Best dirt track ?
 

What is the best dirt track year in and year out. Fan friendly, seating, food,parking ,and camping?

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Ummm since you only have 18 posts you probably dont realize that that is a major bone of contenton around here. Folks get territorial about that and this will likely end up being a :34: Especially on a day when there are SIX dirt tracks running sprints.

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

What is the best dirt track?

The best dirt track today in my opinion is a tie between Lawrenceburg, Lincoln Park, Waynesfield, Paragon Tri-State and maybe, maybe KC Speedway. Tomorrow I think it will be Kokomo. Six days from now it will be none of the above but I'm willing to bet my answer will be a tie between Gas City and Bloomington. There's a pattern here.;)

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Hope that the powers of above can delete this post before WW3 breaks out..........:15:

:20:

:33:

:deadhorse:

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Each track has it's own "thing" I like. Haubstadt is second to none for track prep. Putnamville has the most comfortable seating arrangement. Bloomington has the best ice cream. We don't camp but Lawrenceburg is great for tailgating (lots of open space). Gas City has one of the best fan friendly "policies" of letting anyone into the pits for $1 before the driver's meeting. I've only been to Kokomo several times but both times the racing was excellent. Even Terre Haute, with all its issues, always provides an exciting finish to a usually long day, but I've rarely walked away disappointed. I also like that Paragon allows all sprint cars to run a feature...more cars, more racing, who can argue against that?

Surely focusing on the positives of each track won't set off WW3, but you never know! Let's go racing!:23:

Grandview speedway Bechtelsville PA
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Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Anywhere there are sprints or midgets and your able to attend. Doesn't really matter just attend a track of your choice and enjoy it while you can.:23:

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Calistoga upper Napa Valley, the food money go to the High School, parking fee goes to the High School! 9 hole Golf Course , around the north end of the track. Mother Nature at it's best. Now it's the largest 1/2 west of the Big river!

They did kill off the racing by putting on those dam wings on the cars we love!

Come on out West on Labor Day weekend and test view it for yourself!

Second best is the Race of Gold Cups Winged Sprint Cars in Chico! Friday nights Chili Feed!:42:::32:

Four days of racing you never have to leave the track!:32:

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

The race track that I am at on that particular day of course. So many options here in the great Hoosier state and surrounding area. No time for negatives, only positive thinking involved.:6: Back away from the computer and go get your best racin clothes on and get out to a track and cheer on the racers.

If the track is dusty, don't worry, a little soap and water will wash it off. If the track is tacky, hang on and enjoy the action. If you don't like the person you are sitting next to, just move someplace else. If you find someone to talk to and you enjoy the conversation, make plans for meeting up again maybe even at a different track.

If the motorcycle guys & gals show up, have a cold one :32: with them and soak up the culture. If the campers in the lot have dogs, watch where you step,:18: they have already marked their territory and you are invading their space. If they are running 5 other classes, for once in your life sit there and watch it because it may just be the best racing of the evening. And last of all remember the worst day at the race track sure the hell beats the normal grind of working for a living.

Go support a race track near you. It is the greatest entertainment going.:6:

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I agree with Mud Packer. I enjoy the track's I'm at on that particular weekend. But the tracks I look forward to are:

The PAS
East Bay
Lawrenceburg
Kokomo
LPS
Lernerville
Eldora
And sometimes I look forward to going to my local tracks, Lincoln and Williams Grove, PA......

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Having raced all over the Country and seeing many, many tracks; NONE of the Tracks in Indiana have to hang their heads for anyone. The Northeast, where we are from have some work to do. We are fans of the Indy Tracks.

With that said, some of the nicest Facilities and Tracks outside on Indiana where we have competed? Dirt Track at Lowes in NC; Virginia Motor Speedway (The Dirt one); Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO. Devil's Bowl, Dallas, TX. Of course those tracks are owned by Guys with more $$ than all of us combined but they do invest it in nice Facilities.

Pete G..

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Grandview,New Egypt,WilliamsGrove.

I would have to say ventura raceway. The setting is amazing, only about 100 yards from the pacific ocean. Always put on a good competitve 360 show weekly.
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Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Lawrenceburg is the best in the last 3 years- used to be Eldora back in the day. Attica is great too for wings.

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Haubstadt has been my home track for 50 years so I have no complaints there. Kokomo really racy. Always enjoy the Devil's Bowl in Mesquite and Calistoga's setting is absolutely beautiful. L' Burg always has a good show when I'm there. Bloomington is fine but a T. Helfrich "tractor show" at intermission could really help make the racing better sometimes. I don't feel Bloomington reaches it's full potential racing wise as often as it should. The surface reminds me of Salem after a few heats too often. I do enjoy going there. Tom

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Little Belleville

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Ventura is the best race track.
Naylor has had USAC Thunder TV all sprints & midgets + VRA now.
But it's not about the racing but the setting on the ocean.
The fairgrounds, little track in a great place.
Plus the train that goes thru there.

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Whatever track I happen to be at watching sprint cars is the best track, except Jacksonville. Knoxville obviously is a nice facility, and I like Haubstadt and I55 Speedway in Pevely, Mo. I would love to see USAC sprints at Pevely.

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Somewhere between Gas City and Evansville. The two I really liked are gone, Reading and Manzy. So instead of writing about it, get in your car and go to your favorite track, because one day it may be gone too!

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Gas City and Fremont (Ohio) are my two favorite.

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Bigger Tracks: Perris, Knoxville, Oskaloosa, Terre Haute.

Small Tracks: Farmer City IL, Lawrenceburg IN, Boone IA.

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The PAS is our favorite, but we like Ventura, Santa Maria and the beautiful Calistoga half-mile. Being from Socal, I would one day like to visit Indiana (never been) for ISW. That is a goal of mine.

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I forgot to add ALL the state fairground tracks anywhere (Ill. IA, MO, IN, Duquoin and several others) seem to be good facilities and tracks. I also forgot to add Ventura.

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Well, being born, raised and indoctrinated into the dirt racing culture at a very early age in Illinois I could be a homer and rave on about the home state tracks. I won't do that because truly the best dirt track I've ever had the pleasure of attending is Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, CA.

Springfield, Du Quoin and the Indiana State Fairgrounds Mile all get our second place honors.

A track that hasn't hosted a race in several years in Northern Illinois on the Winnebago County Fairgrounds in Pecatonica, IL would be my choice for 3rd place. It's confounding how this place doesn't have any racing activity. It has really nice stands and facilities, great track and plenty of very nice campsites. Must be a problem with the fairboard, or something.

Honorable mention would be Farley, IA, 34 Speedway in West Burlington, IA and the Muscatine County Fairgrounds Speedway at West Liberty, IA and the Steele County Fairgrounds Speedway at Owatonna, Minnesota in no particular order.

The best of the tracks I've been to that no longer exist, Sterling Speedbowl Park in Sterling, IL and Manzy.

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Been to most dirt tracks in OH/IND/KY and a couple in WV and Lawrenceburg, in it's current state, is the nicest facility I've been to. They also, IMO, have very fan friendly management and staff.

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Angell Park for midgets. When they have races.

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I'd say Kokomo, it is a little palace IMO, I heard the I34 speedway is a terrible track, I talked to a couple drivers about it and they hated it

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Amen.:8:

---------- Post added at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------

How about USAC sprints on a Friday at Tri City, then the next night at Pevely or Farmington?

My two favorite tracks are the "Tri" tracks (Tri State and Tri City) I might give the nod to Haubstadt based solely on the racing, but I've seen some great racing the last few seasons at Granite City. (Well, maybe not as much last year with me working at Jacksonville.) TCS also has one of the best weekly programs around, with full fields in the late models, mods, and crate late models nearly every week. The fact that it's only about a 20 minute drive for me is a mark in the "plus" ledger, as well.

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I have traveled the country for nearly 50 years from coast to coast and watched sprint cars as well as midgets and some of the NASCAR door slammers. The one facility that continues to stand head and shoulders above all others in my opinion is Knoxville, Iowa. The place reeks of history to begin with and it meets all the criteria mentioned in the first post. It is fan and racer friendly, the grounds are kept neat and clean, the food is excellent ( an Iowa pork fritter is the best) and competitively priced, admission is more than acceptable for fields of 70-80 sprint cars every Saturday night, camping is average and the only real downer about Knoxville is the available parking. Although I have never been grandstander, the seating provides a clear view of the entire speedway and the massive new grandstand rivals some of the NASCAR superspeedway facilities. The officials of Knoxville are very accomodating to both the racers and the fans and I have witnessed several instances over the years of personal touches of diplomacy that left the racers and fans with a good feeling about the place.

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Chili bowl!:8:

Re: Best dirt track ?
 

After attending USAC sprint week this year, Knoxville Nationals, Oval Nationals at Perris, Kings Royal at Eldora, Trophy Cup at Tulare, Lakeside Speedway for the Ron Shuman classic. I can easily say Ventura is as good or better than any other track I have been too.

From the grandstands you can see the Pacific Ocean, Palm Trees, and the golden Brown Hills in the background. Yo can go surfing or just watch before the races as it is right next to the track. One of the nicest features is the built in air conditioning at no extra charge. The weather is normally between 70-60 all year round. Bring a warm jacket at night as it is very cool even during the summer. Also the train passing by is a nice feature. The facilities are also very first class. Nice seats with backs, not a bad seat in the house. Track Prep is normally awesome for the main. Heat races are ferrous every night for EVERY POSITION because they pea pick and where you finish in the heat determines your starting position. (At some tracks, cars not running near a transfer just cruise in the race, and sometimes even the 2nd place cruises, NEVER HAPPENS at a VRA show). 50 plus sprinters not uncommon. Many former and current CRA drivers drivers compete in the series with Troy Rutherford, Josh Ford running every week, plus Cory Kruseman on occasion. 7 heats is norm for sprint cars.

Minus-if you don't like to see alot of racing, you might not like it. A variety of good racing every night between 5-9 classes. Racing starts around 5 and normally the Sprint Main finishes by 10.

On a side note

Best racing format (and probably best main event) is a winged 360 Trophy Cup at Tulare. All cars inverted in the last mainevent, and last year Tim Kaeding started last and won against some of the best drivers, please don't say Wingers can't pass, you just haven't seen a good track and format. If you go this year, you might convert to Wingers, just kidding. Plus they already have 72 cars entered (it cut off at 72) for this years race. To tell you how great the racing is, the first year I went I had planned on going Thursday and Friday, and than go back to my beloved Ventura for USAC-CRA main event (they don't happen very often at this track). The racing was so good at Tulare, I stayed for the final night and I was well reward with a win by Rany Hannigan from mid pack and Brad Sweet and Sammy Swindell coming from the back rows to determine the overall winner with Sweet winning it on the last lap.

My favorite event is the Perris Oval Nationals. There is no more intense racing in heat races than the Thursday and Friday shows with 8 car inverts and a top notch main event. And perris facility is awesome. Saturday's B main is one of the best races all year, only 12 guys are guaranteed a starting position in the main event from Thurs and Fri, so there are 12 transfers up for grabs, but how they finish in the b main determines their main event starting position. I remember one year, both of Tony Stewart cars did not even qualify for the 5 heat races and had to use provisionals all week. Now there is a rule, you can not accumulate points for Saturday using provisionals :). Kinda like ISW

Lakeside is also one of my favorite racetracks although I was only there once.

Lawrencburg is just awesome facility and I like the high speeds.

And probably one of if not the best races I ever saw, was this years ISW show at Brownstown. Normally I am not a fan of dry slick tracks, but that was a hell of race. 3 wide for the lead, on and off the track, and 6 guys going for the lead.

Honestly the best sprint car track is the one I'm at. But its hard to beat Ventura for the Surrondings, Quality and Quantity of sprint cars, track surface for the main (kinda like Tri-state Haubstadt) and nobody works harder than the promoter who preps the track and announces.

PS- Best fans, easily the ISW fans, they are hardcore. Come to the track early even with 95degree weather with humidity and they pack almost every seat!

Best BIG BOYS TRACK- Manzanita- The Western Nationals took some balls when Hockett, Coons, K. Swindell thru some incredible slide jobs at high speed. Plus the 1/3 mile inside track for 360's.. And the track had some of the best BBQ ribs I ever had anywhere.

Reality- there are alot of awessome tracks every where in the nation and on any given night, the fans there think that is the best track. Variety is the spice of life for me and I alway get excited going to a new track. But at the same time, going to Ventura always leaves me with a smile after the sprint main 99% of the time, and I DON'T know any other track that does it for me.

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Best dirt track.....is the one I'm just about to pull into on any given race night!

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I loved Manzi...Hated to see it go. Eldora is great (if its prepared right), Spoon River, Oskaloosa, Knoxville, North Vernon (on a good night)

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Just based on that criteria, I would have to put Houston Raceway Park near the top of the list. This year, they have dropped their weekly format, and only race special shows, but when considering fan friendly, the joint is second to none. Large concession stand and midway during the special shows, bench seating in the bleachers with back rests, seating for 8,000+, air conditioned and enclosed luxury suites, Musco lighting system and huge parking lot. Since it is local (and I don't camp even when on a road trip), I can't speak for the camping, but as I wrote, there is a huge parking lot. It shares the grounds with the NHRA drag strip (located behind the back stretch pit area).

As a bonus for the racers, there are paved pits, full concession stand and clean restrooms (with flush toilets, too). Oh, and the paved pits are lighted and lots of taps available for fresh water. One thing that IS lacking in the pits is a place to sit. The bleachers were blown over during the back stretch fence during Hurricane IKE and haven't been replaced.

Now, they only race about once a month, and usually have sprints (ASCS Gulf South and TNT Bandits this year, with non wing mini sprints). They also run the USMTS Modifieds in the spring and late fall. The late fall show usually attracts over 80 mods and 65 "sport" mods.

While the management of the dirt track has been controversial lately, they do draw SRO crowds by giving away tickets and charging only for parking. For shows when they do not give away tickets (WoO Sprints, for example), parking is free.

They could stand a "marquee" sprint car event, in my opinion, but that may take some time to happen.

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Bloomington
I-30 Speedway Little Rock Ark
Silver Dollar Chico, CA

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Gas City is my favorite. LPS is improving, but still have many bad memories. 2nd on my list would be the burg. It still has that wow factor for me and is an awsome place. 3rd goes to the tin tops and brownstown. When that plas is right it is awsome.

Kokomo,Gas City, Angel Park, Dirt Track@CHARLOTTE
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Re: Best dirt track ?
 

Lincoln (PA) Speedway has been my current "home" track for the past 3yrs. Weekly Sat night 410 & 358 Winged Sprints, with visits from the ALL Stars, URC 360's & ARDC Midgets.
Great weekly vibe, but the best night of racing I've ever seen there (imho), was the USAC visit this June. 3 local 410's & 1 URC 360 took off the wings & ran wheel to wheel with USAC's best.
I hope it becomes an annual event.

What did the USAC teams & fans think of Lincoln & Grandview ?

Pevely. Granite City, DuQuoin & Springfield remain my true "home" tracks. Labor Day weekend should be USAC Sprints & Midgets at Pevely & Granite City, before DuQuoin & the Dirt Champ Cars ...I'd go "home" for that.

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Dirt tracks are like women in that they are all lovely; it's just that some may be a bit more lovely than others.

Maybe I should name a favorite dirt track coupled with a favorite lady friend?:18:

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OH---You can do better than that!!!

How about Flemington Speedway in NJ before 1990 (when it was dirt)

Later, JERSEY

ps-- I love going to the tracks in Indiana now. Interesting thing this year, I have been to 9 USAC nat. sprint events at 9 diff tracks.