Is the racing dead?

[Mr.Spool]

made some changes for the better on my ride and would love to better my previous runs but to many rules kills the curiousity.

 

[FastDiesel]

Its not just turbo regals its everyone the prob is there were fewer of us to start with...theres a ton of cars up here that are popping up in my area people are finishing motors and bringing cars out...It started up here last summer and im seeing a lot of new cars and cars that have been parked for years popping up...

true im one of them im finishing my car now and it's bin sitting for 10 years

 

[Dusty Bradford]

The Economy!
The Gas prices!
Too Many events! Is my guess....

That pretty much sums it up. Too many events may be taken the wrong way but with more events, the people will choose the closest to save on gas costs etc. You have the hard core group of Buick guys who will attend every event possible but those are the minority.

The classes are getting smaller because the bar keeps getting raised and it gets out of the reach for the average guy.

 

[turbo nasty]

Is it the fear of obtaining hard to get parts? Meaning they are more expensive?

What about the economy. We have a Indian Casino packed every day with people losing their shirts. People will always find a way to feed their vices.

What wod it take to have you bring your car out for example?

I try to make it to BG but work gets in teh way alot. I will be at teh Car Craft nats representing. And also be making teh 12 hour one way trip to BG this year.

I mostly street race my car and the laws have gotten very bad so thats kinda out. It just aint what it used to be on the street. Even people just meeting up and just hanging out isnt the same.

I dont have the budget to race in the classes or the tow rig.

 

[ROYAL_6]

In my humble opinion, i think if they make a "fun" (easier, with hardly ANY restrictions. i.e turbo size, head design, c.i, stroke,A/C no A/C, TA cover, etc..) class, where you actually run what you have, but break it down to different and specific e.t times.. take it back to the good old days/street racing days.. have car show and a let the races ride.. take other big events as an example and try to duplicate as much as possible....

 

[GNTurboTommy]

I for 1 Bought my GN for the purpose to race it. I'm presently building a garage to store it and work on it in. Hopefully i will be posting some #'s by summers end.

 

[Razor]

Probably another truth is that to travel out of your area to race the car you need to really trailer it there. The real minority would be someone drive their car 800 miles and then proceed to beat on it. No matter what the car ET's.

If the car is slow enough to not be on the edge, the classes that exist are hard to win. Better said, whatever racing class when its heads up.. promote turning it up to try and make a number. This goes against simple common sense.. on a car not trailered to an event. Unless everyone runs a bracket class and it is what it is. Then it doesnt matter what it runs as long as its consistant.

I also dont know if the death spiral on these things has also to do with payouts. I mean the cost to technically trailer a vehicle X amount of miles, rent a room/hotel for a few nights, pay for meals, etc not counting any breakage is a good chunk. Unless the class you race pays out really well.. its upside down to begin with. I saw the checks of 1K at the TB.com nats in NC.. that was really nice to payout that much considering the car count. Yet I do know anyone traveling 500+ miles will end up spending 1-1.5K to and from. And I know this is not done to make money but to have fun with our cars.

You think having more index classes would help. Like 10.49, 11.49, 12.49.. and have these classes as street car classes.. keep the big tire pro cars out of them.. Then distribute the purses on those classes based on entries?

 

[SGRIM]

I think it is partly the economy.

Then you have the number of events, which reverts to the economy IMO. It is much cheaper to go to the closet event...

I also think it is the shrinking size of our community as a whole. How many cars get parted or totaled during the year? We keep getting smaller and smaller.

There is one more problem, I know I am stirring a hornests nest with this one but oh well:biggrin:

I REALLY wish we could get over this North vs South crap We are two small in numbers to divide ourselves up...




Finally, far as the classes go. I thought about having a amauter division for say TSM and TSO but everyone I have mentioned it too thought I was crazy, simply because of low car count already... However I feel like part of the low car count is no one wants to race for 3rd or 4th every time....

 

[Grumpy]

The Economy!
The Gas prices!
Too Many events! Is my guess....

Scot W.

X2 !!! Plus the cars are getting older an people move on. Hell I have been laying low all this year.. I haven't even been to the track yet this year !! My "junk" is sitting in the driveway unused. Just been busy with other things.. BUT I am working on them today. Maybe it will get my butt moving
...Now as far as classes. Especially the Alky one. We had a great time playing in the class. Melissa/Russ's car is still here running like a champ. BUT they are busy with jobs/houses an so on. I think classes should have smaller turbo's to keep the times down. Not everyone can build a 9 sec car.. Takes $$$ an time. We were lucky that between Russ and I we have more "used parts" on the shelf in case we need them. Her car was a low buck combo with used "stuff". We have talked about this class a lot between us. Bottom line to us was to try an slow em down so more guys would come to race. BUT it's like a double edge knife. Ya never know what guys will actually do.

 

[Razor]

Finally, far as the classes go. I thought about having a amauter division for say TSM and TSO but everyone I have mentioned it too thought I was crazy, simply because of low car count already... However I feel like part of the low car count is no one wants to race for 3rd or 4th every time....

Exactly my thoughts..

Dont know how to make an amateur division on any class.. without creating more drama.. thats why I thought of the index classes.. as the cars get faster eventually they can get into one of the heads up classes.

Being the cars are now 25+ years old.. only made for a few years... time is against us. This is not a Chevy/Ford event that has new cars constantly being added..

 

[Grumpy]

And I know this is not done to make money but to have fun with our cars.

I think a LOT of guys are missing that !! Hell I miss not having Melissa's car here to beat on They use it all the time !! If I can't drive the car an have fun then I don't want it ! hmmmm .. this is almost pushing me to get out an work on my junk

 

[SGRIM]

Exactly my thoughts..

Dont know how to make an amateur division on any class.. without creating more drama.. thats why I thought of the index classes.. as the cars get faster eventually they can get into one of the heads up classes.

Being the cars are now 25+ years old.. only made for a few years... time is against us. This is not a Chevy/Ford event that has new cars constantly being added..

Yep, agreed! Far as the drama, I think racing and drama are married:biggrin: No way around it... Just do our best to keep it at a minimum

We are going to keep having the index classes at our event. It seems people either love or hate it though. Not much in between. As a heads up run what you brung guy myself I'm not particularly crazy about them, at least not as the main event

 

[CardBoardHero]

I would race my car, but I am still trying to find the clutch pedal....

 

[Razor]

Yep, agreed! Far as the drama, I think racing and drama are married:biggrin: No way around it... Just do our best to keep it at a minimum

We are going to keep having the index classes at our event. It seems people either love or hate it though. Not much in between. As a heads up run what you brung guy myself I'm not particularly crazy about them, at least not as the main event

True.. but given running brackets or index.. the index class at least is heads up. And as you where saying having an amatuer class.. I cant think of any other way.

Who wants to "now" build a TSM car? TSO car? These are two very niche classes that have the bar raised pretty high..

 

[Mike Licht]

I think it is partly the economy.

Then you have the number of events, which reverts to the economy IMO. It is much cheaper to go to the closet event...

I also think it is the shrinking size of our community as a whole. How many cars get parted or totaled during the year? We keep getting smaller and smaller.

There is one more problem, I know I am stirring a hornests nest with this one but oh well:biggrin:

I REALLY wish we could get over this North vs South crap We are two small in numbers to divide ourselves up...




Finally, far as the classes go. I thought about having a amauter division for say TSM and TSO but everyone I have mentioned it too thought I was crazy, simply because of low car count already... However I feel like part of the low car count is no one wants to race for 3rd or 4th every time....

As much as no one really wants to admit it you hit the nail on the head. The cars are old, there is lots of other choices out there now for cars to go fast cheap. Nice cars are getting hard to find for a reasonable price. The community is shrinking. The existing cars are too fast for the average new guy that knows nothing about these cars to come in and compete. All these and more have reduced interest, the ecomony has not helped, gas prices have not helped. It is tough in the Buick world right now.
Mike

 

[dr_frankenstein]

Economy has really shut me down.

And Street racing is my major way to go... with a long drive to go to any tracks and excessive rules make the street way more fun.

plus theres more money to be made on the street.

But my biggest reason, no hybrid class. though realisticly, i dont see it being fair.

A.j.

 

[ugotdubbz]

The price of parts and just normal racing expenses keeps me from racing anymore. Just to hard for the normal working person to keep up with the sponsored cars. Once you get a taste of running in the 9's and 8's it is just no fun to be involved with racing anything slower and cheaper. We used to be heavy into grudge matches, but even they got to be to much money in the last few years. It took your entire car club to pony up 5 to 10G's for a good grudge run.

 

[STP]

Yes. I ran 6.0 at 117 tonight. Plan on upper 8's, low 9's on pump gas this coming Saturday.

Julio, do you think that it would of taken more money to put a turbo Buick in the 6.0's reliably vs. the Stang?

IME, it takes more $$$ to get a Turbo Buick to run the number vs an LS, Mod motor, etc...Reliabilty and potential payouts come into play there too. I haven't completely jumped ship as I still own and build some Buick V6's, but these LS engines are impressive and can make big power for considerably less.

My circumstances won't allow me to build a $20k 9sec. TR only to race it at a couple of events a year with little chance of a payout unless I'm willing to push it to the edge. And we all know, you can't bracket race a turbo car...They aren't consistent and consistency is what wins in a bracket. My $.02

 

[odell4o8]

Local track has test an tune on wed, nite serval cars show up,
sat, nite bracket racing and moser quick eight
and the pits are full, just about all the racers are bracket racers,
economy? well the local horse racing track and the casino is
full on weekends. you have to stand in line most of the time at
any resturant or burger joint,
as for my car i sorta lost interest in it, i go up to RPM transmission shop
and look at all the high dollar corvettes and vipers and they look very buisy
looks like some people are spending money,
local chassic shop is full up with a wating list,
good luck oc,

 

[SS/GN]

Car counts are down everywhere and in every class from Jr. dragsters to superstock and everything in between.I am looking at alot of possibilities and the NHRA Unleashed program is my favorite.:biggrin:The Buicks will shine,fun environment,reasonable costs depending on ET and all cars can compete on a level playing field.I like the friendly rivalry of running different cars . A true street car is my choice as it can do much more than just raceJust my opinion

Kevin