Race schedule

A quick poll:

If you were involved with local stock car racing, either as a competitor or as a spectator, would you rather race on Friday evening, causing you to rush like a madman, or race Saturday night, which means you can't go to the lake that weekend?

Or would you run the races Wednesday night, because nobody has anything to do on a Wednesday?

Wednesday, less traffic than friday and easier to sneak out of work early. And there's so many other car things to do on the weekend and so little to do during the week.

Sunday morning events are easiest to prepare for, but if that's not an option I'd say Saturday night.

I always loved racing on a Saturday Night. People will travel further to compete and watch, you can start earlier than a week night and you don't have to worry about getting up on Sunday. Most tracks rely on fans coming through the gates to keep costs reasonable and Saturdays generally have the most loyal weekly fans. They will generally only come out on a weeknight to see a special event that will bring in big names to run against the local heros they watch all year.

I thought a race event took about 40 hours of prep over the month between events, then from early Friday morning 'til late Sunday night.

Clearly I'm doing the wrong kind of racing.

Next thing you'll say a local weekend costs less than a grand...

Once up on a time. When the cars were "stock", we raced Fri, Sat, Sunday. When things got more expensive we race Saturday only.

A local track has been struggling with car counts for Sunday so they are going to try Friday. Problem is, there is a well established Friday track less than 40 miles away.

motomoron wrote: I thought a race event took about 40 hours of prep over the month between events, then from early Friday morning 'til late Sunday night. Clearly I'm doing the wrong kind of racing. Next thing you'll say a local weekend costs less than a grand...

Yeah. I do both sorts, and I get a wee bit cranky when the stock car guys whine about paying $450 to enter the car for an entire season...

I say every other Friday because that's payday. By Saturday the money is all gone and Wednesday it's not here yet.

Oh and that's just for spectating, can't afford any kind of racing.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

motomoron wrote: I thought a race event took about 40 hours of prep over the month between events, then from early Friday morning 'til late Sunday night. Clearly I'm doing the wrong kind of racing. Next thing you'll say a local weekend costs less than a grand...

Yeah. I do both sorts, and I get a wee bit cranky when the stock car guys whine about paying $450 to enter the car for an entire season...

I just registered for the SCCA Majors Tour at Summit Point in August which was a breathtaking $550. I'll be able to use the tires I run at UTCC for the second session Friday and the 30 minute race on Saturday. I'll scrub fresh Hoosiers the first session Friday and run those for the 45 minute on Sunday. I'm just over an hour away so I'll go home at night. Still, it's going to be a spendy weekend.

But, I'm track record holder going in, and it's the one time I'll get to run against the fast guys. Gotta do it.

If you want to see short track racing done well look at the DIRT Modified series in the Northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Most tracks hold their weekly shows on Friday or Saturday. Then there are big events that fall on all different days where the well known drivers like Brett Hearn and such show up.

I grew up a big NASCAR pavement modified fan but since they started coming apart in the late 90s I've become A big dirt fan. The shows are exciting and draw good crowds of loyal fans.

I agree with you Wally. I'm in the North East and the Dirt Modified racing is great.

My 19 year old son is driving Saturdays in NH for an owner of an asphalt late model. When he was young he won championships driving 600cc Sprints on Dirt. He is getting calls to drive other cars at different tracks on different nights. His goal is to race Thursday, Friday, Saturday and special Sunday events. He wants to race agains Hearn and the other top drivers. My goal is to have some one else pay for it.

Saturday is probably the best day since organizations want well prepared teams and the biggest crowds available on the same day.