By Bob Gangwer
“What We Need Part 2”
(Reprinted from Wailing with Wing Side Up LIVE internet radio show)
Oswego, NY 1/19/09We need purses that reflect the costs of fielding a super. Whoops, I think I just touched a nerve. The owners are saying, ‘damned straight Bobby G. preach it,” while the promoters and sanctioning body presidents are saying, “who the hell does he think he is, we are tapped out, if he thinks it’s so easy maybe he should do it.” In fact there’s probably a good many of you fans who are on the side of the owners saying the same thing. For those of you that are on the side of the promoters and those that have to pay the bill, let me say that you aren’t wrong in your thinking either. Let me also say though, that, I believe, there are ways to make it all work out for all parties, you fans included. I’ve always believed that if you pay good purses, the cars will come. Teams will bitch a little less about rules, fans will wax eloquently about how great the car count was, and this in turn will all work together to help build the DIVISION. Ok maybe in a perfect world or if we could play Quantum Leap and go back to the unbridled crazy times of the 70s, this would all come to pass. Hold on though, maybe we aren’t as far off the beaten path as some would say. I think we can pay our teams good and fair purses and still not break the bank. I think the money is there if we know where to look.
This in turn makes it hard for me I to believe that with the right marketing, promotion and phone calls that the SMRA could not get more than what they do for a purse out on the left coast. I feel the same about the MSA, especially as much as they are traveling this year for single stand alone dates, and I most certainly feel that way about regular weekly supermodified racing at Oswego, so much so that there’s enough for a whole other column. Ok, so for arguments sake, let’s compare the traveling sanctions and leave Oswego alone for now. I often wonder why that if ISMA can run for pretty good purses the others can’t. I know a little about ‘what the market will bear,” but do we really even know our markets? People can say all that they want about ISMA being overpriced prima donnas. I am here to say this; the teams of ISMA do a lot of traveling and generally put on great races, and as a traveling troupe the money they get for a show is justified. Most teams have at least a 6 hr drive to get to any given race. YES it’s their choice to run, but when there’s really no big block winged supermodified racing in your backyard anymore, what are you to do? When MSA or SMRA or ERA travels they deserve to be paid accordingly. If they are closer to home, I would expect that they make a little less.
The entertainment dollar is stretched a lot thinner than ever before. A long time ago I had a conversation with my editor at MARC Times Racing News, Dick Beebe, about the supers and how much it cost for a promoter to run them. He felt then that they were overpriced. Now there were a lot of reasons for Dick to feel this way, he had a bone to pick most of the time, and his history of picking bones over supermodifieds went back to the day that Dick Good was killed. But Dick also knew a thing or two about promoting. So compared to a good sprint car show, or even, dare I say within these pages, a late model race, maybe he was right again. Maybe it is simply about what the market will bear, but by golly you won’t ever know for sure if you don’t try it. And besides, I keep hearing how supermodifieds are unique and one of a kind and that’s why we shouldn’t have any rules or very few rules, so why can’t we use that argument for purses? I mean the last time I checked people pay good money for most things of exclusivity, you know, kinda like Barack Obama’s car?
We need some factions to re-evaluate what their worth is to the promoter and the fan. It’s time to take the blinders off here. What are you giving back to deserve that good purse? So what you come in and produce a great race. So what, you bring big car counts. Big deal, you are the mighty supermodifieds. Is your show a SHOW? Is it worth the money you are asking a promoter to charge to cover his costs? Does it have a positive aura about it? Does it show professionalism without sacrificing the fun factor while getting the fans involved? Sure it’s the Ultimate Short Track Race Car. That being said, I think the days of sitting around like the fat cat just waiting for the mouse to come out of his hole so you can pounce on him are long gone. Why? Because groups like NSRA, AVSS, HOSS, DIRT and PA Sprint car racing is pretty darned exciting too and many times they cost less to a promoter, yet put just as many fans in the stands. If yer gonna charge a good penny, (which as I said above is what I think they all should do), you’d best be willing to bust your tail for the sponsors, promoter and fans to give them more than just “the Ultimate Short Track Race Car.” Get the right people in the right places that have the DIVISION as first priority, the drivers and owners second, the sanctioning body next, and personal feelings, oh at about 567th on the list of important things. Make your show move fast, if a driver isn’t in his car ready to go, put him to the tail. “OHHHHHH we can’t do that, we’ll lose cars.” Maybe so, but if you already are short on push trucks, you’ve had two red flags, and five other regular divisions are dragging out the show that night, I think the drivers and the sanctioning body have to ask themselves, “did we do all that WE could have done in order to keep the sponsors, fans, and promoter happy?” In order to command good purses, you had better have a marketable product and go over above and beyond for your sponsors, fans, and promoter to stand out amongst other cheaper, but just as exciting forms of short track racing.
We need PROMOTERS not operators that know how to market, promote and work hard at showcasing our product. If, as a promoter, you need help understanding the product, ASK…no, TELL the sanctioning body, “I need to know how to promote this product.” “Tell me what the cars are; give me some marketing stuff, (and ISMA setting that beautiful Eddie Shea car out front of a track on a trailer doesn’t count as good promotion, especially when there are no signs as to what it is and why it’s there).” Likewise, sanctioning bodies need to be actively involved with the promoter to help him. Don’t just book the show and walk away with the money. We need promoters that don’t book 5 other divisions on a night when the supers are there so that they can cover the cost of the event. I know that as a promoter, you are in this to make money. I don’t behoove you that fact. But sometimes making money comes in the weeks after the supers are there not necessarily on the night that we race. We need promoters that go out and work hard at getting the fans involved in the show. We need promoters that don’t rape the teams at the back gate. We need promoters that don’t charge so much at the front gate that a fan can’t afford to buy souvenirs or hot dogs. Common sense should prevail here. If fans go away broke after a show that took more than 4 hrs to run; they’ll probably go to the movies the next time. We need more guys like Kenny Shepherd, Steve Brown, Larry Boos, Russ Conway, Chet Mysliwiec, Jack Arute, and God Rest his soul Harry Caruso.
(Some of the best in the business-just so you can put a face with a name)
Hey man, I am not saying anyone is everyone is trying to rape the class, but there are some that are certainly doing ok. You always have the racer vs. the promoter argument. Someone once told me that a racer looks up at the stands and sees how full they are and a promoter looks up there and sees how many seats he didn’t sell. Everywhere you turn lately, you are inundated with the doom and gloom messages of recession. They say the times are tough, and it’s true, but maybe not to the degree some would have you think. I don’t think the times are as tough as some promoters want people to believe. Sometimes, I think it’s an easy out to use the economy as an excuse for lackluster abilities as a promoter. Now here me out here, just lend me your ear for a few more minutes. I could be wrong but, just because a sponsor pulls out of NASCAR, IRL or ARCA it doesn’t necessarily mean that the sponsor is completely done with auto racing. My way of thinking is that they aren’t pulling out, they are pulling back. They are going to looking for more bangs for their buck. Short track racing is a perfect fit, because I think the fans are going to do the same thing. The sponsors will follow the fans and their money. I think there’s smart promoters, (notice I didn’t say track owners), that will seize this moment and find a way to capitalize on this issue while grabbing up some of the sponsorship money that is leaving the big leagues. Remember how many people came out of the depression, not ruined but, dedicated to working harder at succeeding. Downtimes in the economy can breed creativity and opportunity for advancement. As a promoter, I think you really have to ask yourself, am I utilizing the opportunities that booking “The Ultimate Short Track Race Car” can bring me?
So where do we go from here? Baby steps my friends, baby steps with big goals. I imagine this is like a newborn thoroughbred race horse. It drops to the ground on birth, but starts to get up pretty quickly. Now it’s pretty shaky and it has to take small steps to gain its footing. Within a few days though it’s gotten pretty good at taking a walk with its mother and it wants to take off and run. But the mother knows that the baby needs some nurturing, protecting, and guidance before it’s ready to take on the measured mile at a full run. But one day after a lot of training the horse with the right jockey has a shot at crossing the finish line first at the Kentucky Derby.
Let’s not lose focus on the things that are good about supermodified racing, (and there’s plenty), while we work on getting back on our feet so to speak. What we need, what we really need, is some nurturing nudges by some caring trainers and if we find the right jockeys, before we know it we’ll be as strong as that Kentucky Derby thoroughbred and going for the win when we take to the track to run our “Triple Crown.”
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