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

POWR-I Midgets running a 30 Lap Feature, be sure and put this on your list for this weekend, it should be a great show. 

Serving the Motorsports Industry since 1975!

The best outdoor midget track in my opinion. I try to go there every time they have midgets run there.

Andrew, I've never been to Belle-Clair Speedway (it's on my bucket list) and I respect your opinion of it as a great place for midget racing. For many years I've been a regular in the stands at Angell Park Speedway (home track of the BMARA) 1/3 mile clay oval in Sun Prairie, WI. I'm wondering if you've ever attended midget racing at Angell Park and how you compared it to Belle-Clair Speedway. If you've never been to Angell Park Speedway I'm politely suggesting you add it to your bucket list--possibly for one the USAC/Badger co-sanctioned midget shows there. If there's a possibility you'd visit Angell Park--I loved to meet you there and show you around the track, the NMARHoF and the Sun Prairie Area--including a good sandwich and libation of your choice. Keep me posted if you plan a visit to Angell Park and enjoy a safe 2012 racing season.

I have been to both tracks and they are both great for midgets. I will be at Angel Park again this year and I cant wait for this weekend with the POWR-I guys running wheel to wheel for 30 laps. Just praying we have some good weather and great car count with a huge crowd, see ya there.

DK

Serving the Motorsports Industry since 1975!

I've been to Angell Park a few times,and for all the hype about the place its been a letdown every time I've been there. I was going to try it again last yr after LaSalle,but it got rained out. I dont know if I'll get there this yr or not.Fuel prices will keep me in Indiana more this season with the number of races I go to.Luckily I dont have to leave the state to see good racing every week,and lots of it!! When I do watch midgets I venture over to Illinois for POWRi races,all of them at Little Belleville,and other times when they have a double weekend on tap.

Appearance wise,its no comparison to Angell Park. Its very 1950s looking with covered grandstands on both sides of the track,and wooden walls in the turns. The stands are very steeply pitched,and even in the top row,you are only about 30 feet from the track,so you sit right on top of the action. My favorite race there every year is the Arnie Knepper memorial when the fair is going on. When the sun goes down and with all the lights from the carnival rides in the background, I always think of Happy Days,and that Fonzie should be pullling in on his bike!

Also having been to both, it is pretty hard to find similarities between the two tracks -- other than that midgets run on both. While Angell Park is flat, circular, and wide open (with more speed and spectacular crashes), Belle-Claire is a tiny paperclip with a little bit of banking. When the track is right at little Belleville (dryslick with cushion up to the wall & and a decent bottom), they throw slidejobs & crossovers on every corner. I've seen some good racing at Angell Park though too, including a sweep of quick time, heat, dash, and feature from Jerry Coooooons Jr.... which was impressive. Both are cool... but with the nostalgia that Andrew eluded to and tight racing, Belle Claire is hard to beat for midgets.

Andrew and Chilly, Thanks for your replies and info concerning Belle-Claire Speedway. Based on your glowing reports of the great midget racing there-I'm going to move going there to the top of my "bucket list". Thanks

One time I went to Belle-Clair when we had a ton of rain in Indiana,and I was taking detours off I-70 to get there,and my usual 3 1/2 hr trip turned into 5 1/2 hrs. The heats that night were hammer down and not much passing,and the first 5 laps of the A were boring,and I thought,well I have finally come to an average night here. Then on the 6th lap half the field slid the other half into turn one,and going back into 3 they were all slid back !! It went on the whole race like that, half the field sliding each other in every turn ,and there was to much action to watch! I drove back to Indy shaking my head and saying to myself,did I just see that??

For similarities,Belle-Clair is shaped similar to Macon,if you've ever been there. The surfaces are totally different though.

I found Belle-Clair by accident in 2006 on the very first weekend I packed some clothes in my van,quit my job in Maine,and decided to move to Indy so I can go racing as often as possible. That weekend everything in Indiana had rained out,and I had inquired on another message board where I could find a race. Belle-Clair for POWRi midgets was the reply. I had no job,no money coming in and no prospects at that point,and I really didnt want to drive another 250 miles to go to a track I had never heard to much about,to say nothing about not knowing much about POWRi which was new at that time. BUt I asked myself,why are you moving to Indy? To go racing. So off I went to Belle-Clair,and it was love at first site. Since then I have been to most every midget race there since. I've risked missing a qualifying night at Knoxville to get there,(I dont go to Knoxville anymore,but I did back then)I've quit my job when the boss wouldnt give me vacation time to get there,and I even turned down some overtime for this weekend to get there!

Rained out..............................