11/8/06
 Will Hanna has two racing websites, InsideTopAlcohol.com and InsideCompRacing.com. He drives TAFC 425. |
ere’s a topic that affects all sportsman racers, and even the pros, but more so the sportsman racer – scheduling. From a racer standpoint, it’s one of the most important factors that dictates your participation in certain events, but when the powers that be want to know why car counts were low, it’s usually the most overlooked factor.
I know scheduling can be difficult. There’s a lot of different agendas going into one schedule. The tracks have their agenda, the divisions have their agenda, and at the top, the sanctioning body has their own agenda. Unfortunately, often times the racers’ agendas don’t get much consideration.
Many times we, as racers get the schedule and ask ourselves, “What were they thinking?”
Back to back events can be real killers. Worse than that is the trend we’re starting to see where all the divisionals and nationals in a particular region get piled on top of each other. Some of the better funded teams can swing it, but it makes it hard for the working class racer. Not only does it come down to the point of whether or not you can be there due to commitments, but it also puts a serious strain on operating cash flow for your race team.
Let’s say it costs $100,000 a year to compete in your class. That’s one thing, but it becomes much more difficult when you have four races in five weeks. Unless you have a per race funding deal with your sponsor, it really puts a crunch on any budget. Especially if you’re like the majority of sportsman racers and fund your racing from your business. You don’t have any time to recoup your expenses. So it’s spend, spend, spend. And Heaven forbid you break parts, that’s another issue itself.
If you have major parts breakage during these bunched together racers, sometimes it’s just not possible to replace them in that period. Crankshafts, blocks – not going to happen in a few weeks. The list goes on. See above in regards to paying for them.
Let’s not forget about time. Time off from work. In some classes you don’t need much crew to race, but from about Comp up, it takes personnel to race. A crewmember may get two weeks of vacation a year, but it’s a hell of a lot harder to get three Fridays in a row off versus being spread out a little more. In some instances, it’s even harder for business owners to take off that many weekends in that short a span.
All of the above are factors when you are considering whether or not you can make a race. Let’s not forget when they stack races on top of other races. Whether it’s nationals on top of other divisionals or divisionals on divisionals, those instances certainly hurt everyone. How many times have you as a racer had to make a choice on which race you were going to attend when, if they were on separate weekends, you might have run both?
All these factors make it very difficult, if not too difficult in certain instances, to participate. They certainly put downward pressure on participation.
I’m not one to throw rocks at a problem and not offer a solution. I think somewhere in the chain, there is a level of complacency when it comes to scheduling. I know it’s a difficult task, but I’m not buying that the schedules we’ve seen the past few years are the absolute best case scenarios, all things considered. In a perfect world, a panel of racers would have to ratify a schedule. That’s fiction, but the racer’s agenda needs to be considered a little more.
Racer’s agenda aside, let’s put it in terms that make the decision makers happy. If participation goes up, the track makes more money and so does the sanctioning body. So it’s just not the racers that win, everyone wins.
Changing gears from participation, let’s look at just the possibility of drawing a crowd. When a national event track schedules their divisional within two months of their national, well, that’s just boneheaded. There is no chance they’re going to get a crowd. Fans have no incentive to attend. Why pay $40 bucks this weekend to see the alky cars when we can see the alky cars and pro cars in three weeks? Oh yeah, divisionals are all about back gate these days.
On a side note, IHRA may be on to something with their divisionals – two in one weekend. Maybe we’ll look into that next month.
Well, now that you’re on the tire, let the powers that be know how you feel. Go forth and spread the good word. There’s good reason for this column, because from everything I hear, next year’s schedule is going to be one of the ugliest in years in terms of back to back racing. Let us know what you think. You can post a comment on one of my websites – InsideTopAlcohol.com or InsideCompRacing.com, or email us here at response@DragRacingOnline.com. Oh, and a shameless plug – look for InsideFastBrackets.com, a site devoted to Top Sportsman, Top Dragster and Top Comp to debut next week. 
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