Growing up in NJ all I ever saw were heat races. Expect for extended length races. When I lived in Virgini, Langley was my local track and the y ran time trials. I'm pretty sure it's a southern track thing. They save their equipment without heat races. But, it seemed like the drivers and crews are at the track real early. It makes for a long day. 
What are your thoughts and experience? 

When I moved to NC full time in '91, Hickory became my weekly Saturday night  track as i was selling programs for Steve Barrick.

They ran time trails and started straight up for all classes. When I started asking about heats, I got the saving of equipment. Growing up with heat races, i found it boring. My thought was they were trying so hard to emulate NASCAR Cup at the local level.

TT and straight up starts is definitely a southern thing and made be some of the reason my boys are not into racing. I basically stopped going on a weekly basis when I was no longer selling programs because I felt the weekly show was weak.

If I recall correctl, Langley's start time was for all the features. Meanwhile there have been cars on the track since before noon. 

Not a fan of time trials for "Saturday night" shows.  For races of a 100 laps or more, than I'd be a little more receptive.  Scott Ely

Funny you say Langley, it was the first Southern track I went to, had friends who moved to that area from Jersey. Witnessed time trials than straight up features. Same guys guys won 90% of the time. Hated it ever since.  Grew up on three divisions, three heats, three consi's, and three features. I thought that was racing everywhere! 

It's very hard to get a fill field of cars for heats and consi.

I like handicap the cars and run the main 

When I moved to the south I too was disappointed to see no heat races but with a field of 15 cars, heats are a waste of wear and tear on the cars and I don't want to sit and watch 6 cars run a heat. Now some tracks do hot lap/qualifying to help speed up the show (when you run 7, 8, or 9 divisions you have to keep things moving.)

I don't remember a lot of lapping during a 30-lap feature at Flemington and East Windsor with the front runners in the rear. So now in my mind, I tell myself it is like watching two races. In race number one the front cars take off. Once they reach the back of the field, race number two starts as they try to get through lapped traffic. If the race stays caution free the leaders end up passing as many cars as if they had started last. 

I've seen some great late-model races recently where the leader took off but once he got to lapped traffic he stalled out, couldn't pass the slower cars, and lost the lead.  (Kyle Larson is king of passing lapped cars).

- David

Maybe the answer to using time trials instead of heats is to pay the top 3 (or whatever) time trialers some $$$ but invert the entire field.  Or put the top 5 or 6 (or whatever) time trialers in a redraw.  Don't know what would work but its fun to speculate.  On a side thought,  I think most tracks run too many different divisions on a given night. I know I've mentioned this before.  I grew up (50s, 60s, 70s) that for about 90% of the time, only 2 divisions were run.  On a usual night of racing, 6 heats, 2 consis (sometimes 2) and 2 features were run.  I always thought that was a full night of racing. Scott Ely

I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Memphis, TN in the late sixties. In this area it's always been time trials or draw for position. Some tracks did double draws. All the tracks ran heats though. West Memphis did time trials for all classes, inverted for the heats, the feature had you start where you finished in the heat. Naturally, the heats were the best races. The tracks that drew had the features start the way the finished in the heats. Double draws were like going to the casino.
   Racing around here is really dead. Only a few tracks operating and low car counts. I race back in the early nineties at three tracks within an hour drive. The Sunday night track had rediculous car counts. They split the street stock class into two classes after one night when 77 of them showed up!

If you read the comments on social media for tracks in the Carolinas, you'll see people saying they don't want classes dropped or that this or that class should be added to the already bloated program. A few tracks added a class of only Crown Vics. That's it. Just 1990s Crown Victorias. I guess someone looked around and realized there's millions of them lying around so it would make a good extra class. They just don't realize less is sometimes more.

A couple guys and I have a running joke about southern short track classes. We'll mash up all the various division names into one division. The Crate Super Hobby Thunder Stock Bombers. It really is absurd how many classes you'll see at some of these tracks and how little difference there is between the class that draws 9 cars and the class that draws 7 cars. It seems some prefer two features with less than 10 cars each over one feature with 20 or more. I don't get it. I also don't get how people find any fun in spending all their spare time and money to run a race with a handful of other cars spread out around the track. Alot of the time a feature resembles a hot lap session with 5, 6 or 7 cars all spread out evenly around the track. Not at all entertaining. But they eat it up.

Langley had a LM class with a Nissan V6!? And some tracks have multiple 4cyl classes. Crown Vics will run out one day, plus their bit and ugly. 

(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.

This is an interesting topic.  Taking it from the side of the bottom tier teams, by them qualifying they are getting money to race the following week.  If you decided to lower the number of cars where some will not qualify, you will even have less cars.

When you look at all the track champions, they are from seasoned, high dollar teams.  This definition of high-dollar, is a team who can afford a tire each week at the least.  

The problem is the payouts are too top heavy which is driving the lower teams out of the sport.  Add that to the expenses of paying for parts and it is ridiculous.

If tracks want to stay in business, they need to step up the payouts.  Then teams will come.  

Why would you want to race ever week in a Sportsman division that pays $75 to take the green and maybe through 10th place, when it costs you at least $200 to get to the track?

Drivers are paying, in some cases $45 to race at a track.  Add 2 crew members and you are at $135.  Factor in gas at $4 a gallon or diesel that is higher at some food and you are over $200.  

The model to get drivers to the track is to pay more through the field.  The high dollar teams win all the big races and track championships.  It is the middle to low dollar teams that are keeping the sport alive.  

Would you want to see a 10 car feature every week of just the high dollar teams?

Following up to KevLink, good info, but if the part about the guys who did not qualify and as a result, not getting the money needed to race the following week was directed to my "And Now for Something Completely Different" post, I NEVER said that cars that didn't qualify (do not run the feature) would get less money than those that did qualify.

I would, and actually have suggested to those who were willing to listen to me, that those few cars that don't "qualify", and do not get to run the feature should get the same money as those who would have finished in the last few places of the feature.  I would also suggest they get 2 free passes, good for the next night that their division is on the schedule...  and, finally, that anyone who didn't qualify would get the top starting spots for the next time the division was on the schedule.

Somebody at some point has to realize that the show has to get high marks consistently in "Compelling", "Unpredictable" and "Fun" by those who are sitting in the stands, and who are deciding whether or not to comeback next Saturday.  I have been to shows this year and many did not get high marks in those categories....  Grinding away with the old heats and "consi's if needed" model is not helping...  It needs to change...  Actually, let me correct that... It needed to change about 5 years ago, and now may be too late.

If you don't fix that (the format of the show), you are turning the sport into Golf.... Where those who participate do whatever they have to do to pay for their fun, but good luck getting somebody to pay to watch them.

Sorry.  Time trials, well they are like watching paint dry.  What is really bad.  Most of the time the fastest car starts in the front spot.  He keeps out of trouble and everything stays together, he will probably win. I was a driver and I liked to race both heat and a feature.  I liked the challenge. 

 I live in the South now and see the number of differant divisions racing each night without a full field.  Many times I wonder if possible why don't they merge them and get a good field.  Just my 3 cents