[cowboyhar69]

I've never been to any of the tracks that all of you have mentioned where the crowd wasn't HUGE...I too was disappointed when Greenville was dropped from the schedule. I don't know what the sanction fee is for The AMA but the purse at Greenville was $40,000.

[Blackduce]

There are so many stories that apply to these guys that make this such a exciting sport and they are all probably true. In the first part of 1975 a flat tracker I owned was riden by Dave Aldana. Trust me, they all raced hard, partied hard and most lived together in the same motel room at different trackes. One story I remember was, who ever won the race then had to buy all the beer and ice and take back to the motel. The parking lot at the Ramadas had all the beer and ice in a pile. Everybody circled there vans in a circle around the beer. Turned there radios to the same station. Drank and danced till the sun came up. One guy had a room and every body used it for shower ect. Then drove to the next race. They lived life to the fullest. Not always the safest or smartest. Real nomads and racers. Thanks for the post cowboyhar69.

Lynn

[cowboyhar69]

Another fact about the flat track bikes...they used to run with NO brakes!! The steel plate on the bottom left boot was the only thing used. I believe it was in 1982 that the rear brake was added...still no front brake on them.

[jahmo55]

I remember the old "Stroh Mile Series"

[REH24]

They raced at Eldora a couple of times in the 90's. When they were running down the front stretch they would be so close to the wall that the handlebars would scrape them. It was said that Earl would not watch the race because of how dangerous it was, now don't know how true that was but that was the word that night. If you never seen these bikes on the mile or even half mile you must put it on your bucket lists.

REH

[ISF]

Ol' Jack Hewitt promoted some of those Eldora shows with Earl. We were shootin' the breeze with Jack at Springfield following the Bettenhausen Memorial one time during the years he and Earl were promoting those shows. Jack always ran a late model and/or a modified at the Illinois Fall Nationals back when they held that deal on The Springfield Mile but he said he wouldn't be racing that weekend 'cause it was the same weekend as the AMA show at Eldora. He asked me if I'd ever seen the flat trackers in action and I said no. He looked at me and said with all seriousness "those guys not only have big balls they're crazy, too". We laughed like hell. I figured if Hewitt seriously thought they were crazy then they have to be a great show.

We'd love to go to The Springfield Mile to see them but we're always at Indy over Memorial Day and Du Quoin over Labor Day. Gonna' have to break tradition one of these years and go see 'em on The Mile.

I was talking to a guy in the grandstands during the Horn Memorial at Du Quoin several years ago that rode in one of the novice classes there. He said Du Quoin, for whatever reason, was a place where several riders had been seriously injured or worse over the years. He said he didn't know why even after racing there a few times. Don't know if that had anything to do with them dropping Du Quoin off the schedule or not

[Flatrightrear]

I never heard of anybody getting hurt at Du Quoin but I could be wrong. Guys seemed to get hurt at Louisville and it was usually in a support class. We always sat in a little stand there coming out of #4 and some drunk guy walked right out into the middle of the track during racing and a guy hit him and I think the rider died with the drunk seriously hurt or vice versa. It stripped the guy out of his clothes and his empty boots were still standing up on the track. That was bizarre and really felt for the rider. People really used to get tanked up there on the beer. We drank some, too, but would ride back to Evansville after the races so we had to behave a bit. I had a cousin in the club that used to put that show on and I think it was insurance that was a problem and got them to stop. I'll call him and check on that.
The AMA runs the Indy Mile every August on a Sat. night and is tied in with the Moto GP weekend at Indy, I believe. I really should go up for that next year.

[ISF]

Tom, I'm quoting the guy I talked to at the Horn Memorial and he may not have known what he was talking about. If that's the case I humbly stand corrected.

[racephoto1]

The Indy Mile is the same day as Springfield. If everything goes right at Springfield, you can drive your a$$ off and make the Indy Mile. I know you can make it, I have the last 2 years.It isn't everyday you go to 2 different state fairs to see racing on 2 different dirt miles. But is it ever worth it.

[cowboyhar69]

Here is the 2014 AMA Flat track schedule....16 races this year.




http://amaproracing.com/ft/news/index.cfm?cid=58807