[flagboy55]

Now that the dust has settled I would like to get some thoughts on the event, especially from the folks who were there in person. I fully intended to go but got feeling bad and didn’t want to take a chance of getting anyone else ill. Hats off to those in attendance. It was hot with a heat index of 98 in the afternoon. From the Flo stream it looked like the crowd filled in well after the sun went down and the mains got rolling. Racing was good as always, and Grant is always good at Kokomo, has been for years. The driver introduction deal came across as a flop on tv, except for Thorson’s entrance. Was it better in person? The King of the Hill proved no more exciting than a winged dash, at least no one tore anything up during it. My biggest takeaway and huge hat shake goes to the O Connor’s. What a huge effort it must have taken to run 2 shows in one day. We all know they’re not afraid of hard work and it showed again yesterday. While I know it got dusty, the track still raced very well in my opinion. Overall a very enjoyable event. Looking forward to your comments and feeling well enough to get back there next time

[Tumey's 55]

I was thinking yesterday of the thread about the upcoming race in SD, asking people to support it. There was a good crowd but why would anyone think folks would travel 800 miles when an amazing event in their own backyard had lots of empty seats. Yes it was hot but since I now live in FL it wasn’t as hot as I am accustomed to. It wasn’t bad at all Friday and Saturday evening. How much is streaming cutting into the crowd, if at all? Racing was good, even Saturday afternoon when the track was a challenge. The driver introductions were a bit over the top and didn’t add much except delay proceedings. King of the Hill was not especially exciting but neither is watching 46 cars qualify individually (I have no problem with either). All in all a very satisfying weekend just disappointed in the turnout for a 15K to win event. Kudos to the O’Connors for putting on this event and the great track prep as always.

[dkdorkboy]

Flo streaming kept me at home and I 'm only 140 miles away.With the heat the way it was I decided to watch it from the comfort of my lazy boy.And the fact I couldn't take any drinks in.

[JarrettFarms73]

I try to be level headed and open minded as best as possible but will once again admit a potential bias toward my home track of 48 years (Kokomo), favorite type of racing (USAC dirt), and longtime family friends (in this case, Brayden Clark)

The Darland race was only the 2nd race i’ve missed since Smackdown 1. The prior was my daughters senior night 4 years ago. Since i didn’t go Wednesday my only opinion is i’m so mad at myself for NOT going. Best wishes MadMan and looking forward to DD strapping in again. GodSpeed with the recovery to both.

Thursday: Rainouts suck. On the positive, i’ve been through more rain during Smackdown!! Shudder the thought. uuugh.

Friday: Excessive heat sucks. On the positive, it helps dry out wet camping areas and i’ve sat through hotter during Smackdown!! Racing was intense from the first lap of the first heat race. Per usual, position battles were everywhere. I love the 3 day top 8 points because it meant 3rd and 4th were locked in a battle all the way to the checker instead of just riding it out and transferring to the A. That last slider by Grant seemed to not only break Cummins momentum in the A but also the whole weekend. Cummins is great, he just never (IMHO) seemed to be in position to pounce like usual over the rest of the weekend. Another year of getting laps at Kokomo and all that could easily change. Also, it’s rare to see the lip in 4 get pushed up that high.

Flying Toasters: Always fantastic. The variety, talent and non stop party vibe was once again top notch. There are no weak spots in that band. By nights end, every penny of my $135 (camping and reserved ticket) was already well spent.

SaturDAY: Considering the challenge of a day race held ~15 hours after a full program concluded, the track stayed smooth yet still racey despite the dust/dryness . Personally i liked the challenge of a different type of surface than the night before and watched in awe as they executed a feathers touch off 4 or pounded the top w/ reckless abandonment. 1st to 41st, sprint car drivers are my heroes.

Quick side note: if you go to the gas station between sessions to fill the tow vehicle and the gas can for the generator, be sure to LOAD the gas can before leaving… DOOH!!!!

Finale- Enjoyed the divisional midgets very much although the BOSS double header version has been my favorite thus far. For all of the intense energy leading up to this point, it boiled over as the green flags dropped. In person, every lap felt like something big could happen. Something akin to Seavey’s powermove around 4 or Grant/ Cummins trading bomb after bomb. It’s just electric to be there- the smell, the sound, the occasional dodging of dirt clogs. the murmur of the crowd during downtime.

I personally love King if the Hill. I’ve watched it from both the front and back stretch bleachers and the awes and gasps have been audible no matter where we sat.

Sure there’s a bit of novelty to it but that’s partly why i like it, it’s like nothing else. Plus when you have drama like we did Friday night then the first pairing out of the gate is the two cars involved- immediate palpable energy can be felt. Then we got the shock of seeing KTJ being able to pull the over under from the topside of one to get the lead after watching that line fail in the two attempts prior by other drivers.

The kokomo crew did a fantastic job between sessions. I thought the track stayed pretty good all night. Of course, they did rework it more than usual along the way but i thinks that a testament to how closely Reese watches conditions. As we know from 10 years through rain, heat and tornadoes, throwing in the towel is is a last last last option.

Hated to see Bodine get squeezed like that. He was having a pretty good week to that point. Hope he’s ok. Also hated to see Hodges/ Cottle grenade an engine. Hope that won’t slow them down in the coming weeks. Also hated to see Jake Swanson’s Smackdown end line that. He seemed to be getting faster with each race.

So in summary, Congrats to Grant, KTJ and Ballou for their respective wins this week. Thank you Kokomo Speedway, USAC and every driver, owner, sponsor and crew member for providing an A++ level of racing excitement. Again, worth every penny!! It’s weird because right now i don’t have many specific memories but overall i think it may just be the best racing from Day 1 to Day 3 they’ve had. The top side was the fast line around this year but hopefully TV was able to capture just how hard they had to rip the top with minimal mistakes to make it the fast way around. Insane!!!!

Everyone stay healthy and hope to see you at Smackdown 11!

[opnwhlmnd]

The driver intros have been like that for all the Smackdowns. It was better first few years as there were no back straight stands. The drivers submit their own song they want played while being introduced.

Same with the King of the Hill a Smackdown thing which I personally like. The forth and sixth seeds made it to the front row which is unlikely in an eight car dash.

I had something come up at my office late Thursday I had to take care of and couldn't make Smackdown this year. Plan to make DuQuoin, Sun Praire, and Huset's next two weekends.

Racing banging the boards every lap. Not much better than that.

[captrat]

Originally Posted by Tumey's 55 I was thinking yesterday of the thread about the upcoming race in SD, asking people to support it. There was a good crowd but why would anyone think folks would travel 800 miles when an amazing event in their own backyard had lots of empty seats. Yes it was hot but since I now live in FL it wasn’t as hot as I am accustomed to. It wasn’t bad at all Friday and Saturday evening. How much is streaming cutting into the crowd, if at all? Racing was good, even Saturday afternoon when the track was a challenge. The driver introductions were a bit over the top and didn’t add much except delay proceedings. King of the Hill was not especially exciting but neither is watching 46 cars qualify individually (I have no problem with either). All in all a very satisfying weekend just disappointed in the turnout for a 15K to win event. Kudos to the O’Connors for putting on this event and the great track prep as always.

The key here you were not there. I was and there was an excellent crowd given the circumstances. Don't let a camera angle be your go to source. By the way I have lived in FL or somewhere further south for 36 years and the heat and humidity were brutal.

[flagboy55]

If people like this KOTH, great. We keep comparing it to the dashes we see with wings. Keep in mind, this is USAC, no wings. They actually pass in a short race unlike the wings. I swore off the gimmick after TMez junked a really fast race a couple years ago for a novelty. And just to be clear, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the driver intro deal, I’m just sayin how it looked here. Maybe could use some production help.

[openwheelfan1]

We attended the Smackdown for the first time. While we have been to Kokomo Speedway before, we had never seen non-wing sprint cars there in this configuration. The following is MY OPINION!

FIrst off, HUGE compliments to the track crew! Mother Nature did not play nice at all Thurs. through Saturday, but the crew managed to provide a racy surface throughout the events. It got a little dusty toward the ends of all three features, but overall they did a great job.

We were surprised at the lack of crowd Friday evening. I would estimate that the grandstands were about 60% full for Friday’s program. Not bad guess, but we had been led to believe that last year’s Smackdown was close to a sellout all three nights. I don’t know if they were accurate or overselling it. Saturday’s daytime event was maybe 40% full, but that didn’t really surprise us. Given the weather, the timing, and all the factors in play, the crowd was decent. The Saturday night crowd was IMO about 85-90% capacity. There were some seats down low on the Front Stretch side, and some scattered seats on Back Stretch, but it is hard to know how the crowd “spread out” as seats didn’t fill. I would imagine the threat of rain all three days and the high heat indexes played a part in the attendance.

We thought that although the driver intros are a tradition, given the circumstances of the long Saturday, they would have been better off skipping it, at least for this year. The drivers clearly were not in to it, at least those on the back stretch, and the crowd was pretty much the same.

The King of the Hill was “interesting”. It seemed like whoever got the lead at the jump was untouchable. Maybe that is the norm. It was enjoyable to watch, just different than what we expected.

Lastly, and I’m not sure who else might have noticed it, I hope the Kokomo track crew looks at the safety lights going in to turn 3. Twice Saturday, that safety light went to red at the drop of the green flag, NOT green. That is a very dangerous situation!

Although the weather was less than ideal, we enjoyed our first time at Smackdown, and Good Lord willing, will attend again.

[JarrettFarms73]

Originally Posted by openwheelfan1 We attended the Smackdown for the first time. While we have been to Kokomo Speedway before, we had never seen non-wing sprint cars there in this configuration. The following is MY OPINION! FIrst off, HUGE compliments to the track crew! Mother Nature did not play nice at all Thurs. through Saturday, but the crew managed to provide a racy surface throughout the events. It got a little dusty toward the ends of all three features, but overall they did a great job. We were surprised at the lack of crowd Friday evening. I would estimate that the grandstands were about 60% full for Friday’s program. Not bad guess, but we had been led to believe that last year’s Smackdown was close to a sellout all three nights. I don’t know if they were accurate or overselling it. Saturday’s daytime event was maybe 40% full, but that didn’t really surprise us. Given the weather, the timing, and all the factors in play, the crowd was decent. The Saturday night crowd was IMO about 85-90% capacity. There were some seats down low on the Front Stretch side, and some scattered seats on Back Stretch, but it is hard to know how the crowd “spread out” as seats didn’t fill. I would imagine the threat of rain all three days and the high heat indexes played a part in the attendance. We thought that although the driver intros are a tradition, given the circumstances of the long Saturday, they would have been better off skipping it, at least for this year. The drivers clearly were not in to it, at least those on the back stretch, and the crowd was pretty much the same. The King of the Hill was “interesting”. It seemed like whoever got the lead at the jump was untouchable. Maybe that is the norm. It was enjoyable to watch, just different than what we expected. Lastly, and I’m not sure who else might have noticed it, I hope the Kokomo track crew looks at the safety lights going in to turn 3. Twice Saturday, that safety light went to red at the drop of the green flag, NOT green. That is a very dangerous situation! Although the weather was less than ideal, we enjoyed our first time at Smackdown, and Good Lord willing, will attend again.

I thinkyour observation is pretty accurate. High school football hurts friday night crowds plus the new pit bleachers this year may have thinned the people watching from the stands. That said, i thought the crowd was down for the Toasters as well. As many have said, that heat was brutal.

Despite great efforts by a few over the years, imho, the city (businesses) of Kokomo still have no clue what’s going on out there. All of that out of county/ state/ country revenue potential and “Welcome Race Fans” sign outside of the usual places is hard to find. I’ve never been to the Knoxville Nationals but from what i hear, Knoxville shines bright for out of town race fans.

BTW- I forgot to mention Melinda Stanbrough and crew for an outstanding job this year with Kick it for Cancer and raising over $50k! I was kinda hoping Jon might run the two seater against the newly restored and gifted Jim O’Connor stock car in a special edition of King of the Hill. haha.

[Tumey's 55]

I was there, sorry, but the heat isn’t the same. Was 93 and above the week before I came North and the sun is so much more intense in FL. In any event, it was hot and if you are not used to 90 degree temps I get it. The crowd was decent Friday night but lots of open seats, Saturday afternoon was poorly attended but in the middle of the heat so understandable and Saturday night pretty good. I have made every Smackdown except the year my father passed, I think the first year and the year BC tragically died were the two best attended.