is 4 wide reason for low attendance? (1 Viewer)

[mick]

It's Nellis USAF base -- all-day airshow featuring USAF's finest to accompany your drag racing, and it's free of charge. One of those enticing extras that Vegas throws in...

well, it's not really free. you can look at a road, or a bridge, or the gal in front of you at the grocery store using food stamps, and realize that is our tax dollars at work. the air force planes are
same exact thing, just a little more exciting to watch

 

[TooTall999]

Where did you guys get the idea that the crowd was weak?

In years past, the Vegas Spring race was weak compared to the Fall race. Last year the inaugural 4-Wide was a sellout. But you have to take that with a grain of salt. Inaugural events are always bigger, because everyone wants to be part of something new and see the first one. The true comparison happens now and I was told that the attendance was up 60% over the last Spring 2-Wide event. It wasn't quite a sellout, but it was a very strong crowd.

I'm not privy to all the promotional stuff that happens, but I did hear radio adds, and see a couple of billboards while I was there. We also had the Fan Fest at New York, New York. And these days more and more advertising is shifting towards on-line and social platforms.

I know that not everyone loves the 4-Wide format, and that's fine. We have 22 2-Wide events a year built just for you. And with 4-Wide in the Spring and 2-Wide in the Fall each event has it's own personality. Same for Charlotte. 4-Wide does get a lot of new fans to come give it a look, and some of them will get hooked.

David, serious question. After seeing Bo win Pro Stock on the first ever Triple Holeshot, would it be more exciting to have him come back and race Matt one on one?

Alan

Alan, it just seems incomplete to me. Every other round the first two across the finish line move on. It just seems like the final quad leaves "unfinished business" and the spectators get gypped out of one round of racing.

 

[none]

Alan, it just seems incomplete to me. Every other round the first two across the finish line move on. It just seems like the final quad leaves "unfinished business" and the spectators get gypped out of one round of racing.

Fair enough. I certainly understand your line of thinking.
Just thinking about a possible unintended circumstance, how would you feel if you beat me three times and then I won the final?

Alan

 

[none]

J R came in second twice before winning the final. I am certainly not going to complain about that..............

 

[Muddy]

Saw the first Charlotte 4 wide on TV and just hated it. Decided it couldn't be as bad as I believed so I attended the second. Found it to be worse than I believed. Understand I've been attending drag races since 1954 of 1955. Raced top fuel in the 60s and early 70s. Crewed on other fuel cars until 75 or so. Have many friends who raced or are still involved in some way so there is no question about my love of the sport. Having said all that the 4 wide began my dissatisfaction with drag racing as it exists today and I rarely attend any events today and no national events in a few years. That's down from as many as 16 to 18 national events each year.

 

[wireguy]

Where did you guys get the idea that the crowd was weak?

In years past, the Vegas Spring race was weak compared to the Fall race. Last year the inaugural 4-Wide was a sellout. But you have to take that with a grain of salt. Inaugural events are always bigger, because everyone wants to be part of something new and see the first one. The true comparison happens now and I was told that the attendance was up 60% over the last Spring 2-Wide event. It wasn't quite a sellout, but it was a very strong crowd.

I'm not privy to all the promotional stuff that happens, but I did hear radio adds, and see a couple of billboards while I was there. We also had the Fan Fest at New York, New York. And these days more and more advertising is shifting towards on-line and social platforms.

I know that not everyone loves the 4-Wide format, and that's fine. We have 22 2-Wide events a year built just for you. And with 4-Wide in the Spring and 2-Wide in the Fall each event has it's own personality. Same for Charlotte. 4-Wide does get a lot of new fans to come give it a look, and some of them will get hooked.

David, serious question. After seeing Bo win Pro Stock on the first ever Triple Holeshot, would it be more exciting to have him come back and race Matt one on one?

Alan

I don't care for this format either but I guess it compares to Nascars road course races which I also don't are for. Then again there are tracks I prefer and others I don't and those are the races I can't attend because I would like to go to all of them like you, Alan!

 

[none]

As I said before, if you don't like it, that's fine. I do like the comparison to a Road Race in NASCAR. I know some fans don't care for that either.

But that still leaves 22 National Events a year in the traditional 2-Wide format.

John, I'm trying to understand why changing the format at 1 event would make you quit the sport? From your statement I take it that you quit coming before Vegas went 4-Wide.

Alan

 

[mick]

bo's triple holeshot was sooper cool, but really, the average fan can not look at 4 scoreboards, maybe hear the announcer give the R.T.'s (because he is sitting at the starting line and the
funny car final is already fired), and decipher all that information. what they saw was four cars go down the track and knew the finish was close. the winner's light came on, the announcer said
who won, and mild applause followed for a few seconds, because attention is now focused on the 4 FC's doing burnouts. only after the finals the fans mite understand the explanation of what
had transpired in the PS final.

after seeing the bleachers on tv at the spring charlotte race for the last few years, i would believe that last year's vegas inaugural 4-wide had a noticeable boost in attendance (as alan stated a 60% bump). that would be the equivalent of attracting 50k at the last 2-wide, and 80k at the inaugural 4-wide. i can actually believe those numbers. 4-wide seems to be an anomaly that triggers interest in
casual fans. personally i don't get it; then again i don't mind it either. the tree seems to still be an issue for some of the drivers. that must be the hobby drivers. the likes of m. smith must have it
dialed in. thank goodness for those 'truly' professional racers. without them, all we'd have is a bunch of amateurs disguised as professionals. who would pay to see that!

 

[robinjackson]

well, it's not really free. you can look at a road, or a bridge, or the gal in front of you at the grocery store using food stamps, and realize that is our tax dollars at work. the air force planes are
same exact thing, just a little more exciting to watch

Yes, point taken -- we all pay taxes, somewhere or other. But free or not, it's still a terrific daily airshow, and a great complement to the action unfolding on the track.

PS: I've just received a promo email from Atlanta Motor Speedway. Seems they are cutting their seat prices for next year's NASCAR race. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

[mikebcurve]

I don't think anyone is being cheated out of rounds. You know what you're getting before you buy the ticket. If I'm thinking right there are still 28 cars going down the track per class in eliminations as opposed to 30. I don't feel cheated when I go to the Night Under Fire at Norwalk and they use Chicago style qualifying with one round of eliminations. That's the format going in. Variety is good. Something for everyone.

 

[FABMAN]

I don't know about Vegas prices but Clint Bowyer driver for Stewart Hass was so upset about low attendance that he started researching and found that low end lodging was 300 dollars up for 1 night, that itself would deter attendance. The Smith family didn't know this was going on thank Bowyer for his input.

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

back in my day if we had a 4 wide track it would create the best bracket racing ever. it would be two 2 lane tracks that could instantly be a buy back in for first round losers. in the early 80's i was at spokane and they had 3 buy backs and ran till 4 in the morning. so,as a weekend bracket racer, a track like that for that use would have been super cool in the southern california area due to the mass of race cars there. as for lodging, the flat bed race car trailer worked just fine!!! lol

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

attending the speedrome for so many years we just thought normal training was going on. maybe now days a bit of a show might draw some new pilots from the dragstrips younger crowd.

 

[Muddy]

John, I'm trying to understand why changing the format at 1 event would make you quit the sport? From your statement I take it that you quit coming before Vegas went 4-Wide.

Alan[/

Alan, as best I recall the Vegas fall 2 wide was my last nat'l event. But I'm unsure what year that was. I didn't quit all at once but tapered off over a few years, perhaps 3 or 4. 4 wide just seemed to crystalize my dissatisfaction with drag racing as it exists today. I understand that it may need to be the way it is because of many influences and that's unfortunate because it's lost most of the things that made it attractive to me. I do occasionally watch the TV broadcast (mostly nitro) but don't get a lot of satisfaction from it. I never watch 4 wide and can't tell you who won last weekend. It's just not enjoyable to me but I understand it may be to others and that's ok with me. I still like cackle cars and until the reunions got so big I enjoyed them. I think they should split the race from the reunions and let us old guys have our reunion without the hassle.

 

[Ratmotor]

The definition of a drag race in the official rules a couple of years ago was an acceleration contest between two cars.
Perhaps 4-wide isn't your cup of tea. That's fine in my book. Personally I think 4 wide is
confusing, maybe unfair to some outcomes, and definitely not what I'm used to, but does it favor one team over another, especially at this point in the season?
I watch spring Vegas and Charlotte for what it is, a show.
As a kid I stood at the starting line and watched smoke through Dickie Harrells empty 71 Camaro taillight cutouts looking
like jet plumes propel him down the track
and I fell in love with this noisy messy ugly and beautiful thing called drag racing.
My '70 442 when I bracket raced in '74 was a damn sight more exciting to me than my daily driver is now, but the big show that NHRA puts on now is still pretty amazing to me and my wife.
Side story...
The first time I drug my wife to a drag race was when we lived in Omaha. It was the Federal Mogul alky drags out at the now closed Scribner track. She was impressed.
Fast forward to Firebird Raceway some time around 2005, we see Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock Car and Motorcyle 3rd and 4th round, loads of Sportsmen. The 4th round of nitro is done and she says "okay, let's go".
I say, not yet, you need to see the jets.
Jets?
So my wife sees the jets, sorta pees her pants, and to this day can tell me which psm is a Harley, which PS car is independant or on which team, and the same with FC/TF.
So the point being is that its speed that attracts some of us, and the spectacle can be just as strong to others.
As a side note, she has driven a 454 El Camino to the grocery store and appreciates a nice rumbling big block, saying, "hang on darlin, we're just goin to the HyVee"

 

[stockergtp]

well, it's not really free. you can look at a road, or a bridge, or the gal in front of you at the grocery store using food stamps, and realize that is our tax dollars at work. the air force planes are
same exact thing, just a little more exciting to watch

It is FREEdom you get to watch.

 

[robinjackson]

RACER magazine online has published the weekend's TV viewing figures:
https://racer.com/2019/04/11/tv-ratings-bristol-barber/
Vegas 4-Wide nets 713,000, which, if I'm not mistaken (always a possibility), is quite high compared to other NHRA races.

Also, you can't help but notice the stands in the Bristol NASCAR photo at the top of the article.

 

[Dennis]

Saw the first Charlotte 4 wide on TV and just hated it. Decided it couldn't be as bad as I believed so I attended the second. Found it to be worse than I believed.

It was the opposite for me. Four-wide on TV is hard to watch, and I said I would never go to a four-wide race. Then I got tickets to Charlotte for Christmas and went. Changed my mind - four-wide in person was spectacular, to me. If you don't like it, then you don't like it, I'm not here to change anyone's mind.

It's not like all races are going to this format, as Alan says if you don't like it you have 22 other events to choose from. I think that NHRA recognizes this because on the four-wide tracks, only one of the events is this format, so even if Vegas/Charlotte are your home tracks, go to the fall event.

 

[Nunz]

It was the opposite for me. Four-wide on TV is hard to watch, and I said I would never go to a four-wide race. Then I got tickets to Charlotte for Christmas and went. Changed my mind - four-wide in person was spectacular, to me. If you don't like it, then you don't like it, I'm not here to change anyone's mind.
Exactly.

It's not like all races are going to this format, as Alan says if you don't like it you have 22 other events to choose from. I think that NHRA recognizes this because on the four-wide tracks, only one of the events is this format, so even if Vegas/Charlotte are your home tracks, go to the fall event.

 

[PJ]

I Thought I would like it, even went to Z-max and was disappointed. Watched on TV and its even worse. But its only 2 races a year so I don't care. The variety is fine and people know in advance which style they are getting. It's like 1/8 mile racing. I tried it but I'm not a fan so I go the races and events I like. I do worry Burton will try to push this through to too many tracks but it's his money