54warrior

All ya'll bustin balls and the area is struggling as it is to get a full field of cars.  If anything, you should be thanking the guy for showing up every race and being a part of the show.

(and people wonder why local racing is in bad shape)

It's not just Lernerville.  

Generally speaking, racing in western PA has taken an overall decline over the past 5 years, at least from my perspective.   The excitement of attending weekly racing has worn off and it has nothing to do with the facility or the track or the food or the camping or the prices.  The quality of the racing just isn't what it used to be.   No one goes to watch a train race, follow the leader type of event.  Sadly though, that's what it's been the last handful of times that I've attended.  I remember coming home and having something to talk about, a battle for the lead, the driver who came from 16th up to 3rd, the three car battle for 4th place, etc.   

I blame it on the fact that the sport has gotten too expensive and the level of competition just isn't what it was.  The talent/budget gap between first and last places has become too extreme.  This is only amplified by the lower car counts. We're then left to watch some boring racing.   Blame it on the economy, blame it on the purses, blame it on whatever you choose, unless a miracle happens, it's only going to be a bumpier road from here.   There's always talk about how the younger generation isn't interested.   Why would they be?  Races with no passing, being dominated by only a few drivers.  Doesn't sound too appealing to me either.  

Sadly, I can't offer any solution.   One could get into the debate on crate cars and spec cars and rules packages and blah blah blah, but that's been beaten to death.   The guys with the big check books are just going to spend spend spend at whatever cost it takes, leaving the smaller budget teams in their dust.   The smaller budget teams are what makes local weekly racing work though, and they're quickly closing up shop.  Can you blame them?