Starting your own tour?

[Jaws]

OK at least 5 times a year someone in here has a better idea than Nascar about a better tour. I for one would think it is an almost imposible task.

You will need:
1. Cars
2. Tracks
3. Sponsors
4. Insurance.
5. Saftey Equipment
6. Fans
7. Money

Most important someone to run the whole thing!!

All of which are hard to come by these days.

Anything else?

How much $ to start a tour, can't do it without money.

It would be a huge undertaking by anyone, I think a group would have to do it.

[RGeeProductions]

Be cheaper and easier to MERGE with a tour like.....TVMRS????

[Bob T. Racer]

Back in the early 90s the late and great Tom Baldwin and Bruce Boucher and a few others had a series of meetings about breaking away from NASCAR and were pretty close to doing it, but it never came together. It sure opened NASCARs eyes up, as things became a little bit better for the teams competing in the series but poor Tommy never got a break from them again untill later in his career. If he were still with us today, I would guarantee you he wouldn't sit idle as NASCAR and Stafford screws everyone over!!!

[Bob T. Racer]

JAWS next year you'll have to put 1 down and 2 to go!!!

[Fisha695]

I think the best way for a new tour to be started would be to have a group of car builders get together and start it with a new car that would be the next evolution in Modified racing.

I know I may get some jeers from this (based off of how the USAC fans seemed to react), but I think if a group of people could come along and create a car kinda like USAC did with what is now the Gold Crown car it'd be the perfect opportunity to start a new tour. Have the car combine design from the past, with safety of the current, and things that could be from the future. The car would need to be affordable, but yet advanced with technology, it'd need to be easy to repair yet durable enough that it needs little repair. The new car would have to be to Modified racing what F1 cars are to open-wheel racing, and what DTM cars are to Touring cars, the most advanced form of racing in that particular class, with enough "OEM" style stuff that the average person can relate, but enough custom stuff that the teams have room to each have their own little tricks and secrets.

I think if you can get a group of owners that are willing to develop the next-generation of "tour-type" Modifieds, and base a series around it then the tracks, drivers, fans, and money will follow. Yeah there will be a lot of the "Old Guard" out there that wouldn't like that evolution, but at the same time those people will also need to be reminded that at one time, they were the evolution and the old-timers didn't like them.

[rlizon17]

The only thing that scares me about a few owners developing a new car is the hit and loss businesses like Troyer, Spafco, Raceworks & Chasis Dynamics would take. Developing a new car sounds too close to the idea Tony George from Indianapolis Motor Speedway had when he developed the IRL. That just about destroyed open wheel racing in America.

[Axel]

You will need:
1. Cars
2. Tracks
3. Sponsors
4. Insurance.
5. Saftey Equipment
6. Fans
7. Money

Most important someone to run the whole thing!!

All of which are hard to come by these days.

Anything else?

How much $ to start a tour, can't do it without money.

It would be a huge undertaking by anyone, I think a group would have to do it.

You would need someone who also knows how to balance things well. Most importantly, someone who can deal with the different constituencies (Promoters, teams, drivers, fans) in a fair, firm and consistent manner.

[RGeeProductions]

check the front page for "The TBAX Tour"

[limodmaniac]

So, I understand the reasons people are upset. But...

1. Why do the drivers go South for the Whelen Southern tour races, if they only pay out so little money down there?

2. Why do people get excited about the True Value race at Lee paying 2500, but would freak out if that was the purse on the Whelen tour?

3. Does anyone think that if Nascar left, Monadnock or Lee or any track would welcome the mods and pay them 8000 to win?

4. On the other hand, I don't fault any track from making money, but like any good business they have to take care of the people who work for them. And the modified drivers do work for them. So how can Stafford not think the Sizzler was a huge success? If Stafford feels that weekend is such a risk, why not reschedule it for another date in June? There are plenty of open weekends on the tour this year.

[BigMac]

Well said LI. I never did understand why they rescheduled this race for the
4th of July weekend when it did get rained out. I'd rather see it run the following Friday night. Like you said, there are plenty of open weekends in June and July to run if the weather is a concern. I like the fact that Thompson schedules rain dates for all of their major events. I wish other tracks would do the same.

As far as Nascar goes, I really don't think the deal at Stafford has anything to do with them. They set a minimum purse requirement for a reason. I'm sure they would rather see a normal purse on May 22nd as much as us. I think they're getting a little too much blame in this instance. Like you said, if nascar goes away, its not like the purses are going to go up. The only thing to go away will be the 2 big paydays at NHMS.

[Jaws]

Stafford claims the May and August races have not been financial winners because of the the weather and that the May race suffers because the kids are still in school.

[Jaws]

So, I understand the reasons people are upset. But...

1. Why do the drivers go South for the Whelen Southern tour races, if they only pay out so little money down there?

2. Why do people get excited about the True Value race at Lee paying 2500, but would freak out if that was the purse on the Whelen tour?

3. Does anyone think that if Nascar left, Monadnock or Lee or any track would welcome the mods and pay them 8000 to win?

4. On the other hand, I don't fault any track from making money, but like any good business they have to take care of the people who work for them. And the modified drivers do work for them. So how can Stafford not think the Sizzler was a huge success? If Stafford feels that weekend is such a risk, why not reschedule it for another date in June? There are plenty of open weekends on the tour this year.

1. Racers like to race and many of theose teams are based there with Northern drivers.
2. The cars that race at Lee are more local and the rules they use make it less exspensive to race the TV race.
3. No.
4 I believe Stafford looks at all races on their own merits, not all 4 or 5 races together.

[SIModified]

I've always said that somebody (If they had the coin) could break the ENTIRE division away from NASCAR if they just followed the "World of Outlaws" style of plan and raced the cars on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday program in a regional market.

For instance: You could possibly start the season down south (due to warmer weather) and work a Caraway, Concord, Ace weekend. Then on the following weekend, propose a Stafford, Thompson, Waterford round trip...This goes on until you have a New Hampshire trip, a New York trip with Spencer, Lancaster, Holland or Chemung to save the teams on hotel expenses while going back to the old school ways of unloading the cars in the Holiday Inn parking lots and working on them while potential fans drive by.

Again, the idea takes money. I'd say you'd have to work in concert with Troyer, CD, Raceworks and Spafco so everyone who builds and runs the cars are all on the same program for the betterment of the division as a whole.

Who wins? The fans. If the fans support it, then there's no doubt the money would come and the purses would increase. Same could be said for the product sponsors that are in the cars.

But the drivers and car owners have to stand up for themselves and make it work. You just can't have 12 cars show up at Spencer and rely on the Leaty's, Fidanza's, Hebings and Brittains to carry you through a weekend.

The fans are going to be paying to see Jan, Sege, Pete and those guys race with Teddy or Donny or whoever else supports the tour.

[Jaws]

I've always said that somebody (If they had the coin) could break the ENTIRE division away from NASCAR if they just followed the "World of Outlaws" style of plan and raced the cars on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday program in a regional market.

For instance: You could possibly start the season down south (due to warmer weather) and work a Caraway, Concord, Ace weekend. Then on the following weekend, propose a Stafford, Thompson, Waterford round trip...This goes on until you have a New Hampshire trip, a New York trip with Spencer, Lancaster, Holland or Chemung to save the teams on hotel expenses while going back to the old school ways of unloading the cars in the Holiday Inn parking lots and working on them while potential fans drive by.

Again, the idea takes money. I'd say you'd have to work in concert with Troyer, CD, Raceworks and Spafco so everyone who builds and runs the cars are all on the same program for the betterment of the division as a whole.

Who wins? The fans. If the fans support it, then there's no doubt the money would come and the purses would increase. Same could be said for the product sponsors that are in the cars.

But the drivers and car owners have to stand up for themselves and make it work. You just can't have 12 cars show up at Spencer and rely on the Leaty's, Fidanza's, Hebings and Brittains to carry you through a weekend.

The fans are going to be paying to see Jan, Sege, Pete and those guys race with Teddy or Donny or whoever else supports the tour.


I agree with most of what you are saying, but the outlaws do show up with "12" (just a number) teams and the locals fill in the rest. The problem is we don't have enough local teams anymore to fill in. Sprint cars race at many many tracks all over the country so they have a bigger pool of cars to draw from.

We may have missed any opportunity to make this happen and yes it will take a lot of money to make something like this happen. The other problem is most if not all the tracks mentioned are Nascar are they not, need I say more.

[SIModified]

The other problem is most if not all the tracks mentioned are Nascar are they not, need I say more.

The TVMRS races at Lee which has "NASCAR Whelen All American Series" painted on their walls....

[BigMac]

Just an observation but all of Stafford's and Thompson's issues seem to revolve around the 1 day shows. Their opening and closing events must be making some money. Maybe the Thurs/Fri shows aren't feasible anymore.

What I don't understand is why don't they try different dates. Maybe Stafford should try using a June date if they think Memorial Day is too early in the year. With so few races in the next few months, I would think you'd get a good turnout for a one day Saturday or Sunday show in June or July at either Stafford or Thompson.

[Jaws]

Just an observation but all of Stafford's and Thompson's issues seem to revolve around the 1 day shows. Their opening and closing events must be making some money. Maybe the Thurs/Fri shows aren't feasible anymore.

What I don't understand is why don't they try different dates. Maybe Stafford should try using a June date if they think Memorial Day is too early in the year. With so few races in the next few months, I would think you'd get a good turnout for a one day Saturday or Sunday show in June or July at either Stafford or Thompson.

I was thinking the same thing. A Sunday afternoo 150 lap WMT with maybe a 50 or 75 lap SK show at Stafford in June plus maybe the SK lights. I would be there ina second.

[Fisha695]

The only thing that scares me about a few owners developing a new car is the hit and loss businesses like Troyer, Spafco, Raceworks & Chasis Dynamics would take. Developing a new car sounds too close to the idea Tony George from Indianapolis Motor Speedway had when he developed the IRL. That just about destroyed open wheel racing in America.

Well they would be involved, just let the drivers and team owners kinda help design what I call Modified 2.0.

The reason I say that is from the late 40s thru the late 80s/early 90s racing was about innovation, but them somewhere in the mid 90s racing pretty much on all levels went from innovation to "Follow the rules or else". I know there are tons of drivers, crew members, owners, fans, etc that all have some awesome ideas for what they would do in "innovation" was still allowed.

So I guess my idea was more of a "Lets get everybody together, get all the ideas out on the table and then go to work making it work".