FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY SIGNS WITH OSS

[Racer43]

30 of those OSS cars at Flamboro will be quite the show. What else will be running that night does anyone know that yet. It could prove to be a long night for all classes involved. Flammy is famous for some caution filled nights.... I would expect this to be one as well. I hope I can make it out that night should be interesting.
One quick queston for Mid. Have you guys purchased some type of scoring device yet? The time trial system last year left a bit to be desired IMO.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37293#msg37293

[MID]

I did not say we would start 30 cars, but we will have to come up with some type of format that will allow everyone a chance to run, beyond qualifying times. We do not want to send a car home because he could not make the show, so I am in favor of coming up with a new format, even if comes down to running a 15 lap qualifying race for a spot in the show.
As far as timing and scoring goes, I did meet with some suppliers at PRI and we are looking to purchase a system for 08.

It's kind of funny though...years ago people could use stop watches and scorer's, but we have come so far in time that modern technology has even taken over the Saturday night short tracks.
And people wonder why the ticket prices have gone up !!!
Soon Fans are going to want Lobster instead of Hotdogs, Racers are going to want Air Conditioning, and Tracks are going to pay the price for the upgrades as demanded.
"For every dollar spent it means a dollar more to be earned"..... Quote from every Race Track in the World !!

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37294#msg37294

[Racer43]

I thought your press release said something about the starting field, but whatever. Too much nitpicking with regards to the OSS lately. I for one support what you are doing and think its great to utilize all of those cars that r out there.
You right about the lobster analogy though. The pit side washrooms at Oshweken are airconditioned and could rival some big hotel facilities. I have seen cappichino be served at a dirt track in Washington. However the scoring system is important in these times when the technology is available. Good to here you have plans to improve that.
Again best of luck
 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37297#msg37297

[fourbarrelcarb]

hey racer 43 - just fyi that a transponder system that Tony used to use cost him around 75,000 which covered the software, car transponders, and all the loops that had to be imbedded into the race tracks to make it all work.......they work great - but expensive little buggers.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37298#msg37298

[Racer43]

Yes I know the transponders are up there in price. An electric eye or whatever there called is what I was referring to. The race tracks usually score the event dont they. I've been apart of some scoring nightmares just this past year due to human error. Stuff happens right.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37299#msg37299

[MID]

I would say that the transponder systems are critical, but to purchase them will only drive our race costs up to the tracks and I think our focus should be filling seats in order to ask more money from tracks for our program.
Tracks are not making money right now, and as a series we need to try and help them out for a while with costs.

We could get NASA to launch a satellite from space to do scoring but by the time we finished charging tracks for our series, the only ones that would be watching us would be those on the planet Mars !!

We need to focus on our race program for the fans at this stage, and that is prioritty #1 right now.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37300#msg37300

[LM4Ever]

While I was at PRI, I did check into the transponder socring system and the price tag to the speedway to buy the complete system, installed, is under $20,000 including 45 transponders.  That includes a laptop with the software and the training to run it properly.  It's a pretty hefty price tag for any local speedway, and you know the drivers will end-up paying for it. 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37307#msg37307

[Doherty]

I believe barrie charged there drivers $200 for transponders.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37314#msg37314

[RANDY]

Just a couple of things I noticed while reading this thread:
Spencer has some good points regarding press releases and I don't necessarily agree with Dave's suggestion of "holding off" until the date is confirmed - getting the information distributed as soon as you have confirmation from the track, this is free advertising!
Dave - you really should check your spelling and grammar before posting - especially as a representative for the series. It doesn't matter that it's only on a message board - it still has a reflection on the organization.
As far as the transponders and qualifying - it's very simple really - as you indicated earlier, it is going to boil down to the show and what the fans want to see. They don't want to sit through 15 plus minutes of single car qualifying, they want to see qualifying heats or the 50 lap feature (they really don't care how the cars are lined up if this is the case) and to consider spending the kind of dollars (quoted) on transponders is completely out of the question.
Finally, be careful with John Casale - you are correct in what you said about him being around longer than most other promoters and yes, they usually have decent car counts as a rule. I don't know if you have negotiated the contract based on a certain number of cars to make a "full field" (and it's none of my business either), but be warned - as soon as you are 1 car shy of the negotiated number, be prepared for some serious negotiations with him again before the end of the night.
Hopefully nobody takes anything out of context here - just some observations.
Cheers,
Randy
 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37318#msg37318

[25_JLM_13hp]

Two years ago, GBS started running the Fall Classic, which involved qualifying. We had some sort of electronic eye set up, and it required some tinkering as different divisions ran. In fact, several of the Junior Late Models had to run twice, because they were not picked up the first time. This year, the timer guy backed out due to an emergency of some sort (or a wedding, I can't remember which), and so everyone was told there would be no qualifying. We all got together, and decided to qualify with three people in the scoring tower with stopwatches. Whatever the middle time was, that was your qualifying time. As far as the trucks went, the qualifying rundown seemed to be fairly accurate, as the fast guys in qualifying raced pretty close to where they qualified. To summarize, if you have a few people who are willing to give a little time (maybe some eager fans), you can qualify without a system that costs thousands of dollars.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37320#msg37320

[charger]

I believe barrie charged there drivers $200 for transponders.

Actually they were 175 american so by sept it was about 150 canadian


Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37323#msg37323

[racerfan44]

Randy you said it right that transponders even thou they would be a great working tool for this series or any series you need the money to buy it and what about the tracks involved in this series this year how many are actually equiped to use them.From what I know I think Delaware is the only one set up to use this type of system and then it is still not perfect as problems will arise with any system.I say go with what you have or go with heat races,As Randy said most fans do not really care what the starting line up is as long as it is a well run race both by drivers and officals.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37325#msg37325

[MID]

Regardless of the scoring tools used it does come down to dollars and cents.
You can pay $25,000 for a low end transponder unit...or you can spend $50.00 for a top shelf stop watch.
I am leaning towards the stop watch !!

Randy, thanks for the concerns but I have no problem with dealing with John Casale. We have known each other for over 30 years and I trust the man to his word. As for the short car count, the OSS has a format based on 24 cars and a discount for less, as well as a surcharge for more. It is the only fare thing to do with Race Tracks and Promoters as they have allot on their plates without taking risks on booking racing series that do not deliver. I would bet if you heard John had short paid a series it was more then likely the series fault and not his doing.
Everyone should remember, Race Tracks are a very tough business to operate and the profits are not huge, more so in Canada when you only have 6 months to make your money. Folks like Casale last because they are smart and have racing savvy that keeps them in business so racers can go there to race for another year...after year...after year.

Thanks for the input, and I am glad we have people like you out there supporting the OSS 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37332#msg37332

[slowel]

Dave I hope it doesn't rain on your Flammy race or your rain check will be good for next year's turtle races in the infield.I've seen John screw teams series and the FANS all more than once.I don't care if he's your brother ya got to be carefull.Just remember it was flam track champ that told you to be carefull in a previous post.As a crew member I'd rather have time trials because no fixxing beat up cars after heats,but 90% of fans want to see heats.If you have the car counts you say you will have no problem with the OSS if you don't I would say it's over.Good luck we'll see what the year brings for the OSS and Ontario racing!

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=7046.msg37337#msg37337

[RANDY]

Regardless of the scoring tools used it does come down to dollars and cents.
You can pay $25,000 for a low end transponder unit...or you can spend $50.00 for a top shelf stop watch.
I am leaning towards the stop watch !!

You're not implying that you are going to allow someone to run a stopwatch and whatever they come up with will be the lineup - please tell me I'm missing something here? Even with 2 or 3 people running stopwatches - Sorry Dave, but that sounds very unprofessional a.k.a. Mickey Mouse.
A simple draw for position would be the easiest way in my view.
Don't you run 50 lap features? That's plenty of time to gain positions at any track if you have a good car and can stay out of trouble - the only drawback is if one of your fast cars draws the pole and has slower cars around them, but there's usually cautions to close the gap and the rest of the fast cars should be working their way to the front when they fall.
As for my comments regarding John, I said you had better be prepared to negotiate if things don't go exactly as planned. It doesn't matter how long you have known him and most of us have been going to his track for decades - it's the way he is and you had better be ready to deal with it. John has treated us very well over the last couple of years and I think he is getting a bit easier to deal with as time passes, but I still have my 2 day pass from the 2006 Oktoberfest Classic - just to remind myself every once in a while.
Yeah, promoters do have a pretty tough job but think about it from a racer's point of view (which John never seems to be able to understand):
Spend countless hours and dollars building a racecar, talk your friends and family into helping you and come to the track with you, pay an average of $25.00/person to go out and see if you beat the 19 other teams that also paid the same per person - and you end up getting a flat tire ($145), but were able to stay on the lead lap and get back out to run the last 5 laps  of the feature ($55.00 worth of fuel) and finish 10th which pays $190.00 - your right, the promoters have it really tough.

You still need to check your spelling before posting Dave - it would be the "fair" thing to do for the OSS - damn I'm anal aren't I!

Happy Holidays Folks
Randy
 

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