Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Are Your Local Tracks Dirt Tracks Hurting Financially? | Coffee With Kenny

Transcript

Are Your Local Tracks Dirt Tracks Hurting Financially? | Coffee With Kenny · Kenny Wallace Media

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  No singing on this Saturday morning.
• 0:05
  Oh, you say you want me to sing a song?
• 0:08
  Sing, sing a song. Sing up good things to make your
• 0:14
  whole life long. OK?
• 0:21
  Every coffee with Kenny cannot be about NASCAR.
• 0:28
  It's got to be about current affairs.
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  So let's go dirt racing. I'm on a heater with dirt
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  racing, you know a heater means I'm on a roll.
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  So Kenny conversation started what, 2 days ago with Devin
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  Moran, your 2025 dirt Lucas Oil Late Model champion.
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  Holy moly, that was a mouthful. And then next week's Kenny
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  conversation is going to be one of the greatest center steered
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  dirt, super super dirt car series dirt driver, which will
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  be Stuart Friesen. So we we're dirt racing.
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  Everything's about dirt racing lately.
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  Something on my mind. Here's the conversation.
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  It is true that for some reason a lot of these local tracks are
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  going deep into the year. They're they're racing deep into
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  the year. Now, it don't bother me at all
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  because I'm retired, all right, I'll race year round.
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  But I thought it'd be a great conversation and here's why.
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  The grandstands are empty. There's nobody in them.
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  So, so me, I'm retired. Let's let's race, let's race
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  year round, OK. And I kind of do anyway.
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  But I also think about the sport.
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  I love the sport. But I want to give you some
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  cliches. My dear friend Trent Francis,
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  who owns a Crowley's Ridge down in Paragould, AR Trent says, oh
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  boy, we quit racing the second week of August, and here's why.
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  Don't mess with high school football.
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  It's like a religion. Everybody's got a kid and that
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  kids got a aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa.
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  So Trent, Francis Trent, he says we stop local racing the middle
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  of August because you do not fool with high school football.
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  Well, that works for him because down there in Arkansas, down
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  there in Paragould, AR it's a religion just kind of like it is
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  in Tennessee or Alabama. So each region knows what to do
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  what what to mess with. So yesterday, on Friday, I
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  talked with Michael Rigsby and I don't think Michael is going to
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  mind me saying this. Michael basically runs flow and
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  I said, Michael, is it me or is everybody trying to race later
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  in the year? He goes, Oh no, you're right,
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  everybody is. So the question is why is this?
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  Well, we had a, we had a tough summer.
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  A lot of people got ringed out and somebody just, you know, a
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  lot of people just trying to make a living.
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  The profit margin in local dirt racing is very low.
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  Hard, harder, harder. Run a dirt track for a living.
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  You see tracks like Kankakee on their second promoter and so
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  many years. Hell, they're shutting down.
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  You see the Lincoln IL, which is run perfectly and they run about
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  once a month or so or once every two weeks.
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  Some tracks are figuring it out. They're just they're running
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  when they can run. So I told you about Trent
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  Francis down there. Paragould AR we stop racing the
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  middle, middle of August. We ain't messing with high
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  school football. Well, I got another one for you,
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  Bob Sargent. Bob Sargent, a promoter that he
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  admired, Bob Sargent's promoter said the buddy that he liked, he
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  said whatever you do, don't lose all the money that you made in
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  June and July, don't lose it in August.
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  So respond right here, everybody respond right here.
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  What's going on right now? Why are why is this the year?
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  Is it because of so many rain outs during the summer?
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  But here's what I'm seeing everywhere.
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  I'm looking and watching and attending.
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  There's not 200 people in the grandstand.
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  You know, you got things like the, the Turkey Bowl in
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  Springfield, MO. This, this thing's going on.
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  It's 30th, 40th year. Jerry has really got that thing
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  rolling. It's looking good, but there's a
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  lot of time. Hell, I remember 2 years in a
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  row it was raining sleet and he never got the race in.
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  But I do remember the last two years it's been 60° in a day and
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  30 at night and you know it's going to be cold.
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  But there's 300 and something race cars there in a packed
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  grandstand. And when you got 300 and
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  something race cars, you'd like people in the grandstands but
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  you don't need them. But I'm watching a lot of these
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  local race tracks, just losing a lot of money.
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  I don't know guys, I think when winter sets in, I think your
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  local, you got to know your local track.
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  So I don't know if I have an opinion on this one way or the
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  other. I'm just saying this year I see
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  a lot of local tracks going deep into the year.
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  And man, the ones I'm looking at, there ain't 200 people in
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  the grandstands and there is not enough cars, so they're losing
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  their ever living ass. And I feel bad.
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  I feel bad. All right, that's the subject
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  matter. I gave you 2 examples.
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  Don't lose the money you made in June and July.
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  Don't lose that in in August. And we're done in the middle of
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  August because we're not messing with high school football.
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  Respond right here. What?
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  What's going on? And as we can tell, it doesn't
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  work everywhere. And I'll leave you with this.
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  I'll race every damn week because I'm retired.
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  I'll see you all tonight, Saturday night.
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  I'll see you tonight for the B Mod bash at Tri-City Speedway in
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  Granite City, IL. I will be running Donnie and
• 6:59
  Shane jumpers #5-B mod. Have a great Saturday and I'll
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  see you tonight. Race car driver Kenny Wallace
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  here. Live events are about creating
• 7:11
  memories with friends and family, and tickets provide that
• 7:15
  opportunity. I'll never forget when I
• 7:18
  attended game six of the 2011 World Series watching my beloved
• 7:24
  Saint Louis Cardinals, or when I went and watched Aerosmith.
• 7:29
  Man, I like that. Steven Tyler, he can really
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  sing. Grabs that microphone.
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  Got all those scarves hanging off the microphone.
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  What a great memory. I like those songs.
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  Sweet MO. Oh, I won't try to sing.
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  Oh, and for my next Saint Louis Blues hockey game, I'm going to
• 7:48
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