Author Topic: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?  (Read 10131 times)

The Race Report

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WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« on: May 21, 2017, 10:33:11 AM »
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?

What is the future of paved track racing in the Northeast?
Coming up this Monday night at the California Grill in Vestal is a round table discussion focusing on the current and future state of paved track racing in the Northeast…. The discussion will be moderated by racing announcer Morgan Colegrove… the panel includes...

Bob Gentile has owned a variety of race cars, with drivers including Jim Zacharias, Ed Conoran, and Ron Shephard at Shangri-la Speedway to a Winston Cup car driven by Shephard and Jocko Magiaccomo. As the long time owner of Doug’s Speed Shop in Binghamton, Bob sees the ebb and flow of the racing economy through the eyes of his customers.

Mickey Marollo and his son Mike have successfully raced pavement Modifieds at the original Shangri-la Speedway and the Chemung Speedrome. Mickey Marollo Racing Engines, located in Pine City, NY, have powered championship teams on dirt and pavement and from drag racing to ovals to road courses.

Brian Nalepa has been the car owner or sponsor of many championship race teams, sharing Victory Lane with a list of drivers that includes Chris Zacharias and Glenn Lippolis. He is one of the “go to” people in the pits for questions regarding tires and chassis setup. As both a business owner and team owner, Brian has a unique perspective into the business of motorsports.

John Miller’s early racing career included crew member duties for the Twin Tiers most prolific racing team ever... the Zach Pack. Following Andrew Harpell’s acquisition of the Race of Champions franchise from Promoter Al Gerber, Miller joined the ROC staff and became on of Harpell’s most trusted officials.

“Fast Eddie” Conoran started racing on dirt at tracks like Glen Aubrey and Five Mile Point, but soon transitioned to the hardtop surface at Shangri-la in Late Models and later to Modifieds. After hanging up his helmet, Conoran joined Andrew Harpell’s Race of Champions series as a race official.

The presentation starts at 6 pm …
The California Grill is located at 912 Vestal Parkway East in Vestal… the discussion will be followed by a special round of racing trivia starting at 7:30….
https://www.caligrillny.com/


oneill71mod

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2017, 05:25:47 PM »
Mods seem to be dying in NYS again.. Mahoening gets about 18 cars and 10 are real good cars.. Riverhead is doing well as is the tri track series,which really is a good bang for the buck..
No “I’m not interested in owning a track or promoting your series 😀”

Modifiedthunder

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2017, 09:47:55 PM »
 There were 20 Modified Tour Type cars at Evergreen Raceway Park today
By the Grace of God and 600 horsepower!!!!


oneill71mod

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2017, 10:33:20 PM »
Evergreen had a 50 lap 2k to win..20 car and a bunch of good cars.. Money Matt took a big win,can't believe the southern tier guys didn't go...
No “I’m not interested in owning a track or promoting your series 😀”


The Race Report

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2017, 02:59:10 PM »
Join us tonight at the California Grill for our roundtable discussion.

Chargincharlie

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2017, 11:26:18 AM »
Sportsman car counts for the 4 tracks within 2 hrs running the same night chemung 18, Lancaster 15,Perry 11,Holland 9.


leadfoot4

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2017, 05:13:16 PM »
I realize that this meeting was held yesterday, but let me suggest that the "principles" involved might want to consider holding a second meeting, maybe somewhere closer to the Buffalo Rochester area. There are still some teams competing at Lancaster and Spencer (Holland?) that most likely would not be able to make the trip to Vestal on a Monday night, but might have some reasonable input..........


Tangletongue

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2017, 05:35:40 PM »
I realize that this meeting was held yesterday, but let me suggest that the "principles" involved might want to consider holding a second meeting, maybe somewhere closer to the Buffalo Rochester area. There are still some teams competing at Lancaster and Spencer (Holland?) that most likely would not be able to make the trip to Vestal on a Monday night, but might have some reasonable input..........
Leadfoot4: It's an excellent suggestion, but no known plans right now. The round table was basically a production of The Race Report TV show. The logistics of getting the participants to the other end of the state on a weeknight are equally as daunting as getting Western competitors to Vestal. Love to see something happen out your way, but there is a cost to moving TV production locations, and the panelists might better be picked from your area. Nothing prevents someone from putting one of these together...Doesn't even have to be a televised deal, but could be taped by a track videographer. I can't speak for Ron, he may or may not be interested in getting involved, just agreeing with your suggestion and the possible logitics problems.


The Race Report

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2017, 11:13:38 AM »
I hope that this roundtable was the first step in a series of ideas to restore weekly paved track racing to the greats days when Richie, Jimmy, and George were 3 wide in turn 2 ....

Here is how last Monday's meeting came to be....

The idea for this roundtable discussion started as a telephone conversation between Brian Nalepa and me. Therefore, Brian became the first panelist invited.

No track owners/promoters were invited. Every promoter I have ever known is the smartest promoter in the sport, and his track needs no improvement. He has all the solutions, he just hasn't managed to implement them yet.

No race teams were invited.  We already know that every team needs more money in the front of the purse....  the mid-range payout is weak...  you need more money to take the green...  and the darned promoter hasn't paved the pits in almost 10 years.  And you can't bring your own cheeseburgers.  Inviting teams to bitch about promoters was not the purpose of the roundtable.

So I added an engine builder, a speed shop owner, and two former ROC officials.  These five people have seen our sport from both the racers and the promoters perspectives...  have observed the good and bad decisions made by track owners...  and put forth suggestions that can help our sport.

Everyone was invited to attend, yet not one track owner was in attendance. That's a pretty good indication that the track owners think they have all the answers.

I received a few PMs from racers that read, "Hey Ron, ole buddy, why didn't you invite me to be on your panel?"  See above.

One track that impresses the heck out of me is Mahoning Valley.  Their PR guy (Dino Oberto) does a great job getting the word out and their car counts are spectacular!  Last week they had more than 20 Hobby Stocks plus decent car counts in (real) Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, and 4 cylinders.  Floyd Santee and his team are doing the job well.  Is the economy better in their area, or are they better at their job?



ask0329

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2017, 11:45:38 AM »
Atleast in my neck of the woods (cny) there is no entry level or mid level division. Oswego speedway has the supers and the small blocks. There is no 4cyl or 6cyl class or a V8 stock truck class. I know they rely upon the karts to be their feeder but that's too big of a jump and does not consider folks like myself that are middle class and would like to go race on a budget. Adirondack is nearly two hours away and spencer is just over an hour. No way I'm hauling anything to them two tracks. Nothing against them as they are great facility's, I'm just not spending 2-4 hours round trip on the road to race. Not when brewerton and fulton speedways are both 15 minutes in either direction from my house. Oswego speedway is 34 minutes, very reasonable.

I think tire wear is a huge factor for most as well. Asphalt eats them up quicker than dirt, thus increasing the budget.

Theres just no hype around asphalt racing right now. Dirt is immensely popular. The big paying events with late models, sprints and imca mods across the country are now televised and gaining in popularity. The 602 crate sportsman class has been a huge benefit to every track that runs them and counts are through the roof.

I took my wife to her first asphalt race last year at Wyoming couty and she absolutely loved it. No dust, no dirt and the cars where fast as heck. I said to her, just think we wouldn't have to spend an hour or two the next day after racing just washing the car. Let alone digging it out of every crevice on our person, tools, truck and life in general.


garyt

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2017, 09:20:00 AM »
asko073 :So if you take into consideration the cleaning time the trip to spencers is less.

old man

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2017, 09:36:08 AM »
We raced 9 years on pavement in microds and 1/4 midgets type cars and when we moved "up the ladder" to bigger cars tire cost was the determining factor that sent us to dirt cars. We now tow well over a hour one way now so distance for us was not a factor. Would love to be back on pavement--much cleaner. Maybe some day
Dave
PS:  One can still watch paved racing for free at the microd tracks. Look them up for directions


Hollandracer83

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2017, 10:26:38 AM »
Multiple reasons local tracks should consider for the future :

tracks have too many classes. 4 cylinders, 6 cylinders, legends, TQ, super stocks, street stocks, Late Models (almost dead), SST/ Sportsman, ROC Mods. Not to mention you have to compete against dirt. Eliminating some classes needs to happen. less classes, more races, more cars

1 set rule 1 common tire etc

Bring the enduros back.

social media- don't give instant updates it keeps people at home. If people want instant updates go to the track.

Lastly, having non premier touring classes are killing local car counts at the tracks. If you want to travel build a ROC Mod.

The Race Report

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2017, 11:11:58 AM »
Great ideas...  keep them coming!

ask0329

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Re: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OVAL TRACK PAVEMENT RACING?
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2017, 11:43:49 AM »
Common rules amongst tracks working together. The us vs them mentality has to stop. It hurts the tracks, drivers and fans. Again, why are dirt 602 sportsman so popular? You can race at three tracks minimum any week without changing a thing on the car. No matter the class, common rules.

4 divisions and that's it. no more, no less. Build them and grow them. I really feel this is where a track such as brewerton speedway excels. 4cyl beginner class. Mod lites, sportsman and big blocks. I'm sure that model can translate to asphalt just different cars. Maybe a 4cyl class, then a street stock class or late models, and maybe two kinds of open wheel cars. One that is affordable maybe a crate class and then your headliner. the big boys.

Not sure if the concept on asphalt works like it does on dirt but hard tires. hockey pucks. They last forever on dirt. They make the big motors not so important as you cant hook up the power and puts the emphasis on setup  and driver ability.

Garyt, if im home cleaning dirt, atleast I'm home. with a family and two dogs plus my business and a full time job, I can stop cleaning the car to do what I have to do. When I'm in a truck for hours on end hauling to a track, I cant. my only chance at ever racing asphalt is if Oswego adds a third class that's reasonable affordable. other than that, I have zero interest in driving hours on end. life is too short to be wasting that amount of time when theres 3 tracks all within 30 minutes of my house.