Editorial: Four is Enough

At what point are there enough classes? Kenny Danley, who’s crossed over from Compacts to Modifieds on occasion asked on Dirtdrivers.com what people’s opinions were on adding the SportMod class - (even more) limited IMCA mods – to Eagle’s lineup. Kenny said he wants to compete at Eagle, having "grown up there."

Any track should be honored that people want to race there just because it's that track.

But I don't want to see that class and the regular modifieds on the same card, anywhere.

Let me hit this several ways. One, I agree with Ron Meyer of http://www.therestofthedirt.com/ that four classes is enough. I personally think four is too much, regardless of the mix. That aside, one of the things mentioned in the thread that makes Eagle unique is that there is a distinctive difference between each class. You have sprint cars, you have modifieds, a stock car class and the compact class. There’s no visual similarities between the two other than the four wheels. For that reason, while I have nothing against SportMods, 305's, etc. by themselves, I’m not a fan them when there's a similar class in the show.

So I’m not big on 305’s when 360 or 410 sprints run (yes, even during the Outlaws), nor do I want Sport or B-mods with a regular “A-Mod” class, etc. Most fans can’t tell the difference, the average guy really doesn’t know why there’s two classes. All they see are something that looks like the other and thought they just saw it race. Since I always feel that any track that wants to succeed has to build a fan base of "average guys," why confuse them?

Here's the extension of that – adding those classes waters down the program. Where you may have 30 “A” modifieds, now you see those on the fringe move down so you have a thin field of two classes.

And I hate thin fields.

If you can’t pay out a full A feature, you’re field is thin and your program is not “thriving.” And a thin field looks bad to the fan and in my experience is rarely competitive.

Now, I’ll be countered with the argument that some classes are getting too expensive.

Quite true. How do you fix that?

Well, instead of sanctioning bodies or tracks trying to curb costs, they take the easy way out and add a sub class for fear of losing cars and losing that licensing fee/sanction fee/back gate money. The problem is it doesn't address the original issue of the class being too expensive!

I believe an imperfect, but acceptable fix comes from an unlikely source: patience.

We’ve developed into a win-now, and entitled to win culture. The mentality of “everybody wins” from youth sports, or political correctness seems to stun those who enter the world of only the best win and only the victor gets the spoils. So the answer is to set the bar lower: if you can’t afford “A,” well now you can be a winner in “B!”

Whatever happened to earning your stripes? I remember seeing people start with little, and over time, sell this used part to buy a newer part, and get a little faster, earn some money and get a newer, faster part and eventually they had the gear AND the experience.

Perhaps seeing the youth succeed with top notch equipment bought on their parent’s dime and desire build the next Jeff Gordon instills the idea that winning is only a checkbook away. Of course money often buys speed, but talent usually guarantees it.

There are many teams who practice patience – I would argue MOST teams. What happens though is the humble nature that allows these teams to be content with the long time it takes to win also means they usually don’t make a lot of noise, or have the ear of the people in charge.

Simply put, there’s too much of a knee-jerk reaction between sanctions, promoters, and racers for a problem that given time, can take care of itself for the most part. Yes, there will be lingering and important issues, but they will be much easier to solve without worrying about new classes and starting over and usually revisiting those issues that you thought creating a new class solved the first time!

Not all tracks can be everything to everybody but some think they have to be. There will always be the haves and have-nots, it’s natural. Changing nature is difficult and success is nearly impossible.

Now, before I get the hate mail from 305 and SportMod fans, I’m not saying to abolish these classes or that I dislike them at all. They may fit in perfectly well at other venues as their own unique classes. What’s wrong with a Sport Mod, Factory Stock and Crate Late Model show?

If you don’t believe me regarding the elitism, let me bring the example of this using Knoxville – the 360 sprints are still treated as the “lower” class, where at Eagle some fans think the 360's own the place. It’s all relative. But why not let each winner be the king of the car type at that track, and not second to the “faster” class?

Is it really necessary to run endless classes for survival of the track? From what I’ve seen, many of these tracks are watching fan counts dwindle. And when you have an off economy, and recreation budgets slip and the racers get hurt first. As a back gate promoter, lose that and you lost everything. But I’ve seen the front gate promoters produce a distinct variety, a more entertained fan base and one that’s not impervious to, but better insulated against an economic slump.

I again want to say I'm not ragging any class and really not any track - I think every track in this area is fighting and doing things it may not want to do. It's a tough world but I think the solutions need to be long term, not stop-gap.