[illiNOISE]

Hate to be such a killjoy, but I'm not real optimistic about the long-term future of Silver Crown racing at Springfield. Only 27 cars on hand--and a few of those were woefully uncompetitive. They drew a decent grandstand crowd, but looking around, it looked like the median age of the fans was about 70. Where are those folks going to be in ten years? Likely among the ranks of the "dead, fed, or fled." Plus I'm sure State officials have to be a bit concerned about the safety of fairgoers in light of the Beechler deal yesterday. What if they have a similar deal down on the turn 1 end, by the canival rides?

I know folks on here probably want to figuratively burn me at the stake for suggesting such heresy, but maybe it's time to turn the page on the Silver Crown cars at the Mile. Brian Tyler won 10k yesterday. How many modifieds could they draw for $10,000 to win?

Look, I'm just as much of a purist as anyone else on here. I hope the champ cars never leave the Illinois State Fair. But I think the State has to look at the whole picture, and it's just not too rosy of a picture right now.