I have some coinage to feed the jukebox-

I guess it depends on who you ask, in that I mean if you were to ask the top twenty season finishers from the previous year’s racing in any division I bet you would find those who put in the serious effort (money, time and equipment) and finished in the top five are going to want the purse stacked on the top side. Those finishing out of the top ten are more likely to sign onto the linear payout assuring those in the rear are covering the most basic
cost.

If you stop and think about it, Saturday night oval racing is one of the last places that you can expect to gain a return on your racing endeavors even if it is a losing one.
If you own a sports car, sport bike, drag car and wish to run it on the road course, drag strip you go into that knowing that you will be paying for track time and that goes for many other forms of motorsports. Entertainment cost money and in all reality, racers are entertaining themselves – pay no attention to those people in the grandstands. That is the promoters take.


And yes, Truman has a valid point. The love of racing can outweigh the costs regardless at what level you may be spending at.
I cannot tell you the number of times I would have to hunt down a Cruiser pilot and deliver his/ her winnings in an envelope from a race run a month prior. These folks had no idea, nor did they seem to care that they could get a return on their racing.
They were there having fun with family and friends and that justified the cost.

In short, I do think the racer should at a minimum cover the entrance cost; after all he/she is the entertainment that the fans come to see.
No actors – no drama, no show, no front gate, followed abruptly by the theater being converted into a parking lot for crane equipment storage.

Racing:
The most efficient conversion of money into noise devised by mankind.