Just A Thought

When I was young, and I mean really young, I recall going to the Mississippi Valley Speedway Club (MVSC) races at West Liberty, Columbus Junction and even a night or two in Mount Pleasant. If my memory serves me right, the location of the race events were staggered from week to week in that one week we would go to West Liberty and the following week the races were run at Columbus Junction. I'm not sure why the shows were run like that, or even if this is just something that I dreamed up since I no longer have my grandparents around to confirm it (they were the ones that took me each week), but this memory was running through my head as I drove home from Memphis last Saturday night.

The Pepsi Doc 360 Fall Nationals were a success under first-time promoter Brandon Savage and I have not heard whether or not he is interested in pursuing the role of promoter on a weekly basis there in 2012. I see that Bloomfield is actively seeking proposals from parties who may be interested in promoting there next season. And in Eldon, it appears that the fairboard may have settled in to running four or five nights a year under its own direction. It is my hope that all three of these facilities find a promoter and return to having regular successful programs. However, if all three find themselves still looking for a new promoter come January, I wonder if a format similar to the old MVSC might just work?

It is obvious that each of the three fairboards have people on them who love and support dirt track racing. The question is, can these three fairboards come together in a manner that would allow for racers and fans to have one "weekly" show that would fit the budget of the many racers and fans in the region? No more spreading cars, and fans, out across two of these tracks on the same night. No more stretching the budgets of those same drivers and fans by having two nights of racing on the same weekend. Can something like this work?

- Each of the three fairboards will have two members on a race committee

- The race committee will come to an agreement on a standard set of rules for each class across all three tracks. They will also establish a standard weekly purse as well as admission prices and pit pass costs that will be in effect at all three tracks.

- The race committee will establish a schedule that will rotate from week to week beginning in early April and running through September. The schedule will basically say that on this week running from Monday to Sunday, this facility will host the race event for that week on its chosen night. (This way Bloomfield could still run its shows on Friday nights if it chooses while the other two would likely stick with Saturday). The "Monday through Sunday" designation allows the track to pick a different night in case there is another event in the area that they do not want to bump up against, or to fit the best night for its entertainment lineup for the county fair. Of course the schedule would be set in a fashion that each county fair has the racing event for that week.

- The race committee hires a Races Director that will oversee each event, no matter the location, to make sure that all rules and procedures are applied consistently across all tracks. Otherwise, each track is responsible for the remainder of the crew at its facility (announcer, flagman, officials, etc.)

- The race committee hires a publicist who will be responsible for a common website for all three tracks, pre-race publicity and efficient post-event reporting of stories and results to area media.

- The race committee pursues one "title sponsor" for each of the divisions that will race at all events with all of that money to be designated as the point fund for that division. This will be the only money that will be "pooled" between the three tracks. Points will be earned at each and every race event regardless of the race night or the facility.

- For each event, all revenues and expenses (including the cost of the Race Director and Publicist), are self-contained within each fairboard. After the title sponsors for each division are "sold", each track can work on their own to sell sign sponsors, night sponsors, etc. There will be no "pooling" of funds between the three facilities.

- All three facilities will cross-promote their events. For example, during a race night at Eldon, there will be flyers up promoting the upcoming events at Memphis and Bloomfield and the announcer will do the same.

So there are the basics, obviously there are a bunch of other details and challenges that would need to be worked out, but in my mind at least, I think that it just might work for these three facilities if something else is not worked out. This same scenario just might work up in northeast Iowa as well perhaps at Cresco and West Union. TB, what do you think?

Feel free to drop me a comment or additional suggestions, but as always I want to know who it is coming from. Nothing will likely ever come of it, but you never know, we just might be on to something! It was just a thought while driving home from a great night of racing in Memphis.