Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled
 

Bad news for silver crown? I feel bad for fair goers but still hope that TEI/Sargent can still hold these premier USAC silver crown events.

I highly doubt we get either race in this year.

A few local tracks are opening but have huge restrictions on attendance, concessions, pit distances as well.

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled
 

Anybody know if Vigo County Fair was Cancelled?

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled d
 

Bob and his team at TE have some tough decisions to make. I certainly hope they can find a way to make the dirt fly on the miles this summer. If it does happen, will take a lot of cooperation among a lot of people to pull it off.

well if anybody can pull it off there, that’s a good team to have trying and I really appreciate their efforts.

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled d
 

With respect to Mrs. G's sans political policy I will only say that given the current gubernatorial administration it's going to be a long shot in regards to running the mile races without the state fair's as backdrops.

I believe there is an effort afoot to get permission to stage the races despite the fair's being cancelled. As much as anyone we hope this is the case. If anyone can make it happen in the current state of affairs it would be Sarge.

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled
 

Dates are July 11-18. Not completely cancelled, but almost. No 4-H animals or shows. Although this week they were saying they were looking into maybe having some of their events live. No midway rides, just grandstand shows. The first weekend there's a truck and tractor pull on Friday and a concert on Saturday. Plus, the first weekend is the same dates as the Cornbelt Nationals @ Knoxville and the second weekend is the same dates as the 2 night midget show @ Fairbury, NE.

Jerry

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled d
 

If memory serves me correctly, the first-ever Silver Crown run under the lights at DuQuoin was run after the fair because of a rainout. It was either in 2001 or 2002. I remember Tyler Walker blew the track record to smithereens. I believe it was fairly well attended. That may have before the Bob Sargent era. It was nice to be able to park right behind the grandstand was one my memory highlights.
I consulted my record book, but it didn't really help me determine which year it was because there were no really late dates in September showing, they were all early in the month.
FYI, the Indiana State Fair is canceled. Our beloved Frog Follies is canceled at the Vanderburgh Fairgrounds.

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled d
 

I believe the race you refer to was in Sept. of 2003. Rich Tobias Jr. won it and by all accounts it was a very, very good race. At that time we were still going over to Eldora for the World 100 every year and the rain date for the Horn Memorial was the same weekend. We made the bad choice to go to the World 100 instead of back to Du Quoin for the rain date make up. The World 100 was a yawner, as it tends to be as often as not and we heard nothing but raves regarding how entertaining the Horn Memorial was. I regret that decision to this day. Those who we talked to that were at Du Quoin said the crowd was pretty good. It was Rich Tobias Jr.'s only Silver Crown victory.

Despite the fact that the last 3 or 4 Bettenhausen Memorial's have been superb racing and exemplary car counts we haven't seen a noticeable uptick in crowd size at Springfield. I'm baffled as to the reason for that being the case. :14: But, if Sarge gets the go-ahead to run the traditional races at the mile's it would be great and fitting if the support was equal to the efforts that it will take for him to get this done!:27:

Re: Illinois state fairs in Springfield, Du Quoin canceled d
 

Ding, ding, ding! That is correct! I believe Rich Tobias either didn't qualify or had a slow time and had to start last in the consi, which he won. He started last in the feature and won it. I think he was in that butt ugly car. It was one heck of a race. Unfortunately, a lot of fans have developed the notion that Silver Crown Cars on a mile are just a high-speed parade and they are wrong. If the fans don't show up, then the mile dirt tracks will cease to exist for auto racing purposes. I understand the Indiana fairgrounds deal with the horse people fell through and there is a glimmer of hope. I even heard from a prominent person in the auto racing promotion business that the track is looking for a promoter for a July race date. Seems like Bob Sargent would be the logical one to do it.