Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

Coleman and his Team have decided to head back to Indiana this weekend to compete at Gas City on Friday and Lincoln Park Speedway on Saturday.

2 reasons of which have nothing to do with USAC or the Series. However this trip to the Mid West has shown us that when you venture into Wing Territory, you'd better clean the backseat of the bus 'cause that is where you will be seated. Something that just amazes us since we have raced both and both should get equal billing but does not occur.

That mentality can greatly effect the safety and economics of our sport. I believe there were scenarios that occurred this week that have proven this theory correct for us. I will not speak for or pretend to know what other teams are thinking but this decision for our team seemed logical.

I hope all the Iceman Fans will join the Team this weekend in Indy. We wish the teams competing in Dodge City and Grain Valley a great run.

See you guys soon...

Pete G. and Team CGR

Happy to hear you'll be running at Gas City. Coleman always seems to do well when I post updates. Hmmm ~ I'm thinking I might need a bribe. Did anyone mention how much I like mango margaritas?
:) :) :)
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Great News can't wait to see the Iceman at Putnamville :6:

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Robin, I thoroughly enjoyed a good belly laugh today... You and Jill can enjoy the Margaritas since she will be there too.. The updates are GREAT. You are the "WOMAN".. Jill is hunting for Margaritas on their way back to Indy... Thanks.

pg

Re: Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

Look forward to seeing Coleman race at Putnamville. Have safe travels back to Indiana.

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We hope to see the Iceman at both Gas City and LPS this weekend. Thanks for the heads up Pete.:6:

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wow !!!!!!!!!! i love to see you back in your second home from home and i follow your race team. but the bad part is i have to work this weekend and will not make the shows this weekend. hope to catch your team soon before the racing season ends. dose your team have any burg visits in the schedule and would be intrerested in what team cgr schedule will be for the rest of indiana. i will travel to watch the ice man and team cgr. great luck the rest of the season.

I like this a lot...you guys are a top team, wish more would follow your lead..unfortunately there is no Sunday dates, so no corner visits lol..good luck to iceman and crew!!
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Re: Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

Glad to see a quality team coming to our local shows, way to go! Can't blame you for coming "home" after a 13 car phantom rain out and the track conditions at Oskkie! Good luck to a quality group of peps.

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The only problem with not supporting USAC is when they show up short on cars, you might not see the race happen again next year and races are hard to replace especially for the purse USAC pays. I'm not saying in the short term you didn't make the right call for your team, but looking at the big picture. it is going to be hard to get races for that purse with low car counts.......if enough people come home, maybe next year we all are racing for 1200 to win.

Before the bashers start.........yes I own a sprint car team and also provide the engines to a USAC team.........so I do know what it costs to race.

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One of the main reason I seldom post here is because there seems to be alot of negativety, and most of that is directed at USAC. I myself am now guilty of doing the same thing. My information regarding Eagle was 3rd party word of mouth. I (in the last few minutes) was informed by someone that I highly respect (and a person who does know the facts) that the car count at Eagle was going to be solid and that rain was there along with tornado threats and a bad forcast.
While I'm posting for the final time I would like to straighten out a myth that I seem to read on this site weekly. With the exception of THAT (and the weather the night before screwd them) USAC has no say so in track preperation. They are a sanctioning body that entrust the promoters they do buisness with to handle track prep! In most cases a promoter wants no input from USAC on track prep, its their facility and they prep it as they see fit. If anyone has a reason to have issues with USAC it is me, but the issues I have are between me and USAC. It would be nice if people would only post facts and not let their personal feeling get in the way (as I did).
I love spint, midget, and silver crown racing and USAC provides the best platform for this type of racing. The issues that competitors have with USAC are between them and USAC. We as race fans have no idea of what goes on behind the scenes to make these events happen. So, in parting, I plan to not post anymore, buy suggest to those of you that do that you have your facts before you post!

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USAC does not pay the purse at the local track when it's a USAC event, the track promoter pays it while USAC sits back and gets their fair share. If you are racing for $1200 to win that's your own fault because many track pay more than that in Indiana. USAC isn't a winning combination for most local tracks. Unless it's sprint week a promoter is guaranteed to lose money on a USAC event due to the large purse; ie $25000 plus.

Re: Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

good buy

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As I stated in my first sentence from the original post; this is not about USAC or the series. They don't control the track prep and most of the time if they try, they get told to "beat it". I have seen it myself. So if someone wants to tear into USAC, use another post please.

As far as not supporting USAC, we've competed in every show except 1, including Sprint week and the entire Eastern Storm series and those 2 weeks are no cheap date, I can assure you. If they don't have a show at one of those Central U.S. tracks next year, it will not be because of the drivers. They field the best in the business. If they can't pay the purses, it won't be the drivers fault, it may be the lack of fan support in that area. Did you see the grandstands at Knoxville? From the camera angle all of us got, it was pretty empty. But, throw a wing on them and it is a packed house. So, if fans support is low, it must not be that important so, I believe, the track prep suffers. The track at Oskaloosa wasn't touched all day after a full night of Wing Racing. We raced Wing Cars in the ASCS Nationals and with the PA Posse guys so we know all about Wing Racing. It can be exciting but our opinion is Non Wing racing is still a better ticket. Obviously not everyone feels that way in the Midwest and Plain States.

If this is going to made Political, then blame me. The Team came to me with this thought and I agreed. When Coleman could not see anything in front of him in Hot Laps that is a big problem to us. We are not interested in running over each other, possibly hurting someone or worse if the track is not prepared. Then, the track ate tires like an asphalt race and the passing in the feature was at a premium. That will also drive away fans. Obviously some guys made it work but for most it was tough. It is a vicious cycle for sure.

So, our decision to come back where Non Wing Sprinters are supported like they should be and the track promoters put the best effort into getting the track ready for a great show was a logical decision for us.

This is not a USAC bashing post, just a post to alert Coleman's fans that we are back in Indiana this weekend where the Beer is Cold, the Tracks are Fast and the Fans know where to see the best Sprint Car Racing in the Country. If that's political or unpopular then so be it.

Pete G..

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glad to hear you coming back to indiana always welcome here love to watch colman race at put

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Very well said Pete,understand fully.Still remember following you into the fairgrounds @ Oklahoma Speedway in 09, during the TNT Tour, the doors came open and the grill was fired up.What happened @ Lakeside, we all would like to forget.Best of Luck the rest of the racing season!

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I was at Southern Iowa Speedway Monday for All-Stars and Tuesday for USAC. Monday's show was typical locked down winged follow the leader garbage. Yet the track prep was really good. They had a full field of winged cars run a lot of laps with NO DUST what so ever, NONE. I was really impressed by that. No dust at a winged race is very rare. So, I'm salivating all day Tuesday thinking how good USAC was going to be on a track prepared the same way. Unfortunately, as the USAC machines were idling around putting heat in the engines the dust was billowing behind and they weren't even on the gas yet!

USAC ran eight heats, with two of them being pretty good racing.The rest of them were OK, but the feature just down right sucked. It was single file on the bottom. The cars were lifting way early and coasting around the turns, especially turns 1 & 2. The stands were packed with winged people that were in the area because of the upcoming Knoxville Nationals. I heard several of them yell that USAC sucks. And in reality that night they did suck, but not because of the sanctioning body or its drivers, but because of the piss poor track. But to those winged fans it was USAC and traditional non winged sprints that was the problem. That's sad, but that was their perception and their perception is their reality.

When USAC is at Knoxville, Southern Iowa Speedway, Lincoln Speedway in PA or other winged havens a pattern has been consistent. That pattern has been dry slick piece of crap track conditions. I don't think its by mistake either, it's by design. Those tracks don't want their regular clientele to see that there's something better than what they see on a weekly basis with their winged cars. Plain and simple, they're scared. Scared their fans will want more traditional sprintcar racing. Something that they can't deliver as most of those winged guys refuse to run sans wings. That's why Williams Grove won't even book USAC, they know it's a better show than their weekly or WoO show.

My feeling is, before USAC signs a contract with these winged tracks in the future, there needs to be a clause in the contract about proper track conditions. If they can't do that, then they shouldn't race there as they aren't doing traditional sprintcar racing any favors. In-fact, they're hurting the sport, just like they did this past Tuesday with many of the people at Southern Iowa Speedway .

Also a shout out to both Robert Ballou & Dave Darland for calling out the track prep guy before the feature, but especially Robert as he really let them have it. I don't care for the politically correct world we live in, so I found his calling them out refreshing.

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We've gone to Osky every year since they started the Ultimate Challenge.(The One Night Stand for 30 Grand,back then) If McCarl cared about having two good nights they'd run the non-wings Monday and the wings Teusday.After this year we came back for Belle Claire, Gas and Put also. It's too bad, the Knoxville Non-Wing Nationals were very good this year,great car count,good track prep.Hate to see support for the Non-Wing Nationals drop,because of Osky.But if they can't switch the days,we probably won't return.Might save my vacation time for the Perris Nationals in the future. GOOD LUCK CGR!!!

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Ok. My turn to set the record straight. Yes they didn't do near enough work on track prep at Osky but it was also sunny and 30-40mph. wind gusts all day. That will make any track dusty. It was no worse than THAT sprint week which was also sunny and windy. I'm sorry but in those conditions there's not much you can do. This was the first time in the 10 year history of the race that there was dust so lets just give them another chance. It was tacky monday for the wings because it rained like hell sunday night. The winged fans I heard in the stands know the non-wing cars put on a better show when there's something to get ahold of and I assure you it'll be better next year. The racing there is better when it isn't too tacky like last year. McCarl gives each race equal billing and pays more for the non-wing race. The crowd at Knoxville was very good. I believe the front stretch grandstand holds over 20,000 people so a crowd of 7,000 may not look very big from the pits Mr.Gulick. I garuntee they made money that night only paying the standard USAC purse. In contrast they admittedly loose money every week on their weekly winged shows. The real reason the Iceman is headed back to Indiana is the lack of success he's had all year long and it's probably a good idea for him to get some more experience with different set-ups before trying to run USAC full time. Don't blame it on the race tracks that gave you a good track to run on Sunday and the highest single day purse of the year Tuesday. Have fun sharing the bill with 3 or 4 classes of fender bender's in Indiana! Hope to see you at Terre Haute though.

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Funny, I don't remember 10 cars stopping for fresh rubber at Terre.Don't remember drivers complaining about a tire eating track at Terre.Don't remember NHRA tire smoke at Terre.But I do remember a well prepared track and a great race at Terre. Wind?? It was the best weather at a race this year.Nice breeze,felt great.

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Terre Haute was far from a good track. I ate dust all night. It was actually dustier there. Terre haute did not take rubber though which made for a better race. It was windier earlier in the day, but like I said they could've watered it more. If everyone permanently boycotted every track that had a dusty rubbery night there would be very few dirt tracks left in existence. It was the first bad track in ten years for god sake. I hope THAT is more like last year on 9/10.

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Terre Haute was considered by many to be the best race of Sprint Week. There were drivers running from the bottom to the top. Several came from deep in the field to contend for top 5 positions. Ballou, Darland, Clauson, Scheurenberg and Cottle to name a few. Drivers, team owners and fans alike have described a race at Oskaloosa that wasn't even remotely like the one at Terre Haute. And that no effort was made all day at track prep. So, you're trying to say that these people all drove most of the way across the Midwest just so they could lie about a track in your state? Coming from a guy that also needed to take a professional shot at a young driver and insult the Indiana racing scene to make your point, that kind of thing doesn't surprise me, I guess. I've been to this race multiple times and know that I'm not going back until they have a couple that prove they actually care about non-wing racing. Hopefully USAC will side with driver safety and not go back there, either.

Jerry

Re: Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

Where did I say the Osky race was better than THAT????? I said THAT was better...actually much better but also dusty. I drive 10 hrs. round trip to go to Indiana and have sat through many dust bowls at Terre Haute and Eldora but unlike you Jerry I keep going because I know it isn't always like that. For me, it has nothing to do with what state it is in. I haven't attended a winged race at Knoxville since the 80's. I drive twice as far to go to Terre Haute instead. If I boycotted THAT after the FIRST dusty race I saw there I would've quit going there in the 80's too. Knoxville and Oskaloosa are our only two chances for non-wing sprints remotely close to home which are still 2 and 1/2 hours each way. So I plead with everyone to go next year as I'm pretty sure McCarl got the message. You don't know how good you have it in Indiana. Just think how much more money I have to spend to see the same race you go to out there. A one night race at THAT cost me $115 in gas.$65 for cheap motel and $25 race ticket. I'll gladly spend it till the day I die, dusy or not, as long as it's non-wing. THAT is lucky to have fans like me and my family and it is good to see Indiana people in Iowa. For everyone's sake I pray Osky is prepped better next year.

---------- Post added at 12:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 AM ----------

I almost forgot, Jerry. If you think USAC should boycott Osky next year due to safety then I guess they better Boycott racing at THAT and Eldora where they've had to cancell races due to dust!

Re: Attention "Iceman" Fans...
 

One of the funniest posts I've read on here in a long time!

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For those naysayers on the conditions at the Action Track for sprint week, yeah it had a tad bit of dust but the photo below should tell you that there was plenty of racing going on over the course of the night. As for the gentleman who questioned Coleman's ability to light the rubber and hammer the throttle, well, the bottom photo should help ease those misbegotten thoughts.
Welcome back to Indiana Team GCR, we'll be happy to see you rock this weekend! And if you bring the lacrosse sticks, I'll be happy to have a toss too as a fellow East Coaster from the past!

http://careyfoxphotos.smugmug.com/20.../IMG8067-M.jpg

http://careyfoxphotos.smugmug.com/20.../IMG9001-M.jpg

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:44:

Is the iceman planning on running next Saturday at pvill for the mscs race paying 3000 to win?????
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I believe so, Yes. Thanks.

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I just sit back and watch as two teams (Hoffmans and CGR) try to keep the fans up to speed with what they are doing and every post turns into a complaining session about one thing or another. Before we know it there won't be a team owner, driver, promoter, etc that will even participate on this board as everyone of their posts turn into a ***** session. JMO

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We appreciate your point very much. That is the beauty of this site; everyone can express their opinions without bias. You might be right on with some of your comments but others may feel differently. I'm not sure what your measure of success is in this sport since it is filled with so many highs and lows but again, your entitled to your opinion and we appreciate it. We're thrilled with Coleman's progress this year; 3 wins to date, multiple podiums and a track record on the tour but for some that may not be enough. All of this while he was still 17. However that might just be the Dad in me looking through rose colored glasses. Again, we appreciate your opinion and I am pretty sure Coleman will be at Terre Haute. Have a good weekend.

Pete G.

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Thanks Pete for showing real class. I doubt that I could have done that.:19:

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That is the very definition of taking the high road. :6:

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Well I don't mind not taking the high road with a comment like that (throwback). I guess Coleman just didn't do well finishing 7th huh? I mean Stanbrough and Levi should just run weekly stuff and stop running USAC considering they finished 13th and 14th; wait, aren't they up pretty high in points? Geez, Coleman must be pretty tore up about finishing in front of Tracy Hines who has been racing for what, 30 years? Shucks, I guess I agree with you then; come on Coleman, back to Indiana you go. Throwback, your post is up there with some of the worst I have seen on this board. I hope you eat a lot of Coleman's dust next time you're at THAT. Peace

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i love you man!!!!!!!!!!!!! :32: :31: :22:

---------- Post added at 06:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

wow!!!!!!!! you have to be kidding me.:9: you can say someting like that about a team that comes out of new york..... and brings a 16 year kid to live his dream of being a sprint car driver.:8: i hope that you go back and read what you just said about a team that is one of the best team and family run sprint car teams.:22: and we all wonder why we can not make this sport work. i will be there at terre haute and have the iceman t shirt on and will be prould to say that iam a fan of a team that puts alot of effort to make this thing called dirt track racing go around and around in all the great tracks here in the racing capitol of the world.:31: indiana his second home. away from family and friends all summer long and he just graduated. i just wish the best for all of the teams that try to make this sport in the tough times that we face every day. go #14 and team cgr.:23: :22: thanks colman and team cgr for all that you do for dirt track racing:32:

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I understand your decision but I sure was looking forward to seeing you at Grain Valley.
I think you would have found a different attitude at Grain Valley. This one track has gone up head to head with the winged tracks. But it has been slowly growing. Even with small crowds and marginal fields he has stuck with non wing racing weekly and has put a lot on this race including added money. And the local fan boards are a huge buzz about it as well
http://www.racinboys.com/forum/index.php?t=index&cat=6&

but again I understand your decision and wish you all the best of luck back in Indiana. Maybe in the future we will get the chance to see you out this way again.

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I think you guys made the wrong decision. But it was yours to make. Good Luck.

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I think team CGR will be successful wherever they choose to go. Coleman is an exceptional talent and this is a name you WILL be hearing for years to come. All of you on here that are saying negative things about this young man need to button up!!!