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

Oh you betcha! Because they've ALWAYS been there. And dey r da bestest at what they do. So bestest that they got booted out if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and as we've seen recently that bar isn't very high. Fact is using your logic USAC is a lot like cockroaches but we are always looking for new ways to get rid of them.

I didn't need to use any logic to call you a knot head, all I have to do is be able to read.

Where are you going to be sitting when the USAC Midgets and Big Cars show up at Belleville next year, or are you going to use your logic and stay home? I'm betting that most people are hoping it's "stay home".

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

Trust me, I wasn't and I'm still not happy with a lot of things USAC has done throughout the years, like staying on the left side, when they should have went home. I've been listening to crap about USAC since their and almost my beginning LOL, but the truth is the racers, car owners, and the fans need a premier series for traditional open wheeled cars.

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

Completely agree. I'm 69 years old and have been going to USAC races for most of my life. Yes, they have their problems and I don't agree with a lot they do but I sure don't agree with all the Woo does either. But they both are the premier series and they do put on great racing.

Also if you want to see the best of the best you go to their races. USAC isn't the only series that are getting small car counts in midgets. They all are. The Chilli Bowl is the exception where you have drivers from every form of racing. I remember going to see the midgets race with huge car counts at every race and now if there are 24 cars it's a big field.

"threadkiller" what an appropriate name. Don't forget to blame USAC for Superstorm Sandy, the backup I experienced today I-215, and that the flu is going around. This is so tiresome and in some ways intellectually bankrupt. Last time I checked the scheduling and success of any racing event involved so many parties and variables that it would be in everyone's best interest to proceed objectively before placing blame!

Well you sure as hell are not doing ANYONE any favors now! Don't know who your friends are, but hey, I sure as hell wouldn't want to sit anywhere near your sorry ass.

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

I've been called far worse by far better but if YOUR sorry ass were to actually SHOW UP we'd welcome you. They may have some choice words for me as well which is fine but you would also be engaged in inteligent discussion about a lot of other topics as well. Nothing is perfect, there will always be something to bitch about, opinions are like assholes, etc, etc. etc. You disagree with me I get that. I don't know you well enough to make the statement that I opened this post with but you don't know me well enough to make any of yours about me so I'm not taking it back. If you were to show up and I were to as well we can revisit these comments perhaps?

I've known 'threadkiller' for almost 20 years, from back in the day when we both contributed to SprintCar the single best publication on our sport ever, in my opinion. What can't be denied about this character is his passion and his knowledge, two facts that are very apparent if you know the man. Heck, we don't agree on Sammy but that doesn't mean he's a dummy, just a friend with a different view, so what.

It is not often in this forum that someone speaks with such emotion on a subject like he has on this one. On top of that he makes valid points, puts them in sentences and actually makes sense, no matter which side of the debate you are on. Compared to much of the rubbish here lately it's quite refreshing to see lively banter without much name calling, but it's getting close, lol.

I still remember all the years at the Nationals Chris would tell me how crazy I was in missing Belleville and I truly am sad that I never did get there. As I said back then, it was simply a business decision to me and getting ready for the Nat's where I could make two months wages was always just a bit more important. Rock On Chris, keep up the good fight!

We just had 2 tracks 30 minutes apart running midgets on the same night with 68 cars total between the 2 tracks. I'd call that pretty good car count myself.

POWRi has been getting very good car counts this season at their races. You should come out and give them a try next year.

I'll agree with Hosedragger. There are more problems with Belleville than with USAC. Track size had a pretty good part of the reason for lower car counts. As noted the Hut Hundred isnt run at Terre Haute's half mile anymore,and not all that many midgets at the 4 Crown either. All motor tracks.

How many midget races do you go to every year Chris??

Midget racing here on the West Coast is effectively dead but they are part of Labor Day Weekend at Calistoga so technically I guess I could say 3? Belleville is the only race I can travel to the midwest for any more but it's getting harder and harder to justify the trip for a variety of reasons. Of course I'd give just about anything to live where you do but the furthest I could get the wife is Chico :-)!

I've only been to Belleville once a couple years ago to see what it was all about after reading about it for yrs. I wish I could have gone there back in the 80s. Anyways the time I went they just had the midgets 2 nights,and I went the first night,and the track took rubber and the feature sucked. Needless to say I decided to go elsewhere the next night rather than cough out a fairly good amount of money for the big night and possibly have another rubber down track.

I'm very lucky living where I live,and it took me a long tome to get here,so I do make the most of it. We have plenty of good racing here in Indiana,but I do go over to Illinois quite frequently to watch POWRi midget racing. I always tell people I dont have to leave Indiana to see a good race,and I went to a bit over half of the POWRi races this year. If they werent good races,I wouldnt go,but they have really good car counts,and really good racing too.

Thats not to say I dont go watch USAC midget races,because I go watch them too,just not as often. Actually other than midget week and the Hut Hundred that was co sanctioned with POWRi this year at Haubstadt,and the 4 crown,they really dont race that much around here.

Personally I like the other Belleville, the little track in Illinois for midget racing. In my mind its the best midget racing there is.

I actually agree. Midgets belong on the smaller tracks with Belleville for me being the exception. If you talk to people who love Belleville as much as I do what you will find is that we are there for the entire experience. As breathtaking as the racing can be it's all the other things that keep bringing us back. The fair. The hassle free camping situation. Relaxing time spent with friends. It's just a nice vacation from our everyday lives. Even with just 14 cars starting the feature last year though it really did prove quality over quantity. The top 8 or so cars were providing that edge of your seat hair standing on end experience that makes a midget race there special so as sad as it was there were so few cars none of us were complaining at the end. I remind people all the time that the future of the racetrack and a race of some kind going on during the fair is a pretty secure deal. What gets lost in all the arguments is that what is in jeopardy here is a MIDGET race during the fair. Would I go back for a different class, say, if they turn it into a modified race? I can confidently say yes if that comes to pass at least once. Would it keep me coming back? Hard to say. I think it's just a matter of time if midget racing can't get it's stuff together before the folks who run that place even as simple as they are that they make the decision unhitch themselves from a falling star. It's simple math eventually involving $$'s.

Stan Meissner