Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

First off I want to give a shout out to both USAC and Ocala Speedway and there staff for a great kick off to the 2011 Sprint car racing season.

I have said (privately and to anyone who would listen lol) that all USAC needed was people in place who could convince us racers that they cared as much as we do. I have heard way to many times over the years that "This is only a job" or "well its a paycheck" Nothing infuriated me more then to here that when for the majority who do this it's their paycheck that they are giving up to do this.

From the time we pulled in the pits there seemed to be an energy and a friendliness and an excitement to be at the the race track. Kevin Miller made an effort to get through the pits and meet and shake hands with those who were there to shake things down. Dave Brzozowski the new competition directer was gracious in his attempt to go through the changes he is instituting. The tech of the cars were really a tech of the cars that as both a car owner and a dad I was happy to see. The Ocala promoters, if they stopped by the trailer once they did a dozen times to make sure we that we had everything we needed and to make sure the racers were happy in the direction of the track.

Race day, for the first time in a long time (this is probably not a fair statement) I watched the USAC contingent I am guessing 8-10 strong bust ass from 9 in the morning (when we arrived they were there before us) till 11:30 at night to put on an "event". Some of the ideas they are coming up with to engage the fans seemed to work pretty well last night and will continue to grow as they learn how to grow their ideas.

There Happy Hour seemed to work out well as we had several fan's with there kids in tow stopped by.

The racing was the normal unreal, hold your breath till the last corner action we have come to love about this series.

The crowd was decent for a Thursday night. as the main grandstands was 2/3rds full and the turn four grandstands were 1/4 full. and there were plenty of people milling around the pits.

2 things struck me last night that made me chuckle a little and the more I think about it the more it makes me think we are indeed heading down the right road.

#1) it was pretty evident that Dave had some nerves holding his first official pit meeting. It was clear that Dave wants to do a great job for us the racers and for USAC and I for one am excited to watch Dave grow in his new role.

#2) Blake Anderson, Hopefully the "voice of USAC" for the future. The love this kid has for the sport is contagious and his pre-race excitement rivaled any of the drivers who lined up for the nights feature.

Not sure what all this means but I figured after all the negativity that seems to follow about any event that is ran now regardless of the sanction, track, series, ect I would make a preemptive strike with a little positivity.

Oh yea as we were leaving last night the promoter stopped us and asked what he could do for the tonight to make it even better ... yep it was a great start to the season.

Tim Clauson

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Thanks for the informed post. Glad I managed to watch big block mods, late models and sprints all from my cheap couch. February seems to get better every year for the race fan stuck north.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Also...

Looks like USAC has stepped it up in the Media department as the Internet feed looked great. In addition, it looked like 2 or 3 camera angles and once the audio problems were sorted out it was great to watch a complete feature without losing the feed about 10 times. I can tell USAC has done some homework in the off season to make the greatest racing on the planet great for the fans. Thanks!!!!

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

It was great from the stands, too. I was pleasantly surprised to walk up to the ticket booth and buy my ticket from Kevin Miller, himself. I had very mixed feelings to find there were already enough people there that we could only get half way up the stands and still be on the aisle. Usually the stands are damned near empty on the first night of the shows. It is, after all, a work/school night.

The show went off like clockwork. We saw a good show, topped by a great feature, and were back in our motel room by 11pm.

The new announcer was good. He's following another good one, but I think he'll be as good as Mr. Klepper.

We're looking forward to two more as good as last night.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Credit, where credit is due. If that "performance" last night, was a hint at what a bunch of rag tag sprint car drivers, can do, without a "drafting" partner, then Nascar better start pulling the tent stakes, cause it's end is coming. Now, I don't care what anyone says, even with the problems with the video, and sound, that was what I call racing, hammer down, balls out, best man and machine wins, but then, isn't Sprint car, open wheel racing pretty much that way, it's just that we had both, back to back, to compare them together. USAC, I'll wait and see how they handle it, they have the players, if the just don't missmanage what is being handed to them. I liked it, and can't wait til we can get on the tracks ourselves. Good show guys! Bob:6:

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Got to see the Jackslash Highlight reel on youtube and WOW, What a night. The place looked great on camera and the racing looked even better. I had to leave for work before any Feed came on but look forward to tonight and saturday. As always, Would be there if I could and I made more USAC shows last year than any year prior.

Eldora. Step up. Have the track ready and don't cancel on the threat of rain!

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Lets hope USAC brings that same excitement for the racers back to indiana. Is the big screen in the infield going to be a normal thing for USAC racings? I know when i did get the video the quality was great. I had it on my 46" tv and it still looked good a little pixilated but not bad considering. On my laptop it was clear.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

I only wish I could be there. :13:

Congrats to all involved. Nice video feed and the Jackslash highlight reel was very well done. That looks like a pretty racy little joint.

This is going to be a very good year for USAC racing!

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

seadog it's a crazy joint. 1-2 are sweeping then you have a dogleg on the back chute then if that's not enough 3-4 is a hairpin. :18: all the races there have been good during speedweek.:6: oh yea the place is very clean. a lot of new stuff.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by smith19:
seadog it's a crazy joint. 1-2 are sweeping then you have a dogleg on the back chute then if that's not enough 3-4 is a hairpin. :18: all the races there have been good during speedweek.:6: oh yea the place is very clean. a lot of new stuff.

Sounds kind of like Shady Bowl only Ocala it is dirt and not paved?

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Coming home from a mid 60s afternoon and then watching the live stream of Ocala has really put me in the mood. Thanks to USAC and Ocala for the view. Thanks to the live streaming I get to see the best racing on the planet a month early.:6:

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by Seadog:
Sounds kind of like Shady Bowl only Ocala it is dirt and not paved?

Looked like the old 3/8 tri-oval at Columbus, In, in the infield of the 1/2 mile, where the Fair Oaks Mall is now, some mighty good racing took place there, on both tracks, with the MRA, CRA, and the mighty 2 wheelers! Bob:)

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

It's been said that Ocala is the only place where you get to see sprint cars on a road course. Tom

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Tim,
I just wanted to say thank you for the most positive post I've seen in a long time. As if we weren't already pumped for race season to start, you have officially made me CRAZY that I'm not there and I can't wait to get back to some dirt track sprint car racing :)

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Here is a Aerial of ocala before they covered the asphalt with clay.

http://www.ocalaspeedway.com/images/...laspeedway.jpg

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by smith19:
seadog it's a crazy joint. 1-2 are sweeping then you have a dogleg on the back chute then if that's not enough 3-4 is a hairpin. :18: all the races there have been good during speedweek.:6: oh yea the place is very clean. a lot of new stuff.

This place was really unique..Haven't been there since the early 90's...Is 1&2 still uphill and 3&4 downhill ??? Does the backstretch still set higher than the frontstretch ???

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Tim, as I mentioned to you at Tulsa, I always appreciate your sane, reasoned posts on this forum. This one is no different. It's always good to get opinions first-hand, especially when they're positive (which is frequently not the case on IOW). With a few well-chosen words you've managed to promote USAC's efforts to grow the sport from the inside out. And that's a good thing. As noted on several posts, the video coverage was exceptional, once the teething problems were solved. USAC deserves a big "thank you" for even attempting to bring live coverage to those of us who would prefer to be there in person, but are unable to. Thanks USAC, and thanks, Tim, for your input.

Bob Nikkel

Originally Posted by Pine:
This place was really unique..Haven't been there since the early 90's...Is 1&2 still uphill and 3&4 downhill ??? Does the backstretch still set higher than the frontstretch ???

Yes, it is just as you described.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

It looks exactly like Mt. Lawn Speedway in New Castle, Indiana

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Thank you USAC, I have really enjoyed the feeds. Ocala looks like a nice place, and the shows have run right along. It would be nice to see it build in the future with a couple more tracks jumping on board. What a nice vacation that would be. Cardinal baseball during the day, USAC sprints at night! A guy can dream, can't he?

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

This place is one of the best tracks that I have been to.
The staff is great, you can go into the pits free up to 6 pm
Food is good and reasonable, and the racing is great, and no dust.
If you look at the picture of the track you would think 1 & 2 turns would be the fastest since it so sweeping but turn 3 and 4 is just kick butt fast. They go into that turn just like they do on 3 & 4 at Eldora.
If I did not know any better I thought I was at a Indiana track the last few days. The reason for this is that there is alot of my friends that I see everyweek at the Indiana tracks including the PA fans.
Just missing Aero and Monica & Bob. Tony Funk did his best to entertained us Thursday night?? I hope they do this again next year.

Mark Fritz:8:

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Wow some poor planning on my part caused me to miss this. The USAC guys are the only form of "racing" left. There is no other events that I go to that provide racing. The guys run close together you see some passing most of the time (track conditions) and there is more than one driver who can win a race on any given night. I live in the south so this was a huge missed opportunity for me. I have to drive back to IN during the summers to get to see these guys. This makes me exited about doing that seeing that their is new excitement for the 2011 season.

Thanks for the positive post. Good to see Bryan in victory lane. Have watched him many a time at Tri-State. Another good thing about the sport the drivers are some great guys. It is a great place to take someone to introduce them to racing because you seldom see anything stupid go on at a USAC event among fans or drivers. Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing all the hot shoes a few times this summer.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

I just wanted to ad a comment or two to my original post after Friday and Saturday Nights racing ...

Ditto and double ditto !

Thanks again to everyone at USAC and Ocala, Great GREAT event!

Tim Clauson

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

they announced last night that they will be back next year to do it again:6:

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

The real question is how did the fans at Ocala enjoy the racing? It looked the like the attendance was pretty good. I know back in the 90's when I was going to the track on a weekly basis the average crowd was about half of what was there the past 3 days. So to me it looked like a decent turnout, however I dont know what type of figures they have been getting as of late.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

We attended all three nights and it was a great show ..very well ran and outta there by 10:00 ..not the clay of Indiana but good race track. Very nice and clean place to be . Thanks to USAC for bringing REAL racing to Florida

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

And to think, a friend of mine told me USAC really screwed up by not going back to where they were last year.
Guess he was wrong.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Ditto to everything Tim said. Lots of visitors among the locals. During my 3 nights I had two from Miami next to me and they loved it, said it was the best racing they had seen; couple from PA who think nonwing is the way to go; Dick Monahan in front and you know how he feels. I think they will have larger crowds this year with the Northerners who weren't there this year plus more locals. Does anyone know what kind of dirt that was? TimBookmiller's comment about it not being the clay of Indiana was right on, but I'm not sure what it was. Sort of light tan that looks dried out when it is very wet, not sandy like you get in Florida but kind of sticky. Florida swamp clay?

If you didn't go this year, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year. Track, people, concessions, clean restrooms, everything first class.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

thanks to the promoter for allowing the race to be broadcast live!
however, one tiny piece of constructive criticism goes out to the the
guy who was filming. too many tight close ups early on in race and
halfway through the feature try to show the top 8 or 10 in order through the pack so we can see where they are. show what your announcer is screaming about. we couldnt here the engine sound at all.
i'm sure most of this has been adressed and i'll be looking forward to
more of these when i cant be there in person. thanks again for doing
this! who woulda thought i could sit at the dining room table eating
dinner while watching a live usac sprint car race from florida that isnt even on tv!

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

I arrived at Ocala Wed for practice & seen three days of great racing and was happy to hear USAC will be back in 2012. The locals setting near me commented the Non-wing were more exciting to watch than the wings. (we all know) I will return next year if the gas prices are below $4 a gallon.
Next year keep just two classes Sprints & modified

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by bigmojo5:
And to think, a friend of mine told me USAC really screwed up by not going back to where they were last year.
Guess he was wrong.

USAC was going back to the track they were at last year until that track had other ideas. I personally hope they never return to where they were last year.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by David Lynch:
I arrived at Ocala Wed for practice & seen three days of great racing and was happy to hear USAC will be back in 2012. The locals setting near me commented the Non-wing were more exciting to watch than the wings. (we all know) I will return next year if the gas prices are below $4 a gallon.
Next year keep just two classes Sprints & modified

Gas will be above $4 before the Little 500 gets here. I think you will see $5 gas next year at this time. Hope I'm wrong.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Next year keep just two classes Sprints & modified[/QUOTE]

Or how about sprints & midgets?

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

After watching the video it made me wish to go south this time next year.

This is another way of saying that all involved did a great job of it.

Perhaps Mr. Fish and I will take the choo choo down there next Feb.

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

hot laps just after the sun set and an orange full moon rising around the first heat on the back stretch each night. man i'm glad i made this one! great 4 days of back-em in!

Re: Shout out to USAC and Ocala Speedway
 

Originally Posted by dirtnonwingfan:
Ditto to everything Tim said. Lots of visitors among the locals. During my 3 nights I had two from Miami next to me and they loved it, said it was the best racing they had seen; couple from PA who think nonwing is the way to go; Dick Monahan in front and you know how he feels. I think they will have larger crowds this year with the Northerners who weren't there this year plus more locals. Does anyone know what kind of dirt that was? TimBookmiller's comment about it not being the clay of Indiana was right on, but I'm not sure what it was. Sort of light tan that looks dried out when it is very wet, not sandy like you get in Florida but kind of sticky. Florida swamp clay?

If you didn't go this year, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year. Track, people, concessions, clean restrooms, everything first class.

the clay is what we would call blue clay ,but ocala's also has a little lime kinda mixed with it. when you dig down about 5 feet in some parts of fl. you will find it and it has a blue tint and kinda a brown tint mixed in