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The city of Terre Haute should be embarrased by the happenings at their county Fairgrounds................

$50......price of tickets for myself and my youngest 14 yr. old son..

$60......cost of fuel to get to THAT....

Missed day of Church to go to track.....Not good...

9 Hours of Holiday weekend Ruined........Thanks USAC...

After all of the chatter on this site about getting the younger crowd back to the races, my son said he could really care less if he ever goes back to see a race again after todays Fiasco....

USAC extremely lucky that no one was hurt or killed during qualifying or the ONE fantastic lap that was run.......

Only good call I made was to leave before race was cancelled.......

JMO..............

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Did they really hire the track crew from Eldora to prepare the track? Gee Stewart how did you let them get away?:17::17:

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I was there, it was ridiculous. As soon as the red flag came out all the drivers got out of there cars and walked away. It was so bad you couldn't see people sitting 5 rows in front of you. At the drop of the green the cars in back were going about 30 mph down the frontstretch under green because they couldn't see anything. The track was saturated at the beginning of the day and they spent 3 hours working it until it was bone-dry. Practice was scheduled for 11:30 but didn't start until after 2:00 so they could work the moisture out of the track, but they seemed to think it was proper to work ALL of the moisture out of the track. This was my first and possibly last time to the action track. I've been to 29 different dirt tracks, and I've never seen anything like it. And the USAC press release blamed it on the rain they got the night before! Ridiculous!

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Originally Posted by Rpracing1:
The city of Terre Haute should be embarrased by the happenings at their county Fairgrounds................

Neither the City of Terre Haute or Vigo County have anything to do with the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds. It's owned and operated by the Wabash Valley Fair Association, which is a non-profit organization. It's main purpose is to serve the 4-H, not the local government.

Jerry

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Originally Posted by Stagger:
Sounds like a typical USAC Cluster F***.

Had a feeling this would happen when I heard USAC was running the show out there now. How are they going to spin this one?

I must respectfully disagree with your first statement. This was not a typical USAC CF, it was far, far worse than that. This is my 52nd year of going to races and I have been to a lot of races at a lot of different tracks from coast to coast and I honestly believe the dust at the green flag to start the race was the worst I have ever seen. Anyone who participated in the decision to give the green flag should be fired immediately. It doesn't matter if they don't care for the safety of the drivers or they aren't talented enough to realize what will happen, they should be fired. It was obvious from the dust cloud generated by the pace laps that the start would be a disaster, and it was. The track was better when Dave Allison was running it.

As to the spin, "Extreme heat and deteriorating track conditions" doesn't begin to address why this decision had to be made. This statement is an insult to the drivers and fans.

On a positive note, the drivers once again showed how good they really are. I think it is a minor miracle that they were able to make a lap and get stopped under the horrible conditions without more accidents. If it wasn't for their skill, this could have been a total disaster. We are so fortunate to be able to watch them night after night, week after week. I hope that none of the drivers involved in wrecks were injured.

I only hope that this can be a learning experience which will result in more intelligent management decisions during Sprint Week.

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Just got back from Terre Haute. They said T-Mez is ok and I hope that is true. There's not much I can say about the events of today that haven't already been said, but I'm not living with a USAC driver so who wants to hear my opinion about Indiana dirt tracks anyways?

By the way, I got in touch with a soldier who is a sprint fan from Indiana and stuck in the sandbox overseas. I'm not spending another quarter on a USAC race but I am going to donate a jackslash membership to that soldier.

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Originally Posted by deannalynn:
but i'm not living with a usac driver so who wants to hear my opinion about indiana dirt tracks anyways?

:15:
:15:
:15:

[QUOTE=deannalynn;237771]Just got back from Terre Haute. They said T-Mez is ok and I hope that is true. There's not much I can say about the events of today that haven't already been said, but I'm not living with a USAC driver so who wants to hear my opinion about Indiana dirt tracks anyways? And you wonder why you get so much hostility directed at you.

QUOTE]
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Originally Posted by dirtnonwingfan:
I must respectfully disagree with your first statement. This was not a typical USAC CF, it was far, far worse than that. This is my 52nd year of going to races and I have been to a lot of races at a lot of different tracks from coast to coast and I honestly believe the dust at the green flag to start the race was the worst I have ever seen. Anyone who participated in the decision to give the green flag should be fired immediately. It doesn't matter if they don't care for the safety of the drivers or they aren't talented enough to realize what will happen, they should be fired. It was obvious from the dust cloud generated by the pace laps that the start would be a disaster, and it was. The track was better when Dave Allison was running it.

As to the spin, "Extreme heat and deteriorating track conditions" doesn't begin to address why this decision had to be made. This statement is an insult to the drivers and fans.

On a positive note, the drivers once again showed how good they really are. I think it is a minor miracle that they were able to make a lap and get stopped under the horrible conditions without more accidents. If it wasn't for their skill, this could have been a total disaster. We are so fortunate to be able to watch them night after night, week after week. I hope that none of the drivers involved in wrecks were injured.

I only hope that this can be a learning experience which will result in more intelligent management decisions during Sprint Week.

I'll never understand why they started that race. The large amount of dust that was kicked up just on the laps to get everybody lined up and the wave lap had to give them a clue. Everybody in the stands knew what was getting ready to happen. I saw several people covering things up and many more were already turning their heads the other way, as they headed down towards the green. If I was one of those competitors I'd be saying to USAC what Ricky used to say to Lucy "You got some splainin to do."

I was in Section A of the covered grandstand and literally couldn't see the cars on the front stretch, right in front of me at the end of the first lap. They're just so lucky they didn't have one of those multi-car pileups, like the fog causes on interstate highways, sometimes. It was scary when they were getting off the gas and you could hear a few locking up their brakes. And the crowd had total empathy for the drivers, in this situation.

Jerry

So today I don't think they should have ever thrown the green for that feature but I still had a blast. We were able to meet and talk to some new people and really enjoyed being around the pits throughout the day. Glad everyone is okay and wish I could have seen 100 laps but I still consider today a success.

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Spent the day at THAT on the way home from the Powr I/Badger shows at Little Belleville. I want to see the Action Track succeed however after today I am not sure that it can. Here are some observations and ramblings from a fan in the stands. Just my opinions, so like most they mean nothing.

1)The Wabash Valley Fair Association needs to suspend all auto racing at the Action Track until they can put together a comprehensive plan including numerous capitol improvement projects and hire a promoter with credentials and a background that can turn this disaster around. Whoever they hire needs to have the ability and time allotted to get the job done. No more of this one year deal and then bring in someone else. This just isn't working.

2)USAC-Whoever was placed in charge of track prep for this show is way over their head. My first queston would be, how would the track have be significantly different if they didn't get 1 inch of rain over night? When I arrived around 11:30 AM the top on the front stretch was a hog pit but the rest of the track was not that bad. Was there any track prep done BEFORE today? It certainly didn't seem like that as once they got the top dried off it was as dusty as could be.

The officials that USAC had in charge at the track today need to be canned. How can an organization have so little regard for their drivers to allow for such unsafe conditions. With that being said, the buck stops at someones desk at the USAC office. I would truly hope that Kevin Miller has some good answers for the debacle we witnessed at Terre Haute today. I hope that owners and drivers alike, press to get this situation resolved before someone is seriously hurt or worse.

3)I had just arrived at the track and a car pulled in next to me. A gentleman got out and with him were his son and two grandsons. He asked me if I could help since they were first time fans from St. Louis. He asked the normal questions, coolers, seating, concessions, etc... I feel bad that I ddn't tell him to get back in the car and head west. I certainly don't see how this whole situation would be good for them coming back 2 1/2 hours one way ever again. Opportunity lost to add new fans to the mix.

4)I sat in the open grandstand area and in front of me was a husband and wife with their 4 young kids. The kids were excited at first but as the day wore on they got bored. Mom went down for drinks and came back and said she needed another $20 to get drinks for everyone. She wasn't very happy for sure. I don't see this as a great experience that will bring them running back again.

5)The Action Track has fallen into the same catagory as Eldora in that they have great tradition but the track prep right now is deplorable. You would have to think that representatives of these two tracks would take notice that they need help. From what I have seen so far, they haven't got a clue.

6)Prior to the start of the feature today, I was thinking back to the Dave Allison era here and remember the race that I said I wouldn't return until he was gone. The dust was so bad then that you couldn't see turns one & two or three & four from the open grandstands. Today was even worse than that. The dust was more like a wall coming at you and you couldn't see anything. I know it is a dirt track but there is no way this can continue and people will tolerate this type of treatment.

7)When the red came out I got up and left immediately. A number of others were also headed for the exits as well. My thoughts were and still are, how is USAC going to fix this mess? They have a very short turn around time until their marquee event, Sprint Week takes center stage. What effect will this have on attendance? It certainly has to hurt Terre Haute for sure. But what about other tracks? Does this cause other tracks to lose potential fans? I for one think it will.

8)While sitting waiting for the cars to line up and the feature to start, I also had some random thoughts as well. The Silver Crown series is suppose to be USAC's premier series and yet they struggle to get the cars lined up on the front staight in rows of two. They also allow crew members to be on the track without a shirt on and when the announcer asked the crew members to leave the track so the could introduce drivers, more came out from the pits than left. Why does it take 5 crew members to get the car on the track and then start working on it. What type of message does this send to casual fans?

Many on here wonder why USAC can't get a TV deal? Could you imagine what this mess would have looked like on TV? I wonder how all the folks at USAC will sleep tonight?:44:

Glad to hear that T-Mez is okay and also no one was injuried at the start of the race.

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Wow is all I can.I thought going to see what was ONCE the premier division on what WAS a premier track for what was previously one of the premier sanctioning bodies was a great idea.Honestly they should have paraded whomever was in charge of this unholy debauchery down the front stretch so they could look everyone they ****** in the face.That abomination should have been aborted from the start,the depths of which USAC has sunk and sunken one of the best tracks in the country is so overwhelmingly disgusting it is hard to put into words.It was almost like seeing a multiple fatality wreck on 70(which was conveniently closed going east).You see the horror and yet you cannot look away.I honestly think someone owes some fans drivers and owners who I'd like to remind you are the ones who support this sport through thick and thin some apologizes.And yes they said the tickets will be good for a mid week race a lot of people probably can't make.Also we need a smiley flipping the bird for the end of this diatribe so use your imaginations and tell me who won the sumar.

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It was really neat to walk through the pits today and others with their kids looking at the cars and meeting the drivers. I liked the pit location, this is when you got to see them working on the cars. Now as for the track.....well let's all get together to come up with a fix for this and go from here. We all learned today what not to do so I would like to see if USAC could get all those who have Prep'ed THAT before and those who only do their own local track meet in a ROUND TABLE on working this GREAT 1/2 mile track. This is what developers want us to do, fail so they can have another mall. If we all chip in for the good of racing at the Action Track then it might just be around for years to come. Lets make this work for racers, fans and promoters!!!!

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:10::15:This truly is a sad thing that happened today, but after all it was a day race. As far a track prep goes there is a certin science to it but it's not that tough. What might have been the worst problem, is there weren't enough cars or laps on the car before the feature to seal off the track and blow off the dust, yes it's still going to be dusty, IT"S A DIRT TRACK and it's a DAY RACE. Bottom line USUCK droped the ball (nothing new there). This just shows that they know nothing about track prep. who to hire to do it or how to promote a race.

---------- Post added at 10:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 PM ----------

USUCK CALL JOE SPIKER he's not afraid to make the tough decisions and he knows how to work a race track

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I've got a video from this cluster uploading to YouTube so those of you who weren't there to be horrified by it can experience what the rest of us saw. I've also got an interview with T-Mez in there as well!

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Did anybody really think a 100 lap Silver Crown would work on a hot summer afternoon? That is why I did not go. I might be the only person who thinks this way, but I think the fair board wants the track to fail.Last year the track was better than the any of the 28 years I have been going, and the fair board did not renew the contract. That says a lot right there.

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Dirt and daylight dont mix.

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Pretty disappointed. It was quite a calamity today. I'm not giving up on USAC or Terre Haute, but this was a bad day, a long, hot, bad day.

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Originally Posted by Jerry Shaw:
Neither the City of Terre Haute or Vigo County have anything to do with the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds. It's owned and operated by the Wabash Valley Fair Association, which is a non-profit organization. It's main purpose is to serve the 4-H, not the local government.

Jerry

I don't care who ownes and operates the track. It is located in Terre Haute and if city officials have any concern at all about tourism, they should intervene, because it was definitely a black eye for the city. Plain and simple.

USAC made a mistake yes, but they tried to bring back tradition for the fans. At least they called it after the initial start before anyone else got tore up or hurt.

Everyone forgets the terrible track of the June MSCS and SCORA race in 2009. It was rained out on a Saturday and we came back on Sunday and the track was rougher than a corn field and had a humongous burm built up around the inside that led to many bad wrecks, tore up equipment, and my buddy Alex Coonan had severe injuries. The MSCS Main took like 2 hours to run and then a Late Model Main that took an hour and the SCORA Main had its issues including the last lap wreck that hurt Alex Coonan. This all could have been prevented if Tommy Helfrich would have threw in the towl like USAC did. All of the dollars of tore up equipment, hurt drivers, and pissed off fans would have never happened.
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Originally Posted by sp6967:
will somebody who knows about track prep please notify usac before they destroy my beloved terre haute.

I completely agree; I have feared for the future of THAT knowing developers covet the location and this definitely won't help. Such a shame that track prep was so utterly deficient today, and a good crowd went away unhappy. The track issues go way beyond blaming last night's rain.

On the upside, I got to spend lots of time with my brother, my former Schwan driver, Richie, and DannyB, courtesy of the horrible track prep. That was lots of fun, and now I don't have to pay for ISW at Terre Haute...assuming the race comes off...:15:

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some random thoughts on today....

1. Was very excited to see the infield open and felt that walking in 6 inches of water in my shoes through the tunnel was going to be the worst part of my day. Boy was i wrong!

2. Why would they stop pumping the water out of the tunnel around 1 pm and let it become about 3 feet deep for the rest of the day? Fans were then stranded in the infield and had to cross the track in turn four just to get out. This created a few delays..

3. Speaking of delays, when you are running 3 to 4 hours behind schedule why would you grid the cars on the front stretch for driver intros. This is something they should do if they are ahead of schedule. A bad decision when its 90 degrees outside and people have been sitting there for hours waiting for a race to get going.

4. That water truck they brought before the main was a joke, It was slow and hardly dropped any water. Then he makes 3 laps on the top half of the track.

5. Speaking of water, its ironic how much standing water was all around the facility. The inside of the turns were ponds, the tunnel flooded, the infield was muddy, but the track was incredibly dry. Very ironic.

6. Did anyone still have intentions on going to kokomo around 3 pm? I figured that since i made the 2 hour drive at $3.49 a gallon, was trapped inside the infield, had been there for 4 hours already that i was at least going to see one race today...i was wrong...missed both races. When they announced that it had be postponed i was shocked!

7. The icing on the cake to cap off a bad day of racing was trying to go on the 70 east on ramp to find out it was closed then taking a 25 mintue detour through god knows where...crazy crazy day. but memorable. i will be back to T.H.AT. A bad day at the races is better than no racing at all. I think everyone will learn from everything that us die hard fans experienced today. It will be much improved for sprintweek. Oconnors need to be involved with the track like last year. Thanks for listening to me express my feelings. I feel much better now.

oh yeah and im glad T-Mez is ok after his crash. He is a true gasser and its much appreciated when he puts his life on the line no matter what to entertain us fans. Thanks

EK

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Agree with most everything above. Some bad decisions were made, and opportunities to jump on problems and fix them were missed. However, I WILL be back to the Action Track. As bad as things were today, it is no reason to let many years of great tradition get dumped into the dustbin of history. Just do it better next time.

Ditto on T Mez. I was fortunate enough to catch his win at Putnamville last year. He is definitely a crowd pleaser. His car is a mess though. Too bad.

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Kind of felt like I was watching a Jerry Olson promotion from the early 2000's. Wait maybe I got that feeling because I noticed him working the track. Glad to see USUC went out and hired the best. Congrats to you Funk for staying home. I was excited when I awoke this morning after a night of rain. Hopefully it will be better for sprintweek. I will see you all there despite most of your complaints.

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Wow....

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Just wait until you see the actual video, Chris!! (That pic is actually a screenshot from my video...so consider it a preview!)

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Not the best video but you may be able to get the point. YouTube...

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Some observations from someone wo has been involved with racing at THAT on several different levels.

1. Mr.Olson was present and involved with some of the track prep during the day. I knew when I saw his presence this was NOT a good developement.

2. You CAN run a successful day show. See Bob Sargeant's race at Springfield. No dust and it is a day show.

3. Years ago I was told by an official in USAC that they are a sanctioning body, not a promotions company. Today proved it. Promotions are for the promotors, not for the sanctioning group.

4.The call to throw the green wasn't the flagman's. He may get blamed , but he's the employee, not the boss.

5. USAC better shell out some cash and hire someone to do track prep for Sprintweek, or they will lose even more fans.

6. Yes, I will go back to THAT, but if it was a casual fans first time, USAC can kiss them good bye. Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth.

7. As I have posted on here before, USAC has had more unsuccessful suicide attempts then any other organization I know of. Today seemed as if they were trying a LOT harder then usual.

8. USAC you'd better call Bill Carey, you need him a lot more then he needs you, but you'd be VERY SMART to give him a call. Some times it doesn't hurt to swallow your pride.

9. MR. Miller, come Tuesday morning, everyone you talk to better know you mean business. After the debacle today the people you work with need to know that things need to change, and change NOW.

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Remember USAC at Terre Haute on ABC Wide World of Sports. Lots of day shows and the track was pretty damn good.

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the fat lady is tunin' up.

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One of the five greatest sprint car races I ever saw was at Terre Haute, in the daytime. Rich Vogler starting in the back in the Bowen Olds car and kicking everybody's a##.

If you know what your doing you can put a great show on in the day time at THAT. Nobody knew what they were doing today.

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Originally Posted by racephoto1:
One of the five greatest sprint car races I ever saw was at Terre Haute, in the daytime. Rich Vogler starting in the back in the Bowen Olds car and kicking everybody's a##.

If you know what your doing you can put a great show on in the day time at THAT. Nobody knew what they were doing today.

before the epa siad no more of that.

I agree, dirt AND daylight can mix. I too have seen many good daytime shows at DuQuoin and Sfield
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When did USAC start doing track prep?.....T.H.A.T. gets the blame...USAC should require the track to pay the purse...the racers spent a lot to get there..the track failed the racers and the fans

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Yeah we put on a great race at Brownstown back in 2009 for our Jackson 100, so youre right, under the right circumstances it works

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Originally Posted by Chris Nunn:
Dirt and daylight dont mix.

:11;

How in the hell were there any races before all of the 'dirt tracks' had lights?????????

Eldora has night races, and is still a total dust bowl (and at least once, a total mud hole for no reason, and one other time a motocross track), explain that!

1" of rain should not have caused this mess, and it should have been a wet/tacky speed fest, not a dust bowl.

The cause of this most recent USAC disaster is, IDIOTS running the show!!!!

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Originally Posted by dant:
When did USAC start doing track prep?.....T.H.A.T. gets the blame...USAC should require the track to pay the purse...the racers spent a lot to get there..the track failed the racers and the fans

When they took over the promotional duties this year at Terre Haute. It is solely on USAC now.

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Unless they get someone who knows how to prep a track in there Tuesday and start getting it in order it will not be good in 10 days for sprint week.

I think it is time to move this date to Putnamville then get a promoter and the Fair board together for next year and try again.

because if you try again in a week and you have a mess like today it might just be the end of the action Track.

it will be hard to find someone to take a chance on the place.

just my thoughts not trying to start a fight!