I am somewhat surprised no one has started a KR thread, but....
One of the coolest things I ever saw at a track was last night for the National Anthem. The girl got up to sing and dedicated the song to all members of the service. Then, as she started singing (quite beautifully), two guys on horseback came out onto the track from the Turn 3 fence. The horses were galloping with one guy holding an American flag and the other holding a POW-MIA flag. It was great.
Prior to that, after hot laps, the crew got out to scrape the mud off of the walls in Turns 1 and 3. Eldora had one of their push trucks hook up a vertical scraper to the left front fender and drove clockwise through Turns 2 and 1, scraping the wall vice just having crew members use individual scrapers and making stripes. I looked at the guy sitting next to me and we both agreed that it was about time that someone came up with a more easier way to perform this process.
Every time Rico passed a car. By far the fan's favorite.
And finally, Donny Schatz wins is third KR in a row. As he got out of his car, the noise level rose tenfold. I haven't heard fans that loud since Sammy was in his prime.
Thanks for the show, Eldora. More than worth the trip.
Mike, I had been thinking about a Kings thread and never got around to it. Glad you did. Sounds like a great overall weekend. Ironically if Sweet didn't have to pass his teammate twice he probably writes a different ending to the story. I followed as much as I could on Twitter, TJslideways was tweeting like he was on the microphone calling the race's and did a great job. One thing that struck me and while I wasn't there was the car count. You sure would think there ought to be more than 51 cars at a prestigious race of this caliber. I know there's a lot of factors in all of it, but you sure would think Pennsylvania and Iowa would take a weekend off for the Kings Royal. I'm sure that would raise the car count by 20. Sounds like you had a good time, wish I could have been there with you. Hopefully we can catch up at Plymouth Friday
Originally Posted by Stevensville Mike:
One of the coolest things I ever saw at a track was last night for the National Anthem. The girl got up to sing and dedicated the song to all members of the service. Then, as she started singing (quite beautifully), two guys on horseback came out onto the track from the Turn 3 fence. The horses were galloping with one guy holding an American flag and the other holding a POW-MIA flag. It was great.
That has been a tradition at the World 100 for many years. Cool that they did it at the KR too.
Biggest crowd in the history of the Kings Royal they announced. Might have been the biggest crowd in the history of the Friday race too, looked massive as well.
I thought they might as a tribute to JJ make the race 41 laps, which would have certainly given Sweet a great shot to win. Was exciting nonetheless.
The 41 laps woulda been Earth shaking. Sweet woulda passed Donny, the crowd woulda loved it (most of em) but we'll never know . . . . . kinda like how high did the 50/50 really get?
Originally Posted by Rich Mersereau:
The 41 laps woulda been Earth shaking. Sweet woulda passed Donny, the crowd woulda loved it (most of em) but we'll never know . . . . . kinda like how high did the 50/50 really get?
they hit the 50k mark before 9 pm then cut it off because the printers couldn't keep up. bet people were pissed. didn't get it all printed until about 2 hours after the race and then they drew the number...would have liked to see what bell had for Donny.
Prior to that, after hot laps, the crew got out to scrape the mud off of the walls in Turns 1 and 3. Eldora had one of their push trucks hook up a vertical scraper to the left front fender and drove clockwise through Turns 2 and 1, scraping the wall vice just having crew members use individual scrapers and making stripes. I looked at the guy sitting next to me and we both agreed that it was about time that someone came up with a more easier way to perform this process.
They use a wall scraper at Premier Speedway in Warrnambool Australia. First time I saw it,way back in 19994 I wondered why I'd never seen one here. I had the people that run the track send me some pics of the scraper which I passed onto a track here that scrapes the wall often. Nothing ever became of it though.
