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

St. Francois County Raceway is a driver's track.  Pure horsepower will not make you a winner at this track like it can at "cookie cutter" tracks.  Some drivers have been able to adjust to the track and win on their first visit, such as Shane Golobic, Ian Madsen, Shane Stewart, and Brad Doty.  Other drivers who have won with only a limited number of races at the track include Tim Crawley, Hunter Schuerenberg, Parker Price-Miller, Kelly Kinser, Danny Lasoski, and Danny Smith.  Bryan Clauson and Paul McMahan had second places finishes in their first visit to Farmington.  Winning does not come EASYE at this track.

98 was the first year I worked Dbq,  when Al took over from the fairboard.     The rumor that Roger Simon has/was/did, purchase Farley has been around since the mid 90s.   None of the rumors back then included it remaining a race track.   

The two other business partners in FSP are LM drivers Jason Rauen and Joel Callahan.   As soon as it was announced at the beginning on 2017,  I had several people tell me that it was only a matter of time before they bulldoze the place and put up apartment buildings.    (keep in mind,  I now live 900 miles away in Colorado)   To be fair though,   excluding Al Freiden's time at Farley,  it has always been tough to make a go there.....it opened and closed twice in the early 80s before Al purchased and fixed up the place.  

I too have lost interest in LMs.   For one, these "rear steer" setups that tuck that LR under the bodywork is just plain silly.   It also seems like even though they LOOK like they are sliding around the corner,  in reality they are more like an asphalt car w/o much slide.  Second,  it is such a hassle to see "good" racing that I usually have to take a vacation day off of work and stay in a hotel.   In order to maximize my entertainment,  I usually seek out non-wing sprints or WoO/Knoxville/ASCS type shows. 

Actually they have a lot of banking in the corners (track's nickname was once the High Banks) however it has become a single file track even for the modifieds quite often.  I blame the aerodynamics of the new bodies.  The cars stick to the track too well now.  I've only been there 4-5 times but the locals used to kill the invaders there because they drove the track differently.  Invaders would try to take a low or high line around the track, but locals would drive up the banking and back down it (diamond the corners).  Now the cars stick so well, they don't need to do it anymore.

Another paperclip, and a fast one at that.   Lancaster, SC.

I'm sorry I bad-mouthed your home track that your been going to every Saturday nite since 1982 sitting fourth row up in turn four right next to the railing next to so-and -so and so-and- so. It is not a drivers track very little about being a good driver is the cause of sucess there have you every been anywhere else or afraid someone else will sit in your spot not trying to be a jerk bit I can line drivers up a country mile long that will tell you it sucks royaly

I've seen alot of laps at both of those places and you're underselling both lol. The only shape I can think of to accurately describe Shady Bowl is a pringles chip. The elevation changes are somthing to see with the fast cars. Saw 305's run there years ago and you would swear they were taking air going downhill into 3. Last I knew the Must See Sprints 410s ran there years ago and there was some fancam footage on YouTube.  A local driver once told me that Kil Kare was a fun but tricky track to navigate. He said " One and two are easy, its turns three through eight that get ya." 

There is a track in Fountain City, WI, that used to be a trioval.  If you go to historic aireals and search for the most recent map of Fountain City you'll see an oval track.  Change the year to 1992, stay in the same search area and you can see it in it's original trioval configuration.  There are closer tracks so I never attended a race there but they tell me that the stands were located near one of the turns and you could see the cars coming at you from the stands.  The track was reconfigured as an oval and is now called "Mississippi Thunder".

Stan Meissner

141 Speedway in Francis Creek actually races extremely well.  Here's an old highlight of IRA Sprints.

facebook.com/speedshifttv/videos/708467252555466/

And here's a newer highlight of Stock Cars.

facebook.com/speedshifttv/videos/1835603226508524/

Ok, I drove on dirt for 30 years all throughout the midwest.  I can't even imagine driving on this track.  Without question the oddest shape I've seen, and there's some pretty good ones in this thread.  (as info - I was able to pull it up on Google Maps, typed in Gympie Speedway)

Got it. I just realized that I said "there" when I shoud have typed "El Paso"

So what's a "trioval"????

That thing's crazy! You have to take a slight right turn.... I think a "normal" sprint car would flip doing that at speed

What do they race there?

A triangle, litterally with three distinct turns and straights.  Outside of Gympie it likely was one of the most unusual configurations mentioned in this thread.  Here is a historic airial of the old trioval configuration, it sat idle for some time and was reconfigured as a 3/8 mile oval and reopened.  I never went to a race there in it's former or current oval configuration but I heard stories.  They ran Sprint specials a few times and friends tell me you could sit in the stands and watch the cars coming at you.

Stan Meissner