Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: hosehead

i like to go out there and camp and have fun. sometimes the racing is actually good, but with our crew it does not matter because we enjoy the trip and scene well enough that even Donnie Schatz can win running around the rubber and we would still go back.

if they would BAN all cars from the track until dark, then the racing would draw in even more fans.

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

About 10 years ago I attended my first live sprint race at Eldora. I will never forget (hopefully) in one of the heats going into turn one on the start there was a wreck with Steve Kinser flipping and then sopped upside down against the wall. Then as I looked over to his hauler, no one was paying any attention to his car or showing concern with respect whether or not he was OK. They were just bringing a backup car out of the hauler. By the time the wreck was cleared, Steve was in the backup getting pushed off. and rejoined the race. I am a Canadian, and up to that time had only seen sprints on TV on a limited basis. I am a retired bum now and now get to about 30 races a year, and it would be more if I could afford it. That night at Eldora got me hooked. I have been to a lot of tracks and although the racing at Eldora is not always the best, no other track is just like it and if I could only go to one race a year, it would be at Eldora.

I don't remember who all raced there @ the time because I was too busy playing in the big crevices that formed in the tiers where the cars could park in turns 3 & 4. Who I could talk about if I'd payed attention. I just turned 45 7 days ago & I've been going there since I was born. Maybe my interest in racing comes from my mom doing Powder Puff @ Limaland & my dad from doing the strip @ Kettlersville Dragstrip. Eldora has alot of memories from the past & I'm sure more to come in the future.

Went to the King's many times. Good track, fast but very dusty and many, many, drunks.

I went there my first time for the "Mopar Million". To date that has been the best racing I have seen there. I go one time a year now for the "Kings Royal" and just the anticipation of getting there, seeing the track, the camping, meeting people and the racing. Good stuff... I will say that I was reluctant to go there before I ever went because I had this weird thought (I get those) that since I always heard Eldora was CRAZY fast that it would take away some of the excitement or anticipation from my Knoxville excursions! Not the case, although Eldora is raw harcore speed and constant edge of your seat excitement, if I had to choose one I would take Knoxville. Now if I was born & raised in Ansonia or North Star I'm sure I would have a different opinion on that.

I remember my first WoO show there (wings obviously) my seats were fairly low maybe 8-10 rows from the bottom in the main grandstand. Kinser was in the first warm up session and when they turned the coals up on the cars, The speed sensation was pretty amazing and I remember almost wanting to be up a little higher in the stands because they were coming out of turn 4 so damn fast!! Kind of like Spoon River but better! Kind of funny to think about that now because after being there a few times you don't think much about it. Thanks Earl..............

First trip was to the Kings Royal in 94. Been back every year since. Now I'm up to around 5 trips a year for Wings and Non-Wings. It's just a good time and awesome sight.

Party, dust, speed, tradition & hangover.

Offie, you forgot, watching your favorite driver get lapped and then pull off with me standing next to ya' with a smile on my face I still can't get off/

I can remember trying to find the place back in the early 90's without asking for directions (due to a male thingy) and spending a whole lotta time driving around rural southern OH, lol. Finding it and walking inside the open gates and looking down at the hole in the ground was as exciting as anything I've ever seen in racing. Watching Sammy win the first 3 shows I ever saw there was the final bonus from America's most exciting sprint car track. Alas, it has gone through some difficult times over the last few years with it's dry slick deal but perhaps it will revert to the good ol' days again some time soon. Take It Easy....

Ah hell, even the King has a bad day once in a while. I still have that buck that I won from you several years ago I just can't remember the race or even the track anymore though.

My first and only trip was for the Million. We rented a motorhome and drove all night from Minnesota. When we got there around 5:30 or 6am and staked out a campsite we noticed some guys sitting around a fire obviously still partying from the night before. A brief introduction led to the question "where are you guys from?" Their answer was Pennsylvania. My life has never been the same...

We had a good time but it's a little too far out of the range of my ol' Ranger to make it a regular destination.

Stan Meissner (Check out the photo gallery and blog)

Website
www.gotomn.com
Photos
Blog

My first and so far only visit was for the rubber down, tire blowing, Kings Royal that Jason Sides won. Oh well, the camping was fun, the Wagon Wheel was awesome, and the ride out on the Dingus Bus, let's just say that was unforgettable.

The Million was a great race but even if it wasn't the campground experience there was worth the trip all by itself. It's the kind of place a person goes for the good time, if a race happens to break out it's a bonus.

Stan Meissner (Check out the photo gallery and blog)

Website
www.gotomn.com
Photos
Blog

April 2007 saw us visit the US again (from Australia) and the following text is an excerpt from that part of my diary which related to the superb Eldora Speedway ...

.... but now it was time for Chicago and the RV pickup. We had arranged for two 29 footers to be ready and after a few teething issues we were on our way out of Illinois, across the top of Indiana via Fort Wayne and south into Ohio. At the end of the rainbow that day was Eldora Speedway near the tiny town of Rossburg. I'm not sure I can even tell you what Rossburg looks like because as you drive Route 118, the excitement of nearing Eldora just dominates all sense of memory control. At times I imagined our motorhome had a sprintcar inside it, instead of living quarters, and there I was driving a race car into the pits mid track.

But seeing Andrew Quinn, Stubb, Gail and their blow up kangaroo (resplendent in a New Zealand flag by the way) in the parking lot brought back some logic and we positioned the giant white beasts in corral fashion to ensure the anticipated late night partying would not disturb other campers. Dave Argabright turned up from Indianapolis, others Hosehead message board contributors arrived and before we knew it that familiar sound of the ring pull from a cold can of Bud resounded around the park.

I think six cans was all the time we had for reminiscing before the sound of World of Outlaw sprintcars labouring under full noise emerged from deep within the adjacent half mile of sacred clay. That was enough for me - I wanted to see everything, even hotlaps. Although I had been to Eldora three times before, the anticipation of entering this legendary colossus never wavers and my patience almost ran out as we queued to get tickets and then be searched for alcohol. I had plenty in me, but they couldn't confiscate it.

Stubb, being the Eldora veteran he is, had arranged a "private box" for us all. Well, call it a chalked off area on Turn 4 where he had previously deposited eight or so fold up chairs. But it was the spot to be as we had Yankee fans dropping in all night long to say hi to the 'Osstraylians' in the crowd. Jason Meyers was the victor on as dustier track as I've ever seen. It reinforced the message on that old T-Shirt which proclaims that "you're not a true sprintcar fan unless you have dirt in the bottom of your beer glass".

It wasn't all beer though. Stubb insisted we try a couple of 'Washington Apples' from the very generous barman he knew. (There appears to be no one at Eldora that Stubb doesn't know by the way.) Consequently this potent brew of Crown Royale Canadian Whisky, Sour Apple Pucker schnapps and cranberry juice found its way many times down to the Budweiser I had earlier carried into the track.

Regretfully the Saturday of this two night show was rained out and Eldora turned from a vibrant, alive, noisy, pulsating place of energy to a silent and sorrowful stadium surrounded by cornfields. It is so sad to see any speedway with the gates locked by rain but especially so when it is Eldora ….

www.eastcoasteagles.com.au 

My first time there was for an All Star show in the mid 90's in which Joey Saldana put on the most amazing rim-riding display I have ever seen. Since then, we have gotten our own team together and have raced there about a dozen times. It still holds the mystique that it did the first time and I am always pumped to go. incidentally, my first race at the Big E, I decided to introduce myself to the turn 3 wall. What a jerk off that wall is....I go up and say hi and he puts me on my lid!!!!! even found its way onto a spills and thrills tape that year...lol.

I remember Hillenburg saying he could barely tell what color Casey Lunas Ford as it blew by to lap him perhaps a couple times. The number 10 often had a half lap lead when proper moisture was present. Eldora separates the men from the boys when the cushion is right.

The hopeless desire to outrun Bud Grimm's Fords is 
why central PA became the toughest place to race on 
the planet. Even the KING couldn't run with Casey 
Luna's Fords on a tacky track. It's a crying shame 
that current car owners failed to notice.

Ive enjoyed reading the posts, Its fun to read other "peeps" stories of thier first experiances of a track that had high expectations , they all seem similar to mine, just with a little different personal and dated twist, never the less, its still fun to remember when, "my first time there",

Eldora Is to me , somewhere Ive never been,somewhere I want to go,somewhere waiting for me,

In my opinion , Knox and Eldora are "the sh%t", If you have competed at Knox and Eldora your dreams have been fullfilled, If you have partied at both, well, your just dam good at what you do! in anycase, heres to you! contratz!

KINGS ROYAL WEEKEND: my blood temperature starts to rise once i roll into celina. the sound, smell and the fizz that the first opening of a beer makes. coming over the hilltop on county road 18 and seeing the campground all roped off and filling up. the smell of foods on the grill. females. drunks. the randomness idiotic partying all over throughout the nights. using the blinking blue light near the hogbarn as a reference to where im suppose to be heading @ 5 in the morning. the best there is in the sport battling it out for 40 laps just to wear a crown. oh yeah and the fact that i've picked 8 of the last 10 royal winners after watching the prelim night to make my assessment. one of them dont count due to that whole jason sides tire blowing issue!

there ya go brewster, drive it 'til ya hear glass and 
smell shit!

... speed fix ...

dttfowtm   ... 
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely 
in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in 
sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy ****! What 
a ride!"
"Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with 
Alabama in between." 
"My father always used to say that when you die, if 
you've got five real friends, then you've had a great 
life." 
"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be 
fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks 
and stones."

My first trip was '89. It was the first time I'd seen Stevie Smith (77), Frankie Kerr (77), Paul Lotier (461), Joey Kuhn (2K) or Steve Stambaugh (12). I had read about the Posse, but it was my first live indoctrination, so that was a bonus.

Back then, you could walk into the facility at any time before the races. Just looking down into the bowl was awesome. It was a wet mess and it hadn't even rained! Push trucks trying to iron the high sides were sliding down the banks. I sat on the frontstretch under the overhang and when hotlaps started, my jaw dropped and I had chills up the spine. The mix of noise echoing in my head and the speeds were incredible. Kenny Jacobs took a nasty tumble on Friday night in the Weikert's car over turn two. The car landed in the creek. The Mouse raced the next night, but I'm not sure he knew where he was for a few weeks after that. The drunks were out of control, like nowhere I'd seen before and a lot of them were women!

I'm with Paintboss, Knoxville is still King, but a sprint car fan should get to the Big E in their lifetime. I'd say the same of other tracks too.

I'm not one to relish in the "glory days" like others but two things have been lacking the last several years:

1. Water

2. Wicked Banking

www.hoseheads.com/billw.html