I left at 2:30 also. I wanted to stay , but with IN 26 construction, I knew I would be too tired to drive, if I waited any longer. It was a very long night, but I have sat through long track reworks at other places too. It will take twice as long to rework a half mile as it will a quarter mile. Its just the way it is. There were a lot of cars. This is why I am not hung up on large car counts. There is no such thing as a huge car count, and a quick show.
In the recent past the program had less cars and was probably over too quickly, so to add to the program, they added the wing cars. Now the numbers appear to be on the upswing. Maybe it is time to go back to a 2 day format. I am sure the people at Eldora are probably evaluating things even today. I have been around Larry Boos many times, and he is a hard working perfectionist. I am sure he and Roger Slack( who I have only met once) are already trying to solve the problems from last night. A long night, but not the end of the world.
As I said a couple of days ago, I have only missed the first 4 crown, and 1984, and that was by far the biggest crowd I have seen. Hopefully things will be learned and improved on.
Yep, it took too long. I also left at 2:30,could barely stay awake. I was glad TT ended at about 9, but track prep took forever. I'm sure they were trying to do the right thing, no blame...was it Mother Nature? I noticed nearby corn fields, dry, brown & dead.
140 cars is a lot to qualify... 1 lap TTs next time? If I go again, NOT showing up at 4:30 PM!
It was cool that Rico showed up after NASCAR race, dominated midgets & was dominating Allstars till he spun out, on his own.
Know what was amazing? Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen. Stumbled upon it by chance, thought it might be interesting, it was much more, positively amazing, not just a bunch of old bikes but wild & creative inventions from early Industrial Age, stuff I never even conceived of.... go if you get the chance
One conclusion I made was that I prefer wingless cars on bullrings, winged on big tracks. I usually prefer wingless, but Allstars were as good, a full 3 seconds faster in TT
Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
I left at 2:30 also. I wanted to stay , but with IN 26 construction, I knew I would be too tired to drive, if I waited any longer. It was a very long night, but I have sat through long track reworks at other places too. It will take twice as long to rework a half mile as it will a quarter mile. Its just the way it is. There were a lot of cars. This is why I am not hung up on large car counts. There is no such thing as a huge car count, and a quick show.
In the recent past the program had less cars and was probably over too quickly, so to add to the program, they added the wing cars. Now the numbers appear to be on the upswing. Maybe it is time to go back to a 2 day format. I am sure the people at Eldora are probably evaluating things even today. I have been around Larry Boos many times, and he is a hard working perfectionist. I am sure he and Roger Slack( who I have only met once) are already trying to solve the problems from last night. A long night, but not the end of the world.
As I said a couple of days ago, I have only missed the first 4 crown, and 1984, and that was by far the biggest crowd I have seen. Hopefully things will be learned and improved on.
Originally Posted by dkdorkboy:
I left at 2:30 and still had 39 laps left in crown race.
Originally Posted by wcbrock02:
It was close to 3am before it was over.
Thanks guys.
Silver Crown Championship Dirt Cars properly driven on a one mile dirt track are classic poetry in motion. Using that analogy, Jack Hewitt is one of the greatest poets of all time.
They have had to rework the track every year with 3 divisions. Now they add a fourth and didn't think it was going to be problem. Needed to start practice a long time before 5:00 because you knew they were gonna have to rework it after TT and that is at minimum a 2 hour job at Eldora.
I've been to 3 races this year with Stewart in attendance and while I love what the guy has done for short track racing, he has to know that not everyone keeps the hours he does. Seen a lot of kids and families leaving during the tractor races (I doubt any of them return). Talked to four different people who were at Eldora for the first time. Can't imagine they will be back.
The track was great after the rework. I left after Swanson spun from second in SC race. Got home at 4:30.....same time I will get up for work tomorrow.
Imho, it's simple. Keep the two orgs. separate. Run the wings on a night separate of USAC. The track prep between races is needed, but frankly, there were just too many cars/classes to get in within the time frame. The races were great, I didn't think the track was that bad, maybe a little dry, but in the driver interviews, they all said it was good. Just too damn long. I got there at 6, left at 2, this morning, my butt, and my knees hurt, and I still need to research who won the crown feature.
Silver crown race checkered at 2:45. Waited around, got our pay, got loaded up, and headed back home. Sun was up when we got there. We had a great time. I simply can not wait for it again next year.
The place was pretty full. Not world 100 full, but the biggest 4 crown I had ever seen, by far. Great racing all night, in all classes. The time they took to rework the track was well worth it. The majority of the crowd that did leave early, left after the All Star feature. But, better than 90% were still there until the last checkered flew.
