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

All of this talk about Eldora and track prep; go to Haubstadt this Sat. and see how it's really done by Helfrich and company.

Some folks sitting next to us at Bloomington said that he can COMPLETLY rework the track in 20 minutes. Unbelievable....

Member of this message board since 1997

Of course you believed them, lmao. Tommy may be the best but it has taken a little longer than that the half dozen times I've watched him do it. With his equipment and his track size it is simply amazing to see though and the fans are always rewarded. I've said it many times before, the two most important words in sprint car racing are not World or Outlaws, it's Track Prep. Take It Easy.....

Go to Kokomo. They don't have to rework the track. Good ole Kokomo Indiana clay from right out back.

Hawker: It'd take more than 20 minutes to get the track worked in right at Tri-State.  But like Mikey said the fans are always rewarded come feature time.  For overall racing action, track condition, facility cleanliness and fan hospitality Haubstadt is hard to top.  It's the total package.

tracks are not like they used to be, because there are so many factors into it.my parents usedto help with the old atomic speedway witch is kc raceway now ,dad used to go to the track on wednesdays to turn over dirt and put the water to it rain or shine,thursday just put water to it .saturday morning put the water to it again and keep it up all day.than when it came to race time they ran the track in backwords,but the cars back than not so much motor under hood tires different, top wings made of plywood lol,back than dad even help on a mod or sprint they used to call them,so it takes practice to get a track in shape these days,but this just my though 

Hey Professor, tell your Dad to give Tony a call, the job is his! Take It Easy.....

THE PROBLEM WITH ELDORA IS LARRY KEMP!!! HE IS A LAZY A** ALL HE WANTS TO DO IS RUN THE SPEEPS FOOT AROUND THE RACE TRACK TO PACK IT TIGHTER SO HE HAS TO DO NOTHING ALL WEEK LONG. THE RACE TRACK NEED TILLED UNDER AND WATERED ALL WEEK LONG. THE RACE TRACK BLOWS DUST 2 LAPPS INTO THE 1ST HOT LAP SESSION. A WELL PREPAIRED DIRT TRACK SHOULD NEVER TAKE RUBBER.JUST MY THOUGHTS

A race track should NEVER see a sheeps foot...

Member of this message board since 1997

I don't know about that. Kokomo uses a sheepsfoot and there track lasts all night with no problems.

Then they must work the track throughout the week. Most people just sheepsfoot the hell out of the track to the point that it instantly seals over because it is packed so tight.

At Tulsa Speedway (when it was at the fairgrounds), they worked the track pretty much every night of the week. Come raceday, all cars were required to pack the track. The mud was so heavy that it took 1 hour just to run it in.

Member of this message board since 1997

The track surface (dirt & track prep) at Kokomo reminded me of Husets on a really good night. It was pretty kickass though... want to get back there to see another nonwing race soon. I bet the WoO would even rock the joint...

I'm with Hawker again, lose most sheepsfoot's around the country, UNLESS you work the track during the week. If you only use it come the weekend you are just compressing the dirt tighter and making a concrete type surface. Take It Easy....

I concur, good-bye Sheepsfoot! Saw way too much of it in Indiana...

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A sheepsfoot can definately be useful to a skilled track prep guy. But he also has to have someone who is very skilled with the grader blade and not just be used on raceday.

Another "old timers" flashback: back in the "good old days", if you did not take your race car out to pack the track, you did not race! Talk about cleaning mud off a car...........

In the "old days", there were a lot of fast, but rough tracks. Today, everybody want the track to be smooth, first and foremost. The cars are lighter, faster and more locked down than ever because of the tires and wings. If you think the sport was dangerous back then, imagine running today's cars on those tracks now. You also have to look at the cost involved in track prep today, in water and man power. Most people don't work for nothing and water is more expensive now than it used to be. besides, a heavy track will end up a one lane freight train today with winged cars, especially.

Support classes will kill a race track for sprint cars. Happens every time. Starting too early and wearing out the track by the time the "real" race cars run their program. But, I guess promoters have more faith in the back gate than taking a risk on bringing in fans through the turnstiles.

Haubstadt probably does the best job of anywhere in the country on track prep. Tom Helfrich understands the principles involved in putting on a good show for the fans. The Duncans at Knoxville have a long history, too. The track surface is what made Knoxville famous over forty years ago. That said, it's getting more and more challenging to keep track prep ahead of the technology of the cars.

There just seems to be less room for error today.

Eldora has a rather large pond to choose from as do many other tracks John, so much for the expensive water theory. It will always boil down to having a track prep man. Having said that most tracks can't afford a specific one but Tony and the Big E can! With your local track the promoter or track owner if they care can do the job nicely, it happened all through the 90's why not today? Take It Easy.....

PS Good luck with your new affiliation, keep up your conscientious effort to help the sport....

I've never thought that it's fair to judge one track's racing surface against another's, i.e. saying that one track should be prepped the same as another track.

Unless they're identical in their type of dirt, classes and numbers of cars and amount of laps run I feel it's impossible to compare...just too many variables.

A good track prep man is an extremely valuable asset to a track. Judging by the posts on this matter, it appears that a number of people have missed their calling in life.

It has been a few years since I have been to Haubstadt, but at that time they used an pneumatic wobble wheel packer to pack the track. I think that is the only track where I have seen one used. They have one parked by the graders at Knoxville but I have never seen them use it. I need to do some digging to find the pictures I took at Haubstadt of the equipment that was used to work the track. They needed some very large tractors to pull that equipment.