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

Anyoine heard if they are opening?

They are never early in posting a schedule.

The track is owned by the fair board and leases the track to the promoters. The current promoter is unable to continue with it. The last I heard a member of the fair board is planning to run it untill a new promoter steps up. That was the last thing I heard about it and that was a month or two ago.....

For the past few year... with very little marketing and running shows needlessly too late, always thought their crowds were very good.

Lots of potential here

I agree.  With the right promoter who realizes that sprint cars are, and always have been, the biggest draw for the track, it could be a gold mine.  The last promoter added unrelated classes and wasted a lot of time on nonracing activities on race nights.   

The track has been in steady decline over the past few years. No big paying races, dwidling car counts, and a promoter not putting back into the track what it needed has been the decline. The facility has really been hurting as well. It needs new updated grandstands, new paint, and just the basic TLC. Hope someone can come forth and turn it around.

Proudly supports:

Logan Seavey, Brent Marks and "Big Sexy" Brandon Overton

So if the facilities are declining but the promoter doesn't own the facility, shouldn't the owners be putting some money into it instead of the promoter?  I don't have a dog in this discussion as I don't live near MO, but it's something that doesn't make sense to me regarding facilities that are owned by different people/entities than who actually promotes the races.  What incentive would a promoter have to invest in a facility that can be pulled out from under them at any point?  That's just the same as handing money over to the facility owner.  Probably a factor in not being able to get someone to come in and promote.

Signature here.

I think there's 12 tracks that race 410s weekly in the US, 8 or so are in Ohio and Pa. 

Would be cool if this track could stick around and succeed.

My personal two cents - I don't think the facilities themselves are in that bad of shape, really at all.  And I also agree that its not the promoters job to pay for those improvements, if they were needed.  The sprint car count has stayed around 20, not bad.  I do agree that they could have done a few big shows.  The promoter tried to do special shows paying more money, but these days you've got to join up with MOWA, All Stars, even ASCS.  And if J'ville can get the Outlaws, Farmington could too.

Run a clean show, get the fans who traveled 100 miles or more to see winged sprint cars out in decent time, run their feature first.  Anyway, hope that promoter comes alonge

Agree with you. No dog in the fight but if the promoter is leasing the facility it doesn't make much sense to put their profit/spend money into the place. That's like spending your own money to put a new kitchen area in an apartment you're leasing. Like you I'm not sure of the actual conditions but it probably is hard to make money if the facilities are not good.

Others have said that they are fine & it might be just a factor of program efficiency again. More & more that is becoming the common thing as to why people don't go to certain places. Seems like fans are over the 5+ classes with 4 of them being junk backgate money fillers. Some promoters think they are going to make money on some of these classes because they may have the most cars & take less purse money. Reality is that I think people are tired of spending money to watch bubba & Billy Bob race their hornet/compact or b-mod over seeing a good field of Sprint cars or late models

Facility isn't that bad. The promoter was doing pretty decent couldnt continue for personal reasons is what I'm hearing

This would be a big loss to the area if you are a 410 winged sprint car fan. There is no other option for weekly sprints that is close enough to drive and watch every weekend. For me it would mean 7-8 hour round trip drive to see 360s run. As well there is roughly 15-20 cars that are truly local cars that have been faithful to the track for many years. They will be left with no where to run weekly. As well I doubt those cars are going to pull to central Illinois to run with MOWA.  There is really no track close enough that can afford to add a weekly sprint class as they all run late models now. Losing deal for all. With that said I’d love to see 410s weekly at Pevely. 

What's great about Farmington as a 410 track is that its size and layout don't require a big motor and isn't hard on motors unlike some other places.  A 360 can run there and on the right track conditions night, be very competitive. 

Sure hope a good promoter steps up

Is that really all there is? I knew OH and PA was a 410 "hot bed" but still surprising if true.

That would be correct.  Here are the 12 tracks (8 are either OH or PA) I would consider weekly...

• Atomic,OH
• Attica,OH
• Butler,MI
• Fremont,OH
• Knoxville,IA
• Lernerville,PA
• Lincoln,PA
• Port Royal,PA
• River Cities,ND
• St Francois,MO
• Wayne County,OH
• Williams Grove,PA

Other tracks that run them, but I would not consider them weekly...

• Sharon,OH - had 6 unsanctioned shows, and 3 sanctioned shows in 2019, tenative 2020 schedule shows the same
• BAPS,PA - had 5 unsanctioned shows, and 1 sanctioned show in 2019, 2020 schedule shows the same
• Jacksonville,IL - runs many MOWA shows
• Pittsburgh,PA - runs 3 a year
• Tri-City,PA - rumored to open this year, no schedule yet, so don't know how many 410 shows will be run (last ran 3 each in 2017 and 2018)

You can see a breakdown of 410 races per track at this page...
2019 races per track

Bill
SprintCarRatings.com

Thanks. appreciate the info.

I'm hearing that the promoter before last is going to take it but it may be a month or two late to open due to some plumbing problems from freezing

Looks like you left out wingless cars, right?

How bout them?

I agree about the facilities. I was there once, on one of my cross country migrations, facilities were fine IMHO, but i'm not looking for "The Ritz". its a dirt track! Its all about the RACING

Next day, rather than go up to St. Louis to cross the river & then drive back down to Belleville for POWRi midgets, I took the little ferry (St Genevieve?) across... fun trip!

Night between I stayed about 1/ 2 hr. west of Farmington in the Ozarks, explored a bit (Elephant Rock).... interesting part of the country & I hope they can keep the track alive!

Bill has them on his website:

MyWebsite