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

How cool would it be to have a high paying 410 sprint car race at the Duquoin Illinois magic mile under the lights? It would have to be unsantioned as alot of drivers dont like the idea but for a good purse top to bottom alot would come out. That would be a sight to see. Videos of syracuse  were awesome.

I think you're overestimating how many teams would want to be back on a mile.  Everyone would need an engine rebuild afterwards.  Have to add aero tricks to help the car be more stable at speed.  And most importantly, I'm sure many teams just don't think it's safe.  You'd need a sanction just to get a decent field of cars IMO, and I don't know that you'd find one willing to do it.  Or you'd need a crown jewel-type purse without the sanction, and I don't know how that could be pulled off.

Signature here.

I personally think a mile track for sprint cars is too big..1/2 seems to big with 3/8 about right..Too big and too fast for safety reasons..NOT a good idea..

They had something like that for decades.  It was called Syracuse and ate up a lot of equipment.  It's long gone and nobody has filled the void so they must not think it's cool.

Stan Meissner

I have heard numbers close to or at 160 mph before. Either one is insane!

Anyone ever see when Sammys front Wing mounts gave away at Syracuse on the straight!

That car lifted off the ground just like an airplane taking off! Thankfully it came back down on all 4 wheels.

I read in Open Wheel one time where Sammy Swindell said he was passing lapped cars at 60+ mph faster than what they were going..

The Midgets on the Sprinfield Mile was also Pura Locura!!!!!!!

There was a rumor posted on here a few years back about an Illinois State Trooper clocking Sammy at 176 mph on the backstretch of the Springfield mile, so him passing cars at 60 mph faster doesn's seem ridiculous----if this rumor is true.  I did watch them run down there from outside the fence when I was at the state fair with my parents.  I remember it looking VERY boring even though they were flying.  

It seems the chassis manufacturers are having a hard enough time building a car that can hold up during a bad crash on a 3/8 mile, let alone a mile.

Member of this message board since 1997

Its an insurance thing mainly.  I worked for a motorsports group a few years back that considered mile tracks for winged sprint cars.  No one would insure us.  

I was with the promoter at Concord Motor Speedway in NC when Kevin Swindell in the white #1 winged 360 went around the tri-oval so ungoldly fast that the insurance company walked up to us and said "If another sprint car ever touches this track, I'll make sure you never get insured again."

Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's

It would not be cool because of the high probability of fatalities. Unless that is what you wanted to see. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

Not at all cool.  Those cars aren't built for and absolutely don't belong on miles.

I attended the Syracuse mile event a couple of times. It was not a fun event. Just a string of cars in a long line going faster than they were designed to go. I'm pretty sure that it would be a big pass from all teams. Haqving engine packages, gearing, wing, and suspension set up for 1/2 mile, 3/8 mile, 1/3 mile, and bull ring 1/4 mile tracks is a huge investment as is.

"I was so loose out there that  could hardly get back
in line for the restart", Bobby Allen circa 1996 (?)
*****************************************************
"I'm not a driver, I am a racer." Steve Smith 19, 1992 

I was at Syracuse for the first 4 years of that race the first in 78 they ran without wings which was crazy and the field had several Oswego supers including the winner Bentley Warren. The race had some real bad crashes one where Van May lost his roll cage but somehow wasn't hurt and another one with Randy Wolfe who suffered a broken back. The years after that they ran with wings.

I saw the WoO a couple times on the Indy mile in the 1991-92 time frame. It was cool to see and they actually had some decent racing but at the same time felt like we were tempting fate. I remember Greg Hodnett having a big crash in his family car. 

I know it's not a 410 winged thing.... 

But I've been saying for years that the USAC Silver Crown series needs a penultimate event.  And DuQuoin would be a perfect place.  The Silver Crown cars there under the lights would be incredible.  

Get a real promotion team together, raise the purse substantially and you would get 50 cars entered.  Everyone from Gordon, Stewart, Bell, Larson have raced there.  

WoO at DuQuoin not really likely simply from a safey standpoint, but this race above could be something.

Our attention/entertainment span in 2024 does not work well with a 1 mile racetrack.  We are a full generation (or more) past the time when raw speed ooh'd and aah'd us to the point where we didn't realize the racing was terrible.  Throw a bunch of us, or better yet a bunch of teenagers, into the stands of a 1-mile racetrack in 2024, no one would ever go back.  I used to go to the Michigan Speedway for years.  I thought it was the greatest thing in the world!  Looking back at it, it was absolutely terrible racing.  Fast forward to today.  The racing at Michigan is 10 times better than it was when I attended.  (I remember a race in the late-90's with 3 cars on the lead lap.)   And all anyone does is complain about how boring Michigan Speedway is---and it pretty much is, but I loved the place back when it was 10 times as boring.  It was a different time when we didn't need instant, and non-stop entertainment. 

A 1-mile track will never work in 2024.  We don't have the attention span for it.  We get 3 follow the leader heat races in a row and all everyone does is get on social media and bash the track prep.   

boring as hell and and no passing. .4 of a  mile at Eldora per 'THE VOICE GIBSON"!

more big balls drivers and passing was incredible...

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

I think it's a great idea. Pay enough money and the cars will show up. Have the crown cars run too while your at it. If you think winged sprint cars are dangerous on a mile, apparently you haven't seen the motorcycles race there. Makes sprint cars look like child's play. 

Just because someone else is doing it................................Don't you remember when your mom asked you if you would jump off a bridge just because your friends all did it?