Do you think the switch to NHRA will be better for your racers?
Gardner: Well, that was my biggest concern right at the top. Our bread and butter is our sportsman racers, our bracket racers. I asked the NHRA what they had to offer my racers. They do have some nice programs, they call them “in the box” programs that include opportunities to win a “Wally” and so forth. The fact that they are going to allow us to give our racers a 20% discount on membership and licenses, plus allowing those racers who have a valid IHRA license to switch it over to an NHRA license. Now, if you show up at one of our tracks and don't have an NHRA license, I can sign off on it without you making runs.
I'm not putting my people through a bunch of crap, I'm just not. So, if we're going to make the change, we've got to make it as easy as possible.
With running three race tracks in two states within a 150-mile circle, what do you see as your biggest challenge?
Gardner: The biggest challenge we are facing is proper scheduling of the events, and we’ve got a good handle on it. In this case you really have to put on the glasses and ask what is best for that market, not necessarily what is best for that sheet of paper. So, you’ll see where there has to be some bracket races on top of each other, but we won’t schedule important points events on top of other important races. The schedules for Eddyville and Cedar Falls will be more coordinated.
Word is spreading that you are going to be running a special points system at all three tracks. True or false?
Gardner: True, we'll be rolling that program out pretty quick, but basically it is a series of two two-day events at Cedar Falls and Eddyville and two one-day events at Cordova. It's
going to coordinate with the regular Super Pro and pro classes so if you race at Eddyville and are involved in their points program and you also race at Cedar Falls for points, you're also going to get points for the three-track point series. There's no fee to sign up, you just need to find the sheet to sign up. The winner of each car class gets a complete car makeover; the value of this make over will be $15-20,000 per car. That's what we basically sold at the PRI Show. It's a fairly small series, a lot of promotion for the companies that are involved, and both champions will get that and there will be monies for runner up.
Is your plan looking like basically you're going to run a Box and No Box or are you going to try and match it to NHRA's Pro/Super Pro?
Gardner: There will be a Super Pro/Pro like there used to be in Cedar Falls and those will be on the double events and then on the one-days that will be a points day and it will be a high roller or pyramid.
Test and Tune weekday events have become big money makers for race tracks like yours. Do you continue to see that trend growing?
Gardner: I do, as long as it's marketed. You have to market it to the public. We have to go out to the metro areas close to the track and let the street racers and first-timers know that they can bring their cars or bikes out on a weekday night. Those events are supported 80% by those people and 20% by the serious racer that wants to get an extra run in for Saturday. It can't be the other way around.
Track insurance seems to be in the news recently. Especially when it comes to races with booked-in nitro cars and other specialty acts. What can you tell us about that issue.
Gardner: When a track promoter puts in a show with those kinds of cars -- you know, a “Night of Fire” type race -- your insurance moves into another classification from when you just have your weekly bracket and heads-up classes. The costs are actually tied to the cars and how many you have. Once you go over four of those cars, insurance gets expensive. To give you an example, the (IHRA) national event we were doing a couple years ago cost $15-18,000 an event. It could be more now. After 9/11 we got hit with a policy rate increase. On the other hand, track operators pay a one-time annual fee for test and tune type events that allows you to run as many of those races as you want.
