Some idle thoughts

[sentsat71]

Mostly about 1:1 racing over the years.....
In some/many areas how the short track cars evolved over the years, for me especially, how in about a 5 year span had gone from home built from the "ground up" by using old frames and bodies, to sprint car type frames, with what I'm guessing were fiberglass bodies that resembled the old Ford Vicky bodies built to fit. The Modifieds giving way to Late Models, basically "back yard" builds at the one track I frequented in my early days of following the local race scene in Northern IA & Southern MN, and now being able to look back on one site that is trying to show a section of their site with photos of the years since the Fairmont, MN track opened in 1965, and is still going strong today, on how the late models evolved from 1971 to when IMCA is now the featured series, ranging from Sport Compacts, Hobby Stocks, Stock Cars, Sport (B) Modifieds and A Modifieds, in what is a very common site around most of the Mid-West to points east and west.

And how one track not far from where I live, namely the Hancock Count Speedway, in Britt, IA salutes all Veterans around the 4th of July, with a special race, in addition to their regular night of racing, and IMCA also makes it a special event for the teams, with extra prize money, and through the help of one couple who help put this Salute to Veterans on, and many local sponsors, and on a Tues night, can pull in over 100 cars each year, last night the car count was around 145 cars. However, the car count is not just one class of cars, but 5 classes of cars......
The hobby stocks, stock cars, B Mods and A Mods pull drivers from around the country. and last night even a driver from Australia in one of the modified series. There have been in the past, drivers/teams from North Carolina, Arizona, just to mention a couple of further away stares from Northern,IA. I know of one team from AZ sets up shop in Iowa for the summer months, and races wherever around the area. Tim Ward, from the Phoenix, AZ was asked why he came back to this area to race. His answer was because of all the racing going on in upper Mid-West in the summer. Tracks in Northern IA and Southern MN around where I'm from, run Wed thru Sun nights, starting in mid to late April to early to Mid Sept. and back in the AZ, area, you might be able to run a couple nights a week, and it usually means hauling the car greater distances in order to race a couple of nights a week.

However, at some of the closer tracks to me, the weekly car counts can be quite slim at times. In some cases, it could be that if a team tries to run five nights a week, that can be hard on equipment and the racing budget.

One other thought.....for now.....IF sprint car racing doesn't follow in today's IMCA format, those groups will price themselves out of racing! This is just my opinion. But it is coming to that. In Southern Calif, the USAC/CRA series runs only ONCE a month, at times maybe twice a month that their HOME track, Perris Auto Speedway, and yes, this is a NON-winged series. Having taken in a few sprint car races back in the Northern, IA and Southern MN tracks, has just reaffirmed why I do NOT like watching winged sprints. They do NOT raced each other a couple laps after the start of a race, they are so far apart and going so fast that the wings make it impossible to run close to each other.......that to me is NOT racing. I think it it is time that WoO and other more local series, start changing the rules, which to me would be, #1 ban the adjustable wing from the cockpit during the race, the wings were a safety item at one time, but they are NOT today, as far as I'm concerned. #2, cut the wing size down, #3, cut the rear tire size down, especially the RR. The winged sprints are running so fast these days that if a car become airborne, the wing is useless due to the speed.....
To me, racing is not just about how fast one can go, but the competition on the track between the cars.

Sorry for the long ramble.....

[Tom Birky]

I see Tyler Droste, grandson of dirt hall of famer Red Droste, took the big check at Britt last night. Tyler is from Waterloo and hits most of the eastern Iowa tracks.

[sentsat71]

He led the the whole 30 lap main event....and yes...one VERY happy young man!!
for such a dry slick track, think that said volumes of the talent of the 24 car field.....on the 4/10's mile tight oval.....

Even after being back here since 2014, still have trouble remembering a lot of the drivers, even ones that are considered "local" 
But then I don't go every week.
Primary tracks for me are at Britt and Algona, IA and Fairmont, MN, with a couple of visits to the Jackson, MN track in that time span.....

[sentsat71]

Oh, yeah, the Hobby Stocks. You're right on that, David! In watching them especially at the smaller tracks like Algona and Britt, they do put on a heck of show, even in the heats, that you would think they were driving in NASCAR, or were racing for a huge purse! And, YES, that makes for some great racing. And it doesn't matter if it's for the lead or mid-pack.
However, there is one division that runs (in this area) an additional division,,,,,the Cruisers....the cars are primarily old late 1970's Chevy Impalas. These are two man teams, IIRC the driver, obviously drives, but only controls the gas pedal, while his partner in the RF seat controls the brakes. So they do not get too much speed, the engines have one spark plug wire removed. It is this group that seems to have the most intense rivalry, not only between the few teams that run them, but a decent portion of those in the grandstand as well. Every now and then, things do get heated and a couple of teams have gone at in on the track, and one time even after the event. Not so much as between those in the cars but from fans, most likely those who could be related to the teams on the track, have gone down to the track (crossover gate at the starters stand is not locked) and started a bit of a rhubarb with the opposing driver/"passenger"

One thing I wish IMCA would do, is invoke the 2 spin rule during a race. It has to be frustrating to the fans, (especially me, ha!), for the same car to spin out multiple times during one race. However, at the special show at Britt, especially with so many cars running, that event does have the 2 spin rule.
I got used to (spoiled? lol) with this with the old CRA in Southern Calif. Though that was sprint cars. It didn't matter who started the spin/incident, top driver or rookie, you were parked for that event, no matter who was at fault.
However, as the saying goes, you cannot please everyone...