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

Wearing my gravel shirt tonight!    We will see!!!i

Nice work Rockford and WOO!   Don't like seeing the 15 win but it was not a given and was one hell of a finish!

What a piece of shit track......   Every shock, torsion bar, driveline, rearend, motor plate has to be junk...... 

Wow...huge crowd, fantastic finish - great success for the WoO and all the home Sears/Craftsman folks 

I enjoyed the show! But mainly because I wasn't a driver, or someone having to pay/replace everything on most of those cars. Man was it rough. A couple guys brought the saddles out last night (insert bull and bronco emojis here). They tore up all the way down to the pavement in turn 4. Walked down there to check it out after. There was a patch about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide where the pavement was showing. The real unforunate thing was that if it hadn't gotten so rough, I think the racing would have been FANTASTIC. The midgets put on a good show, and they too (Or national midgets) would have put on an even better show if it were smoother. I noticed when walking the track that there was A LOT of tack left in the surface. Rockford Speedway being dirt would be something to see (I actually kept forgetting that I was at Rockford Speedway last night). But they pull a lot of cars and money in during their short track nationals. We actually had about 12 seats in front of us open for the whole night. So they didn't sell out. Will be really interesting to see how the late models look tonight. Real estate is going to be at a premium tonight for them

Real race cars don't have fenders...

I can give them a pass for the rough track, but not being prepared with a wrecker, one did show later, tried to use a bobcat with forks to move Mcmann's car, SLOW response to stalled cars, seems like no one knew that these cars as the stalled car(s) would sit there lap after lap, adding more time to the program.

For a track that as been open for so long, you would think the would have been better prepared with the support team.

I two hope they try it again and will be alittle more prepared. Maybe they should do what Berlin did, they ran a local show the week before the Outlaws to get the bugs workd out.

I agree with this. The track may have been so rough due to the amount of water in it. It was super heavy and sticky even after the feature. I feel like it was just too wet, and softer in some spots more than others, which caused a lot of the roughness. I have no idea how to prepare it so that isnt so rough, as I dont have track prep experience like that (or at all for that matter). But I can say that if it were smoother, they would have broke the all time track record, and the racing would have been fantastic. I think there would have been two different lines, and I think some guys may have went up and tried the top side had the track been more consistant. Hoping they try it again and learn from this experience. P.S. watching sprint car and midget racing on a Wednesday night was pretty nice for once

Real race cars don't have fenders...

I too kept forgetting where I was at because the place looked like it should be a dirt track!!  I have watched a lot of pavement races there in the past and last night was by far the most fun to watch.  It was rough but it was actually exactly as I thought it would be.  I've been to other tracks that have had rough surfaces for no reason, so at least they had a reason for the roughness in this case.  There was some passing going on in the field for both features and the track, as rough as it was, never went away as you say.  I thought they were nuts for not dumping water on it before hot laps but boy was it deceiving.  Didn't need a drop! 

Had Gravel been able to chase Schatz down and make the pass, it would have been  the icing on the cake!

Elko was rough for a couple years until they figured out how to prepare the tract.  They didn't bring the WoO in there until they had a handle on it.  I watched the clip and Rockford was a cowboy elbows up deal for sure.  I'll bet it's better tonight.  Elko owner also owns the excavating company that put the dirt down and the labor costs did that deal in.  Will they stick with it at Rockford?  Event sponsors can assure that, prep will get better if they stick with it.

Stan Meissner

Just realized it's not a two day show for Springs.  Day 2 next year?  It will come down to counting the profits.  ??

Stan Meissner

Bored of smooth tracks. I thought it was perfect. If they wanted it nice and smooth and wimpy they would have not bothered covering it with dirt!

Wednesday night's track was like a cakewalk compared to last night.  They were launching those late models like you wouldn't believe.

I would tend to believe after viewing the features on Dirtvision that the WOO will not return to Rockford for anymore shows. A total piece of shit surface which will lead to replacing many, many suspension parts way before their time is due.

Impossible to race on & conditions that are not condusive to the sprint cars nowadays with the wide tires & wheels. Back in the day of narrow tires & wheels the track conditions at Rockford were comparable to that of the now defunct Penn National Speedway where cars would launch through the turns & become 1-2 feet off the surface. Trouble was a 1/2 mile lead to much more speed & many a harder crash. Ask Roger Rager about 2 he took there in a 3 week period.. Not pretty.

I wouldnt be surprised if they are not there next year, provided they dont damage the track removing the dirt. Being that Tom Deery the president of WRG , his family owns Rockford Speedway . Its possible this was a trial run and they will convert it to a full time dirt track. I thought they did their best providing a good surface working up the corners when they could. I dont know how much experience the track crew had.

I thought it was a beautiful sight looking out and seeing that place as a dirt track.  Could it have been an audition?  Possibly--only time will tell.  My opinion?  Rip that asphalt up and start bringing in the clay!!!  Perfect crossroads location for teams travelling back and forth from the East to the upper midwest.  Could have some nice shows there.  Hell, even an IRA/MOWA show would draw big car numbers! 

Only problem is, I don't know how many fans they are drawing at the current time with the paved surface.  Obviously, if it ain't broke it won't be fixed.  If they are struggling with fan count, who knows? 

Much rather have a new facility in Freeport

With that being said about the owners of the speedway I feel that would be the only reason to have them back. Every team if questioned after the feature at Craterville Speedway would tell you it was not a race at all, merely a battle of survival & many $$$ spent for turn over of parts to be replaced & the next few nights of racing what the team will lose $$$ after breaking down more than likely from wear & tear from the Cowboy Classic that masqueraded as a 4 wheel rodeo on Wednesday night.

Rant over!!!!!

It's really a shame that the track conditions were so shitty because atmosphere at the track was awesome.  Never seen a track with so many different food options and the beer was plentiful.