Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Sprints
 

Why is it so hard to have some half mile dirt tracks around here!!!! Grrrrr...

Bob

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

I think they are making the track smaller to 3/8th's

Real sprints?

Tomorrow is the aforementioned event with a pretty nice card. Late models 5 grand to win IRA Sprints 4 grand to win, and modified 3 grand to win. Perhaps a few of the Late Model teams heading to Knoxville will stop in, and perhaps we could get a few of the Iowa sprint car teams there. Should be a good night of racing, anyone else going?

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Giving it a look. Watching the weather (which should break up).

If I do go, I will have to make sure there are no sharp objects in my car. Last time I was stuck in a mega Chicago area construction zone traffic jam I nearly slit my wrists. Subsequently, I calmed down and just used the knife to shave my beard off that grew while I waited.

Playing it by ear I will be, though.

Yeah Mike, that same stretch of road has got me nervous but I'm going to try it anyway. If you see a maniac running 100mph on the shoulder in a Buick, that's me.

Rich M

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Yea,,that stretch of road is still a mess (or was early this week) and to bad another 1/2 mile bites the dust..That is just very very sad.

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

The facility is still very nice. The racing was pretty good. The track is big, not sure if they ever shortened it or even could. Hard to beat for a Wednesday night. :32: Thank you to all involved, I'm a happy fan. :8:

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Agree. I must have missed you, Rich. I was sitting with flagboy55 and company.

As for the I-94/I-294/I-80 road construction..... not much of a delay but hopefully you did not hit the frigging crater in the left (no exit) lane just west of I-65 like I did. I knew I was screwed when left side of the semi in front of dropped down noticeably as he hit it. Nearly knocked the fillings out of my teeth. To my surprise, and satisfaction, the Hankooks held up and nothing fell out from under the car.

And it still steered straight! Unlike Dennis Erb, Jr., while leading the Late Model feature.

A great night!

For me.... Not Erb.

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

What happened with Erb Jr.?

Lift bar issue after jumping the cushion

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Was he leading at the time it happened?

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Running away. He was in a different time zone. BUT.... it was still early on. maybe about 1/3 of the way through the feature.

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

Thanks guys.

Yeah the ride home was interesting, i needed Rudolph by the end of the trip it was so foggy. I'm glad to see Route 66 using the dirt oval again, hopefully it will keep getting better.

Was a good night at the race track. I was surprised by the low car counts considering the purse. Does anyone know if Erb broke something in the feature? I didn't see him hit the wall but the marks looked like something was wrong. I agree with Nathan, still a big track

Re: Route 66 (IL) Wed. Sept 13 2017 Late Models, Mods, & Spr
 

He broke a lift bar.

How was the crowd? It can be deceiving since the stands are so much bigger than most of the bullrings in Indiana and Illinois that only hold 2-4 thousand people. Mid-week shows are a tough draw, especially once school starts, but I thought there might be enough people that are there all weekend who might stop in. Wish I could have made it but I'm going to catch at least one night of their October show.

Good question Hoosier. I heard that the place can seat 8 thousand, I don't know if that's true but I'm sure 6 is possible. My observation on that premise would be that it was at the most 1/3 capacity. I hope they came close to braking even. The show was good, well run, and got out at a reasonable time. I hope that there is enough positive to keep up the program for next year.

Personally I don't think they did a good job advertising the show. When a hard core racer like Danny Smith posts on Twitter he didn't know about the show and missed out that says something. In today's social media world you need to have a persistent person getting the word out about events. Good examples being Attica and Fremont. While the sprint car count was light it was a high quality field.

As a first time visitor to the track very impressive facility and hope they can build it back to a regular facility. Would be great to see a USAC sprint and midget double header.

I agree that wider reaching promotion of events is critical, and as an auto racing business you are no longer trying to reach only those in your community. The days of local fans being enough to support a show are long gone. Now promoters have to reach out much farther to a dedicated but thinning group of customers. There is an obvious and desperate need to attract a new, younger audience, but with the economy growing as it has in recent years these tracks have to capitalize on their opportunity to make money while they can. I hope some of these tracks that have opened or re-opened in the last couple years as the economy has improved will be able to establish themselves well enough to survive if the economy stops growing.

Route 66 reminds me a lot of Mansfield. Both new dirt tracks (at least reconfigured/resurfaced/reopened) with excellent facilities and tons of potential. It's a matter of building a reputation and a support base to help both tracks be successful. We all want more shows and certain classes or events to take place at these tracks. I think both did it the right way this year hosting a small number of events to find out what they need to improve on. Hopefully next year they can expand and fill up those pits and grandstands for some exciting shows.