8.19.2007

2008 PASS schedule taking its shape

There will be 3 PASS North Series events at Wiscasset Raceway in 2008.

During today's driver's meeting, PASS president Tom Mayberry told those gathered that the series schedule would consist of 3 races at Wiscasset, 3 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, a couple of races at All-Star Speedway, 1 race in Nova Scotia and a possible return trip to Thompson International Speedway.

Official announcements will likely be forthcoming during the coming off-season.

The biggest alterations, obviously, are the number of dates at Wiscasset and north of the border. After years of multiple Canadian trips, it appears PASS is rightly beginning to focus its efforts here in New England. Car counts at Canadian dates were noticeably off this year -- both from the Maritime entries as well as U.S. teams willing to haul north.

Given the success of Sunday's PASS 150 at Wiscasset, the decision to return several times here is likely a good one. The 30-car field was the largest for a North Series event since July 22nd, and the parking lot and grandstands were both filled beyond capacity. It was only the 2nd of 11 PASS races this season with 30 cars to try and qualify.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's funny. I've got a picture taken at 4 p.m. that shows plenty of bleacher space.

TBarrett said...

I'd hardly consider a picture taken during Sportsmen heat races to be a good indicator of what the crowd was.

Cars were parked behind trees, in gulleys and anywhere else they could get them by 6 p.m. It was the biggest crowd at the track since 2003, the year of the Big Dawg 400 -- and some argued yesterday that this crowd was bigger.

The pit side stands were full, as were the grandstand side. People were standing in aisles to watch the 150, and there were also people sitting on steps everywhere.

Interesting perspective you have, anonymous, to be certain.

Anonymous said...

It's great to see that the name Clark or Rowe still wins 75-80% of the races. Ho hum.

30 cars is now a success!! Sounds like the BGNN of several years ago.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet that at 3:26am on Sunday the stands were completely empty, but what is your point. The feature started just before 7pm.

Tristan said...

Travis,

Be real, please. I was there and yes it was a great crowd for but if people were standing in aisles and sitting on steps, you could have ushered them down towards the turn 1 stands. I was sitting in the frontstretch stands not attached to the media booth and there was a good amount of space for people to still sit.

It makes you wonder if a PASS race was at OPS *play thunder and lightning in the background* would the crowd "look good" if there was the amount of people that were at Wiscasset? No. It would be about 1/3 full (if that) and people would say that it was a flop with no fan support. It's all relative to the size of your venue.

However, I was amazed at the cars lining the street and in people's driveways/lawns/etc. It was a great crowd for Wiscasset.

Anonymous said...

I don't see any mention of a Pro Stock\Late Model debate.

Somebody is questioning the facts of a report at Wiscasset. There is no mention of that ancient argument anywhere. Don't try to create something that isn't there.

SUPPORT LOCAL RACING (That's my line...don't steal it please)

Tristan said...

"SUPPORT LOCAL RACING (That's my line...don't steal it please)"

You need to copyright that line! Haha.

SUPPORT LOCAL RACING

Anonymous said...

"SUPPORT LOCAL RACING (That's my line...don't steal it please)"

yeah right. i used it first.

i can see a new argrument taking place. which anonymous used it first.

i'm claiming my spot as the originial.

Anonymous said...

At last you were all a real race watching cars go fast and arguing about the crowd which was the biggest I have ever seen at Wiss.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I would hope this crowd was bigger than the Big Dawg 400, since that one was run mostly on a Monday with a lot of empty seats.

Anonymous said...

I would rather watch 12 Super late models race than 36 LMS cars crawling around the track in slow motion

Anonymous said...

Well as far as the schedule goes, PASS really didn't have any choice but to shrink the area where they race in. Fact is they weren't going to be asked back to Antigonish (and considering some Pro Stock supporters were so confident that race would easily replace the Oxford 250 that’s a pretty big blow).

To say PASS "is focusing on New England" is clearly a misrepresentation of the facts; which is the market for the PASS North has been reduced to just a few tracks in NH & ME and is quickly dropping out of the “Regional Series” class of touring groups. That can hardly be called (honestly) a focus on New England. Last time I looked New England was made up of 6 states, not 2.

That 30 cars is the second highest count of the season (and not very far behind the highest) what does that say about the health of Pro Stock racing (especially considering the very poor car count the Outlaw Series recently had at Riverside) in general?

To me it says Pro Stocks (and PASS North) are on an island that is getting smaller each season.

Anonymous said...

"I would rather watch 12 Super late models race than 36 LMS cars crawling around the track in slow motion"

Well, in reality, you only need to watch a couple of cars in SLM races...Johnny Clark, Mike Rowe, Ben Rowe. You have roughly a 75-80% chance of watching the winner of the race.

Carist!!! I suppose you don't like SLM's either because they are slower compared to Super Mods then Late Models are compared to SLM's, right?

With regards to asphalt stock car racing in the region:

Largest car counts at touring\independent races in the region in 2007 = Late Models

Largest attendence at a touring\independent race in the region in 2007 = Late Models

Laregest purse at a touring\independent race in the region in 2007 = Late Models

Largest average car counts for a touring series in the region = Late Models

YOU may not like them. But YOU and your 10 friends are in the minority. Get used to it.

SLM's\Outlaws\Pro Stocks\Whatever have their place...but it's no longer at the top of the popularity food chain. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

There was once a time when Supers ran weekly at All-Star Speedway. Guess what, they dont anymore. It got to expensive and car counts dropped below an acceptable level and the promotor pulled the plug. If you prefer watching 12 SLM cars race that is exactly how many SLM cars they had there last week. As of now you can see about 18 SLM cars run at Wiscasset. Will history repeat itself? Can Doug White keep the Wiscasset SLM car count up? Time will tell. Unfortunately, I think Andy is right, the SLM world appears to be a shrinking island.