Class payouts at tracks...why always clone heavy?
- Thread starter W5R
- Start date
I never said anything about giving up and quitting, now your putting words in my mouth buddy. I was saying pretty much the same thing as Jake was saying, pay back more spots and get the kart counts up and have a little better racing, rather than just pay the top 3 every time and have lower kart counts. Yea i agree with you, when i go to a race im not going just to enter and throw money away, im going to give it my best and race hard and try to bring home a win, and i have done it before plenty of times, i was just agreeing that some tracks could put some of that money toward the other racers instead of only the top 3 karts every time. I dont give up on anything, you must have misunderstood that somehow.
brad hinkelman
Curiosity killed the cat
come to shellhammers they pay out and its fun....
or ya can go to the boardwalk and race...they dont payout maybe if I could keep some of my money in my own pocket instead of putting it in theirs I'd have a better chance to give them a run for their money but when I buy one set of tires and have just enough left for entry and they can afford to buy 3 I'm sol. you can be the best driver, know every change to make but if you can't afford to make those changes it doesn't do a damn bit of good you can get lucky now and then if the track goes your way and you happen to have the right stuff on hand but that's kind of betting on the if-come. Grandpa told me never count on the if-come. I spend just as much time working on my karts as I put in at work but that doesn't give me a wall full of tires and gallons of prep to put on them.That is the one very bad thing with racing is a fat wallet can make or break you. the next Jeff Gordon could be running at my track but unless his old man has the funds to give him everything he needs to put him up front then he will be the best racer at your local farm track his whole life. I have so much more fun running a track that cost me 20 bucks and they race for a trophy then I do running the "big shows" that cost me $75 bucks just to get in the door.
I understand your pain, when it comes to money and the outrageous expenses one has to pay to run up front at the big money shows. The line is drawn when you can look at all you have and think, I can't win the big money with what I can afford. At this point it's probably best that you don't run the big shows, run your local Saturday night races, have fun and spectate the big shows. No one is forcing you to run the big events, that's your choice but please don't complain about the payouts and such when you're nowhere near the front of the grid, if or when you do decide to run the big events on a small budget.
I'll also add that I don't care for the heavier weight classes very much since I'm pretty light but you shouldn't complain about a 375 pound weight class, try picking up a champ kart that weighs in near 300 pounds without the driver. They run the heavier weights because, they will draw the biggest crowds.
rebsfan4
Member
I'm confused here. Who; exactly, is forcing anyone to go run an event that they already feel as though they will not be competetive enough to run the top three paying postions and simply be lining the pockets of those whom they feel will be front runners? If you've already convinced yourself that you will not be in the top three paying positions; and that upsets you because you will not be "in the money", then you don't need to even be contemplating attending such an event. At the same time, why would anyone feel they have the right to ask someone to pay further back just because that's the only way they feel they will be able to get any money? JP is correct. The goal is to win. Your goal should be to win. If you can't win then you should strive harder to do so. Not rest on mediocricy and expect to be rewarded for it. Mediocricy may be all that some can achieve but, that shouldn't mean those who have chose to be winners should pay for anyone elses lack of effort. That's just my opinion because from what I see here, some folks are wanting more for doing less.
your right nobody is forced to do anything but if the pay was not so top heavy you would have more entries and more classes could have a pay instead of one that has all the purse put to it.. myself i sure miss the days when karting was about having fun with the family when the true test of how you rated with the best of the best was for a trophy and you didn't need a wall of tires and a chemical engineering degree to get it. that's a big part of the reason I moved on from flat karts was to get out of the tire game and the fund/fun ratio at tracks that think they need to run for money.
Fortunate Son
New member
Is there really any money made at these big money event? I've been to some as a spectator and if you see all rolls of tires, rack of engines and 70k to 80k tow rigs and trailers. It make me wonder how this is all paid for? Racing a kart? I'm only speculating, seems to me that karting has turned into a rich man hobby.
Couldn't disagree more with your statement. I can say this & anyone who knows me & seen me work at the track will back it up. I don't think there is a person that works any harder, puts more effort into tring to run good & learn how to be better! I'm in my garage nightly tring any thing I can think of to make my stuff better. But like a lot of people my wallet is my biggest down fall. I run hand me down tires,older kart. Everybody just wants to feel like they have a chance. No I won't run big $$$ races cause I know I don't have a snowball chance in hell of winning. Also if only those top 3 entered how much do you think the payout would be. They have to have the other karts money to make there money. But hey jmho. I'm just a nobody tring as hard as any big $$$ racer to win my 1 st race. Only difference is I don't have a whole pitcrew to do everything for me so I can walk around with my sunglasses on. I gotta do it all by myself.
rebsfan4
Member
I can remember a lot of things that were different 30 years ago in karting. Times change. Things change. And we move on. We accept it and roll on. Or we get out. No point in living in the past. We live in a world of evolution.
i cant speak for everyone else, but i did not say that i think tracks should pay back more spots just so i could have a better chance at finishing in the money, that was not what i said at all. if i didnt think i had a chance to win, i wouldnt be running a race in the first place, i would sit back and watch everyone else.
face it, we race because we love the thrill, the speed and basically we all want to win.....but that's not in the cards. one winner, all the rest are loosers. it's just that when you only reward those same top three week after week (and i'm talking local racing not the national level events)...then it's like you loose the race and then get kicked "because you aren't putting enough into racing to be one of the top three". horse pucky!! i work a full time job, take care of my family (2 kids and 4 grand children that i refuse to let go without what they need in the name of racing), house payments, food, clothing.....you get the idea. i put as much time in racing as i can, yet....SOME get on here and brag or boast about spending every minute of the day and night working on a kart and try to make some feel like crude because we don't. it's called prioritizing your time...i can't skip work to tune a kart motor. i can't let a sick child go without care so that i can prep a set of tires.
sorry for the soap box, but get off the "you need to spent more time" stuff. tracks will do what's good for the track, not the racer. that is a fact. whether it's in the payout or the entry fee, the track is a business and they aren't going to go broke to give a racer all the money that comes in. so what's the answer? if you keep paying only the top three, then soon you'll only have the top three racing. then what's going to happen? the track will only pay the winner....and soon you won't have anyone racing. look at all the tracks that were great places to race and yet they are closed. why? ask them...i bet the majority will say that they lost too many karts to keep the place open. ask the racers? because the track wasn't treating them right and they went some where else.
another thing is the track is spreading themselves and the money too thin.....get rid of a lot of the classes that you only have three or four karts in every week and bring them into a bigger class. why have 5 different weight classes running with 2 to 4 karts per class? combine them and see what happens. it's called a full field of racers....
jsut my thoughts and my opinions....some won't sit well, but that's why it's called freedom of speech!
sorry for the soap box, but get off the "you need to spent more time" stuff. tracks will do what's good for the track, not the racer. that is a fact. whether it's in the payout or the entry fee, the track is a business and they aren't going to go broke to give a racer all the money that comes in. so what's the answer? if you keep paying only the top three, then soon you'll only have the top three racing. then what's going to happen? the track will only pay the winner....and soon you won't have anyone racing. look at all the tracks that were great places to race and yet they are closed. why? ask them...i bet the majority will say that they lost too many karts to keep the place open. ask the racers? because the track wasn't treating them right and they went some where else.
another thing is the track is spreading themselves and the money too thin.....get rid of a lot of the classes that you only have three or four karts in every week and bring them into a bigger class. why have 5 different weight classes running with 2 to 4 karts per class? combine them and see what happens. it's called a full field of racers....
jsut my thoughts and my opinions....some won't sit well, but that's why it's called freedom of speech!
Mikey56, this thread was initially a question/concern about the larger money events and why the big purses always seem to be for the heavier classes. This was not about some small Saturday night track that may pay back 80% of the entry fee to a certain number of spots (spots usually vary depending on kart counts). It's up to the promoter to determine how many spots he wants to pay back. and lets face it if he pays back five spots, usually spots 3-5 wont even get enough money to cover pit passes or registration fees for the night. So this B*tching and moaning about paying back more spots is pointless because at the end of the night, you haven't broken even, you've spent way more than you've won.
Oh and another thing, you make a point about karting not being a top priority in your life. You're right it shouldn't be, family always comes first. My issue with that is you using it as a crutch to stand, on in your argument that the promoters should pay back more spots so that you might get a measly 10 bucks for finishing say 7th out of 10 karts. Look if you can't put a lot of time into your karting then you can't but don't say that the promoters should pay back more spots because you couldn't prepare your equipment as good as the next guy. There's a saying that goes like this "Life sucks, then you die." Hey we all can't have are cake and eat it too. Do the best with what you have and if you don't win anything so be it, just try to have fun at your local Saturday night track, as you state that's all you're really racing for is the joy of racing.
Oh and another thing, you make a point about karting not being a top priority in your life. You're right it shouldn't be, family always comes first. My issue with that is you using it as a crutch to stand, on in your argument that the promoters should pay back more spots so that you might get a measly 10 bucks for finishing say 7th out of 10 karts. Look if you can't put a lot of time into your karting then you can't but don't say that the promoters should pay back more spots because you couldn't prepare your equipment as good as the next guy. There's a saying that goes like this "Life sucks, then you die." Hey we all can't have are cake and eat it too. Do the best with what you have and if you don't win anything so be it, just try to have fun at your local Saturday night track, as you state that's all you're really racing for is the joy of racing.