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

What was Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Mn is now Jackson Motorplex as many of you know. It was a half mile track up until just a few years ago and now I believe it's just shy of or right at 4/10's. Might not seem like much, but when you see the amount of racing area that is now outside of turns three an four, its unreal how much smaller it is. AND, how much easier it is on engines. The banking is at eight degrees all four corners if I'm not mistakem. Same as the half mile at Knoxville. The track is pretty much walled in  except for the front stretch and turn one. 

The diehards have a hard time letting go of tradition....the half mile kind. But the shorter tracks is where it's at. Ohio is dotted with short tracks. Just plain racing facilities with no fancy frills, but they draw 410 sprint cars. And it's not just the track size that's doing it. Formats like what the All Stars are using is far better night in and night out than what the WoO offer (imho). PA can still go forward faster than most areas with a short track resergance but it takes keadership. It is time to reconfigure Williams Grove. That is still the center piece of PA and it should be returned to it's former glory in a new way. It's the only way to keep youth in the stands.

I've said for awhile now that Williams Grove should be reconfigured. It's current configuration just isn't a good match for the Sprint Cars of today. A 4/10 or 3/8 mile Williams Grove would be much more successful IMO. Leave turns 3 and 4 as is to keep Beerhill intact, and bring 1 and 2 in. You would need to rebuild the tunnel, and you could move the pits outside to where existing turn 1 and 2 is. Better viewing for fans, easier on equipement, and better racing overall. Selinsgrove is in the same boat, and could greatly benefit from being smaller. Port is about the only track in Central PA that I would keep at 1/2 mi. 

I've been saying the same thing for years but it will never happen.

    Does weather/climate make a big difference too? Right now I'm in the middle of a blizzard on the upper plains, reading about races from Pennsylvania where the season seems to start around Groundhog's day. Does Ohio get an extended season like that?

Interesting suggestions, but I also doubt if there will be any change under current management. They seem set in their ways

I don't know enough about it to offer my opinions on the right or wrong of your ideas

Basic season starts towards the end of March and goes to about Labor Day for Attica or through the end of September/Beginning of October for Fremont, Wayne County, Atomic. Friday tracks tend to close because of HIgh School Football. Eldora use to have a couple races in October but it looks like its ending after September.  

Weather is really unpredictable. 3 years ago I was playing Golf in Febuary with no coat, but the past 2 years have been wet. Temperature wise it is up and down to in March. One day is 20 the next is 50 and recently it is nice and sunny Mon-Thur, rain Fri & Sat, 50/50 on Sunday.

I wish the season started earlier with some of the start times moved up like Waynesfield this past Sunday. Had 410 & 360 sprints that started at 5pm and ended around 7pm. Also wish more tracks would run more into October but some people here don't like sitting in "colder" weather for a race. Football game absolutely no problem, race track oh well 40degree temps are too cold.

My thoughts exactly! Port has a lot going for it right now so keep that as our big, fast, wind-em-out motor track. WG and Selinsgrove need to get with the times and shorten up.

Since Selinsgrove already has the pits outside, there's a whole lot of empty space between 1-2 that used to be the stock car pits. It wouldn't be too difficult to move those rails in and shorten up the track. 16 360's(358's are allowed to run also) for opening night should be a wake up call. ESS won't schedule there anymore because those guys don't care for the big track, only 1 PST race this year(probably same reason) and the URC guys only run there when it's a points show even though the weekly purse is the same as URC. 

I was asking why Selinsgrove doesn't schedule the new(last year) USAC-East Coast 360 series and was told that the promoter is afraid to have wingless sprints in fear of someone getting hurt. Hello! That should tell you something. Pat, I'd like to buy a clue please! IMO Selinsgrove is on life support right now and won't be a track much longer in it's 1/2 mile(plus) configuration. If it wasn't for Heffner and Leiby taking over the lease the place would probably be dark already.

A

Late Model and 305 car counts in PA have been steady and always will be.    410's are the division everyone is worried about.    Yeah there were 30 410's at Port Royal.    14 of those were All-Star cars.   Meaning that's only 16 local 410's.   So don't even tell me the car count was awesome.   All-Stars at Port usually draw 45 cars.    Next week when Dietrich, Haas, Macri, Dewease, Kendall, and Lil Freddie are back at Lincoln running for $7,000 to win, Port Royal may only get 16 or 17 410s tops.   Lincoln didn't have a full field either this week.    22 410's.     How many guys really aren't out racing yet be honest?     Lincoln may get Matt Campbell, Dwayne Gutshall, Tim Wagaman, and a few others later in the season.   There's a couple 358 teams that will dabble into some 410 racing later this season (Troy Wagaman, Dylan Norris, Hammaker), but how many teams are really sitting at home that are going to be racing a full season here shortly?  Not very many.    Some of it is due to losing teams to travelling series as well, which affects car counts severely.    We lost Brent Marks, Jacob Allen, and Logan Schuchart to the Outlaws.    We lost Tyler Esh, Gerard McIntyre, and Brock Zearfoss to the All-Stars.   Trey Starks is out running Knoxville this entire season too.    Running big half miles like Williams Grove, Port Royal, Selinsgrove, Bedford, Hagerstown, etc.   Doesn't help either.     Like Ohio running much smaller tracks with less wear and tear.  

Port had quite a few cars that were not out last weekend either (Kyle Smith, Justin Whittal, Carl Bowser, Rick Lafferty). There are quite a few guys who don't bother running against the big touring series. Tyler Walton has been running 358s but is planning to run 410s this season as well. Over the off season there was a lot of talk about Alex Bright in a 410 but have not seen him out yet. Both tracks will be fine, things look a lot better this season than they did last season IMO. Lots of guys have moved up. I predict 30 cars at Lincoln and 20 cars at Port this week.  

True.    I think both tracks will get a full field around June.    Just hope some of the lower budget teams can keep cars together.    Hated to see Joe Kata, Cole Young, and TJ Dehaven all destroy cars the last 2 weeks at Lincoln this early in the season.   

But like you said, we are in just as good of shape as last season with a bunch of new teams emerging.   Hopefully we will see some more suprises or guys moving up later in the season too.   

I feel like Ohio and California along with Pennsylvania are hotbeds for sprint car racing due to the fact that they have such talented local drivers and good quality 360 and 410 local series! 

In California we also mostly have bullring tracks. For 360 series there are SCCT, Civil War, and the new King of Thunder, along with local 360 shows. For 410s just the King of the West- Narc series. The World of Outlaws also visit CA during the spring and fall! 

Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the 
West series schedule! 

Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting 
racecars on dirt! 

i know what  they  dont have........and thats  water trucks 

Granite City, Il was a 1/2 mile some years back and when they first said they were going to reconfigure, I was totally against it... but in the end, it was absolutely the right call.  They've got a sweet racy 3/8 now with good banking.  (just need more sprint shows