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

A buddy and I took off from West Fargo to check out all the hype about Badlands Motor Speedway for the July 2nd WoO show. I have no dog in this fight, but these are my opinions of what we saw with our first visit. 

1. Upgrades get a A+!! except for all the railings around the VIP seating section!! In my opionion it really hinders your view of the track from a lot of the seats on the north side of that section.

2. Track prep C!! was hopping for a much racier track than we got Saturday night. Waaaaay to much water was put down!! Very little passing until mid feature time. Been going to dirt track racing since I was pretty young and understand you don't get a perfect track every night, but thought they would have had a better track for such a big show?

3 Been to many WoO shows at Husets over the years and crowd seemed way down??

4. For god sakes don't forget anything in your car or have to return to your car!! Or you have to buy another ticket to get back in!?!? Very bad idea!! WTFC!!

5. Carding everyone standing in line to enter the race track?? If you don't plan on drinking why should you be carded!! The lady's words to us were if your 100 or under we need to see your ID??

6. Went to main concession stand at the break for the dash draw. WOW is all I can say!! Out of most of the food items right after the heat races? Looked to have no one in the area that knew what to do about it?? Felt sorry for all the young teens that kept selling food they couldn't give people! Lady in front of me even said, kids are doing all they can do with no adult help around. Jumped out of line and  and went back to seat empty handed.

7.I give Chuck credit for what he is trying to do, but in talking with some locals not sure people trust this guy yet?? They even said crowds haven't been spectacular this year even on the weekend he let everyone in for free? Wasn't there so can't say that is true or not.

8. All in all we had a good time, but came away a little disappointed. Maybe we were expecting to much??

9. Will we make the trip again any time soon????????????????

A Bad outlaw crowd on July 4th weekend? i was wondering why they didn't post a crowd pic on Twitter 

You have no dog in this fight..

but you posted you think this about T-Mac  "He probably gets paid from Badlands Speedway not to race Knoxville"   

I didnt say anything about T-Mac or any other driver! And I didnt say chuck is or isn't paying drivers to race at his track! I have my opionion about that but didn't say anything about that. Just posted what we saw at the race we attended, no more no less.

I pretty much agree with your post, I thought the crowd was pretty good saturday night, definately more people sunday night. I have never got carded just asked if  I planned on drinking when I said no I they didn't card me. $60 for a two night pass was good deal. Non racing related, fireworks show was impressive.

1)  Agreed on the improvements, and the thoughts on the railings. I hope they go away in the off season. particularly the ones that are parallel with the track.  They werent needed before and are not needed now.  

2)  With a two night show, Id probably rate the track slightly higher than you for Saturday night. Like a B-, and possibly a A- for Sundays track.  Maybe they should hold a clinic with the push trucks on how to iron out a track.  It appeared to me that there were only one or two that knew how, and the rest were just out there tearing the shit out of things.  Someone mustve taken notice, because it was much better Sunday night.

3)  We all know that we dont want to go back to the night that Tony Stewart was there.   I think there are still some disgruntled fans from that night that may not be back yet.  Its hard for me to tell, with the grandstand seating and how it compares to before the renovation.  The parking lot seemed pretty full, but the stands were very comfortable. 

4)  I agree, this not very fan friendly, particularly at an outdoor venue that goes from late afternoon temps to late evening temps.   I hope this changes in the future, but I dont see it happening.  Its been that way since they opened the gates, so it shouldnt have come as very much of a surprise if youve been following the threads.

5) Ive been to all but 2 races, and have yet to be carded.  I havent requested a wrist band  either though. 

6)  They still have some problems with concessions, particularly at the big shows.  Possibly, this can also be a guage as to how big the crowd was also, because they dont have problems  regularly.  I cannot put my thumb on exactly what is wrong but it seems  every time I go up to get something, the process just seems cumbersome.   It just seems odd that if you go to the stand up top, and request a pop or hotdog from the guy on the south end, that he has to traipse all the way to the north end of the stand to retrieve those items.  I dont know about the cash registers, but it seems like it takes about 10 key stroke entries to order 2 items...  Like I said,  cumbersome..

7) I am a reluctant season ticket holder. I thought I had to give him a chance.  Im not disappointed in my decision in the least, but last Saturday, I had several options available for race night.  I chose to not go to the races, because  it was free, and I thought it would be a mess.  Maybe I made the right decision, maybe not. Dont know,  dont care.  Im just stating that I stayed home because of the potential.

8) theres  still a few bugs to work out.  Sundays racing was better.  still ran out of concessions though. 

9)   I bet you do..

10)  Id like to see them keep the alley way open in front of the top concession stand and not allow it to fill up with drunks like last 2 nights.   (Hasnt been a problem weekly)Theres plenty of standing room to the north of the concessions/suites.  It much easier to get to the bathrooms on that walkway, rather than having to wade thru the concession lines on the west side.

Kinda splitting hairs here, the facility is second to none, the crowds we're good for a two-day show you gotta remember they added about a thousand seats, I would say both nights they were about 90% full, 40 + cars both nights, the greatest races in the world probably not but they were still good. Oh and by the way don't sit behind the railing if it's in your way, and eat before you come to the races in case they run out of popcorn.

I said I didn't know how it compared to before. Only been traveling 2 hours to go there for the last 20 years.  I'm in the best seats in the house that are GA. I don't sit behind the rails, I was just agreeing with the OP that they are problematic and can easily and cheaply be retrofitted. Nowhere close to 90%.  I don't have the numbers, maybe you do, but that's my opinion.  I eat at either Bdubs, or 212 before every race. We have since they built 212 (both great supporters of local racing).  theyve got free popcorn at 212, by the way. i highly recommend either place. 

second to none? it's a tremendous  facility but  second to none is your opinion, not mine. 

212, very good popcorn, however I will disagree with you on the 90% full.

     Somewhere on Badland's Facebook page it said that capacity was now 9,000.  That number may include VIP suites, the pits and standing room only people as well.  It's hard to tell.  I saw it reported that the attendance last week on the free Saturday night was 4,500.  So that's technically half full.  How did the WoO crowd compare to the free night crowd?

ps For what it's worth- the handrail that everyone is complaining about affects the view of the front straightaway for all the reserved seating area.  Anyone who says it's not an issue or says you should just move probably hasn't even been to the track.

I didn't get carded for I.D. either, only those planning on drinking were carded and given a plastic bracelet on their wrist.  Thank you Chuck Brennan, had a great time Sat and Sunday nights.  Love the changes, wow, huge changes and 40 sprint cars.  I agreed with the post that complained about the 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 railings around some seating.  Didn't bother us but it would be a problem if sitting in direct line of them.  2 brand new John Deere graders did quick work on the track.  My only real disappointment was the sun hitting the tv screen on back straightaway.  Why not put in directly behind the billboards on front straightaway, just above the billboards.  So you wouldn't get to see a couple sprint cars in the pits and possibly a problem for those sitting on south 1/4 of seating looking at it sideways.  Well worth the trip.  Thought the motels/hotels upped their prices 25% or more, which is common on July 4th weekend. 

I don't go into races until sprint car heats start so not being able to go back to truck not a problem for me but can see it being a problem for those that wanted to take a break and go to car. 

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I've been to Badlands 4 times this year...we tailgate there since we saw the prices at the concession stand during the silver shootout.  Its just a matter of showing up an hour before and cooking brats/burgers quick before heading in.  Im not going to complain too much about that, since I would rather tailgate than eat concession food anyway.  (Complaining about concession stand prices can be done at almost every racetrack, that's why I prefer the tailgate)

Not sure why you got carded if you werent drinking, if you wanted a wristband, and they carded you, it's their job on the line, not yours.  I just simply walked by them since I wasn't drinking.  

I thought the racing was pretty good, had a crowd behind Juhl after the quicktime, and the crowd's full sigh when he fell from 2nd to fifth on the restart was something I don't ever remember hearing at a race. Rico blew by everyone from 4th on night 1, then made a big mistake trying to run away with it.  

Schatz, McCarl, Dobmeier all were driving from the back on Saturday, fun to watch, if you know what to watch.

Saturday had some good racing too, whenever Donny is racing for the win the crowd gets into it.  Usually cheering for the other guy(s), so thats alway fun.

Overall I have had good experiences at Badlands. Seats can get uncomofortable, the backrests are positioned funny and dig into your back, probably my only real complaint

oh, and the white handrail,  not the best idea