Let’s talk about the car count at the Snowball Derby this year

2019 | 56
2020 | 54
2021 | 51
2022 |️ 53
2023 |️ 50
2024 | 45

That’s the number of Snowball Derby entries over the past six years, an alarming trend for a race that’s identity is very much tied into its week-long evolving narratives. Sure, the 300-lap main event is what everything builds towards but the Friday qualifying session and resulting last chance race is a significant highlight.

It requires considerably more cars than starting spots for the drama to work.

This year, the last chance race will be down to 13 cars for four final starting spots if there are no more additional scratches and that’s after only 43 cars practiced on Thursday.

So, what’s going on?

On one hand, the arrival of FloRacing as broadcaster and presenting partner has raised the purse considerably year-over-year:

2023 | $35,000-to-win, $20,000-for-second and $10,000-for-third; $2000-to-start
2024 | $50,000-to-win, $25,000-for-second and $12,500-for-third; $2500-to-start

And yet, the race is down five drivers year-over-year:

William Byron
Derek Griffith
Erik Jones
Johnny Sauter
Hunter Robbins
Jacob Gomes
Augie Grill
Preston Peltier
Carson Hocevar

There’s your list of missing notables, who you might be able to rely on coming back next year if you really want to believe this is just all a series of coincidences. Sure, Byron isn’t in the race but Chandler Smith is so that’s kind of a one-for-one trade-off.

Byron says he intends to return at some point because he very much wants to win it.

Jones just welcomed a baby boy with wife Holly. Grill has battled cancer this season, and while he is racing in the Snowflake 100, there are bigger things than racing right now. Sauter, Peltier and Gomes were all scratches despite being on the list.  

Robbins has been racing in Ronnie Sanders No. 18 but now that team is only fielding a Pro Late Model for Jake Finch. Hocevar is here as a team owner with a Pro Late Model. Peltier is there as a crew chief and decided last minute not to drag his car down. Sauter and Wauters Motorsports just didn’t show.

Ryan Preece typically races with Chris Gabehart but both are settling into new NASCAR jobs for 2025.

So maybe this is just a blip and the number will get back over 50 in 2025. That is certainly how track owner Tim Bryant is optimistically treating it.

“You know, I think it’s a combination of things, honestly,” Bryant said. “I mean, look, costs are up and this is an expensive race to run. We always sit and talk about ways to tweak everything but at the end of the day, this is the Snowball Derby and guys sort of accept it for what it is.

“Certainly not as many as they used to but the days of having 80 or 90 cars for a race like this, that is in the past. We know this is an expensive race for a lot of race but its expensive because they enjoy it so much and they come here for a much longer period of time than they have to.

“They do the extra testing and maybe we could eliminate that and make it a two or three day show but that’s a double-edged sword because this is a special race because of the week long festivities. But there are a lot of options, other races these days, and at this point in the year, some teams have just spent their budge. We’re happy with the cars we have and this is going to be a quality race.”

At the same time, much has been made this week about the amount of testing this race encourages with many teams showing up for one or two days of private track rental time in the weeks leading up to an event that already has three days of practice before the main event.

Several teams are making use of NASCAR crew chiefs and engineers.

That is to say nothing of a full set of tires that is inching closer towards $1,000, even amongst a half decade period where quality has been a painstaking talking point post pandemic, with races frequently being decided by tires.

This isn’t to blame Hoosier as setup decisions can certainly lead to failures.

Hoosier made a tire that was too good and teams took advantage of it in terms of camber decisions.

It costs $70,000-plus to rent a top ride for the Snowball Derby but even the independent family teams are starting to look elsewhere for where they want to spend their remaining racing budget come the holidays.

A handful of racers chose to run the two-day Bill Bigley Sr. Memorial race at Freedom Factory last weekend — a race that paid $35,000-to-win and $1200 to start. Several of them like Casey Johnson, John DeAngelis, Andrew Morrissey and Sauter all chose to bypass Pensacola in returning home to Wisconsin.

Majeski also comes from Wisconsin but has no problem with the status quo of this event.

“Everyone knows what they signed up for when they come down here,” Majeski said. “We do get a ton of practice and probably way more than we need but the money is going to be spent here one way or the other. That’s just how it is. This is the Snowball Derby and I’m glad we’re seeing some of that reciprocated in the purse with what FloRacing is doing.

“Hopefully we can continue to grow it, make it bigger and better, and more cars will come.”

Bubba Pollard takes an it is what it is approach to the status quo.

“We’ve been having the same conversation for years, right,” Pollard said. “We are our own worst enemies. If you try to prevent us from doing something, we’re going to find a different way to get it done. Us racers are the problem. If you give us a rule, we’re going to bend or break it. That’s our job.

“The practice deal. Do I want it? No. I’d much rather come here on Friday and Saturday to race on Sunday. That would help me. I do think we spend too long down here but I also don’t think there is a right or wrong. I don’t think it’s ever going to be fixed.”

ASA national tour champion Casey Roderick isn’t in the Snowball Derby because he can’t afford it.

“We need to come together as a group of racers, and say ‘hey, this is what we’re going to do,’ and do it together,” Roderick said. “We’re sitting here, tires are approaching $1000 a set and that’s absolutely ridiculous and it’s ridiculous that we’re spending even more time here buying more of them day after day. It’s absolutely insane.”

Stephen Nasse says it would financially help him to limit the track time but says there are drivers who need it.

“When I was a kid, I needed the seat time to get better,” Nasse said. “All these young kids coming up, they run this race or Speedweeks because it gives you the seat time to learn what moves to make to get better. I agree that we need to talk about all of this and we need to get together and have these big conversations but I don’t know that cutting all the fat is a good idea.

“It’s going to help what I spent but we’re just going to end up hurting the kids we race against because they’re not going to be as prepared to race us because they don’t have the experience. They need the laps so it’s a tough call man. This is a really tough situation for the sport to be in.”

The biggest concern, really, for everyone who loves the Snowball Derby is what happens if the entry list then falls to 40? How exciting is qualifying for this race when 36 make the show and four go home?

It gets to be like the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 where everyone makes the race. That’s a real detriment to the event in totality.

But Bryant is bullish about the future.

“Listen, we don’t want to lose that,” Bryant said. “Friday night is one of my most favorite times and I think it’s for a lot of these people here. I don’t believe it’s on a downward slope. Listen, we had five or six cars entered into this race that just weren’t able to come.

“We lost some to the Bigley last weekend and some guys had problems down there and couldn’t come. I’m not fearful that our car counts are going to get low. There was one race in like the early 80s where every car here started the race but I don’t think we’re in jeopardy of that.

“We have the top-30 lock-in deal and with the quality of cars we have here this year, making that is going to be difficult and it’s going to be a dramatic qualifying session on Friday.”