Has the Cavalcade Concept Run It's Course?

For the last five weeks it’s been “Cavalcade Season” in Northeast Ohio. For the past five weeks two day shows have dominated the race schedules across the region and for the last five weeks the crowds just haven’t shown up, with the exception of the good size crowd at Sandusky Speedway’s Bev Jaycox Memorial, what might be the final racing event at that track.

Spending three of the five weeks in the infield of these race tracks, I can say without a doubt that the crowds fell short of the promoters’ expectations. Car count also lagged a bit at some of the events, while others packed the pit area. Oftentimes 120 cars in the pit areas were spread over eight or nine classes of cars, with many cars running multiple classes at some tracks (we’ve covered that topic previously, so we’ll leave it that one alone).

The uncertain economy has hampered race fans desire to spend $20 on a ticket to attend a race, multiply that by 3 or 4 when the family attends the races. Then there’s the “Heats Only” format of Saturdays at most tracks. Things have gotten so streamlined and efficient that a once all day and night occasion at Lorain Raceway Park was done in just three hours this year, with two features run. One was the Buckeye Buggy Series in their only feature of the weekend, the other a Saturday night Factory Stock feature event with the big show the next day. It’s a tough sell to drag the family out to the track for two days when that is the card for the first day. I’d take the three-hour program any week during the season and definitely tip my cap to Randy Maggio, Jr. and his crew for running a tight show.

Sandusky Speedway Cavalcade 1981 (David Lander)

What was once a big weekend-long party has turned into a “lights out by 12” ordeal, it’s almost like going to summer camp as a kid. The big community events like the Sandusky corn roast, the big bonfire at Lorain and the Chili Cookoff at Mansfield don’t happen anymore. Sure, there were the infamous “cupcakes” at Sandusky this year, and the Jello Shots at Painesville but the party atmosphere is all but gone.

What was encouraging about this year’s Cavalcade Season was the lack of fighting among competitors and the amount of clean racing. Sure, cars were torn up and even a few destroyed along the way but for the most part the drivers put on a clean show and the amount of close racing, including a handful of photo finishes, was more than in recent years.

If we want to see this format continue and succeed in the future we all need to come together and think up new ideas to build upon the racing. Community bonfires, Corn Roasts, something for the kids like Bike Races and more is what we need to keep moving forward. I’m sure collectively we can come up with new ideas to refresh the old Cavalcade weekend format to bring back entertainment and family fun back to the race track.

A question that promoters should ask themselves this offseason; Are two day shows worth the time, trouble and gamble? By that I look at the fact that promoters are doubling their expenses such as payroll, insurance, electricity and so on. But are they doubling their income to cover those expenses. Would a one day show streamlined to run five or so divisions be a better format instead of running eight, nine or ten divisions of cars over two days? Do the fans come out for both days or just attend the Sunday Feature program? If the promoters are set on running the two-day finale to the season, how do we make both day entertaining and enticing to bring fans to the track? Would two-day passes with a small discount help? Could a track run a complete program for four or five classes on Saturday another four or five classes on Sunday?