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

I am moving to the Morristown, New Jersey area in April/May. I have found the below tracks that are three hours or less from my new residence and have wing sprint car races at least once per year. I found these on the WoO, All Stars, PA Speedweeks, URC and ESS schedules Which of these tracks do you recommend? I have only been to Williams Grove & Lincoln and both were awesome. However, I am a big fan of the smaller 3/8 to 1/4 mile tracks. Is there anything like this on the East Coast?

Hey, OSF.....R U moving there...ON PURPOSE????

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

guessing the tracks are greasy

new egypt looked nice after dark from the road driving by. they are going to run looks like 7 or 8 sprint shows.florida runs mainly sprints on asphalt but do run some dirt sprints.of course pennsylvania posse.have fun.we just lost our track in oklahoma city.

Depends what your interests are. I live in eastern PA and on any given Saturday night, I can go two hours in any direction and see 410 Sprints, 358 Sprints, dirt Late Models, asphalt Modifieds, big-block dirt Modifieds or small-block dirt Modifieds. Grandview is a wild show on Saturday nights, but very dusty. It is small and tight, but the racing is unreal. There is pretty much no place like it when it comes to Northeast Modified racing. I spent 15 years going to Grandview weekly.

Bridgeport and New Egypt are pretty much complete opposites. Both runs Modifieds on Saturday nights. Bridgeport is a huge 5/8 mile and cars spread out easily there. New Egypt is much smaller, and has really been winning the car count battle with Bridgeport in recent years.

Big Diamond is Grandview's sister track on Friday nights They get a solid field of Modifieds on Friday nights, and it is definitley worth checking out. The track was just about dead five years ago, but it is now one of the show places of the area. Given what you described as your interests, Big Diamond, Grandview and New Egypt are all within a reasonable driving distance and provide full fields and a smaller racetrack.

Lebanon Valley is two dragstrips with high-banked corners at each end. It is a carbon copy of Williams Grove size and shape wise.

Fonda is an odd shaped track with a rabid fanbase. One unique facet of the track is that the backstretch is bordered by the Mohawk River. During periods of heavy rains, the river frequently overflows its banks and floods the track. Every few years, some unfortunate soul will crash into the river. The luckless driver is then typically inducted into the "Fonda Speedway Oar Club."

Having lived in both NorCal and New Jersey, I can tell you that there's a dearth of dirt track racing in New Jersey. I did get to see Flemington, both as a dirt track and as a paved oval. The mods put on a heck of a show there. As other's have pointed out. Bridgeport is a bit large and the cars tend to get strung out.

But you'll be close enough to the Central PA tracks to see some sprint car racing, on occasion....but you may get a bit tired of all of the travel to see a race. I know that I didn't see nearly enough races when I lived in New Jersey......

Chuck.....

No reason to go to Jersey since both East Windsor and Flemington are gone.

Jeff Kristensen

You're forgetting Orange County Fair Speedway, NY. Right on the border with NJ. A big 5/8ths, kind of like Bridgeport. Fonda's a bit of a hike, but if you're willing to travel that far, I would check out Albany-Saratoga Speedway as well. Also Glen Ridge Speedway is right across the river from Fonda. While Fonda is definitely the more popular of the two, if you're looking for variety, you could check it out. Fonda also has the "benefit" of its musuem being in the local McDonald's, LOL. With a longer drive I would hit the WoO show at Fulton in August, up by Syracuse. I would say Fulton is the best track in the Empire State. A nicely banked 3/8ths, basically it is shaped like a mini-Eldora. But I agree with Singlefile, based on your location I would make my weekly stop at Grandview. I've been there once, and I would say its one of the coolest tracks I've ever been too. Right up there with the Grove and Ohsweken. Also, if you're willing to go all the way to Fonda, you could head south to Delaware Intl. Never been there, but it is an option.

Grandview has 410s in May(Keystone Cup) and June(Speedweek w/ 358 modifieds). Unfortunately there are no 410 winged + ARDC wingless midget shows this year. Steve Buckwalter in a midget is worth the price of admission alone as he usually comes from the 9th row to win or at least be there at the very end. Don't forget the USAC boys come to town in June along with ARDC. Rarely do you see a bad race at Grandview.

410s are coming back to Big Diamond after a couple year hiatus. Its an All-Star sanctioned race along with ARDC midgets on 5/2

Another track getting 410s back after a few years away is Susquehanna Speedway Park . On 4/11 the 410s have a race with...you guessed it...ARDC - running twin features.

Definitely some shows to think about making, just because they don't get to these tracks as often as the rest in PA.

...

Let me just add that living where you will be in New Jersey, there will be lots of interesting choices to see a variety of tracks and divisions if you can also enjoy racing beyond winged Sprint Cars. Places like the Grove and Lincoln get all the headlines on this board, but PA and New York are filled with dozens of neat tracks. If you are interested in asphalt Modifieds at all, New Jersey also has Wall Stadium by the Jersey shore. The place has a ton of history, but it is notroriously difficult to pass there.

Hagerstown (Md.) at night is a must. The biggest show of the year at Hagerstown is the Octoberfest, but do yourself a favor and avoid daytime racing at HT at all costs. Probably the greatest race I have ever seen was a Super DIRT Series race at Hagerstown for the Northeast Modifieds that had 17-18 lead changes in a 100-lap feature.

Get to Lincoln for Saturday night racing, their support bomber class (can't remember what they are actually called) is as competitive a support group as I've ever seen. Stop in New Oxford at the Sub-Shop and get one of the best you'll ever taste from Stevie Smith's Mom and don't forget to ride the go-karts at Bobby Allen's earlier in the day. I'm guessing you're 15 minutes on each side of the track for these two Musts! Save some room for fries at Lincoln also, the best I've ever tasted. Take It Easy....

Let me begin by saying that nothing will best the action you see on the left coast. Seeing a race at Chico sets the bar too high. They do it different out here. Some of these tracks were once horse racing facilities and are of the half mile variety.

In my opinion the best Sprint Car/Winged Car/ Midget racing you will see will be at Grandview. 1/3 mile oval, nice banking, action packed, never a bad sprint car race there. Their weekly race includes modifieds and can be a wreckfest.

Lincoln is a close second, but not as good as G-View. Lincoln has a great weekly program with some great special shows. The bombers Nelligan speaks of are called Thunder Cars and they can be entertaining........wagering on the Thunder Car heats is highly encouraged in my group.

WG is always a fun time, but the racing can get strung out at times. When the circus comes to town the atmosphere at WG is second to none. Always a good party to hit at WG in the lot.

Port Royal is a BIG, fast joint with the finest food at any of the central PA tracks. Racing here is great when they get the surface right........if not you'll be lookin' at dust.

Selinsgrove is another big track but quite narrow. They race 358 cid sprinters weekly.

Big D isn't nearly the track it used to be since they enlarged the track. The surface for the USAC show last year was horrible. Weekly shows at Big D feature modifieds.

If you like to watch the mud turtles (modifieds) New Egypt or Bridgeport have the big guns on Saturday evenings. Haven't been to Leb Valley in 10 years, and don't know a thing about Fonda.

If ya get to WG or Linc or G-View look us up......we'll give ya the nickle tour.

"The Outlaws have people out here that don’t know 
anything about racing. I don’t understand how they 
come up with some of the calls they do. It makes me 
think that they just might be that stupid. It’s 
scary."     -Steve Kinser

Granndveiw for the USAC show June 1st, do not miss it; New Egypt for the July 3rd URC show

Better move to Indiana if you want to see races on smaller tracks.

Illinois has some real small tracks for midgets,and its right next door.

I know that I'll probably get slammed for this but, that said the winged supermodifieds (ISMA) have shows scheduled at Albany Saratoga in Malta, NY, Stafford Springs Conn, Waterford Conn, and Thompson Conn. All of these tracks are within your 3 hour traveling time except Thompson. I know that its heresy to even suggest going to a paved track but I got exposed to Sprint cars by going to see the supers on the dirt at Syracuse 30 plus years ago. So unless you try it you'll never know. BTW, I hope that you like traffic jams!

What the hell Scott? Shoot your going to miss alot of good shows out this way if you leave in April/May. I was looking forward to getting you down here to Santa Maria for the Doug Fort Memorial 2 day show. What gives? Work? The woman? You skipping a jail sentence? haha... Spill the beans would ya. Talk about a change of culture, climate and scenery. I imagine the west coast is not too much like New Jersey. My mom was born in New Jersey and her family wasted little time driving out to the west coast.

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

YEAH! New Jersey sucks! Whatever the reason is fight it with all you have.....:-)

http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/tracks.html A great site.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

hey,hey,hey easy now. living in indy now, hailing from new egypt, i do miss being 2 hours away from any of the best racing in the country in any direction. plus an hour from the mountains, half hour to the shore, half hour to philly, half hour to NYC, and all of the greatest food on the face of the earth. just dont get out of the draft on the turnpike or any interstate, we got tons of traffic but the pace is usually fast.