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I also miss "events". They've screwed around with dates and start times and track prep so much, most races that use to be events have either been greatly diminished or died off completely. Four Crown, Hoosier Hundred, Hut Hundred, Night Before 500, Angell Park Pepsi nationals, Springfield 100, DuQuoin 100. None of these races seem as prestigious as they use to be, either due to lack of car count or poor track conditions or dates changed. They ruined the Indy Fairgrounds with all the sand added to the surface. They ruined IRP when NASCAR re-graded the banking. Badger midgets hardly have any cars left. The mile dirt tracks all have ****** track prep and low car counts. Gerry Olsen promoted the 3 day non-wing sprint car nationals at Terre Haute that drew all the california guys along with Haud and Kerr. It had a 40 lap finale (no red for fuel), that paid $17,000 to win. After 3 years of not enough fan support it died. I thought i'd died and went to heaven at that event but I guess there weren't enough others like me. Eldora has done their best to ruin the 4 Crown, which isn't even a 4 Crown any more and everyone knows it. It takes an awful lot for me to boycott a track because I hate to see them close, but after the dust-out last year, the way they've ruined the 4 Crown, and the fact they've paired down the usac races to just 2 weekends, I and the rest of my family haved vowed not to return to Eldora until things change. Oskaloosa's Ultimate Challenge, one of the few remaining "events", only had 29 cars sign in for $15,000 to win last year. That...is the sign of the times. Too expensive to justify anymore. No promoter in their right mind is going to try to create a high paying event in these times. It's a real shame because I can remember much better times. Memorial weekend we'd go to the Hulman Hundred Fri. night and see 50 dirt champs runnin on a heavy cushion up by the wall. Then, Saturday we'd got to IRP for 50 plus midgets runnin in a freight train up by the wall with slide jobs happening all over the place. Then, drive 85mph down to Putnamville to catch the B & A-main. They'd have 30 cars. Sunday, we'd listen to the 500 on the radio on our way to the Memorial 50 for Badger midgets at Angell Park. They always had over 40 cars back then. Now that was an event!!!!!!!
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