Deb,
You are not going to make any enemies here by saying no rookies at the Nats. We all believe that is one of the things killing the sport, and we have probably beat the subject to death by now.
What happen back in the 80’s with 20+ tracks?
Like anything else the state went through the cycle of fast growth during the early stages when things were very exciting and new. But after the initial excitment a certain amount of racers probably dropped out and you didn’t necessarily need 23 tracks. I’m sure survival of the fittest played a small part in there as well. Some tracks were just bad. Good, well intentioned people running them, but bad tracks. I know cause I raced them.
I think we all agree what really killed things is the sanctions never figured out how to market to anyone other than BMX Racers, and history keeps repeating itself.
Obviously new kids keep getting involved, or the sport would be dead right now, but I agree with Brett that if you have more tracks around the state, you get more exposure and then attract more riders. Its that simple.
Yeah, right now when you look at current rider counts, it seems like opening a new track would just lower moto counts further at each track, but the goal is to attract brand new kids who never raced before. I am sure there are parents that would have no problem spending $10 for their kid to race if they knew of a track close enough for them to start at.
Thats my take on it for now.