[Rpracing1]

This post is a very clever way to bring awareness to the speedway. Well done guys!

[Hurryinhoosier]

Thanks for the nice words guys....I will be signing autographs all day Saturday....Come on by.

There is the possibility in Indiana that the city could/would rethink the zoning if the track was sold. Subleasing it would be a way around that.

I personally like Mike, I think hes done a good job. Every track has an off night and for the nights that it slicked off a little too quick or stayed heavy a little too long its still better than nothing and a heck of alot better than the some of the options.

Mike....if you do move on...Nothing but the best for ya!

[ronmil]

Originally Posted by Dirtfan Nice article in the paper last weekend Troy

Do you have a link to that article?

[Hurryinhoosier]

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...but-a-drag.sto

[ronmil]

Originally Posted by Hurryinhoosier http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sto...but-a-drag.sto

I am not allowed access, apparently.

[kidrock]

Originally Posted by bowbuild They do not approve of racing and the noise it creates keeps the liberals awake!

I live in a conservative town in Lincoln Il and these people would love for this track to close. So not just liberals want tracks closed. I say to friggin bad it's only one night a week for 20 weeks a year deal with it.

[Danny Burton]

Originally Posted by kidrock I live in a conservative town in Lincoln Il and these people would love for this track to close. So not just liberals want tracks closed. I say to friggin bad it's only one night a week for 20 weeks a year deal with it.

Yep, and here in Columbus I doubt if there are very many liberals living out by the airport, some in the same area where a plane crashed several years ago.

In other words, ideology doesn't matter when it's a NIMBY issue (that's Not In My Back Yard).

[Dirtfan]

Originally Posted by ronmil I am not allowed access, apparently.

Ron, here is the article at least you can read it, no photo though



MY FAVORITE RIDE
Rebuilt Model T anything but a drag

February 18, 2012


This photo was taken during a test run at Lyons Raceway Park just before it ended in disaster at the starting line. Courtesy photo

Troy Wilson got hooked on drag racing — driving, not watching — a quarter century ago.

He was 13.

Back then, altered drag racing vehicles had huge engines, a high center of gravity and a short wheel base. They were unstable, prone to crashes, downright dangerous and “always good to put on a show for the fans,” the Bloomington man said.

As the cars evolved, engines and the center of gravity sat lower, he said, “making them a little easier to drive.” Because the exposed motor sits square in front of the driver, “you see everything, including the chance of hot oil or fire.”

Hot oil spewing from a motor is not unusual in the world of drag racing. Wilson actually has layers of plastic laminate on his helmet face shield. When it gets coated with oil, he peels off the top layer to see the quarter-mile track ahead. “I know it sounds crazy, but I have been covered in hot oil while driving.”

Wilson rebuilt his dragster with a smaller engine than it once had so he can see where he’s headed when the car launches, like a rocket. Zero to 154 mph in 8.7 seconds. Then out comes the parachute, activated by pulling a lever releasing a tightly wound spring.

The car, with a one-piece fiber glass body, is a 1923 altered Model T Ford. Really. The only thing left on the car from the old Ford is the rear differential housing and the taillights. “I’m sure Henry Ford never imagined this,” Wilson said.

Wilson initially built the car for someone else, then took it to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis for a test run. They got it up to 150 mph. It was ready to race, so they went to Lyons Raceway Park in Greene County.

He revved the engine to 4,000 rpms, then released his thumb from a button mounted on the steering wheel. “The car launched, but it broke the wheelie bar off the back and went straight up in the air,” he recalled.

The car landed back on the ground, hard, buckling the chassis, crushing both front wheels, splitting the welds on the aluminum fuel tank and breaking some brackets. Wilson ended up with a headache that lasted a few days.

The owner decided to build a car with a longer chassis, so Wilson bought the wrecked one. He hauled the heap of metal to Prince Racing in Heltonville, and before long it was in Wilson’s garage being primed to return to the track for the 2011 season. He won his final race.

He’s preparing for the 2012 racing season. “Right now, the car’s stripped down to the chassis, and I’m rebuilding the engine and checking everything,” Wilson said. “It will be race ready in three weeks.”

He started a drag racing series called the Nostalgia Drag Racing League, and holds races at tracks in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The first is Memorial Day weekend.

“We end up with about 50 cars at some of our events,” Wilson said. “It’s not uncommon to see cars going over 200 miles an hour. It’s pretty exciting.”

[Tim Watson]

Originally Posted by racefan20 Because the taxes on the houses they would build there is more than they get when the land is used as a track.

I can see how the tax thing makes more $ but i also see it like this. Now you only have noise in that area one night a week (Friday). Build houses on the land and you have noise every day. I'm not arguing the point with you i'm just making a comment. I wish you guys could see the track here at my fairgrounds, houses surround turns one and two and go all along the backstretch. Those people have built decks on the back of the house and some on the back of their garages and watch the races every Saturday night and make a deck party out of it! Those seats on the decks aren't much farther away than sitting in the grandstand, you just have to look into the lights though.

[Hurryinhoosier]

Here ya go!