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I read this board and try to restrain from commenting on track condition posts. But I am at the point I gotta speak up.
People on this board always post begging for tacky track conditions. They want no dust and a giant cushion. They think racing is fantastic when sprint cars can race hammer down and on the cushion. So now Lincoln Park has started prepping the track to be heavy heavy heavy. We get to the track about 4 or 5 and they are laying tons of water down. When it comes time for the sprints to pack the track, the track is almost flooded. There was standing water most the night in turns 1&2. So the sprints pack about half the track for a while and then they hot lap and tear it back up. Then the next session comes out and does the same thing. Then the support classes go pack and tear it back up again. When its time for the heats there has been one groove worked in that is raceable by all the classes. So if your a support class car and you start in the back you stay in the back. By the feature time the sprints work the track in enough to make the sprint feature good and people on this board praise the track. However the track still is not nearly worked in and the support classes get to race on a bad track.
In the heat races the track literally only had one groove that was raceable. For the features the bottom of the entire track was slime for about a groove or two, and the top of 3&4 was rough enough to bounce the front end off the ground.
My intentions of this post are not to bash LPS, but to raise awareness that there are three other classes that have to race on the track each Saturday night. I'm happy that LPS has put on great sprint car shows, but the track doesn't have to be extremely tacky and slimy to make for a good show. I understand fans don't want dust, but fans aren't the ones that have to race on the track. Tracks like tonight's tear up a lot of equipment and are not very passable for other classes than sprints. In my opinion LPS had an awesome track earlier in the year. It was smooth, slightly slick, was fast from top to bottom, and was passable in the heats. If they want to keep putting water down like they have been, than get something to pack the track good before the sprints go out, and make sure it is packed from top to bottom without much slime. Or have all the support class cars go out at one time and make laps until the track is packed solid. I wouldn't mind one bit if I had to go out and pack the track, because I know it's going to make the racing better early in the night. I remember they over watered the track for the Patriot modified race a couple years ago, and they sent all the cars on the track at once. We were three wide all the way around the track. But in 15 minutes the track was great. They ran three wide for the lead almost half the feature, and it was a great show.
I just hope LPS can get their track prep right before its too late. They messed up the track for the first Thursday night deal with super stocks when they had 20 cars and next week we only had 10. And they wayyyy over watered it for the summer-nationals race, and I bet a lot of the new mod guys they got will not be coming back. Car counts are dropping at LPS in the support classes because guys don't like running a track they cant pass on. It kills the entire night when you start in the back of a heat and the tracks one lane. Hopefully tonight was enough of an eye opener to prove something needs to change. Love supporting LPS, but they have to be willing to provide a track that is good for ALL classes, not just the sprints.
P.S. if you weren't racing a car tonight don't say the track was great. Race tracks look a lot different when your out there than when you are in the stands. It usually looks great in the stands, but you get out there and its a lot different looking. This goes for all tracks not just LPS.
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