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Energy costs were climbing, inflation was rising, and Americans were struggling to keep up.
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Driver Bill Niles.
Erik Daily |
Fast forward nearly 30 years, and Deery, entering his 22nd season as the general manager of the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, sees similar challenges facing the West Salem, Wis., facility as the 2008 season approaches.
Will that slow down the cars, and the fans who watch them turn left, at the track? Maybe a bit, Deery says, but not a lot.
Challenges bring out the best in people, Deery believes, and he’s approaching the difficult economic times with a smile on his face and a glass half-full philosophy. Car counts may be down slightly from last year’s average of 81 for the three main divisions — Late Model (26-car average in 2007), Sportsman (29) and Thunderstox (26) — but not enough for concern.
Saturday night, Deery will get a first-hand look at just how many cars there will be as the track opens for its 52nd season of racing.
“Times are tough for everybody. For all involved here, it’s an excellent value sport for fans to watch and for drivers to race,” Deery said. “It (slower economy) will affect our car count somewhat, but we’re close, live entertainment that is very economical for a family. We are a drive-to destination as our core audience is from a 60-mile radius.”
While Deery is optimistic the track will draw close to its 2,700 fans per-race-average of 2007, it has been more difficult for the teams to keep, or add, sponsors. Even the top teams, like DMT Motorsports — which fields cars driven by popular drivers Steve Carlson, Kevin Nuttleman and Emily Sue Steck — have found securing sponsorship to be difficult.
“I know from a business standpoint, it is extremely tough right now,” said Tim Jacobs, who owns Dutch Mill Trucking in Sparta, Wis., and DMT Motorsports. “For me, especially, it is directly related to fuel costs. A couple of major (race) sponsors are not back with us. Kevin’s quarterpanels are empty. Emily’s quarterpanels are empty.
“I am a little biased, but I think it’s unusual for a front-running car to have that. It’s a little disappointing, but then again it’s not surprising. I think you should be concerned about it if you are in any type of business, and I run my race teams as a business. If you are not aware of scared of it, you must have won the lottery.”
Deery hasn’t won the lottery, but believes people will still seek out entertainment despite the tough times, but will simply be smarter about where they spend their dollars. He’s banking on them spending those dollars at a track where the price of admission ($10 for adults, $3 for children) hasn’t changed in four years.
“Everyone has their hobby and there is nothing cheap about a hobby,” Deery said. “Racing is a hobby that has a tremendous reward to it. If I didn’t work at the race track, I would buy a ticket and attend.”
Steve Carlson, the defending Fairgrounds Speedway and Whelen All-American Series national champion, has done his share of traveling to race tracks all over the country. He believes tough economic times are actually good for local tracks.
“It will probably force people (drivers) to travel less and run more at their home tracks,” Carlson said. “I think fans will stay closer to home, too.”
There is no doubt that the cost of racing has increased, and not just because of fuel. Fuel, in fact, is one of the most inexpensive items when considering the overall cost of operating a race team. Late Model teams will generally use 10 to 12 gallons of race fuel a night. At a little over $5 per gallon, that’s $50 to $60.
Tires, pit passes, and parts for a race car cost more than that.
“Race cars are as fuel efficient as any car considering how fast they go and the amount of horsepower they put out on a gallon of fuel,” Deery said.
That doesn’t mean teams, even the top teams, are not cutting back some or are trying to be even more efficient in all areas of their operation.
“It’s not just fuel. Steel prices have doubled in the last year,” Jacobs said. “Everything it takes to build a race car has gone up. It is all related. It directly effects the racing economy as a racer, as a sponsor.
“Our team? I think we can be a little more efficient at times. We had a meeting and the topic of the meeting was we have to be more efficient with what we have. Instead of saying that part isn’t any good any more, we have to take a second look at it.”
Deery’s longtime philosophy of spreading out the purse from the first-place finisher to the last in all of the divisions may be more important now than ever. Each Late Model driver will get $165 to start the feature race this season, with the winner earning $550 (with a field of 25 or more cars), or $500 (with 24 cars or less). It’s $25 to start a heat race, so if a Late Model driver finishes last in their heat and last in the feature, they still earn $190 on the night.
“I write the rules and establish the purse for the guy who is 15th in points,” Deery said. “We try to keep the cars as close as possible in order to make the driver earn every position and every win, which in turn puts on a better show for the fans. If you do that, there is better action and teams win with their effort, and driver effort, rather than their checkbook.”
One of those mid-pack runners is Bill Niles of Holmen, Wis. Niles, who called himself a “Mid-Pack Legend,” did not race full-time at the Fairgrounds Speedway last year. Instead, he competed at six tracks — Wisconsin Dells, Columbus, Madison, Marshfield, Rockford (Ill.) and La Crosse.
This year, he’s back on a full-time basis at the Fairgrounds Speedway for a couple of reasons — both of them financial.
“There were a couple of things that influenced my decision. No. 1, the cost of going out of town. Half the time we will spend the night, and by the time you get hotel rooms for my wife and I, plus the crew members and their families, that adds up,” Niles said. “The other thing is that all of my sponsors are local. I would have lost over $3,500 in local sponsors if I didn’t race here every week.”
The decision, Niles said, was easy.
“No matter how much fun you had, it wasn’t worth it,” Niles said.
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
