Agreed Kevin... and I know you are one of the few that can see both sides with your experience as an official and also as a fan. Both sides of the coin definitely need to be considered as you don't have a show without cars, but you also can't run the show without any unaffiliated fans (those who are there to see a race, not those that just showed up because their brother in law is running a 4 cylinder that night, etc.,.) You need people that are there consistently, just to see "the show" and you need "the show" to be compelling enough that folks want to come back again, and again. I'm just saying that both sides need to be considered, and I like I said, I don't know of any track that puts in the effort to evaluate their entire show from a spectator side fan's perspective and adjust as needed. With so many other options available (FLO, YouTube, other), show pace and show momentum should be a priority, instead of "look at me yellows".... followed by let's wait a few laps to see if they're fixing the car or putting the tools away for the night... and other show killer moments like let's wait to roll off the next event because there's still a few cars that haven't wandered there way out to the track yet even though the rest of the field managed to do so (followed by the late guy still being able to take his original starting spot....,) or let's take a few more laps under yellow because the guy in 15th belongs in 14th and they can't seem to figure it out themselves.. or a few more laps because the officials are cue'ing up the video to see if there was "OVER AGGRESSIVE DRIVING... or, let's take ANOTHER break to do some track maintenance.... and a new one that seems to be gaining in popularity, let's pause the program so that another driver take can take some solo laps right in the middle of the show to see if his car is running to their satisfaction or to shake down a back up car.
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