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

They took the banking out of the corners. 

What configuration was the track in 2003 during the Sprint Million?  I took my camera and a small step ladder down to turn one during the million.  Cars wrecked up by the wall and parts were rolling down the banking, axels and wheels and fuel cells.  The first time that happened I jumped off the ladder and ducked.  The locals gave me that knowing look as if to say "this is your first time shooting here, isn't it".  

Stan Meissner

It used to be super flat on the bottom... pretty flat in the middle... and then as you got closer to the outside wall, the banking went crazy (around 25 degrees, I believe).  They made the bottom and middle not so flat, and took away a lot of the banking by the wall.  

Definitely the old banking on the track for the Million.  That 'self-cleaning' during wrecks is what I was referring to when I said that most (if not all) flips back then were a catastophe... for sure for the car, and unfortunately the driver too sometimes.  I've witnessed a few bad ones there over the years, but the one that stands out to me is when Tatnell (in the Casey's car) hit the fence in turn 1, flipped down the banking, and Dollansky drilled him running flat out.  Tatnell was on the shelf for a while with several injuries, including neck fractures (luckily wasn't worse) and Dollansky broke his leg (or damn near did).  

I have no opinion cause I've only been once (4 Crown a few yrs. ago), but I couldn't help wondering what it was like back in the day.

Seemed like any other 1/2 mile to me, I knew about the legendary high speeds & was curious...

I saw one of the Jacobs take a hella ride there in turn 1 during the outlaw Friday show for the 2004 Mopar Thunder.  He was OK.  I was at the 2016 Kings Royal when Kerry Madsen had a vicious flip in Friday night qualifying.  My son & a buddy of his were with me (they had only seen late models at Eldora prior to that).  My son tapped my on shoulder & said "Is he dead" cause it was such a ride.  About then I saw the steering wheel fly out of the cockpit so I knew he was ok but pissed off.  He did take the night off.  And speaking to the bravery of these men, set fast time for the Kings Royal the next night.  Joint is still plenty fast even in the current configuration.  

I noticed a lot of you have been saying the speed is still there.  That may be true.  But, and this is a big BUT------they are not all occupying the same space at the same speeds.  There is room for passing without having to throw the massive slider.  Someone can run the wall at 150+ mph on the straights and be passed by someone at the middle or bottom running a much slower speed----but most importantly, not trying to occupy the same space.  I would like to go to the alternate universe and see how the same races would have compared over the last 5-10 years.  An even worse thought, who may have been seriously injured or even lost had the track been left as is? 

It seems that most of you agree that Tony made the right decision---although some miss Pepsi, weed, and anarchy. 

Brooke lives a few miles from me and I remember him talking about that wreck and injury.  Dollansky is about an hour from here over in Elk River and I have known him since 2003 when we met at Princeton while he was recovering from the Indy Lights wreck that broke his back.  They have both been beat up pretty bad by those cars.  Brooke was in PA a few years back and got his leg whipped by a driveshaft.  A couple years before that he was busting up pallets and broke some toes at work.  

Stan Meissner