I Want Your Feedback - 'Revive The Raceway'

[adlai]

I've recently submitted an article to HarnessLink.com. Here is the link.

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=88264

I want your feedback. Tell me what you think of the proposal and how effective you believe "Revive The Raceway" would be.

Thanks.
adlai

[Cathy Banks]

I think this might be an excellent idea. My husband is an owner, driver, trainer..will see what he thinks and get back to you. With the purses being lower than ever..might be a problem there. Everything is going up and the purses are going down.

[adlai]

Cathy-
Sorry for such a long delay in my response. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks and have been unable to respond.
The drop in purses through the start of the year is certainly an issue; keep in mind, at many slot driven raceways, lower than expected slot revenue has been to blame. However, the only long-term solution to improving the sport is to increase handles, which can only happen if we increase interest in harness racing. The industry continues to put the cart before the horse, so-to-speak.
As a side story, over the last month I've been bringing my friends, other relatively young adults between the ages of 25-30, to the races. None of them had ever been to a single race, but they instantly fell in love with it. The unanimous cause for keeping them away... they don't understand how it works. I think handicapping education should be our #1 concern as an industry. Just my 2 cents today.
The Revive the Raceway website should be up and running soon. Here is a little preview of what I've been working on, the logo for the cause:
RevivetheRaceway_Logo_White.jpg
I continue to welcome anyone's comments.
Thanks for checking up on this thread everyone, and thank you Cathy for your response.
Adlai