Class payouts at tracks...why always clone heavy?

W

W5R

New member
I have been wondering lately, why do pretty much all tracks in the country or at least in the southeast, always put the most money payouts in the Pro Clone Heavy class instead of Pro Clone Medium or Pro Clone Lite? Seems to me like there are alot more lite and medium racers than there are heavy, and i see that most guys have their seats lined all the way around with lead just to race heavy, i am one of them that have to do this. Its hard on peoples backs to lift a kart on and off a stand when your lifting a 150-200lb kart loaded down with lead. Would be nice to see some tracks putting the money in more medium weight classes this year instead of only in heavy, since there are more lightweight guys racing than there are heavier guys.

What is everyone else's opinions on this, im curious?
 
because that way everybody has a fair shot skinny guys can add lead but big guys can't keep up running 50-60# heavier. buy a powered stand and you don't have to lift it at all
 
Didnt just mean it that way, i meant why not have 2 or 3 classes paying the same payout, rather than just one heavy class that pays say 5000 to win, one medium paying 2000 to win, and one lite paying 500 or 1000 to win? thats what i meant, why does all the most money always go to the heavy class itself? Especially when the majority or 90% of the racers in the heavy class are lite and medium racers, with maybe 3 or 5 out of 20 karts being actual heavy drivers.
 
or....and i've seen this happen....they will offer a big payout to one class, set a minimum number of karts knowing that they probably won't get it and then they won't have to pay out as much. as far as heavy goes, i've seen it both ways. one of the things that i hate is that tracks limit the payout to the top three....and this is one way to kill the number of entries that your going to get. those that race in the top three consistently are the ones that get paid...all the other racers only line these guys pockets. some tracks have this mentality and they soon wonder why they only have three or four karts in a class....because they don't take care of all the racers...only a select few.....yeah, i don't like that or the way that some track promoters only cater to certain people. they soon forget that there are other racers that want a chance to break even or make enough to buy a cold drink....but they don't care as long as thier favorites race and place.

been a sore spot for me for a long time. lessen what the winner gets and pay back farther, say to 8 spots or 10 spots and watch the number of entries come up. keep paying only the top three (and i don't give a hoot about "that's the way it's always been" or "buy better stuff or tires, tires, tires or we do our homework"....) and your going to run yourself out of business. and yes, i know tracks that do it are still racing, but i bet you can see the kart count is down too...

paying only clone heavy? that's because they don't have to worry about lite or medium setting thier karts are clone heavy weight and monopolizing the classes. in one way the track got smart....in other ways, well, i just don't want to get into them beause it makes me mad that tracks (not all mind you) cater only to those that "contribute" to the track....

my track favorites? anyone that sits down and races....my least favorites? the ones that walk around wearing sunglasses at night and a attitude of "i'm a racer and better than you"....
 
I'm sure if the funding was there then they would do that myself I'd rather see 1000 to win and some real money paid further back. We ran a show this year that was 1000 to win and 3rd place got his entry fee back
 
Its simple.....you have a better chance of drawing Lite and Medium drivers into a Heavy class that will encompass Heavy and Super Heavy drivers, versus having a money race in Lite where only Lite and Medium drivers have a chance to run in it.

Id rather run in a race that paid 1000, 500, 300, 200, 100 for the top 5, then a class that pays 300, 200, 150, 125, 100, 75, etc etc etc.....whats the incentive to run in the top 3 if 10th gets the same payout as 5th?
 
JPMKarting said:
Its simple.....you have a better chance of drawing Lite and Medium drivers into a Heavy class that will encompass Heavy and Super Heavy drivers, versus having a money race in Lite where only Lite and Medium drivers have a chance to run in it.

Id rather run in a race that paid 1000, 500, 300, 200, 100 for the top 5, then a class that pays 300, 200, 150, 125, 100, 75, etc etc etc.....whats the incentive to run in the top 3 if 10th gets the same payout as 5th?
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about as much as there is to run when you know you have to get 3rd to even cover your entry fee. people wonder why kart counts are down well what local guy wants to spend 150 on entry knowing he doesn't have a snow balls chance in hell to even break even. it's no different then putting the money up for the light class a big guy isn't even going to try it. to me if 5th place doesn't cover my entry I'm not entering
 
have to ask....what's the incentive to race in that race or any money race if your only filling the pockets of the top three? ....what about the guy that finishes fourth? he's more or less told that he wasn't good enough to deserve anything for racing jsut as hard as the top three...maybe he only missed the third spot by two inches...too bad, so sad? ....nope....can't see leaving it all to the top three....
 
mikey56 said:
have to ask....what's the incentive to race in that race or any money race if your only filling the pockets of the top three? ....what about the guy that finishes fourth? he's more or less told that he wasn't good enough to deserve anything for racing jsut as hard as the top three...maybe he only missed the third spot by two inches...too bad, so sad? ....nope....can't see leaving it all to the top three....
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Thats the entire point of racing.....to win.

Id gladly line the pockets of the top three all day long if it made me a better, hungrier driver to try and BE one of those top 3 guys. We got our brains beat in for YEARS being one of those guys who lined those pockets...but when we finally became one of those guys, it was that much sweeter.

If I wanted to get rewarded for finishing 4th, id race kid karts or play little league.
 
JPMKarting said:
Thats the entire point of racing.....to win.

Id gladly line the pockets of the top three all day long if it made me a better, hungrier driver to try and BE one of those top 3 guys. We got our brains beat in for YEARS being one of those guys who lined those pockets...but when we finally became one of those guys, it was that much sweeter.

If I wanted to get rewarded for finishing 4th, id race kid karts or play little league.
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I'm going to agree with JP here. These big money races aren't for the local Saturday night kart racer. If you think you're good enough to run with the top dogs, enter the race but don't complain about not getting any money back if you don't finish well. It's racing not everyone is going win something, sometimes you'll end your night with a pile of junk that once was a 5000 plus dollar ride. Top tier racing isn't something you run to break even on, it's high dollar high energy fast paced racing.
 
mikey56 said:
have to ask....what's the incentive to race in that race or any money race if your only filling the pockets of the top three? ....what about the guy that finishes fourth? he's more or less told that he wasn't good enough to deserve anything for racing jsut as hard as the top three...maybe he only missed the third spot by two inches...too bad, so sad? ....nope....can't see leaving it all to the top three....
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Perhaps we could take a collection for all the fellas who come up fourth - maybe we could all chip in and give their kids some toys on Christmas too!
 
missing the point totally...it's about treating racers right...not about the top three and how much better they are and the rest of the field was so much cannon fodder.....

just sayin...and I'm outta here....this line isn't worth getting upset and loosing friends over!
 
mikey56 said:
missing the point totally...it's about treating racers right...not about the top three and how much better they are and the rest of the field was so much cannon fodder.....

just sayin...and I'm outta here....this line isn't worth getting upset and loosing friends over!
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Sorry, you are the one missing the point entirely. Racing isn't about equality. You race to decide who is the best. The winner is the best, he should get the accolades for winning. Second and third may get some sort of prize too. The Olympics only give out gold silver and bronze medals, doesn't matter if the guy that came in fourth only missed out on third by 0.001 seconds in the 400 meter dash.
 
the point that being missed is the fact that I'm going to race you just as hard for a plastic trophy or a six pack at a private track as I would for 5k on national tv it doesn't matter to me and it shouldn't to you either. but to me if it was my show and I had a sponsor for a class that was 5k I'm going to give less on the top and more tword the back and have 15 happy racers instead of 3 and I'm not going wonder why I got 25 karts for my 1000 to win race when you only got 10 for your 5k show that paid 3 spots
 
mikey56 said:
or....and i've seen this happen....they will offer a big payout to one class, set a minimum number of karts knowing that they probably won't get it and then they won't have to pay out as much. as far as heavy goes, i've seen it both ways. one of the things that i hate is that tracks limit the payout to the top three....and this is one way to kill the number of entries that your going to get. those that race in the top three consistently are the ones that get paid...all the other racers only line these guys pockets. some tracks have this mentality and they soon wonder why they only have three or four karts in a class....because they don't take care of all the racers...only a select few.....yeah, i don't like that or the way that some track promoters only cater to certain people. they soon forget that there are other racers that want a chance to break even or make enough to buy a cold drink....but they don't care as long as thier favorites race and place.

been a sore spot for me for a long time. lessen what the winner gets and pay back farther, say to 8 spots or 10 spots and watch the number of entries come up. keep paying only the top three (and i don't give a hoot about "that's the way it's always been" or "buy better stuff or tires, tires, tires or we do our homework"....) and your going to run yourself out of business. and yes, i know tracks that do it are still racing, but i bet you can see the kart count is down too...

paying only clone heavy? that's because they don't have to worry about lite or medium setting thier karts are clone heavy weight and monopolizing the classes. in one way the track got smart....in other ways, well, i just don't want to get into them beause it makes me mad that tracks (not all mind you) cater only to those that "contribute" to the track....

my track favorites? anyone that sits down and races....my least favorites? the ones that walk around wearing sunglasses at night and a attitude of "i'm a racer and better than you"....
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I would have to agree with you, tracks should be paying back farther, at least to the top 5 to put a little more money in the pockets of the racers. I also have noticed kart counts being low when the top 3 is only ones getting paid, and its usually the same 3 drivers that win in every class that is paying any real money, so what is the point in even racing those classes? You can usually tell after the first race or 2 is ran, who is gonna be winning pretty much all the races, at every big race i have been to. Every once in awhile someone else gets lucky and gets around one of those top drivers, but hardly ever unless they make a mistake. Not blaming the top drivers, i would do the same if i had their skill and money, but at least the tracks could show some incentive to the other racers and take some of that money to pay back more spots and help some of us break even.
 
Weddle Racing said:
I would have to agree with you, tracks should be paying back farther, at least to the top 5 to put a little more money in the pockets of the racers. I also have noticed kart counts being low when the top 3 is only ones getting paid, and its usually the same 3 drivers that win in every class that is paying any real money, so what is the point in even racing those classes? You can usually tell after the first race or 2 is ran, who is gonna be winning pretty much all the races, at every big race i have been to. Every once in awhile someone else gets lucky and gets around one of those top drivers, but hardly ever unless they make a mistake. Not blaming the top drivers, i would do the same if i had their skill and money, but at least the tracks could show some incentive to the other racers and take some of that money to pay back more spots and help some of us break even.
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So instead of working to get better you would rather just give up and quit?

Says a lot right there in that statement about how you feel.

You would rather be rewarded for finishing say 5th every race, instead of working to improve and getting up front.

You know why it's those same "3" you say. Because they are putting in the effort and work throughout the week and then keeping up with the adjustments throughout the day needed to stay fast.

The kart doesn't just stay fast all day. You have to make the right adjustments to keep it there.
 
jake17j said:
the point that being missed is the fact that I'm going to race you just as hard for a plastic trophy or a six pack at a private track as I would for 5k on national tv it doesn't matter to me and it shouldn't to you either. but to me if it was my show and I had a sponsor for a class that was 5k I'm going to give less on the top and more tword the back and have 15 happy racers instead of 3 and I'm not going wonder why I got 25 karts for my 1000 to win race when you only got 10 for your 5k show that paid 3 spots
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Exactly what i was thinking also
 
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