Originally Posted by cmock
I agree, races are too long! Too many days and too many hours per day. Races used to be 3 days long and racing would be done around 7-8 at night.
IMO, racing used to be a lot more fun back then because people were able to get away from the track at night and hang out and relax a little bit. Now you are at the track for about 14 hours and most people only leave to sleep or eat. It seems like people used to travel more when they only had to take one day off from work too.
It is funny how things change and I read this and have to laugh. I have been racing long enough that big races used to be TWO days (except Nationals)rather than one. And we had to be done before dark because no tracks had lights.
I started racing in 1982 when I was in 7th grade. With big races at 2 days the Nationals in summer,and other big races over holidays (Cleveland), I never missed a day of school. And I never missed any practice either.
Races do not need to be as long as they are. The Reedy Race is the perfect race in my opinion. With two days of practice and four rounds per day, you get plenty. I actually think they could limit it to one day with four rounds and the end results would be no different.