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

From the Eldora website:

A LETTER FROM TONY STEWART

To our loyal fans,

There are many of you, fans and competitors alike, who are upset with our handling of last weekend’s Coca-Cola Spring Classic USAC/UMP DIRTcar Modifieds event. Quite frankly, you should be, for our track surface wasn’t up to our own high standards and our communication regarding the challenges we faced was also lacking to the fans that made the trip to our facility.

First and foremost, on behalf of Eldora Speedway, I apologize for the track conditions and our overall handling of the situation. It was unacceptable and a situation we are extremely regretful of. However, I can promise you that we will do everything possible to make it right and hopefully regain the confidence of our participants and fans.

Immediately following Friday night’s cancellation, equipment was on the track. By mid-morning on Saturday, the track was being groomed into racing condition – only to fall victim to heavy afternoon showers and yet another cancellation.

Our efforts to get the track into proper racing condition have been ongoing all week and will continue until it is exactly where it needs to be. We’re confident our work will be successful, and once we are ready, we will host an open practice session to any and all competitors at no charge. The grandstands will be open to the public as well. We have rain in the forecast the next couple of days, so we’ll announce the practice day and time as soon as we are able to evaluate the timing of the track preparation.

We’d also like to remind all of our ticketholders to last weekend’s Coca-Cola Spring Classic that their ticket value can be applied to any future event at Eldora Speedway with available seating. The Friday leg of the Coca-Cola Spring Classic featuring the USAC Sprint Car Series and the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds will also be re-scheduled for a TBA date.

Please accept our sincerest apology for last weekend’s unfortunate outcome. While some other racetracks were able to overcome pre-season weather woes, our track surface proved especially challenging due to the adverse weather combined with the minimal time we had to bond the new clay we added to the racing surface in the off-season.

Even with ideal weather conditions on Friday, it wasn’t enough to help us get the track in racing shape. And in our eagerness to put on a show for the drivers, USAC and the fans, we pushed the envelope. We thought we could get it right in time, but in hindsight, we should have canceled before the event and not put our fans, sanctioning bodies and drivers in the situation we did.

This is not an indication of what our track will be like this year or how we represent ourselves to our constituents. We foresee an excellent racing surface with the kind of top-notch competition our fans and drivers have come to expect and deserve of Eldora Speedway.

Sincerely,

Is the Eldora website the only place that this letter was posted, or made public?

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

It was posted on Facebook by TSR as well.

Tony didn't write that letter.

It ain't got no "f" or "s" words in it!

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

In spite of all the "I hate Eldora and I'm never going back posts" I'm very excited about attending Kings Royals this year. I'm sure T.S. has fixed whatever the problem was with the track prep.

So to all of you haters out there... Thanks for opening up your seat. Maybe I wont have to sit to some grouchy a$$hole now.

Member of this message board since 1997

I could not agree with you more. The Kings Royal is the highlight of my summer. The only complaint I ever have when I come home is from dealing with all the drunks and people in front of or beside me that get up a hundred times during the race.

I can't say I dont enjoy a beer or ten and get up a few times during the race, however, I plan ahead and reserve a top row seat near the isle.

I have been to Eldora 10 times since 2002 and have never left unhappy. The track has always been decend to say the least. I guess its all how you look at. Eldora for me a vacation from all the day to day BS. If I'm outside, relaxing with a cold beverage and not thinking about work then it doesnt get any better than that. If you add to the fact that we're at Eldora, it just makes it that much sweeter.

Hawker, I will gladly guinea pig for you or anyone who wants to know if the BIG E can get their act together this year. I will be top row in turn one for the Kings Royal weekend.

My seat will be open. Nothing personal. Twenty years from now I hope the person filling that seat has as many wonderful memories, as I do, of great sprint car racing at Eldora Speedway.

There's nothing like a good sprint car race at Eldora, but there's also some other very good tracks in the area where sprint car racing is their priority. A track which will have sprints almost ever weekend along with other support classes which I also enjoy. Sure Eldora will have some sprints sometimes along with a little of this, some of that, and other stuff.

Gotta go, the allstars are coming to a track near you.

great post.....i was there that afternoon and the sky was not looking that bad. they called the race at about 3 pm and said inclement weather was the reason. what i say was blue skies with some patchy clouds and that was it.

bad call all around imo...

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

Hey BHG, do you have one of them Farmville Farms on your Facebook?... :~/

Opinions may vary...

Almost forgot..........I forgive you Tony...!

Opinions may vary...

I also forgive you Tony! Wait I think I see Tony driving by, I'll be right back....... Darn, it wasn't Tony, but if it was maybe he would have given me an autograph.

Get real, an apology was the correct thing to do, didn't have to do it, but appropriate and probably as much, if not more, for the racers, than the fans. For those of us which were there the weekend was a disaster in many aspects.

Everybody deserves a mulligan and I wish Tony and Eldora the best of luck and weather conditions (can't be too hot, or too cold, or too wet or too dry etc.) I'll remember Haud charging thru the field on the high side, making daring pass after pass to an A main victory. Then spending the night thru a terrible down pour wake up Saturday morning wondering if Saturday races would be cancelled only to see Earl on the track in his tractor at 8am and I'd know that if it was possible to run the Saturday races Earl would get it done.

i haven't gotten involved in this subject until now. because i didn't have a dog in this fight but, it seems to me from what people are posting is that the apology is for saturday not friday.

i'm not an expert on track prep but, what i do know it is a week long deal. you rip it and water it. then disk it water it and so on through the week and it should be ready by the weekend.

The apology is for Friday's races. 1st line in Tony's note includes Modified's. Modifieds were Friday night, Stocks were to be on Saturday.

Dear Tony, Thank you so much for the letter of appology bla-bla-bla. Now that we got that out of the way, Fire every suck-nosed mule who works there and start interviewing for a track crew who knows how to work a track. Make sure they know what happened to the last bunch and inform them that the rocking chair has been taken off the porch! Good Luck.

Larry

PLANT SOME BEANS AND CORN

This is finally the straw that broke the camel's back. The racing surface at Eldora has been in steady decline from Mopar Million of a few year's back. You have what amounts to a busy absentee owner, a management team whose roots are in asphalt, and a schedule which is more and more geared to stock cars, tractor pulls, etc. with less and less emphasis on sprint cars. I have been going to Eldora for nearly 5 decades. The competitive side of the racing has also declined based upon the surface and the technological "progress" in cars and tires. As others have stated a race at Eldora in the 60's, 70's, and 80's and early 90's was truly an experience not to be missed. I turned many of a rookie fan on to racing by first taking them to Eldora, but now that would seem to have the opposite effect given the dust, lack of passing and general mismanagement of the event. You could actually go to s sprint car show, not a half-assed hybrid with other classes of cars!