[johnnythunderhead]

used to be a 1/2 mile eh?/ that's what happens when ya over water em folks they shrink!

[Charles Nungester]

Originally Posted by johnnythunderhead used to be a 1/2 mile eh?/ that's what happens when ya over water em folks they shrink!

So did the old, old burg Johnny. It was a half, about the only thing remaining of it is the tree at the back left corner of the pits that had a piece of fence on it.

If I have the story right
Diz Wilson had the idea to make em both quarters and thats what happened. There used to be a exclusive group of guys that ran Bloomington, Burg and Paragon about every week. 60s/70s Krebs, Milburn, Deputy, Bob Kinser among a few.

[The Fanthom]

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester ^^ Giggling at the last two post and asking which track had a 37 average and only one race with less than 25 sprints? The answer might surprise you. Or not. And I'll agree that it cost more to run there. I still say there's a lot less wrecks simply because of its size.

So by your logic, if we make it a half mile, we'll get 50 cars every week? Somehow I doubt that. I have been a loyal attendee at Bton for some time now and have watched car counts drop everywhere especially at Bton. I respectfully disagree with the idea that bigger is better. Laugh if you want, but how many weekly shows does your mystery track run?

[The Fanthom]

While we are fightin about it...lol...here's a cool shot of the old and the new surface.

[Charles Nungester]

Cool pic, Seen it once before sometime. you can roughly make-out the end of turn four in the hillside today as it was wider than the straight exiting.

Well the mystery track runs every week and I've been told by racers themselves that it cost more to run on it, Its the Burg.

Terre Haute I think more than motors or anything cost wise is more a talent and top equiptment deal, While I've seen Rookies at the track win heats. It's still mainly guys that have a ton of laps at a bunch of different type tracks and Gonads the size of water melons that are up front by the end of the features. I still love it You can watch guys come from deep in the pack at almost every race and literally finish top three. This years Sprint week, Stanbrough was running about 8th at lap 20 and if it been two more laps he'd of probably won it as he passed like four cars in the last couple laps alone.

As for Bloomington, We'll see how it works out, If they are cutting it down, as long as they do it right, It should work. Brady's secret isn't rocket science or cheating, less stagger and running the middle, setting the rear end lower as it slickens off and a ton of laps. Its not the first time the tracks been dominated, Kevin Briscoe and others have done it in the past.

[smith19]

back in the 70's we used to run bloomington friday the burg sat. and haubstadt on sunday night. with gilstrap at the wheel...

[ronmil]

Originally Posted by smith19 back in the 70's we used to run bloomington friday the burg sat. and haubstadt on sunday night. with gilstrap at the wheel...

Ah, yes, those were the days!

[johnnythunderhead]

interesting history, I had no idea that both tracks had once been 1/2 miles. if Bloomington is a 1/4 mile now, the old track appears to have been more like a 5/8ths at least, and I can understand cutting that back a bit, anything over a 1/2 is a bit of a waste for sprint cars (they seem to max out at about 1/2 mile). I think, the bigger tracks with high banks allow more momentum and should be easier on motors, and there should be less chance of tearing up assuming they are wider as well as longer (more racing room should mean less contact) the sprint car cookie cuter tracks seem to be the 3/8ths, but I still like the 4/10's like learnerville and the 1/2's like Eldora. I'd say terra haute appears to be more like a 5/8ths at least ? (it reminds me a good bit of the old Sharon track) they never told how big Sharon was till they cut it back to a 3/8th and it looked like a lil ole peanut inside the old track, which they then admitted to have been a 7/10th. I am in agreement that anything done to improve a track surface is to be appreciated, and the size of a track is solely up to its owner or promoter/ it's just that I moved to this area just from a part of the country where the tracks are a bit bigger, and it seems strange to me to see powerful sprint cars running on 1/4 miles, that's all. I most certainly do approve the non-wing sprints, as there is no doubt that they provide much better racing!

[The Fanthom]

Only thing I'll say is there's a reason there are so many former half miles all across the Midwest. Economics play a role in every sport and maintaining a 1/2 mile of Dirt in any era must be quite a headache. If you have been to Terre Haute you know what a challenge that is with limited resources. I cant wait to get to April so I can see what they have done, as I am done with winter already.

[robert gatten]

Thing is Charles, you pull there and find that Brady is first in line at the pit gate and more times than not he's first in line at the pay window. That gets expensive week after week. I call it the "short" track, not just because of it's size, ha.