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

The track we all know & love that has been here since 1954 is fixing to be a pile of rubble then an empty piece of land for a parking lot for horse shows.YAWN

http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-state-fair-speedway-demo-begins-story,0,3049687.story

Don't say,"It'll never happen here" because it can.

Put OKC on the list with Ascot,Manzanita etc etc etc etc......

OKC was unique in layout because of having not 1 put 2 tracks for the majority of its existence.If there is /was a track with both a 1/4 mile & a 1/2 mile track at the same facility, I don't know of it.

So get out there & buy your tickets, pit passes, etc and support local dirt track racing.If you have a halfway descent racing facility that is a short distance from the house, get there this weekend & take a friend, neighbor or co-worker.

If things keep going the way they are, the only Friday night points race in Northern Calif. is going to be a thing of the past. Just a heads-up to Handy Racing Promotions and Silver Dollar Speedway: better take a long look in the mirror and figure out what it is going to take to fill the pits and give the dedicated race fans in Northern Calif a reason to come out on Friday nights and enjoy some exciting and competitve racing. I haven't been to a points race in over 2 years because it is boring and I don't feel as if I am getting my money's worth.

San Jose Fairgrounds Speedway had a quarter - then 3/8ths plus a half mile and mile track that all shared the same front straight. Over the years all were used with some work to re-configure each. San Jose has been gone for 10 years now and the once great Santa Clara County Fairgrounds is now a complete joke. Sorry to hear about OKC but it seemed pretty clear that the place was getting railroaded. Talked briefly to Shane Carson after his induction last Saturday into the High Banks Hall of Fame in Belleville and he pretty much shared the same sentiment.

What's the kicker to that deal is it would cost $400K to repair what "they said" was the reason for closing it and they awarded the demolition company $450K to tear it down....

Phil Taylor

home-theater-systems-advice.com

A lot of you want to stay at home and watch the race on TV

that will fix the problem right

I did the same West Capital on Sat and Friday at Roseville when it was dirt.

Millstream Motor Speedway ( Findlay, Ohio ) will probably never see full time racing again, They have tried to run a few shows a yr after it set vacant for around 8 to 9 yrs & guess what happened. Yep houses started cropping up around the place & if them folks work or have kids that need to go to school the next morning they will not want to hear the noise & I doubt if mufflers would help.

Unfortunately, aside from a few previously mentioned exceptions, it seems like fairgrounds tracks are the only ones that can survive residential encroachment. Last year, in mid September, I happened to be visiting family in Huron, South Dakota during a big season ending race event called the Wissota 100. I only attended one of the four nights of racing (full bodied cars) but every night went until at least 1am, two nights went until 2am. There were six classes of racing so they had to completely rework the track twice a night to keep it from turning into a pavement race. Nicely done too I might add. Several hundred cars in the pits. They closed off one of the adjacent streets to allow access to an auxiliary pit area. I stayed about a mile and half from the track and even from that distance it was loud. Plenty of people live closer, some closer than 1/4 mile. They did receive a few noise complaints but I think most people realize that the event brings more money into town than any other except for the state fair. The track was there first (1st auto race took place in 1914) so for a few nights a year those folks who aren't race fans will just have to close their windows, turn on the A/C, wear ear plugs, turn down their hearing aids, etc. Just a little cooperation on their part will help stimulate the local economy and preserve an American tradition.

first off cars have been droping off for years. i.e WOO leaving stoga car counts droping in chico things changing people doing diffrent things. just 2 thoughts for track owners, lower costs to get in all around cars, food , stand =

more cars @ the track, more food bought, more people in. Also means things would be like old times when NARC and outlaws would have been runing @ smaller tracks like petalumaor placervile with HUGE car counts and plenty of fans to watch them. just my two sense

Outlaw-Kart Crewchief
Sprint-Car Crewchief

Unfortunately, there is no way tracks like Petaluma or Placerville can accomodate the number of fans required to overcome the sanctioning fees for a WoO show. That is why Calistoga dropped them. USAC does a good job there, but they rent the facility and do all of the promotion themselves.

Are we having fun yet?

If they will give me my candy, I will go every week. I'm tired of the same old stuff.

It sounds good to say "don't let this happen to your racetrack", but it isn't reality. In the case of OKC, there was nothing the local racers or fans could have done. The truth is that when the "powers that be" decide it's time for a track to be gone, it'll be gone. The only way of changing anything is to elect racing people into positions where they can have a say. When the local mayor or city councilman is a racer or a friend of racing, then maybe our sport will have a better say about what happens to some of these facilities. When these decisions are made by people who care nothing about racing, then you have a situation like OKC.

If there is /was a track with both a 1/4 mile & a 1/2 mile track at the same facility, I don't know of it.

You named one in your own post... Manzy had both, one inside the other, with both track's using the same front chute for the most part.

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

Rapids Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa. At one time this facility was a half miler and a 3/8 was built in the infield that shared the front straightaway. Now only the 3/8 remains.

Looking over from the pits at a Grandstand that seated at least 7500-8000 people & seeing MAYBE 500-1000 folks Friday night after Friday night the last seasons made the decision by the posers-that-be easier too.

Just not enough people getting OUT & doing something like goin to the racetrack.

Speaking of Calistoga Speedway. How is it that the AMA Grand National held there a couple weeks ago can draw a overflow crowd packed grandstands including standing room only, fans standing in the infield area all along the back stretch and below the grandstands all along the front stretch.. Tickets were not cheap 50 and 60 dollars grandstands, 30 bucks for standing room only, so ticket prices did not seem to play a part for fans. I do realize that you can't have that type of standing room for auto races though because of the danger, still i been going to car races at Calistoga off and on since the 60's and i don't ever recall seeing near that large of a crowd for car races the only time i have ever gone to Calistoga and could not buy a ticket for the main grandstand was in the 60's when Vermeil was running the show and NARC did not use wings at Stoga..