Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
Moderators: Racing From The Past

I have not helped on a race car since 1978 and I know things were different then but nobody can explain to me why the dirt tracks now have to dry and so dusty that you can't see the race track. we used to have a dry track sometimes and hated it because you could not race on it, it was just follow the leader. The last few times that I went to the races I heard the owners and drivers say to not put on very much water to keep it as dry as you can. My wife went with me to one of the Thunder Through the Plains between the NCRA and All Stars and it was so bad that it ruined her blouse and we had to put our sun glasses on at night. I have not been to a race since. Why are the tracks keep so Dry?

Ray

Cause they don't want very many fans in the stands I guess. I go to very few races also. If it is not for the dust, it is the races don't get over until midnight or in many cases later. How many classes do the weekly shows try to run. A minimum of 4 classes. Some have 5 or 6. By the time hot laps are over and a couple of heat races are run, the tracks are already dusty and I'm ready to go home. I guess from what I've read the back gates pay the purses now days and the big entry fees.

I can remember crossing some tracks and the track was still tacky enough to pull your shows off after the races.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

I'm from ohio and silly as it may sound, i'm not sure our (hopefully) clay is the same being the geograhpic difference.Anyhow, if you were at an All Star sanctioned race, i'm sure they qualified the sprints.Its just my opinion, but some promoters lack in track prep all week and then expect to have a nice surface, starting to water and groom the day before or sadly some time, the same day. Qualifying deteriorates the surface before any races and shame if the track prep was absent to begin with.Unless its early in the year and a VERY cool night, the moisture will never come back to the top. Years back, many "solutions" were added to the track to aid the dust problem,but the DEA stopped most of them.

I remember when they ran races at Golden Belt Speedway (mid 60's) in Great Bend, Kansas that they had a very nice track. Good quality clay was used and the track was prepped and watered a couple days before each race day. My dad (Vernon Schrater) helped with that as he was very picky as to track conditions. He built and owned a couple of race cars in that era and knew what a good track means to the drivers. I remember drivers commenting as to the quality of the track there.

Steven Schrater

Great Bend was far from my favorite track, but the competition was always A+. I went there a lot on Sunday night in the late 60's & early 70's. They always had a good field of cars. Great Bend was the first out of town track I drove to with my own car. Then I really got to travel, it was off to Wakenney. This was when Wakenney was a big 1/2 mile. That was a big trip for a teenager from Hutchinson.

At Great Bend several towed all the way from Wichita. You had the best we had from the Salina, Dodge City, Hutchinson and Wichita area. The Great Bend Locals were as tough as any of the out of towner's. Try getting anyone to tow that far for a Sunday night race now. Did the A feature say in 1971 even pay $100? I know there are some of the those big names drivers reading this that know.

The grandstands were a long way from the track with the horse track in between. The grandstands were also at ground level. It seems like there was only about 10 rows so you were not that high up. I think back now at the pipe fencing on the front stretch. That could not be very safe. I don't remember any dust. I remember it being a paper clip though. Two classes is all they ran. That did not wear the track out either.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

This picture was taken at the Hutchinson Nationals . The track conditions were so bad that the drivers drop to the infield in the turns to find better traction. They did stop the race and made the drivers start racing at on the track surface after reworking the track. As you can see it looks really bad in this picture. I did attend the race but I can't remember which year the dust bowl nationals happen.

Tony

That looks worse than the 74 Hutch Nationals.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes