T-440

Thanks for the replies!  I remember when the class was first introduced at AMP, they said the 602 crate motor would be ok to use.  I like the fact that you can buy a crate, or if you prefer, you can build your own engine.  I thought back when the class started, if they kept the shock rule to keep that cost down, and had a reasonable weight rule so teams weren't spending piles of money on light weight parts, it would be a good class for this area.  

I'm anxious to get up to Thunder Mountain or Hummingbird to see this class run.  I think if the bottom end of the purse was raised, the class could really take off.

From a safety aspect, the old style enduro's of leaving broken cars on the track for the drivers to navigate around probably wouldn't fly these days.  I remember the late 90's when CPS was asphalt and they ran the FWD 4cylinders once or twice a month.  They  usually had over 30 cars, and sometimes more than 40.  I think they ran something like 40 laps or 45 minutes whichever came first.  Those were some fun races to watch!  When the added the class to the weekly card, the counts dropped dramatically.  I talked to a few of the drivers at Sheetz one night and they all said that they couldn't afford to race every week or didn't want to race every week, so they still only ran once or twice a month, and that most of the other teams were in the same boat. 

I often thought that a track could have a once a month FWD enduro.  $25 for the driver and one crew member gets you entered into the nights event.  No heats, feature only, line up in the order that you signed in to the pits that night.  50/50 split of the entry fees.  Winner gets half, track gets half.  Winner takes all.  If you got 40 cars the winner would get $500.  Even if you had 25 cars it would be over $300.  Heck, you could almost do a summer tour of local tracks.  Get a sponsor to pony up the championship trophy and cash award for winning the points. 

I think they'll have a pretty good turnout for this show.  I planned on going, but got my weekends mixed up.  I kept thinking it was over labor day weekend, and I would be off that Sunday night.  Didn't realize till yesterday that the show is this Sunday. 

 .one last thing i never heard one word about the 12 car pile up  in the street stocks at the bird two weeks ago but if that happened at a.m.p there would have been 3 pages on here !!!!

Did ya ever notice that the people that complained about AMP on here all the time where for the most part the same ones that complained about Hummingbird when they went there?  Kind of coincidental how the constant complaining about the Bird stopped when AMP opened.  If you could research back far enough on this board, I bet you would find it was the same people complaining about CPS when it was still dirt.  Same complaints, different track.  I'm not saying that some of the complaints aren't valid, but alot of it is the same stuff they complained about in the past.  The sad thing is, this board represents a very small percentage of the fans that attend the tracks.  I went to the Bird one night this year and the only bellyaching I heard was about the micro sprints, and the complaint was that there was too many of them!  There are just some fans out there that will never be satisfied.

Honestly to me, this all sounds like a case of, "it wasn't fun anymore."  I'm certain that Jeff got into this with the best intentions, and regardless of what all led to the final decision being made, to me it basically boils down to the fact that it wasn't enjoyable for them anymore, so they are getting out.  It sucks for everyone involved that it had to happen this way. 

One thing I would like to throw out there.  The first three races that I would be trying to schedule would be Memorial Day Sunday, Labor Day Sunday and July 3rd.  It is hard to believe that just a couple years ago, we had CPS, Hesston, and Bedford, all fighting for cars and fans on those weekends. 

It isn't the whole problem, but I think it does impact many tracks. 

Sunhoney so your saying they had under 10 late models multiple times last year and they have under 10 this year and that's a huge drop in car count ??? Sounds to me like the place is the size of a shoe box and no conducive to racing high powered late models at anyway

Depends on what size shoes would fit in the shoe box....      I've seen some really good late model races there over the years, and some that were painful to watch too.  Some of their ULMS specials back when it was gamblers were really good shows. 

What ever the reason 62 cars in 6 classes ain't good... 6 classes is too many.

I agree.  Drop one of the stock classes, and put that money into the late model purse.  I am glad to see they are drawing some sprints.  In my opinion, the 305s at AMP and the Micros at Hummingbird are a nice change of pace from the same ole same ole that has ruled this area for too long.