Historic Racing Today

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by Rudernst

take a step back
or even better: two

first question:
is Historic Amateur Racing alone among Amateur Racing in having less and less spectators for the smaler clubbie events ?
answer: to my knowledge, no !
I went Fun Cup racing two years ago, and there were very very few spectators, (admittedly in November at Donington, not excatly a day at the sunny beach)
so its not Historic racing that suffer specifically
its just that people dont go to racetracks just to see some cars
there has to be a good reason

second question:
can Historic racing really expect to be different from other amateur sports events ?
answer: NOOO !
would you expect people to come in large crowds to see you daughter playing hockey or tennis ?
certainly not,
so why should the bother to go and watch amateurs race cars ?
so you say: because car racing is more spectacular
well, yes and no
my son plays Polo, which is a spectacular sport
but very few people apart from family will watch a small clubbie Polo tournament, and they certainly would expect to get in free
Polo is largely an amateuer sport in Europe,
events can draw large paying crowds if properly and professionally promoted, by somebody who expects to make money
only difference is that Polo events draw in more sponsorship

but by and large
the mechanisms in Polo are the same as in Historic Racing

times might have been different
and when Historic Racing was new
and exiting to see certain cars out on the track for the first time in decades
it might have been easier to draw crowds
some classes such as HGPCA even got starting money

but that was yesterday or yesteryear

we live today

dont get me wrong, I like having spectators and enthusiasts at the track
i try to do my part to make them feel welcome
(not 10 minutes before i get into the car, of course)
its just that i dont expect that
its more an added bonus

Rudolf

Thats the truth an all!!!