Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Came down to Badlands from Grand Forks on Saturday morning to catch 2 days of racing at the grand opening of Badlands Speedway.

Here is my take:

Start time of 8:00pm seems late to me. My home track of River Cities starts at 7:00 pm and they start at exactly 7:00 pm.

We got to the track at 7:30 and it seemed like they didnt start forever. Opening day, can be expected.

I loved the 0ne lap time trials. Very well ran.

The delay between each race was painfull. Not sure what took so long to come up with the line ups for the heat races, but it was long.

Too many cars in the b main. They should have split it into 2. I believe they started 24 and only took top 2.

First feature I think started at 11:30, way too late. Lots of families left.

Stayed to the end 12:45. 

Overall enjoyed it, but not enough to stay for the second night.

Packed up in the morning and headed to a different track for Sunday night.

Not sure if I will be back, may try again if I hear the get the show tightened up.

Thanks for the info.  8pm is pretty late for a Saturday, our local track Cedar Lake starts at 6pm on Saturdays and generally is done between 9:30 and 10pm.  Sioux Falls is a motel trip for me and I'm not chasing the sport out of town anymore so I doubt that it will be a factor in my future car tip plans.  The wife isn't into racing so to be fair with the family entertainment budget I limit my racing to the closests tracks.

Stan Meissner

Ocean Speedway, Watsonville,CA, show starts a 6:00pm, if you arrive at 6:15, you're going to miss something. They NEVER start late. They run 360 sprints, plus 3-4 door-banger classes and are always done before 10:00pm. Last week, they completely re-worked the track from top to bottom (the result was a damn near perfect track) and my two boys and I were walking out at 9:50pm. Well, two of us were walking, the other was sleeping on my shoulder, makes for a long walk to the car. There's been a couple nights that have finished before 9:00. Having young kids, I appreciate the shows moving along quickly. I also understand that they can't cater to young kids so I try to be considerate of that as well. Having said that, 12:45am is rediculous and uncalled for. Without a late start due to weather, there's no reason for that other then beer sales. I'll give Badlands the benefit of the doubt and assume that it won't happen next time.

Majority of tracks in Australia are wrapped up by 10.30

At my local, they can run 45 sprintcars with time trials, 2 lots of heats (8 in total) a B main and A main, 4 support classes (2 x Heats and Features) And have it all done in time.

They generally start early racing at 4.30 which is support classes and then sprintcar time trials push off at 6 pm sharp. Here in Aus 95% of tracks have a either 10 or 10.30 curfew. How is it so hard for tracks to run on time?!

Judging a track with new ownership is sort of like judging a restaurant the first night you eat there.  Odds are service will be slow and the food not at its best.   You need to go back in a few weeks and check it out again.

Lets see how this plays out over the next couple months and see...

Devils Bowl Speedway does not start their show until 8:30.

True, and that has always surprised me.   With all the residential development that has happened just a short distance down Lawson Road, you would think it would be a high priority to get out of there at an earlier time.   It does help that they don't run eight classes, but I'd like to see them start at 7 or even 6:30.

The old saying goes. You only get one chance to make a first impression!!

I love how everyone bitching about how late it went acts like they have never been to a track that a program ran long, is it really that big of a deal, especially when you consider how everything was new (first time). I do agree two B features would have been cool but at the end of the day the best cars were in the A and I guarantee it was by far one of the best if not the best A feature in the country that weekend (oh by the way they usually are) but haters will hate and you can't please everyone. 

Running late is one thing, 12:45 is another. And it's not so much the late finish as it is the late start, which there could very well be a legitimate reason for. All things considered, they get a mulligan on this one.

Sounds like an observation to me. 

If a new restaurant opens up and you're considering going, but know some friends that went, would you ask them about the service and food? NO DIFFERENT! If you went to a movie, or any other sporting event, and they ran late, and started, late, other things, bad, other things good I can gaurantee people will voice their opion, and rightfully so. 

Yes, 1st impressions are huge, and yes it was their opener and a large race. I'm not sure I would've held a $30k win race on the 1st night. Yes they'll probably get more effecient, but if you're a NEW race fan, and haven't been to many sprint car shows, or if this was your first sprint car race, this probably left a bad impression on you, and even more so if you have kids. 

Stop roasting the guy for providing his opinion, as myself, am interested on how the night went. In NOW WAY can this be considered "Hating". 

Hopefully chuck B isn't like the magic man... 

Keep It Real

I was not "hating" on the raceway. Just giving my opinion and hopefully the feedback gets back to management.

I'm sure their goal is to have a 2.5 to 3 hour show. 

I loved everything about the place. They have set the bar high for other tracks.

Fans will not tolarate a close to 5 hour shows for 2 classes. I know it was opening day, but this isn't the first race they have run.

I will probably be back. 

I thought they were just waiting for the sun to go down.

I wasn't in attendance, but did I not hear of NUMEROUS rather lengthy red flags? Might be the main reason for the late hour.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.