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

This past weekend both IRA 410 events I attended did not finish because of local curfews.  I understand curfews. One was at Plymouth Dirt Race Track and the other at Angel Park in Sun Prairie.

I do not understand why the track operators and promoters make this mistake. They both blamed each other. The losers were the fan and also the racers. Track and promoters still got all the money!   I would rather leave for home earlier in the evening than leave at curfew with an unfinished event. Now if it is a filler race that isn't as bad as when one of the features does not run.

At Plymouth no 360 Sprint Car feature race and they started the 410 Feature at Angel Park but did not get in enough laps to even call a winner. As we walked to the truck I heard plenty of bitching from unhappy people that were all paying customers.

Events like this will help fans to stay home and stream the events. Tracks will suffer as will the promoters.

I would be happy to have them start earlier. I'd likely eat and drink more too then.

Imagine going to a football game where they did not play the fourth quarter . . . . . .

This past weekend both IRA 410 events I attended did not finish because of local curfews.  I understand curfews. One was at Plymouth Dirt Race Track and the other at Angel Park in Sun Prairie.

I do not understand why the track operators and promoters make this mistake. They both blamed each other. The losers were the fan and also the racers. Track and promoters still got all the money!   I would rather leave for home earlier in the evening than leave at curfew with an unfinished event. Now if it is a filler race that isn't as bad as when one of the features does not run.

At Plymouth no 360 Sprint Car feature race and they started the 410 Feature at Angel Park but did not get in enough laps to even call a winner. As we walked to the truck I heard plenty of bitching from unhappy people that were all paying customers.

Events like this will help fans to stay home and stream the events. Tracks will suffer as will the promoters.

I would be happy to have them start earlier. I'd likely eat and drink more too then.

Imagine going to a football game where they did not play the fourth quarter . . . . . .

I'm curious what happens when a race is cut short due to curfew. Is a winner declared? Do the finish the race next week? 

What were the biggest factors?   Late starting time?   Too long cleaning up cautions?   Long down time between races?   Too many classes?  

This past weekend both IRA 410 events I attended did not finish because of local curfews.  I understand curfews. One was at Plymouth Dirt Race Track and the other at Angel Park in Sun Prairie.

I do not understand why the track operators and promoters make this mistake. They both blamed each other. The losers were the fan and also the racers. Track and promoters still got all the money!   I would rather leave for home earlier in the evening than leave at curfew with an unfinished event. Now if it is a filler race that isn't as bad as when one of the features does not run.

At Plymouth no 360 Sprint Car feature race and they started the 410 Feature at Angel Park but did not get in enough laps to even call a winner. As we walked to the truck I heard plenty of bitching from unhappy people that were all paying customers.

Events like this will help fans to stay home and stream the events. Tracks will suffer as will the promoters.

I would be happy to have them start earlier. I'd likely eat and drink more too then.

Imagine going to a football game where they did not play the fourth quarter . . . . . .

If more than half of the feature laps are completed, then the race is considered complete, otherwise it is deemed an incomplete feature and all starting cars will get equal pay/points

I was at both races as well and I was not happy either, BUT, there were situations beyond any clubs control. At Plymouth, they dumped waaay too much water on the track.  This left it a quagmire and they had to skim a bunch ofit off to even get cars on the track.  This set them back about an hour, hour and a half.  With the spring we had, the ground water table is still high and the track just proved to be an elbows up, tacky, rutty mess.  This caused many wrecks and in the wingLESS A, there was a 7 car pile up with cars on top of each other.  As you can imagine, it took quite awhile to sort that out.  This all led to a longer than normal show that resulted in the curfew being implemented.   At Angell Park, thetrack was elbows up but nowhere near as wet as Plymouth.  The main issue at AP was the decision to run the Legends A main first.  A very ridiculous move, when the IRA were the main draw along with the Badger Midgets.  The Legend A ran for over 45 minutes and they only completed 7, yes, 7 laps until they called it.  Badger ran their A and it was fantastic with only a few stoppages.  Great race.  The IRA came onto the track and lined up as the HARD 10PM curfew was approaching.  They can finish a race if it starts before 10, but any yellows after 10 and the night is done.  That is what happened.  It was not the IRA's fault, nor Badger Midgets, as far as I know.  It was someone's decision to run the support group, Legends FIRST.  All in all, it was a decent race weekend.

That is what happened Saturday night.  The 360's were awarded equal points and pay and I am sure the same for the IRA guys on Sunday night.

If you're concerned about the points race, awarding everyone the same points only helps the guys in the lead. The guys at the back haven't gained anything and now have less races to do it. So the points needed per event to gain positions increases. I also doubt that Racers show up hoping to save fuel and wear and tear on the race car when they sign in.

Okay. But that's kind of a participation ribbon mentality

I was at both races as well and I was not happy either, BUT, there were situations beyond any clubs control. At Plymouth, they dumped waaay too much water on the track.  This left it a quagmire and they had to skim a bunch ofit off to even get cars on the track.  This set them back about an hour, hour and a half.  With the spring we had, the ground water table is still high and the track just proved to be an elbows up, tacky, rutty mess.  This caused many wrecks and in the wingLESS A, there was a 7 car pile up with cars on top of each other.  As you can imagine, it took quite awhile to sort that out.  This all led to a longer than normal show that resulted in the curfew being implemented.   At Angell Park, thetrack was elbows up but nowhere near as wet as Plymouth.  The main issue at AP was the decision to run the Legends A main first.  A very ridiculous move, when the IRA were the main draw along with the Badger Midgets.  The Legend A ran for over 45 minutes and they only completed 7, yes, 7 laps until they called it.  Badger ran their A and it was fantastic with only a few stoppages.  Great race.  The IRA came onto the track and lined up as the HARD 10PM curfew was approaching.  They can finish a race if it starts before 10, but any yellows after 10 and the night is done.  That is what happened.  It was not the IRA's fault, nor Badger Midgets, as far as I know.  It was someone's decision to run the support group, Legends FIRST.  All in all, it was a decent race weekend.

I remember when most PA tracks had a midnight curfew. They had to start the last feature before midnight or risk getting a fine. Not sure if that is still a thing or not. Most tracks here only have 2 or 3 divisions a night now and rarely run late. They also run the headline feature first.

The badger midgets race was indeed excellent. Felt like the sprints had a chance to have a great show of their own. Angell Park really adheres to their noise curfew. Hope it's appreciated by the locals because if I was promoting there I probably would have said "eh let's just finish this quick yet" to the point where the curfew becomes meaningless. just being honest!

I am not an expert on these things but it appeared to many race stops for wrecks and such.  Which cannot be avoided. They even did the 4 wide BS before the 410's  So I'd say just plain STUPID was the overwhelming factor. Maybe they need a race clock like the pitch clock baseball had to resort to?