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

WTF Kinda fence do they have at the ditch? Is that chicken wire or what?!

Looks like Hog wire to me. 

The older I get the faster I was

I'm a HL homer to be sure but....not so sure that fence was safe. i'm hoping they have a safer fence on the front stretch. I have been at tracks with plywood fences in the corners and I understand that's reality and not every track can afford fancy super safe fences, but the fences seem to be a big deal tonight. Cars crashing through the fence and cars ripping down the fence just didn't make it seem like it was that safe of a place? I'm not sure if I'd wanna be working on a sprint car in the pits if I thought there was a strong possibility of a car crashing through the fence and bouncing out and smashing me while I was working on the car?

pretty bad  and I saw no cables, how does insurance allow it

The fence looked like it was made out of standard hog wire attached to chain link fence posts and rail. That should be sufficient to catch anything but the biggest riding lawn mower in a crash. 

A Dixie Chopper set on kill is a formidable beast.

That chicken hog wire track was embarassing, come on HL, get your sh%t together

my nephew was there at the Ditch HL race, he said it's basically hog wire fencing, and it gets torn down so often that they have a fence company on site every race night, I've seen post on facebook that a car went through and ended up in the pit grandstands a couple years ago there, the owner of Riverside should make a trek up to northwest Arkansas and visit the new Arrowhead Speedway and check out their fencing. 
 

my nephew tells me there is a dirt track west of Conway Arkansas that has worse fencing than Riverside, he believes full size sprints have never ran there, yet they are gonna have an ASCS National tour race there in June, he said he is shocked and dumbfounded that the new owners of ASCS series WRG would allow them to hold a sprint car race there at that track, the track is called Two Dollar Pistols Speedway or something like that.

They race weekly at the Ditch, and the Outlaws have been there with the same exact fence. To your point, the fence sucks, but don't blame HL, FFS. 

Could say the same thing about Outlaws going to Beaver Dam with no fence down the backstretch (at the time) and that big ass pole there for someone to drive in to under the right circumstances, or the fact that they decided to put midgets on Belleville at all, ever..

We all know this crap doesn't get fixed unless something terrible happens, for the most part. 

No blame the track and there insurance carrier. Crazy

They'll put up a better fence after it kills somebody.   Unfortunately that's just the way it works

A fence with some give to it is not a bad idea however one that goes down with a stiff breeze is not the best idea. The fence company is probably happy to keep fixing it. $$$ Insurance companies only get concerned if there are big claims. Tough call to upgrade most likely. Maybe someone should start a go fund me?

The current owner switched the place over to that type of fencing when he took over in 2007.   I believe the idea was being able to "quick change" sections of it.   I would never sit on the front rows of that place though.    

That's a bummer because the track itself looked pretty racy. Reminds me of some of the bullrings here in CA

Wonder what the "safety committee" is up to these days?

Arrowhead Speedway is in Oklahoma, near West Siloum Springs, Ok.  First class facility

The Arrowhead Speedway is an awesome facility.  I went to the Woo show there.  I think with some time the track will be a very racey place as well.  I also went to the HL show at riverside.  The track can be very racey but I agree the fence is inadequate.  Just remember though while the thought process now days is to bash the offending series for going there (HL), flip you calender to the end of October and you will see the Woo is going there for a 2 night show also.  With all of the bashing that goes on, I was just excited to be able to be at 8 races both HL and Woo within a 6 hour drive.  I live in what used to be 360 country.  Since i-30 shut down we have very little sprint car racing other than riverside occasionally. Sometimes instead of bashing a place or a series, think about the people that actually got to go and experience it.  Did arrowhead rubber up, yes.  I still had a great time.  Did riverside take a little time to get run in and have fence repairs, yes, but i still had a great time.  I think in this day and age of everybody getting upset about every little thing, take the time to just take it is as a group of awesome drivers driving awesome cars.  You never know when the last race you went to was the last race you will go to.

I remember much more dangerous fences, tracks and cars in the 1970's.  So everything seems to be much safer now than they were not that long ago. It isn't like tracks or race teams put in insurance claims for much of anything. People drive their vehicles to fast on the highways we have that were not designed for going 10 over the limit.

The way I look at it put up a good fence like they have at Knoxville, Husets and Eldora for example and don't tempt fate.  There were junk fences and no fences years ago but I'd like to think we've moved past that.  

Stan Meissner

Sounds like the Woo is asking for changes before their race there later this year.

I don't have a stake in the West Memphis fence situation but I just stepped out of the porta John a minute before this happened.  

https://youtu.be/V2bmoo5eVyU?si=39nAB0-YgzPrak2F

Stan Meissner