Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

With Indiana Sprint week off today and tomorrow, it would be a great night to watch some of the Best Late Models and Mods in the Midwest this Tuesday July 12th. I am i open wheel fan but this will be a nice change to watch. You can come and relax in the stadium seating and enjoy your night. (if you have not seen the new stands you have to get there. All i can say is WOW! This last Saturday the track was smooth and there were slidejobs everywhere. Will the outsiders in the mods be able to come in and run against the Plymouth Posse? Time will tell.. Can't wait to see Bobby Pierce. Hot laps at 6 Races at 7.

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

First time to plymouth.... beer in coolers allowed?

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

No.

Hope more than 16 show up to that one.

Originally Posted by Chris Nunn:
Hope more than 16 show up to that one.

I'll steal the "quality over quantity" line from those that try to make it sound better when the car counts suck. It's a bummer that Indiana tracks get stuck with the weeknight races on the summer nationals tour. Car and fan counts tend to suffer and lead promoters to say we're not doing that again.

Not ALL of the Indiana tracks got stuck with a weeknight race. Haubstadt had a Sunday night event. I attended and was VERY disappointed in the Late Model turn out. Only 23 cars that night. The racing in the feature was good, but the rest of the late model action was quite a bore. I would have to disagree with the quality over quantity comment. Perhaps 6-8 top notch cars, but that was it.

Haubstadt offers one of the finest venues to race at. Drivers over the years have had one of the smoothest, best prepared surfaces on which to race and I have never heard it said that it was hard on equipment. Shoot, even a Late Model Hall of Fame member is the owner/promoter. Yet, for whatever reason, the traveling show didn't support the track this year. I took a first timer to the track that night and was embarrassed. Thank goodness the ISW stop is Saturday night! I will get to show my new friend some of the exciting racing I have been bragging about. I sure didn't get it from the late models that night!

I wish you better luck Plymouth on Tuesday night! By the way, Bobby Pierce will not disappoint!

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Just saw that Devin Gilpin will be there tonight. As for car count, i am just glad that there is a Late model race in the area. The amount of cars that are racing today compared to 15 years ago is down everywhere. I puzzles me to go to Lucas stadium and only have 10-15 Monster trucks and the place is packed. If we all really care about the well being of motorsports we should all praise it. Life is all about choices and i choose to try to support the Tracks, Owners, Drivers and Crews that work tons of hours to be involved in this great Hobby we all have passion for.

Originally Posted by btg1963:
Not ALL of the Indiana tracks got stuck with a weeknight race. Haubstadt had a Sunday night event. I attended and was VERY disappointed in the Late Model turn out. Only 23 cars that night. The racing in the feature was good, but the rest of the late model action was quite a bore. I would have to disagree with the quality over quantity comment. Perhaps 6-8 top notch cars, but that was it.

Haubstadt offers one of the finest venues to race at. Drivers over the years have had one of the smoothest, best prepared surfaces on which to race and I have never heard it said that it was hard on equipment. Shoot, even a Late Model Hall of Fame member is the owner/promoter. Yet, for whatever reason, the traveling show didn't support the track this year. I took a first timer to the track that night and was embarrassed. Thank goodness the ISW stop is Saturday night! I will get to show my new friend some of the exciting racing I have been bragging about. I sure didn't get it from the late models that night!

I wish you better luck Plymouth on Tuesday night! By the way, Bobby Pierce will not disappoint!

Sunday night shows are like a week night since most people have to work the next day. I was referencing that none of the Indiana tracks host the tour on Friday or Saturday nights when fan and racer support tends to be higher. The Sunday show you saw at Tri-State is like most sprint shows at Kokomo. 20-25 cars, only about 6-8 that are real contenders, and usually a decent race for the fans to enjoy. While I understand your view and your intention to make late model racing sound so inferior to sprint cars, imagine what it would be like if the sprints ran the hell tour. Probably no better.

Car counts seem to be down at almost all of the summer nationals races. It's a grueling tour that not many can afford to do, and weekly super late model racers that would run when the tour came to their home track aren't as numerous as they used to be. I wouldn't be surprised to see the hell tour take on a different format starting next year.

I am hoping to be able to attend tonight's show and Shadyhill tomorrow night also.

I am mainly going because i am out here for the week for racing and its the only race in town so to speak. Plus i enjoy supers and never been to plymouth. If more tracks ran during isw i would go there instead. I would go somewhere monday night, one of these other locals (southern indiana) brownstown or paragon or heck even northefn kentucky.... throw a regular show in there and ill come. You dont have to pay a sanctioning fee just dont have 5 divisions, keep it tight and end early and people like me will come. Lol. Pipe dreams im sure lol

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

I live 40 minutes from ground zero of dirt late model racing (Fairbury, IL) and this hell tour thing is still a fairly big deal in our neck of the woods. I've followed it from it's inception back in the late 1980's. From it's beginnings through the 1990's was the golden years for the hell tour. It started as a 6 race series in 1988 but has grown to a bloated schedule of 28 to 30 dates. I go to only 1 or 2 Summernationals series races a year now. It's gotten so watered down that it isn't worth the effort anymore.

The more widely known and highly regarded venues are the ones that get the Friday and Saturday night. Naturally Fairbury has a Saturday night date and Cedar Lake (2 day show) up in Wisconsin along with Pevely, Granite City and Farmer City get the prime Fri. & Sat. dates. Places like Peoria, Boswell, Medaryville, Ind., Lake City, Mich., Canton, IL and others get the less attractive weeknight dates. Car counts and attendance has been withering at those weeknight dates for several years now.

The widely held opinions among those that follow the hell tour is that it needs to be substantially shortened so as all races would pay $10,000.00 or more to win. With so many dates on the tour the significance of winning one of the lesser regarded venue races doesn't carry the magnitude they once did.

In my very humble opinion ISW is just about the right length. It could absorb a couple more race dates without diluting the product and lessening the significance of winning one or more of the tour dates. To win an ISW race is a fairly big deal. Other than at a few of the more "glamorous" venues, hell tour? Not so much.

Anyway... back to plymouth. Standard bleachers? Lawn chairs? What's the word on seating?

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Single seats with backs in the grandstand, very little place for lawn chairs.

Rained out. No make up. On to Shadyhill tomorrow night.

Nothing worse than blue skies after a rain out but before hotlaps....

DG is one hell of a wheelman. It's just a matter of time before someone picks him up for the Lucas series

Originally Posted by Birdsboro:
Nothing worse than blue skies after a rain out but before hotlaps....

It rained at the track till 7pm. I was there with two friends and we decided to sit in our car till the rain was done. Would have been 9-9:30 before track was semi ready.

A midnight show on a weekday is not a good choice. Either business wise or neighbor wise. So before thinking it was a bad choice look at all the facts.

Hoosier race fan, late models are inferior to sprint cars, it's just a fact! No shame to late models. I enjoy watching them every chance I get, but since they closed crown point, and only junk cars at Joliet, and I heard that Kankakee dropped em, I don't have much chance to see them. Going to try to get to shadyhill tomorrow

Let's look at the money races in late models compared to sprint cars. You can't say one is inferior to the other.

Pretty off base comment.

Well then, money tells us the best racing in the country is nascar, I would say that we all know better than that.

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Originally Posted by Blueracer123:
It rained at the track till 7pm. I was there with two friends and we decided to sit in our car till the rain was done. Would have been 9-9:30 before track was semi ready.

A midnight show on a weekday is not a good choice. Either business wise or neighbor wise. So before thinking it was a bad choice look at all the facts.

i noticed when i left my hotel... which was in Plymouth by the walmart that the sky was dark that direction. Looking out my window it was bright blue skies... turn to my left and ugly... so i closed my curtains and tried not to think about it....lol.

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Almost opted to make the 2 hr drive yesterday. once we looked at the forecast, decided it was to risky for us (3 small kids, as they would have been devastated). ended up staying home and thank goodness we did as we would have been pulling in about the same time they called the show. Would have like to have gone as it has been a few years since we have gone to a latemodel show, not to mention it would have been another new track for me.

You said inferior. I like both equally.

Nothing inferior about someone who's got the balls to strap into one. Whether it be a late model or sprint car.

Inferior wasn't my word, I used it because someone else used it before me. Let me clarify. By inferior I mean not the best. Picking one form of racing as the best, it, for me is sprint cars and I cannot see why anyone would think differently. I take nothing away from anyone who runs late models or who goes to watch them. I'm going to try to make it to shadyhill tonight, depending on weather. I apologize if you you are insulted Chris, certainly none was intended. I just know this, all things equal and I am going to a race, I will choose sprint cars first every time, cause while most all dirt track racing is good, it's inferior to sprint cars

Let's put sprint cars and late models on the same card every week and all is right with the world like Bloomington used to do back in the 80's.

I'm game

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I will apologize up front for further participating in the thread hi-jack.

Where I'm from is a late-model or nothing area. Dirt late models are the only racing at the half dozen dirt tracks that are within 60 mile of our home so I have the opportunity to attend some of the finest dirt late model racing in the country on a weekly basis, and do from time to time, but not on a regular basis as we once did.

After attending as many wingless sprint car races as we could within driving distance for several years I found myself being less entertained by the dirt lates in comparison. I'm not insinuating that they're not entertaining but not to the degree of the wingless sprint cars and high quality midgets.

Having been involved with a very successful dirt late model team many years ago I came to the conclusion that dirt late model drivers are good race car drivers but the really successful ones are better at setting up the car for differing track conditions than their less successful counterparts if the equipment is comparable. Not necessarily a better wheel man.

I believe drivers are a bit more important to the success of a wingless sprint car or midget than their dirt late model contemporaries. That may be the reason that so many dirt open wheel drivers get the opportunity to make the transition to NASCAR as opposed to so few dirt late model drivers.

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Late models are over teched over priced junk and ump mods aint real mods anyhow, enjoy.
I have both late models and real modifieds 15 minutes from my house, you'd have to pay me to attend not the other way around.
Now I'm sure the typical reply will come that a real race fan will watch anything, Bull. I'd much rather go to the local bmx track and watch the kids race. Or possibly a good lawnmower race. Maybe get my teeth cleaned.

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Personally I'd rather watch LMs at Eldora over sprints any day. They put on a hell of a show there. However there isn't a track in Indiana I'd trade LMs for over sprints any day. Probably because we're spoiled and have the best sprint car drivers in the world all group together right here in one spot and we don't need anything else to make us happy.

As far as Plymouth goes, being rained out and all the rain we've had since is probably the best thing that could happen for them. Now maybe there MIGHT be some moisture left for their regular show on Saturday.

I do not like being critical of tracks, especially up here in the northern part of the state because I'd bet money that 1, possibly 2, will not return to action next year. But Plymouth has been the least impressive track I've been to. Yes, their new facilities are nice but the track just doesn't do it for me. Anytime I've been there, the show runs late and I don't get back to Fort Wayne until sometime in the AM whereas I can go take in a full show at Kokomo which is even further away and still make it home before midnight even after I stroll through the pits afterwards. Not to mention the racing at the "Playground of Power" is par, at best. I know they have their issues with the pavement being under the surface but it's bone dry anytime I'm there. They keep saying they're improving but they've had something like 3-4 years now and still...I don't see much of it.

The issues might be why Plymouth's car counts are falling but I'm not a car owner or driver nor do I work there so I couldn't tell you for sure.

Maybe "plymouthfan" can pass on some of my concerns since he seems to have just "run into" or "talked to" all the track officials anytime he posts.

Personally I like late models and modifieds, they arent "junk", but neither are inferior to each other. We live in a state where sprint car racing is big where as in Illinois late models and mods are. Kudos to Plymouth and shady hill jumping on the tour!

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I'm just glad I live in America where I can witness 1st world problems get hashed out like a good ole LM vs Sprint thread :-D

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Originally Posted by flagboy55:
Hoosier race fan, late models are inferior to sprint cars, it's just a fact! No shame to late models. I enjoy watching them every chance I get, but since they closed crown point, and only junk cars at Joliet, and I heard that Kankakee dropped em, I don't have much chance to see them. Going to try to get to shadyhill tomorrow

Yeah but they can run more than thirty laps without a fuel stop...............

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Originally Posted by Spi-nex:
I'm just glad I live in America where I can witness 1st world problems get hashed out like a good ole LM vs Sprint thread :-D

It's kind of absurd. It's just two different kinds of racing. Same as the ongoing wing vs. non-wing debate that sprouts up here and there on IOW.

But to say LMs are "inferior" I'd say take a look at this clip (best one I could think of off the top of my head) and then tell me that LMs suck. All at the beloved Eldora Speedway. I was at this one, first LM race I had attended there in years right after I got out of the Marines. Great show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7fQ7NgWx_I

I'm sure we can all recall sprint races like this. Hell, I've seen many like that this year at just Kokomo alone. Just don't hate on one form of racing because you favor another. The region you live in often dictates a lot. Hence why folks during the Eastern Storm are so taken by non-wing sprints, because they're used to wings.

I enjoy all classes. I have my favorites but I will watch just about any class. My feeling has always been that good racing is a product of the track configuration and prep far more than it is the class of cars racing. I've seen some great non-wing races at tracks all over Indiana, like Kokomo. But I've also seen some incredible late model races at Fairbury. Both are great tracks that usually produce really competitive racing in any class. I've seen some excellent late model shows all over Illinois, and when they have sprints they are usually really good too. They had a great summer nationals race at Kokomo several years ago. I bet the POWRI race at Fairbury will be pretty good just because it is a great track.

However, I will say that some classes are just better suited to certain tracks or types of track prep. Non-wing sprints fit the short, bull-ring type tracks we have a lot of here in Indiana very well. At a place like Eldora they often aren't as entertaining. I love watching both World of Outlaws tours because I can see them race on so many different tracks. It often shows that they can be extremely exciting or a real snoozer. I've seen some really boring non-wing and late model races also, but it doesn't stop me from looking forward to the next one.

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Speaking of Fairbury, we'll see just how well the cars, drivers and fans take to FALS this weekend when the POWRi National Midgets come to town. It's been many years since there has been an open wheel race at Fairbury. I sincerely hope Fairbury and POWRi has their act together in regards to push trucks and organization. Believe me, the crowd will be heavily weighted with hard core late model fans and those folks don't take kindly to cars that have to be pushed to start.

We live just 40 minutes away and have been to Fairbury many dozens of times dating back to when I was a very young child in the days when they used to run the rail cars/super modifieds/sprint cars. Since the track was reconfigured we've been to every open wheel show show at Fairbury. Mainly because there haven't been very many. I really hope this one goes off well or it might be a one shot deal.

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Originally Posted by ISF:
Speaking of Fairbury, we'll see just how well the cars, drivers and fans take to FALS this weekend when the POWRi National Midgets come to town. It's been many years since there has been an open wheel race at Fairbury. I sincerely hope Fairbury and POWRi has their act together in regards to push trucks and organization. Believe me, the crowd will be heavily weighted with hard core late model fans and those folks don't take kindly to cars that have to be pushed to start.

We live just 40 minutes away and have been to Fairbury many dozens of times dating back to when I was a very young child in the days when they used to run the rail cars/super modifieds/sprint cars. Since the track was reconfigured we've been to every open wheel show show at Fairbury. Mainly because there haven't been very many. I really hope this one goes off well or it might be a one shot deal.

Really not much different than a place like Anderson. Sure they run the Little 500 and a few other sprint car or midget races each year with cars that require some extra assistance getting started.

During the Little 500 its a tall ask for push truck drivers to be on their game and you can tell the trucks that should be out there from the others that probably shouldnt but at the end of the night, especially this year with the racing that took place. Everyone seemed, for the most part, satisfied.

Hopefully all goes well there.

I'm dirt track racing fan. I go to wing, non-wing, midgets, and late model races all over the country. They're all different in their own ways. Overall midgets are midgets and will always be the best race cars to watch, but in my opinion LM's produce a better on track product than sprint cars when it comes to actual side-by-side quality racing. I love em all though and personally don't prefer one over the other. As far as big events go, the World 100 takes the cake and LM's at Knocville are something to see too. Also something about seeing the non-wing boys kill it at Kokomo and Perris Auto Speedway and the Outlaws qualifying at Pevely and Tulare. Love it!

Well made it to shadyhill last night and got rained out big time. Was looking forward to see my first late model race of the year, but now will probably have to wait until the world's hundred if I decide to go. One more thing to Chris. Anyone that knows me knows how much I love the 4 crown at Eldora. I was at the first one when they ran the full body usac stock cars, and been to almost all of them since. Your comment on both on the same card rings true, as my favorite 4 crowns were the ones that had the late models on the card. Got to see an amazing performance from Billy Moyer one year also got to see Hewitt, and even Huadenschild in a late model. This year's 4 crown with the addition of the all stars may end up being my favorite, but up till now, I really loved the ones with the late models.

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

I'm another one of those love it all guys. I watch more late models than anything else because the Illinois tracks are dominated by that class. I've seen great racing at various times in wing, non wing, late models, midgets, mods, etc. I'm going to the Kings Royal for the first time Friday & Saturday. Otherwise, I'd probably be at Fairbury for the midget & late model show Saturday night.

I've always been into racing (my dad raced a stock car when I was a kid). Over the last 10 years or so, as my interest in Nascar fizzled, I'm pretty much an exclusive dirt fan. And it is all good!!

Re: Ump Hell Tour Plymouth Speeday
 

Originally Posted by chathamracefan:
I'm another one of those love it all guys. I watch more late models than anything else because the Illinois tracks are dominated by that class. I've seen great racing at various times in wing, non wing, late models, midgets, mods, etc. I'm going to the Kings Royal for the first time Friday & Saturday. Otherwise, I'd probably be at Fairbury for the midget & late model show Saturday night.

I've always been into racing (my dad raced a stock car when I was a kid). Over the last 10 years or so, as my interest in Nascar fizzled, I'm pretty much an exclusive dirt fan. And it is all good!!

crf, we're both in the same boat living here in dirt late model country. DLM racing is usually the only game in town, so when in Rome..................

We too like it all if it's on dirt.

Have a great time at the KR. I'm pretty sure you'll love it. It's been a few years since we've been able to attend and we miss it. I prefer the wingless cars but the KR is a race that transcends wings or no wings.