Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

Let me start off first by stating that I haven't been to every Golden State race this year, I have been to most. After witnessing the feature sat. night, when are the fans going to see a racing surface worthy of California's best!!! Talking to several drivers in the pits after both Watsonville and Antioch, it became apparent that Tulare was the only track that was able to give the main-event competitors a track that had both a bottum groove, as well as a cushion. I for one find this UN-ACCEPTABLE!!! Lets hope that Petaluma starts a new trend.... Track Prep worthy of California's best...

I'm not sure what the track was thinking about when they preped the track. That is a long way to travel to idle around in the infield. I raced there alot last year and it was always a fun place to race. I hope that the promoters can see that when the track is like that it is boring to watch and a waiste of time. The fans are the ones who suffer!

Norcalfan2

Chico had a good track for the Mini Gold Cup also!

Are we having fun yet?

I have been to most of the dirt tracks in California and went to most of the GSC races last year. It's true the the tracks that usually have the best track prep are Tulare, Chico, Placerville, and even Petaluma has improved a lot. It's sad that Antioch and Watsonville have isssues with track prep, but I think it is because they don't race sprint cars on a weekly basis. They tend to try out quick and become a one lane track by the A main. Mike Henry is right that the fans suffer and I am sure it is frusterating that the drivers can't pass on it. The GSC is lucky to have Mike Henry because he is a great racer and already won a race this year Thanks for posting! I know the Prentices have done great things for Ocean Speedway and hopefully they learn from their mistakes and make the track better to race on. I am hoping Petaluma will be nice to race on for next week. Last year I went for both GSC races and they was lots of passing both times. I agree that the GSC drivers are some of the best 410 drivers in the country and they deserve racy tracks each weekend. The main reason there is a decreased car count is because of the bad economy and some drivers racing Civil War this year used to race GSC. For example: Sean Becker, Willie Croft, Brett Miller, Andy Forsberg, Kyle Hirst and some others I can't recall right now. I am sure more drivers would love to run GSC, but they race every week from March until July and it gets expensive driving to the far tracks. I don't like it when people complain about car counts at GSC races. The races can't help that we are in a bad economy and high gas prices- shoot we should be happy to have the series we have in the GSC and Civil War, plus local 360 and 410 shows. I support and like the Civil War series as well. I feel like we have to support all sprint car racing here in California because who knows how long we will have it. For example no GSC races at Calistoga this year and that sucks!! Maybe the tracks with poor track prep should talk to the Farias at Tulare and the Padjens at Chico and Placerville

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

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

I'm not sure exactly what happend w/ the track Sat at Watsonville. It was warm (for Watsonville) and breezy and that contributed. But I think he real issue is the number of classes (3) they run there on a given night. Typically, the "better" tracks that run GSC only run one class, sprint cars and the surface seems to hold up better. Obviously with only 20 GSC cars Printice needs the back gate and must keep all the classes......kind of a "chicken and the egg" deal.

I'm not giving up on the place. I think I will get better

Although i would agree the track was not the best i have seen at Watsonville Sat night, but I think it is a little early to be harping on them. Even the so called best tracks have nights like last Sat night. I was at the 1st GSC race there a few weeks ago and i believe there was a top and a bottom and nobody complained. The Fri show at Chico was worse than Watsonville Sat night(one groove on the bottom) but i did't hear any talk of that??

Everyone races on same track and has the same chance to win,there were cars that started in cut the 1st few rows that went back-wards and some that started in the back and moved forward ,so there had to be some passing.

Sure i would love a 2 groove track every night but thats not going to happen,thats dirt track racing for you..unpredictable...cut them some slack, if i becomes a pattern of bad nights then maybe we can talk but not after one bad night...JMO

So far the biggest follow the leader race was the GSC race at Placerville. The track was nice & fast so there was no passing and the top 7 starters finished top 7. The cars idling around the infield Saturday were the ones getting lapped. The best drivers adapt to all track conditions.

Placerville may have been really fast, but the racing was great between TK, JA and Walker. Toward the end of the race Walker and Henry were seperated by less a couple car lengths which made it fun to watch. It was pretty good from the infield.

Hopefully the conditions will be better this weekend.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

I can only tell you guys that we are working very hard to make Ocean a better place to race. We have a new track prep guy this year so PLEASE give us few races to get a second groove. We have come a LONG ways in 2 years!!!

Three years ago there was NO sprint car racing at Watsonville

John Prentice

Absolutely that's why we do enjoy coming John. We appreciate you guys putting in the effort and I know everyone is aware of it. Thanks!

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com