Quote:Note: This topic was split from the 'great stories from the past' topic / yours truly- ADMIN

TnC, We tried to talk to Jan last year about how much the "side show's of flaming beer truck's, jet packs, count kennedy, etc sucked". At the meeting I thought that he agreed with us when they decided to run the free for all. Well, I guess that everyone thought that the free for all sucked so bad that they brought the beer wagon and lil miss dangerous. I personally thought that the spectator truck race in August was very cool. I know that a few of the guys who were in that race would love to bring trucks out again. And, I've talked to a few guys who would bring a truck out to every race if they decided to run them all of the time. The spectator races in between rounds seemed to work real good at Santa Fe. The figure 8 after the finals worked good too. It seemed like nobody left after the final demos of the night. The stands looked packed until the very end back then.
I would like to see something like that in between the first and second rounds, and then right before the finals. Maybe if we could get enough trucks for two heats between 1st and 2nd rounds, and then have a feature race right before the demo final. I am going to try to push that at Jan's official meeting. I guess that I need to know if we'd be able to get enough people interested in running to have these kind of races going all year.
The thing that was retarded about the free for all is that none of those guys prepared for the mud. Duh!!! They all brought out their big side walled derby tires that are basiclly slicks in our "mud". The tires that we run seem to hold up good enough. And our cars seem to get around better with flats than all of those guys did with 4 tires. A little bit better planning probably would've helped those guys to have a second race. The prize money was competitive with most, if not all the county fair payouts.

I'll talk to everyone at our "unofficial meeting" this Saturday and see what they think. I need some feedback from as many people on here about all of this before I try to pitch anything to Jan at the "officiak" meeting whenever that is

What do you think???

Johnny, quite honestly, it is up to you guys to decide and put on the show. I like the truck idea and maybe an SUV race....since there are so many of them..... But, I don't think you will be able to get enough cars/trucks for heats and features.

Unlike Sante Fe, there is no regular racing program that would attract new people to come out with their cars/trucks (ie feeder program) outside of the demo communitity. Just look at the full size enduro classes that used to have 100's of cars per race. Lucky to get 30 or 40 per race now. I am all for trying something different then the overdone sideshow acts Jan has, but it has to be something that will pay for itself and provide a "little" entertainment during breaks. Hell, I am sure you guys could use a little down time during rounds. Also, the longer the crowd stays, the more income the track will make and maybe that can get passed along to all people involved.

The "extra income" would get passed on to Rt66. But that would keep them happy. There is money for extra payout. I don't think that the flaming beer wagon or lil miss dangerous do it for nothing. It has to be a few grand. It should be enough payout to make it worth while for guy to come out for 4 races with trucks. If we could get at least 12 trucks again per race, that could be 2-6 truck heats which would decide the running order for the 12 truck feature. Throw in sme trophys for the heats and features, and some $ for the heats and some $$$ for the features and I would think that we could get a decent turn out. 20-30 regulars would be almost impossible, but I have heard interest from enough people that if we got the word out early enough, I think that we could get some good turn outs. I like the SUV idea too. It would be crazy to see some kind of mini-van/soccer mom race too. I don't think that would work in the mud though.
Thank you for your input. We need IDEAS and INPUT from everybody please!!!!

I think the trucks could be run every demo night!

I've been to more tracks around the country than I care to remember, and nowhere else have I ever seen or heard of a spectator-style truck race like we had last summer. And then the year before, the truck drags seemed to be a hit for the fans also.

I think two 10-lappers in the same night might become boring after the first one, and slow down the progression of the night (towing wrecks, etc.)............
* Between round one and the semis, have a small field of street trucks run two at a time for one lap, til the winner is declared.
* Then do the 10 lap race for the beaters in between the semis and final.

Blue88: As for an SUV (only?) race, that sounds interesting. Are you saying just the small ones like S10s and Cherokees, or would it be for K5s and Broncos?, or all of the above?

I was thinking that if there were to be something like 12 trucks total, we could split them into 2 heats of like 6 trucks. Make the heats 5 laps, and have the winners get good positions in the feature that pays out the $$$$. That would give those guys incentive to finish good in the heats. Maybe throw in trophys for the two heat wins too.

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Blue88: As for an SUV (only?) race, that sounds interesting. Are you saying just the small ones like S10s and Cherokees, or would it be for K5s and Broncos?, or all of the above?
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Mr. Jamaica,

I was thinking about all SUV (suburbans, cherokees, broncos, escalades....excursions... explorers...whatever). They are becoming more plentiful now since they have been around for many years.. They would be better in the mud than cars and can take a little abuse.

Johnny mentioned a minivan ladies race..... Might work with some diggers on the front. You only need two good front tires for those fwd vehicles... Probably much cheaper than the SUV's....

He is Jamaica's b*tch too.....

I don't know if it would be terribly expensive for people to bring out minivans. I do know that the junkyards are full of them right now. It would be pretty entertaining to see ladys making laps in minivans. We could call it the "grocery-getter" seriesmor spmething like that. As long as they had mud tires on the front, and they moved fast, I think that it would fly. Then, making sure that the minivans were safe enough would be the other issue.....

(12-30-2008 12:59 PM)JohnnyRyan Wrote:  He is Jamaica's b*tch too.....

I don't know if it would be terribly expensive for people to bring out minivans. I do know that the junkyards are full of them right now. It would be pretty entertaining to see ladys making laps in minivans. We could call it the "grocery-getter" seriesmor spmething like that. As long as they had mud tires on the front, and they moved fast, I think that it would fly. Then, making sure that the minivans were safe enough would be the other issue.....

Johnny you kind of read my mind. Maybe see if we can get enough females to do the Powder Puff's, something like they did at Fe. I think 2 5 lappers and then a feature with 10 laps. Open to anything you want.

In November I went to a minivan enduro in Michigan. Theres alot of them available for cheap here in the midwest judging by the number of vans in attendance. There were front wheel drives like the Caravans and Villagers, and the larger rear drivers like Aerostars and Astros there. Even a 4-door S10 Blazer was in it for some reason.

If we have SUV or minivan races would they be banished from the regular truck race? This past truck race had a bunch of mismatched trucks, size and body style wise, but nobody seemed to be at much of a disadvantage. I say leave the truck race open to all pickups/SUVs/vans 3/4 ton and lower, but have the two sepatate races at different times of the season for the others that don't want to race with the big boys.

here's another proposal using the basic concept blue88 and J.R. mentioned......... per night........... in no particular order...

1- minivan night... front wheel drive only... Caravan, Lumina APV, Windstar, Villager, Montana, Silhouette, etc.... I leave out the Aerostars and Astros, due to their increased weight, plus the rear drive would split the field greatly... this would be more for the amateur racer

2- suv night... all four wheel drive wagon style trucks "carryalls" 3/4 ton and down

3- truck night... as mentioned, all trucks/vans/suvs 3/4 ton down

4- big truck night... all trucks 1 ton to 2 ton (Class 3 to 5)... F350, F450, C30, C50, etc.... they do this in Wash. state as an intermission to the combine demos... they call this the 'grain truck race'.

5- mini truck night... all 4 cylinder pickups and SUVs... S10, Ranger, early Dakotas, Cherokees, Toyotas, Nissans, Rampage, etc.

Has anyone mentioned monster trucks yet?

ha ha ha.... ok back in my hole.

Intermission...I would like to see some demo fans just try to run a foot race around the track for one lap. I do not think people realize how deep and muddy that track actually is. Like have people from the crowd sign up before the races and put about 50 people at the start/finish line and say go...first around the track.

That would be funny. Maybe have fans fill out entry forms at the first three events to enter in a chance to race for the cash or something like that. Draw 15-20 names and give them a chance to race around the demo track for a $100 bill.
The truck race format worked last year. If we keep it to the types of trucks that we had last year, we have a chance to keep these same trucks returning for the next show and racing for the cash. Like a series. I ran it past a few people who would have some say so in the matter. The primary issue would be to keep the entire event from running past 10:00pm. That must be some kind of Joliet ordinance. The way I see it, there seems to be a big gap between 1st and 2nd rounds anyway. Same thing just before the finals, big empty time frame.
There would be an issue with having people run around the track because after the first demo race goes on there is debris all over the track. It would be far fetched to think that out of 20 people running around the track, one of them wouldn't slip in the mud, cut an arm open (or worse), and sue the track.
Minivans may be an issue due to their overall safety issues. I would like to see that happen at least one night though. I feel that the ladies are being jipped because they banned the powder puff/ladies free for all because the track wouldn't allow it for alledged insurence purposes. But a grocery-getter/soccer mom mobile race might be pretty safe and interesting. If somebody could figure out how to make sure that these vehicles could run a 5-10 lap race safely. And, without it being painfully slow because the minivans can't make it around the track
The whole "spectator" concept is about giving the fans more of a "connection" to the races.
They worked well at Santa Fe.

Hmmmmm I think all the teams that lost in first round should have to go out on the track and mud wrestle for there show up pay. Or we could get some cattle from the stands to wrestle in the mud.

Is that your official input Dave?