...And Now for Something Completely Different:  

(Maybe a few got the Monty Python referenced.... maybe not... )

Kevin Mc, I'm with you 100%...

Sad to say, but some of those guys that you mention might like the idea of running with only a handful of other cars...  That way they're likely to get a top 5, and a lot less chance of wrecking versus running a class where they're not guaranteed to make the feature... Remember those days? 

What's really sad is that even here in NJ in 2023, we've hung onto a model of heats and consi's that made sense when you had 30 plus cars per division and only 24 feature starting spots for each division.   With few exceptions (maybe a crate consi once at New Egypt earlier this year), I have not been to a NJ show where a consi was actually needed for any division, but still they all continue to grind away with the heat and "consi if needed" model like if all of a sudden their going to get swamped with cars.

Equally sad is that knowing that they have less than 24 cars per division on most nights, the most innovative way that tracks offer as a format is running heats, with the all mighty redraw carrot....  followed by features where everybody's guaranteed a starting spot and a ribbon.

It's way past time that somebody clears the slate and totally abandon's the heats/consi model, and instead, looks at it as, we have X amount of cars in each division, we have a track with a wall and a fence...  we have bleachers where people will pay money to watch an event if that event warrants high marks in the catagories of "exciting", "compelling" and "fun".....and comes up with the best, most competitive way to run each division, that includes a way to reward those who succeed, and for those who don't, to not advance.  Yup...  I said it.  Put it on the trailer and start thinking about how to do a tick better next week.

Time trials may fit in there somewhere, but they are not the answer along.  Having events where some do not advance is a must.... Even if at the end of the night they take those that did not advance and run a scramble...  You just can't run an event and call it a qualifying heat if everybody qualifies.

I learned a few years back when pitching an idea to a former track owner that as long as they have less than 24 cars in a division, they would NEVER tell a driver... "Sorry, you didn't qualify...  You are not in tonight's feature."  In fact, the quote was, "I can't tell one of those boys not to come out for the feature if I got room on my track...."

I get it... you can't have a show if you don't have cars and drivers.  But you also can't expect spectators (those of us not related to a driver or team) to continue to show up for less and less of a show each year. 

The answer is to reformat the show in a way that excites fans and excites drivers so that more will want to be involved, as a fan in the stands, or as a competitor, and that will only happen if a track owner is willing to totally throw out the current outdated model.