Dirt track racing offers one...
Dirt track racing offers one of the purest forms of competition in the sport today, but noise and dust are ever-present concerns.
"I know that hurts the locals," he says. "Maybe the solution is to put up some sort of a big screen in the infield and pull down a satellite feed and show your audience the Cup race while they watch their local drivers. We've got to figure out how we can do that."
Other problems may be even more difficult to solve. Many of the short tracks that go out of business do so because the land is more valuable for other uses, or communities see them now as incompatible with newly developed surrounding neighborhoods.
"That's been an ongoing problem," Hunter says. "It is becoming difficult to find suitable sites, and many tracks-like Darlington was 10 years ago-have been there 25 or 30 years with minimal improvements."
He says the experiences of NASCAR, ISC, and Speedway Motorsports Inc. can be tapped by local operators to work with government on noise and land use issues to save existing facilities from being crushed under local regulations.
"There are probably tracks out there today with a strong fan base where we might be able to find investors to relocate a facility," Hunter says. "We know who the people are, and we can be like a broker and put them together."
It has taken years for short tracks to get into the trouble they are in, and Hunter knows he can't turn things around overnight. One of the biggest hurdles will be to get operators to work together.
"My hope is that two years from now the process will have more success stories than failures," he says, "and that the sport itself, regardless of what type of racing we are talking about, will see attendance go up and car counts go up, and as a result it will become a bigger voice as an industry.
"Hopefully we can get the message out to government at all levels-not just local but at state and national levels-that this is a sport that provides family entertainment, and that two years from now I would hope short tracks would be getting funding that mimics what goes out to basketball and football."
Hunter says communities need to recognize the value of having a short track, that it can be a good corporate neighbor and it can bring great value to the community.
"I feel that if we can get the industry working together, we can make things happen. All we need is this common goal."-Jerry F. Boone
Noise: Fans love to hear the thunder of engines as cars race down the front straight, but neighbors also like to sleep with their windows open in the summer. Noise probably generates the largest number of complaints for short-track operators. The most successful operators limit noise and adhere to reasonable curfews.
Dirt: Dust is the bane of dirt tracks, as anyone who operates one close to homes can attest. Fighting the problem requires constant work on the track surface and building good relationships with people who live downwind of the speedway.
Location: Ovals that once were a half-hour drive from the city are now surrounded by business parks and condos as communities expand. Often it makes the value of the property worth far more than the track revenue.
Competition: There's Only So Much Disposable Income In Every family's budget, and tracks have to compete for it to thrive. Some operators try to survive by increasing the fees to drivers rather than trying to attract new fans in the grandstands.
Poor Management: Not all good racers make good track operators. They alienate drivers with bad rule enforcement, overcharging on entry fees, and milking "the back gate" to counter a poor fan base. Spectators, in the meantime, won't return to an oval if the program is poorly run, there's a low car count, they end up with slivers in their butts, and the restrooms stink.