Crowds? Where we're going, we don't need crowds...

Figured with the re-release of Back to the Future, I'd paraphrase the quote from Dr. Brown.

Last weekend's Cool McCool 100 at Junction Motor Speedway had to be a HUGE back gate success for the track. Get car counts around 200 for two nights, add up entry fees for each car and the per person pit gate fees for the two nights and who needs crowds? I have no idea what the crowd was like. But it doesn't matter. That's not where the money was.

The first night's show ran for nearly 9 hours (with intermission) and over 7 on the following night according to this account on dirtdrivers.com.

When I worked at Eagle, I had nightmares that involved 9 hour races. Seriously.

The reaction was mixed, some folks loved the endless racing as never too much of a good thing, others objected strongly. The majority of the supporters though seemed to be the participants themselves.

What we're seeing could be the future of the sport. SCCA sports car events are similar - a long string of races, in multiple classes (the recent solo championships in Lincoln had over 30 classes). Crowds usually get in for free or very cheap, with little amenities at the track; often BYOB, food, well...everything. Crowd isn't important, and taking care of them is an expense that should be minimized and attended to only as far as the liability insurance requires.

I-80 does something similar with their Cornhusker Classic. I'd expect Eagle to do the same in the future. Some tracks quite honestly, do it every week.

Before anyone flies off the handle thinking I'm dissing their track, I'm not really knocking it. I can't blame any one track for doing this. It makes financial sense and in today's economy even I support it - to a point.

It's a viable business model. Think about the potential: lots of entry fees that not only cover a fairly generous purse plus no worries about promotion to those outside the racing circle (something most tracks couldn't do well at gunpoint).

And bang - so to speak - money in the door before Car One hits the track. Expenses COVERED, not hanging over ones head like the crowd-killing clouds. Granted, it isn't the kind of money several thousand beer drinking, hot dog eating, high dollar ticket paying fans bring in, BUT - very very little risk when they don't show up either.

How about that win by Scott Tucker at Road America last month? That Ferrari was flyin'! Oh, you have no idea? Umm...the Formula Vee race that was decided by 0.017 seconds? No? Even ESPN (whose coverage is NASCAR and 'the rest') has no mention of one of the largest sports car sanctioning body's most prestigious events. Even I, classic sports car aficionado, needed a little Google-Fu to find out that.

And that's the dark side to this. Especially because it's so tempting.

Dirt track racing is already sinking deeper into it's own little niche within a niche sport. Up through the 1960's, racing's top stars were seen on the dirt as well as the pavement of Indy. Eventually they were hometown and regional stars, and now - famous among friends and family, with a few fans.

What I worry about is that if we alienate the fan, and keep the sport to our own clique the support from outside dwindles further. Sponsorships, already in short supply dwindle down to the car owner's business being the sponsor - like it is now for a LOT of classes. No money for those long talent or desire, but short on dough.

Now the kid in the stands or the fan has no aspirations to participate or even drive, because there aren't any fans there to see it in the first place. The non-participant experience is excruciating or second to the socializing and the action is the background. And soon, you see what we are close to now, a growing string of classes separated by minute details, racing among the 10 or so other people they know.

What loses is the passion, the legend, the mystique. The talk after the show, the stories, the history, the lore and tall tales.

What is heroic about some club event? Stories of Alexander the Great's defeat of 100,000 Persians survive today. Barfights make the crime page one day and are forgotten except by the two involved. It's a little exaggerated, but you see my point.

It's the old adage about a tree falling in the forest: if nobody hears it, does it make a sound? If nobody watches, was it really a race? The more people telling the story, the greater the legend. BS'ing between the two of you usually ends there.

If this is racing, so be it. I'll miss the grandeur, what little there is left.