week it hurts the track.
Thats my issue. I'm too old to watch after 10:30. Body won't allow it.
I grew up close to Greenville-Pickens Speedway outside Greenville, SC. They ran TWO classes of cars, Hobby & Late Model and had tons of fans attending. Tim in northern TN
I yook my son a while back and he wanted to see the cars in the pits and we finally got out of the infield at 3am.
We had a family, weekend warrior, racing program for many years. Everything from 250cc micro sprints, 1200cc mini sprints to 410 Sprint Cars. All our racing was in the Pacific Northwest, Deming Speedway was our home track for the mini sprint racing, Skagit Speedway for the big car. Anyhow, the sport is incredibly strong in the Northwest, I am glad to say! Short track racing is solid out here. Heck, right now Deming Speedway (a 1/6 mile bull ring) is hosting the Clay Cup Nationals, 4 different classes Junior Sprint, 600 Restricted, 600 Open and 1200's. 137 cars are entered for 2 days of qualifications and the Grand Finale on Saturday night! 137, yup! Things are strong out here!! Kenny, if you have a chance, check out Deming Speedway. Family owned and operated, self promoted and one of the best run shows around!!
I have been waiting for this video I took a racing vacation.. decided to do the hell tour.. I made it to 5 track last one try City. That was not going to be my last track. But the races
Made my decision to x vs all it quits. First off I met you at I 55 two years ago I camped out in the infield with my little teardrop.. the lady that ran 55 is an angel. I didn’t know that that track was not being run on a weekly basis. I’m talking about Tri-City. They cleaned it up, painted it up and polished the pig as she would say it was the nicest and cleanest track I’ve been to the racing was really good also. I watched you and Team from old number seven garage, and I probably would’ve come over and bought merchandise from both of you but the way I was treated it just didn’t seem right for me to spend my money. I was belittled. Looked down own. I had a beer can thrown at me and was ask if I had lost a bet. Whit that said . And finding out that track was shut down. Kind of blew my mind. My complaint is this. I’ve been racing my whole life since I can remember walking through the pits. I’ve never countered such rudeness and down fragrantly mean people that wanna race but the tracks are being shut down, kinda get where I’m going at, I don’t care who comes to the race track you better think they have money they’re gonna spend it. I took $5000 to go on vacation. My goal was to buy merchandise from everyone and I watch on CZcams. And I’ll just tell you like it is hunt the front the ladies are awesome. The guys not so 07 garage looked at me and couldn’t get away from me fast enough. I didn’t even come over and talk to you. Was it worth my self-esteem at that point was pretty much in the shitter. I did get to see Holland racing. I took a five hour detour to go see them from Eldora to ErieZ speedway. And they seem to be the nicest ones that I have all of I’ve been interacted with racing is expensive sport. If you have somebody coming to your sport to watch it and spend money, the thing that you should do is be nice talk to them people. I won’t be back up there again, obviously you don’t need my money.
GORDY!!!!! He ain't wrong. Don Heiner taught me one thing when he ran Belleville, and I had STL Motorsport Magazine. We posted something about the track and how something had been officiated, and the next time I showed up Don took me for a golf cart ride out to the parking lot. He explained to me how every unkind or negative word that I said affected every person working at that track, from the ticket takers to the 50/50 girls. It was a good lesson in constructive criticism versus bashing.
Y’all have failed to talk about the cost of living! When a normal family can’t afford groceries! How are they supposed to take their family to track!
Unfortunately, those are problems these families can no longer relate to.
One track here is affordable for weekly shows $15, now the specials are $35 to $40 for grandstand.
That’s just about every track’s prices for special events
Kenny, thanks for having Gordy on and thanks to Gordy for coming on. Gordy explained it perfectly. The Gundakers are great people. It doesn’t make sense to bash a driver or track owner when we don’t even know them or walk in their shoes. Thanks again Kenny you are truly a race fan and ambassador to our beloved sports.
Keep in mind the same costs that effect race tracks also includes movie theaters, bowling centers, concerts, amusement parks and everything thing else entertainment. All fighting for our limited dollars.
Let's be honest. There are a LOT of factors involved as to why tracks close. If people can't afford to attend due to the economy, that's out of the track's control. Concession and ticket prices are well within the track's control. The mindset of the ownership matters too. Albany Saratoga Speedway is about to close. Not because people don't show up, not because the economy is bad. Nope, it's closing because a real estate developer offered an assload of cash to the 80 something year old owner and he said "I'm taking the money and getting out."
There's a myriad of reasons tracks close, and frankly, there's not a damn thing most of us can do to change that when eggs are 6 bucks a dozen, property values skyrocket and owners are seeing a fat check waved in their faces to relinquish ownership to people who don't want to keep that track around...
The old dude at 80 should cash out and live life. He worked hard and should reap the rewards.
That sounds like the florida motto, money changes everything basi ally for the worse! Pretty only goes so far!
A lot of people only see one side of things owning a race track is incredibly difficult and most years owners struggle to just break even. I have raced worked as a tech for a traveling series and race directed for the same series and I will gladly chose to race any day of the week the owners and work unfairly take the brunt of things and he is exactly right on what he is saying and everyone gets butt hurt when a track announces they are closing because it's no longer worth the headache
I've gained a ton of respect for Gordy Gundaker. He's very well spoken and has a ton of inside knowledge of how this sport works. All the best of luck and and I hope you can keep Tri Cities alive for a long time to come.
I hope and pray that my local dirt track, Volusia County Speedway in Florida never comes under attack. They do one hell of a good job promoting races there in many different classes. The track does bring in a lot of revenue to the little town of Barberville, Florida. One thing the track has going for it, all the property surrounding the track for miles is wet-lands that is protected by the state of Florida and will never get developed.
Thanks guys, the truth sucks..I guess that's progress.Should make a lot of undesirables happy. Best wishes to Kenny and the local tracks that are still around.
Kenny. You nailed it perfectly at 15.00
Ignorant and stupid are completely different. Also love the comment about “they’ve always just worked for people” never having run a business is a huge area of ignorance in this country.
The cost to run these cars is out of control, the small guy at a local series is not making any money doing it so it's come down to big money backed teams chasing big events.
Exactly most people can't afford it now
Agreed. Small tracks and fan support comes from having your friends or a family member involved in racing. The average guy and availability of cars that are easily made into a stocker to run locally are gone today. I liked to go see and participate in spectator races when I was a kid. Lot's of cool old cars back then like chevelles/galaxies/B body mopars etc running. Today watching a front wheel drive 4 banger run around the track is like watching grass grow.
You guys nailed it! Gordy I loved your post - and this made it even better.
I would like to know if the streaming platforms are hurting or helping our short tracks? What do you guys think?
And I remember Gordy at I-55 as a kid. I worked on Ed Dixons car for couple years back in the 2000's. Remember getting home at 4 or 5am after hanging with everyone as well. Best night was when Kenny and Kenny Schrader raced, OMG we had a good time after that one.... Schrader told Ray that the lights were stayin on cuz he was payin the bill..lol
Dirt tracks are kinda like Drag Strips because it seems you always hear of tracks shutting down but rarely hear of any new tracks being built.
Hey Kenny, Social Media has also made for very lazy promotions. Even for standard businesses. Over 95% of my customers in my business have come from at the door advertising. Putting flyers and signs out, knocking on doors, offering a free service or for race tracks a free ticket or other offer. I live 30 mins from hickory motor speedway. Place has a few 100 ppl show up besides special events and yet not once have i received a mail flyer, phone call, yard sign on the corner, nothing. Its like it doesnt exist outside of social media. Most promoters have personally told me they dont do door ads.
If i got paid to do it id be at every store, every job offering employees tickets, kids passes, new places everyweek.
Second issue is, the drivers these days load up, pack and leave before the races even end, so the fans that do show, never even meet any drivers. Multiple Drivers should be promoted every single week in the grandstands face to face. Signing autographs, and meeting fans.
Hopefully i dont sound like the dummies but this is something obvious thats changed in my lifetime
Unfortunately the truth is is that there's a certain number of people who get on the Internet just to piss people off. It's usually people that hate their lives so it's a misery loves company situation.
I live in Gas City Indiana and I wish the track was still open. I also watch Dirtvision on a regular basis. I believe tv programs like that enable people to enjoy dirt track racing from their homes. I think has an impact on the tracks incomes.
Dad always said an empty barrel echoes the loudest, pay no attention to ignorance
What a great conversation. I've known gundakers from racing way back,they do all they can to make everything perfect from there cars n track for fans,back these people with support.
I was at Macon Speedway on Thursday for the SummerNations Race. Saw a great race, food was decent priced, saw a couple local legends Dick Taylor, Tommy Scott. Thanks to Bob Sargent, You, Tony Stewart, and Kenny Schrader for keeping this place going. Lincoln Il Speedway is putting on a show every other weekend, same with Jacksonville Speedway. Unfortunately tragedy struck at Jacksonville last night. Farmer City puts on a great show every Friday night. #saveourshorttracks I grew up across the street from Jungle Jim Davidson, and close enough to Springfield Il speedway(which is now home to a Walgreens, McDonalds, Starbucks, and a bank) I could hear the cars from my backyard on Sunday nights. Keep up the great Shows, cant wait to see the one with Bob Sargent
Kenny, I have been going to short dirt tracks since around 1956 when we were going to the old Myrtle Beach race track ( 1/8 mile I believe) watching the old time drivers including Curtis Turner, Crawfish Crider. We had tracks around here, Georgetown, South Carolina running Wed. Thurs. Fri. and Sat. We had 4 tracks within 35 miles and then another 4 or 5 within 80 miles. I have seen them double file for 1/2 the track for the main event many times. Today I think there are four left in 100 miles of me that are still open. That was the good old days for me around here.. Back in those days there were probably 25 cars just in Georgetown. I tried my best to get a ride or help out with the hope of driving until the early 70's and then I just gave up. So now I have a Polaris Slingshot and get my kicks hanging the ass out on the track or the crooked roads around Maggie Valley or Bristol. I just turned 77 years old.
Great talk and spot on no one knows what it's like to run a track. Easy to say you can but,can you ? Great convo guys I shall share the shit out of it.
Great video and conversation. Gordy I have seen your dad race and what he has done to the race track. Your family has made a great improvement to Tri-City Raceway, I remember when it was the half mile and run by the Wente's. Keep up the great work Kevin and Tammy, lots of love from this guy.
Thank you Kenny! And thank you Gordy for speaking out.! Both of you are absolutely correct and it's just the small amount of people ruining it for the greater good. Also, I learned the difference between "Short Track" racing and "Specialty" events. I pray that not only the Gundakers(sp?) but the industry itself grows. I hope the financial terrain and business model improves because I suspect it more of a money issues for track failures
Great conversation!
It is sad to see tracks that are becoming a part of history. Hats off to both of you and your families as well as all the promoters across the country for what you all have contributed to the sport if dirt racing.
I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska, is sadly one of the many tracks that are no longer there.
Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa struggles to get car counts every week. If it was privately owned, it would likely end up being added to the list as well.
Hey Kenny, have you ever sat d own and figured out how many different tracks you've been? Took a few days to recall but I'm working on 34 and counting. Schrader has run in every state outside Rhode Island and Hawaii, does he know how many tracks he's been to, think he keeps track and can give us a number
Shorter feature races and higher admission prices are what is killing your local short tracks. But nobody's gonna talk about that.
Grew up right in between Farmer City and Fairbury. Rooted for your dad everytime he made it to either track
Danville IL, Dauraty Boswell IN, Sweet-Owen Spencer IN, Freedom Freedom IN, Sullivan Sullivan IN. Jungle Park north of Rockville IN. That is off the top of my head in my area. Sorry if i forgot any. The point is there are too many gone.
I love that Cleetus bought my home track, Desoto Speedway which is now known as the Freedom Factory on SR64...! I spent many years there as a teenager in the 90s with a team that ran the black number 3 Monte Carlo who won the track championship three years in a row...! They had a female driver (Kim) and were fast...! Ron Hurst and Bill Currie taught me a bunch about Chevy engines and how to turn a wrench....! I just heard that Amelia Hartford may be purchasing Willow Springs and has put in a serious offer...! Are CZcamsrs really saving the American race tracks...?! I hope so, we can't keep losing all the historic tracks to subdivisions...!!! Thanks for sharing... Keep up your awesomeness...!!!!!
Great job Kenny and Gordy. I was a fan of your Dad for a long time. I use to a team out of Milstate the Hildebrands when modified was a different kinda class. We ran Belleclare, Pevely and Godfrey. I agree something needs to be done to bring back the great times. I'm originally from Paducah the home of PIR but before that was Keeling Raceway that was my introduction to dirt tracks as a young boy of 5yrs old . Keep up the great work you and Kenny are doing. Rite now I live less than 3 blocks from Bellaire and miss hear the music of the race cars.
i think its between the bad mouthing and the prices for everything killing it. We used to run late models in the 90s and early 2000s and was competitive with a shop built motor and could run all but the RR 2-3 nights. There were a lot of people that had cars in our area all different classes now they are few and far in between.
How bout this? Tri city and i55 work together to have a added points fund from both tracks combined? Be a boost for the local fellas and incentive to stay around home and race
Hi Uncle Kenny, this was a good one. I am not going to tell you how smart you are. What I heard and seen here is there are track owners/promoters that work just as hard as the race crews every week. Yes we have some dumb fans and I appreciate you calling them out. We also got rained out here the last two weeks but I still hate NASCAR and now I hate all this rain. Peace sir
You two said it best.
Rockford Speedway with so much history with notable greats racing there closed this year. Did you ever race there? Such a shame. Attendance wasn’t the issue. Still have the “untouched” from the 60’s Sycamore Speedway dirt track in Northern IL.
I race there every Friday!#SycamoreSpeedway
That’s cool! Hope that track never changes.
Spot On🏁🏁 The keyboard Wannabes bring such a negative vibe. They did the same thing here at our track Dixieland Speedway in North Eastern NC. They cost us track sponsorship because of the negative comments. Folks who can be influential in helping the track, want nothing to do with it. They called rain outs, some early, when a touring series was scheduled and travel further. They were all good calls, it did rain, rite when we would be qualifying or just prior to the features, now you are out money, you have to do everything like you raced..... like wash the car, all the maintenance, you got all the mud and none of the glory. It's Soo frustrating to read all the comments. I'm like y'all are going to cause another track to close. Next closest track minimum 2.5 hours away. They race half as much.
I with y'all on this 100%
Keep up the great work you guys 🏁🏁🏁
Love your show, Mr. Wallace.
And I hate putting down my local track.
I go to Plymouth Speedway or I used to back into 2000s when racing was awesome, I guess And then they turned it to dirt and ruined it the new owners came in and took the dirt off and made it asphalt again, but now they have multiple features for every class. Even front wheel drives, Plymouth used to be the action track of the Midwest, meaning they would start the fast guys at the back in every class and it didn't matter how many showed up. I've seen 40 sportsman race at 1 time at Plymouth. With the fast guys at the back and the fast guy won, same thing with the late models, 30 late models, fast guy one from the back every week. Now they only get 18 late models showing up and it's just sad. But if you say something about how it used to be and why they're doing it the way they are now you're a piece of s*** for saying something. I don't understand it. As a matter of fact, I think that you raced at 1 of them.I know Streimie and Newman did.
I could be wrong about you though. I can't remember. I just quit asking them why on Facebook and stop going to a track I've been going to for 57 years because a promoter won't listen to anybody else's opinion cause he knows best. I'm sure this didn't come out the way I wanted it to, I wish I could talk to you on the phone or something, but you have a great day Sir and god bless!!
.
As a dirt track promoter. There is always a new set of challenges. My other half and his parents had the challenge of not being a local. I on the other hand am a local. I know all the missteps from promoters past. It's been an uphill battle overcoming that stigma plus all the times the track was closed those fans found other things to do. Our racetrack from it's inception has been controversial. North Dakotans aren't really into controversy. But in the 10 years I've been a part of the track I've had to make some difficult decisions. I've kicked 3 people out for good. 1 fan and 2 drivers. They will never return under our tenure. It was the best decision we've ever made. I suspended 2 drivers for 30 days. The straight up quit racing and I don't think anyone is really all that sad about it. But every so often I do hear they're spreading rumors about the track closing or rehashing the event that got them suspended. What's funny is they still do not tell their role that led to their suspension. About a week or 2 after the event the mother and wife of the drivers I suspended took to Facebook on a post that went viral in town. Bitchin about the track and more exclusively me. I wasn't Facebook friends with her. But she made the post public. There were tons and I mean tons of comments. Well in the dead of night when I knew she would be sleeping and almost guaranteeing she wouldn't look at the comments until the evening when she got off work. I commented and explained the whole story. About her husband and her picking a fight in the bar of the racetrack over a point and $10. How her son was a lap down. He was scored last and the lead car doesn't have to take a cool down lap if he doesn't want too. The checkered flag was flown the race was over the score was the score. $10 and 1 point wasn't the end of the world. But what is also not cool which led to the suspension was the treatment of the scoring official and how her husband almost punching one of the scoring ladies is where we draw the line. When the infield flagman came to her aid an all out fight started which we had to break up. I kicked them out and followed her out the door. She was parked in the handicap parking spot in front of the bar. Which she isn't handicapped I might add. I let that go and just said your out for the night. She stood by her car and flipped me off I said yea good job real mature. This women is over 20 years older then me at this point. It was completely uncalled for. Considering she used to work in scoring and would get so frustrated how people would treat the scoring department. It was such wild experience. Anyways once the hundreds of people seen my response and I was able to provide proof of their actions. The comment section went dead and eventually the post was taken down. I had people in town come to me face to face and say wow that got blown out of portion. I said yup. I think they finally quit bringing it up in town because eventually the truth did get around.
Going to college doesn’t make someone smart anymore
Do flo and dirt vision bring any iincome to the race tracks?
Would like to hear a promoter's thoughts on this subject
Thats the best thing ive ever heard that Gordy wants to be more involed in Tri City! I hope Try City stays there for a long long time!!! 🎉 I really miss the friday night racing! I've been wanting to race as long as I can remember but I just can't afford it. I wouldn't mind even racing a street stock. I know I could be winning some races
I30 Speedway in LittleRock closed and gone forever too. Closed a year and half ago. Miss that place so much
We have one New Track Thunder Mountain in Corbin KY and one being built in Anderson County KY. One issue I've seen is in the hay days tracks could run on same nights, now it's a stretch to get enough fans and cars to one track. Rockastle and Lake Cumberland are the only tracks with weekly racing.
What’s the status of the asphalt Corbin Speedway? Tim in northern TN
The racers spend $50k on a street stock to win $300 and it runs a lot of drivers away. I’m not gonna go to a weekly show when they have 7-10 cars in a class. Someone should of seen this coming 20 years ago
at my age i realize how tuff john force is.
get well.. take your time..we all will wait...
What happened to him?
@@tommiejones6954motor blew up and caused him to crash
Well said! Social media is killing a lot of things.
I appreciate everything.Your mother and father have ever done for granted city.That is awesome Is Raise track
love The Magnium PI Stash lol
Keep your Chins up real racers love you!
The “car culture” is aging. Getting the “youngsters” interested in racing is the challenge.
Let’s figure out how to get the youth away from a video screen and to the excitement of a LIVE racing event.
Love the Gundakers
Awesome show you guys!! We need more guys like you!!!!
Always remember most of these Karens had no intention of sitting in the stands watching a race.
Paul from out here in California most of my family moved to California after WWII to get land and I know Hollywood’s favorite target is a Midwestern and is in, especially I’m in northern California so far and move with farm and we
Old tracks were built in the countryside away from people then the suburbs grow.. so a feller who just built a 300k house doesn't want to hear the noise with other home owners get it shut down, we also lost bluegrass, queen city and Oglethorpe because of that
What is the opinion on streaming services killing the attendance?
Living in the Baytown, TX (30 miles east of Houston on I-10) area for many years, I had the priviledge of seeing some of the best dirt track racing in the nation for a number of years. In my area there was Royal Purple Raceway (NHRA drags were held there) that had a top 10 1/4 mile dirt track. Every Sat night. Saw my first WoO sprint car race there in 2006, there was Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Golden Triangle Speedway just outside Beaumont on 90, Gator Motorplex in Willis on I-45 North. Followed the ASCS 360 tour at all these tracks for years. Enjoyed watching Jason Johnson win almost every time he cranked up lol. Loads of fun and enjoyment. All these tracks are gone now. Why? Encroaching commercialization. Gigantic warehouses took over Royal Purple Raceway, housing developments took over the rest of them. All gone. And a year or so ago, the Devil's Bowl (where WoO sprint car racing began) gave way and is no more either. I just believe the money is too good to turn down and the hassle of promoting and running a race track in this day and time is probably just not worth it. That's my two cents.
Great video guys. Concerning future.
Thank you for this. We have Benton down here in the Cape Girardeau area. Let's save the local tracks
So many people bashing my local track - Kankakee County Speedway. I sit back and ask WHY!? Billy Knippenberg has done so much for our track, just to get it thrown in his face. And, the rain out calls... the promoter is Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.
I've been around 3 strong promoters and have seen that time and time again.
Our sport is dying 🫤. We need to BAND TOGETHER, NOT BASH together. 🏁
My biggest complaint about our local short track is having a rule book with stuff in it that they don't enforce!
We lost Cherry Raceway in Michigan not because of fans trashing the place but because of a new shitty neighbor. Rich guy from Detroit built a fancy cabin adjacent to a successful track and decided he didn't like the noise. Bought the track through his attorney making a huge offer for the place. Closed it and dozed it over immediately just so he could have quiet on his Friday evenings.
Grundy County Speedway in Northern Il still running weekly Friday shows. Sycamore Speedway in Northern, IL running Fri and Sat Shows 4 classes Fri 3 Classes Sat
People on most social media platforms are not anonymous. Note the trouble commenters and call them to the race tower in 3s. Confront them face-to-face. Show them their comment and let them know your opinion. Their bravery and inflexibility will dwindle before your eyes.
Kenny congrats on reaching 100k subscribers......
My area has lost 3 tracks in the past year and there are 3 more that are not sure how long they plan to operate.
this going to be a very long mail so get another cup of coffee and start reading. i understand everything gordy says i am a big fan of local tracks and it is sad to see and agree with most of it. the big problem we have in past 3 years is our leadership or lack of it in washington. inflation, high gas and food prices and everything just higher than in 2020. families are having a hard time and so is racing. being around racing for about 70 years now as a fan, driver and a promotor once in 1995 at a track i designed and built but trying to run it with the land owner as a partner was the hardest part.he want to make changes all the time . i built a 3/8 mile track like no other and all the drivers loved it as we never had a dusty or rough track.this track was some what like brownstown as the top ridge of track was about 20 feet from front wall and also the guard rail in back straight away. the turn i had the guard rail back about 50 feet, the runoff area in turns was just enough slope to run water away from track toward guard rail. now the front and back straighaway of track was sloped to take any water off of track to infield where i had a pipe that would take all water under the track and over a bank.it coud rain 3-4 inches and no water on track. now for the best part of the track was the progressive banking i had in it. about 98% of all tracks today are flat around the bottom and on this track in turns starting out with the very bottom i went out 25 feet and raised it 3 feet. then out anther 25 feet and raised it 6 feet, then another 20 feet and raised it 9 feet. now to make my point, the racing was always good and 2-3-4- wide in turns. this made great racing and the one thing i was most proud of , few cautions and seldom. was there a car tore up. only once did a late model hit the front wall all year and it was when they were running 4 wide out of turn 4 and someone hit CJ RAYBURN, may he rest in peace, and caused him to hit the front wall and for sure did some damage. the only time a car ever hit guardrail in turns was when a spint car broke a tierod and just bumped the rail in turn one. I NEVER EVER HAD ONE DRIVER TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE TRACK. it was always smooth and very little dust after sun went down. not for some bad news and i sure know where GORDY was coming from. the weather, you can never know what is right until you make the wrong decision. we had rain problems in 4 of our first 5 races when we opened in 1995. once during program and 2 times before and the worst night we had all year there was no rain but black clouds all around us. i did find out later it rained to the east-west-north-and south of us. we had our racing over with every night by 11;00 except the night it rained on us and even then we were done at 12;15. another thing i was proud of we started on time and had 4 or 5 classes to run and we never would drag out our program. i learned this from the master, EARL BALTES , who was the best ever at be organized. watching 18 world 100's and never a rough race track but sometimes dusty because he ran day times shows until about 1985 i think.i got one more point to make and maybe GORDY might try this once. i learned this just by luck as i was walking around the track i think on a tuesday after a saturday night race and i noticed the track had all these little cracks stating to show up in. wednesday more and little bigger and even more on friday. so my brain had an idea and it worked for once. i water the track late on friday but did it slow as i wanted to get water down in the cracks and when i was happy that i did. i soaked it lot of water. on saturday i kept it wet all day until until time i though we could start running it in. it worked perfect. i never once plowed the track up and it was perfect all year. if it rained during week ,that was ok also because some water run in the cracks and rest to the in field i made some rookie mistakes in my first year and thinking back on them, i was a little stupid in doing a couple of things. i will now give you time to refill you coffee kenny and will write one more comment ok kenny, i will say this . i really like your vidoes and my favorite is when you had kenny schrader on .that was the best. keep up the good work and if you ever run out of people to interview, just give me a call. i have about 70 years i could share with you. bill hearn titusville flordia.
Most people online are called trolls. You have to ignore them. These are people that would never go to the races anyways.
I have personally been to the last races run at the Reading Fairgrounds, Penn National, Langhorne, Silver Spring, Nazareth, Flemington (dirt track) East Windsor. These tracks were well known and with the advent of "progress" they were bought out, but social media bashing is now taking care of quite a few tracks that aren't closing because of progress, but closing because of the advent of Flo TV and public bashing.
I remember Kevin traveling through Iowa and winning races against some of our best in the 80s and 90s. Stands were packed - Moyer, Dake, Merryweather and many more.
You go to Osky races last night for the late models?
@@jamiecrawford8133 No, visiting family in KS. Haven't been attending this year. How were the races?
@@oskydave I didn't make it, that's about 300 miles from me
@@jamiecrawford8133 I attended several races at Southern Iowa Speedway over the recent years; but none this year. Also, Merryfield not Merryweather - apologies to Joe. Guess I had Lewis and Clark in mind. Also, Hoffman, Eaker, Sanger and others.
@@oskydave I am super jealous I never made it there in the 70s what a tough field of drivers.
This happened to a Kart track in Alabama. The guys at Beaver Creek put together a flawless track . Well, the nattering nay bobs bitched enough until the track promoters said screw it. It’s not worth the haranguing by the drivers constantly.
There are some comments here that follow the same line. Comments about college doesn’t make you smart? That’s true but this young man made good use of his education. So all those whining about what it takes to put on a race shut up and go try it yourself.
Webster City, Ia. Hamilton County Speedway is on the verge of shutting down. Specials only as far as i know. They moved from Saturday night's to Tuesday or Thursday nights, which don't seem to be good.
How about the sanctioning bodies get together for the betterment of the local dirt tracks to get more of a unified rules package? Look at the A mod class, you have USMTS, where the WISSOTA guys, the USRA guys can run with them, but then you have IMCA running a completely different rules package and then you have UMP running yet another set of rules. The unified super late model rules have allowed the guys from all over the country to run when the big boys come to town, but there is nothing similar to this in other classes. Can you imagine the car counts we could see if USMTS and UMP ran the same rules at the Summer Nationals or the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek? Or even Florida Speedweeks, it would rival the World 100 form 25 years ago when 220 late models showed up. And a lot of those cars that did go to the World back then ran weekly somewhere in the Midwest or Southeast. Now there are some tracks that are trying to bring in everyone from all modified ranks, Mississippi Thunder and The Big One race they had earlier this year where 200 cars signed up from all over the place and they allowed drivers from different sanctioning bodies race. But were they really on equal footing when it came time to race? Used to be in my area in MN, they only had Street Stock, Super Stocks, Modifieds, and Late Models running weekly with some Sprints sprinkled in here and there. But there was a step ladder in place to move up in class as your experience grew. Now days you might still see 100 cars in the pits, but there are 10 classes with no full fields in any of them. Features with car counts no bigger than a heat race. Now I get it, have cheaper classes so the weekly hobby racer will build a car, but we don't need 7 or 8 cheaper classes. Maybe replace the street stock class from back in the day with the 4-cylinder class, but do we really need the hornet class, the mod 4 class, the sport mod class, the b mod class, the micro sprint class, and on and on? Family and friends come to watch their son, daughter or friend race, but get bored watching the other 9 classes run just to see whom they came to see on the track one time because they only have enough in the class to run a feature of 5 to 10 cars and never come back to the track. How do you build new fans with too many classes, and they don't understand what they are watching. We are very lucky up here to have so many local tracks still running but can't we do better? Been a dirt race fan for 45 years, and these are just my opinions. I may be completely full of shit, but this is what I see of the local race scene up north.
I was bummed to hear that Gas City closed. That's a really nice facility and they had great racing and track conditions. I don't know what happened to Gas City.
Heartbreaking that one by one they’re disappearing. Last month they announced that AlbanySaratoga speedway (Malta) as we know it. Is being bought by a developer with tax incentives from the state to make way for housing and stores. Saw my first race there in 1971, it was paved then, saw the “King” race and everyone else. Progress is important, but at what cost?
I miss going to the races but still go a couple times a year. For me it got boring to sit and watch every race take 3 to 5 laps to get lined up before the green. Then the classes can't complete a green lap without a caution. Some of the heat races would take 20-30 minutes and the feature would take 45 minutes to an hour.. Also give some of the classes a time limit like 20 laps or 20 minutes which ever comes first. For me it was just not enough racing and more watching cars drive around under caution while they clean up the first lap heroes. Does every class need to do a 4 wide every week? Save that for special events. I used to go to Tri-city and I55 every Friday and Saturday night so I love dry tracks, wet tracks, bumping tracks. It all adds to the soap opera of a full season of watching week to week. As long as its not follow the leader around the bottom every week. I love it. I'll go back eventually once the racing returns to what it was.
Race or cancel is always a tough call. But let’s cut through the crap! I will not bash race tracks on social media, but I will tell people in conversation when I go to a track that is a dump. For example my wife and I would go to a certain dirt track and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house one way. The parking lot was horrible, the facilities like the grounds and bathrooms were awful, the concessions were average, bleachers were average, but they still wanted 30.00 dollars a piece to get in the grandstands. If you want people to spend their hard earned money you better put money back in and give me a reason to spend it with you. This track is now closed and it deserves to be closed. I will spend 30 to 50 dollars ahead to get in but the facility better be nice and groomed and welcoming. Also dirt tracks better figure out how to run a timely show and get the fans out of there around 9:30 or 10.
i don't think they've had a race at legit in west plains mo. this year. it's a shame like you said. i don't go every week but it's nice to get out now and again and enjoy a night at the track.
We’ve lost Trailways, Penn National, Motordrome, Dorsey, Shippensburg and Silver Springs just to name a few. There’s not a single track on the east coast that’s not in danger of closing or being sold to a developer.
Urban Sprawl is taking a big toll on short tracks. Add in the track bashing and it’s no wonder Owners and Promoters are getting out.
As for the Internet it’s been a great source of info and promotion of racing, but the bashing is just as damaging as the positive side of this tool. How many sponsors or new fans have turned away before even going because of the negativity they have seen online.
I’ve been around this sport for 58 years, and have been lucky enough to have raced and crewed a little, been involved with a couple online racing news sites and photographed the sport from coast to coast. I’ve gotten to know promoters, track personnel, race teams and other photographers. All hard working people who deeply love this sport!
We all need to be good stewards of racing and take a moment to reflect on what we are about to post when upset about something.
I live in Connecticut, we still have 3 asphalt circle tracks still in operation, on on on a limited schedule, but man it is just crazy expensive, we raced a Big block 1969 RoadRunner, you could build your own car and your own motor and win a couple races a year but damn, I was nowadays part time I'm in my late 50s it's so freakin expensive, Modified tires are look $230.00 each 2 tires a week plus race gas pit fee and no wrecks its like $700.00 to race on a Saturday night, shit rip a RF wheel off and it could be another $1000 or maybe $1500 or more!!! YIKES 😮
I agree with social media issues as well as the streaming issue.
How about bring in venders and other things to do at the track if it can accommodate. Carnival type atmosphere but without the ride. Offer local businesses opportunities for a low cost to showcase what the have. This could bring sponsorship to the track or drivers in the future. Plus would and could bring in new fans
There is a lot that goes into getting a race on and when you get that kind of rain you can maybe get the track surface ready but the pits will be a mess the parking lot for the fans would be a mess so they would complain about it
Please do a show on the numbers of running a local short track. How many cars show up? Total cost per car build? How many fans show up? Ticket price. What can be the purse? Fan safety? Driver Safety?
Atomic Raceway south of Knoxville, Tennessee (my town) was making $1,200,000 per year at one time. They sold it to a developer when the family that ran it apparently decided not to run it anymore (husbands loved it but the wives did not).
Kenny I love your show since you are upbeat and have a brain so you do A+ quality shows. Please use your question list to keep the show moving, normally you do, Generally I quit listening to pod casts since (the new equivalent of radio talk shows) since thy wander too much and make you wait too long to hear something significant. You are much better than any podcast. You might add some stills or even short video illustrating what you are talking about. Still, with no additions I will always watch... you are the best. It is a blessing to have you devoting your time to setting the record straight and figuring out plausible reasons for what is going on in racing.
We lost a great week here in ny super dirt week at Syracuse ny and are local track here in Middletown town orange county fair speedway thats the oldest dirt track on the east coast
East Bay Raceway in Tampa after this racing season is closing its doors sad to see
Love Flo and DIRTVision to watch the races not close I go to a track 2-5 nights headed to Macon now but if u can watch from home some will lots will stay home and watch and not got to the track Friday at Kankakee hardly anyone in the stands or pits fairbury sat didn’t look like the stands had very many
I noticed that at my local track. Once Flo came in last year attendance went down. Our track gives away a lot of free tickets. It's more then reasonable. They even have decent food. I guess they just hope people will eat and drink them in the black.
For me, car count is king. Get away from the 5 classes, use the same amount of prize money and go down to 2 classes. You can run Late Models and B-Mods OR Street Stocks. If the Late Models are racing for $2000 to win instead of $1200 or $1300 the car count will go up. I don't want to go to a track and watch 5 classes with 10-12 cars in each class. I do want to go to a track with 2 classes with 20-25 cars each.
Great video Guy's,thanx!!!
Tracks that are close together and race on dif nights, are going to have to work together...in years past, well, around my area, that hasn't been the case, but now more than ever, its gotta happen
The 2023 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series Champion Jade Avedisian absolutely loves Tri-City Speedway........
I went to Minnesota and there are tracks everywhere
Iowa state fair grounds in Des Moines closed their dirt track.
You guys are doing ok but the new late model tire has been hell on tracks but you may have to try something different on track works