Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

Cedar Lake replaced the IRA with the USMTS Mortifieds. I have heard rumblings that the IRA will run a one day show sometime in late May at CLS but Twin Cities area Sprint Car fans lost their only two day show in the area. I'm sure this was a business decision by CLS and they're expecting to boost attendance with this change but this event was an all Late Model show at one time and never caught on like their August race. The IRA put on some awesome races at last year's Masters, they were the best racing of the entire weekend. I don't see USMTS coming anywhere close to the quality of show that IRA put on for the fans. They're Modifieds with the skinny right rear so that combined with the way CLS tends to slick over and the banking will produce a lot of spins. The jury is still out on what effect the change will have on attendance but I don't look for a significant difference.

I'm sure the owners felt that it was the right thing to do and I can't fault them for running their business the way they see fit. I won't be there, I write a Sprint Car column and contribute to a Sprint Car publication so there's no reason for me to go. I'm on a shoestring budget and I have obligations to Sprint Car racing so I won't even be out there as a spectator because there's no wiggle room. I'm kind of bummed out because I made a lot of friends out at Cedar Lake over the years and I enjoyed the two-day weekend for that reason as much as the racing.

Stan Meissner

that will be a great show...usmts puts on some of the best racing in the country.

CLS just made it easier on my race budget! Looks like just one visit for me this summer.

It sounds like they'll be adding an IRA race so it would make three for me. I have spent a lot of time out there and gotten to know a lot of people and you can't beat the location. I wish it was a Sprint Car track. I've seen the USMTS many times at a variety of tracks but in the final analysis they're modifieds, the same thing I can see at every track around here all summer long.

Stan Meissner

That sucks. It is what it is. Hopefully some other area tracks can nail down an IRA date. I have no idea what the IRA schedule is looking like next year but slowly they have been decreasing the dates around NW Wisconsin. Superior had two dates for many years now they typically only run their during the Northern Nationals. Red Cedar doesn't get them anymore. Now CLS is down at least one date from the past. I know Elko has been added to the IRA schedule for a couple of years now so it's not all bad.

Does anybody know why the IRA does not run at Princeton? I would think a Friday night show there would be a perfect fit and they could pick up a lot of the MN cars like Heskin, Sernett, Whitney, etc. Princeton puts on a great sprint car show.

The USMTS modifieds will actually be a very positive addition to the Masters. There are a lot of modified fans throughout the area, and they should turn out in force. The USMTS race format is favorable in that they use passing points from their heat races to lock in a certain number of cars to the feature race, then move several cars from two or three B Mains plus a point provisional or two. Unless the track is not prepared to produce good racing, the USMTS mods will put on a very good show at CLS. They are worth watching!

On the other hand of the spectrum, a disappointing showing last year by the UMP Slumber Nationals Tour in the late model division should have made the decision a rather easy one for CLS. Dump the UMP for a more prominent series like Lucas Oil. The WoO late models already occupy the USA Nationals sanction, so an appearance by the Lucas Oil late models would have fit in well. It would also have gone in the right direction to restoring the Masters event to what it was originally designed to be, a big paying national late model race. It has strayed far from that due to purse considerations and lack of attendance to support such a purse. Adding the IRA sprints was cool, but ultimately the sprints were not part of the original mindset and apparently not part of the long-range plan. A number of hard-core late model fans continually complained anyways, so now they can have their boring UMP late models along with the exciting USMTS modifieds. Seems like the so-called support class each year is the one generating the entertainment value recently at the Masters (IRA the past several years and now likely the USMTS). Hmmm, could it be that sub-par late model programs are not cutting it at the Masters? Bring in the Lucas Oil Series and make a move in the right direction or else drop the late models!

For me personally, I would have been more than pleased to watch the IRA sprints and USMTS modifieds race that weekend. USMTS and Lucas Oil would have been a great combo too. As for 2011, the UMP Slumber Nationals and USMTS will be okay based on USMTS being there. Depending on how the local area sprint car racing schedule shapes up that weekend, I will plan on going out for one night of the Masters at this time (preferably Friday night to catch all the cars when they are somewhat fresh). Then hopefully we will go sprint car racing on Saturday night.

You should be a politician GRP. Sprint Car fans just got the green weenie and you somehow were able to put a positive spin on it.

Stan Meissner

Over on the 40, my spin isn't setting well with some late models fans although several of them can't really do anything but agree with my assessment of last year's Masters regarding the yawner UMP portion of the show. I will make it clear that I very much enjoyed the IRA at the Masters, but the way the IRA was treated last year at this late model event, it probably is a positive thing that they are no longer at the Masters. If CLS adds them on a May date, the IRA will be better off than if they were part of the Masters again anyways. Sometimes what goes on behind the scenes is not known by a lot of fans. My frustration with the Masters centers more on the inability of CLS to return it to what it was designed for in the first place. Instead of getting a prominent series like Lucas Oil, they just continue to bumble around with sub-par late model racing at the Masters. Maybe a new thought process is needed, morph it into a premier USMTS mod event, leave the premier late model event as the USA Nationals, and have a few decent sprint car shows like WoO, IRA and Jerry Richert Sr Memorial. Unfortunately, the powers to be over there think differently than knowledgable race fans do.

They have been trying to bring the Masters up to the interest level of the USA Nationals for years now but it never could equal the Natl. I think a lot of factors, time of year, families still having graduations, weather can be a factor and there's only so much money to go around. Regardless of what they do I don't think it's ever going to match the August race. If the USMTS hadn't replaced the IRA I'd have had a little more enthusiasm about this change. I know some of what goes on out there in regard to Sprint Car racing so yeah, it's probably all for the better in the big picture.

Stan Meissner

I don't know that I'd say IRA was replaced, but with the WoO scheduled at Princeton just 1 week after the Masters it was decided to move us further away to avoid sprint car saturation in the area over that period. We (IRA) will be in NW WI and MN for numerous dates in 2011. Our first trip will be May 20-21 as we make our first appearance ever at Mississippi Thunder Friday, then visit Cedar Lake on Saturday. In June will be returning to Deer Creek on Saturday June 11, which is the same weekend we had there last year but rained out, and we'll then head up to Eagle Valley on Sunday. As it stands today plans are for us to be at Elko July 15-16, and we are working on Northern WI swing for late July so stay tuned for details on that. I'm confident we'll be at Superior for the Northern Nationals on September 9, and again sanction the Richert Memorial at CLS the following night Sept. 10th. We are talking to several NW WI tracks and are trying to put together a 2-3 day swing for July and I'm very hopeful we can get this done. Hopefully UMSS will continue to work with us and not schedule against us on these dates. Hopefully some of our Northern fans can take the swing east on Labor Day weekend as we have a trio of events on 3 different type tracks including the first ever time we've headlined the Sheboygan County Fair. Labor Day Monday can be return travel day so make your plans now. We are trying to update our tentative 2011 schedule at www.irasprints.com

Merry Christmas,

Steve Sinclair / IRA

Thanks for the update Steve. Travel is the key word on this deal. Anytime I lose two nights a half hour from the end of the driveway I'm going to be a little bit bummed. I'm sure these other dates will more than fill the void. I'm going to be kind of semi-retired this year due to economic necessity so my problem is going to be which dozen races to go see. Close is good.

Happy Holidays.

Stan Meissner

I'm sure the UMSS will work with you Steve. When your both at the Richert Memorial, it's the best race night of the year for some of us sprint car fans. It'd be fun to see you guys at the same show more often! As far as the Masters goes, I know the group I usually go with won't be there without the IRA there. If Cedar Lake wants us there more often, they'll have to bring in the sprint cars more often. You'll find me where the sprint cars are!

Last year at the Jerry Richert Memorial all sprint show!

The place was full.

Really good racing all night from both groups!

It will be interesting to see the attendance the masters ends up with without the IRA there.

I think not what they expect.

I say thank GOD the IRA is not there........

It's GREAT, now I don't have to watch boat anchors with wheels go around the the track!

How can something so loud be so slow?

Now we can go to Grand Forks ND and watch the WoO on that wheekend!

We will go to all and any IRA show at Cedar Lake, Great group of guy's and they put on a really good show!

Myself as a business owner, and two brothers realy appreciates the job every one does at the Jerry Richert show.

This year it is my intention to donate some funds to that event in a attempt to entice more of the Knoxville boy's to come up

I will talk to Brooke and Jerry this year about that as the season gets rolling.

All I can say is man what a show last year!

A Bad Day Of Sprint Car Racing Is 10 Times Better Than 
A Good Day At Work!