The Burn Out Factor

I needed an action photo so I picked out this old street stock tour one.

I’ve talked to some folks in racing lately who’ve used the term “burned out” to describe how they feel about their hobby.

A few folks have been around the sport for decades and some for several years. It’s a real thing to deal with and in some cases, those folks get of out racing and never return, which is sad. I am sure it is inevitable at some point, but racing seems to lose a lot of people who have valuable things to contribute to the burn out factor.

I will say once the calendar turns to August, most folks in racing deal with this to a certain extent on an annual basis. The dog days of racing are this time of year. Drivers and crews are sick of traveling and working on their cars long hours during the week. Fans are sick of too long shows. The drama at tracks cranks up about 5 notches this time of year, on and off the track. Patience wears thin.

But there is also the folks who get burned out on racing long term and that frankly should be a concern. They are drivers, crew, track workers/promoters or fans. And losing them is tough at a time when the sport really can’t afford to lose any of those people.

I know what burn out is. I worked in sports writing/PR for more than 25 years, dating back to my part time job in college. I did the sports information position for 14 years which meant a lot of nights and weekends for those years. After the Covid year where many events were cancelled, I honestly started to resent the job because of the hours and demands of a few folks. I liked most the people I worked with but the biggest issue was I just got sick of sports in general, which isn’t good in that field. It got to the point where I was dreading another fall season, and it shouldn't have been that way.

Since I left in 2022 I have been to one football game and one hockey game in person. I had lost interest in most sports. I watch much less sports on tv aside from some football games which we have on the background (my 6-year-old son loves football).

I think similar things happen to folks in racing. Drivers grow to resent the sport for many reasons — costs, politics, time it takes, drama on and off the track, or simply because it is not fun anymore. Track workers and officials get tired of the time they invest and getting bitched at, in some cases for stupid reasons. Fans get tired of going 2-3 nights a week when the shows are running 4-hours plus.

I was burned out of the blog after 2023 but another reason I didn’t blog was the grant for my job at NDSU was expiring so I didn’t know what the future held. I decided to return to blogging this year because I like writing and meeting new drivers. But I’m doing it on my time and my terms (some remote coverage to I can be home), hoping to still contribute to racing in a small way.

Cost is a huge problem in racing, but I think the other reason people get burned out is TIME. It takes a lot of time for drivers and crew to work on their cars during the week just to get ready for one race night, let alone two or three. Then there’s the travel. Fans face the travel time and sitting through many shows that are too freaking long, especially for parents with young kids.

The bottom line is if you know someone who is burned out, let them vent a little and understand why they feel that way. If they are a driver, offer to help them a night a week at their shop. Offer to fill in for workers at the racetrack who want to take a weekend off to go to the USA Nationals or go camping. Encourage them. Because we need all of those folks in racing right now.

Less will be more

I heard of a prominent track (outside of my coverage area) that is looking at reducing its weekly racing program substantially perhaps as soon as next year. That track would focus heavily on specials. I haven’t seen any announcements from this place, but will keep an eye on it.

I think that is a trend. Weekly racing attendance at most tracks (and yes there are exceptions), let’s be honest, sucks.  I watched a weekly show at a very prominent track last year outside the area where there were lucky if there were 100 people in the stands.

The trend will be, at a lot of places, to see less weekly shows. That will mean taking weeks off in the summer. It used to be tracks started the first week of May and ran a weekly show all the way through Labor Day with no breaks. I don’t see that continuing with the attendance being what it is.

I-94 EMR Speedway, for example, takes some Fridays off during the summer. One week was during the Ottertail County Fair.  Red River Valley Speedway takes time off during the year for the RRV Fair. Norman County Raceway in Ada runs about 10 shows a year.  Many other tracks are scheduling more off weeks throughout the summer, too.

Why attendance is lagging is another blog entirely, but to me at a lot of tracks it’s about the bottom line: they can’t keep running every week with nobody in the stands.  Like I said, there are exceptions of tracks that draw well, but I’ve been to a bunch of shows this year where there was barely anyone in the stands.

Maybe, having less shows isn’t a bad thing. Maybe it will allow tracks to focus harder on advertising for the nights they do run, or add some more special events to their schedule.  I’ve talked to more and more drivers who don’t points race at all, and like to take a couple of weekends off in the summer to go camping, or go to Duluth (like we did). Plus you have weddings and family reunions in the summer.

I will be curious to see what weekly racing will look like in the next couple of years. I think there will be some tracks closing down. I think some will make major changes to their schedules.

By the way, go to the Mississippi Thunder Speedway Facebook page, and check out the video from owners Bob Timm and Tyrone Lingenfelter. That paints a true picture of what is going on.