[JJMooney]

Just a few rambling thoughts on the show at IRP on Saturday. Keep in mind, I started my racing fandom in the pavement world of Northeast modifeds and supers, so my opinions on pavement racing are a little biased…

Beautiful afternoon and early evening. You couldn’t ask of a nicer fall day at the end of October. This time of year in Indiana is always a crapshoot but IRP definitely lucked out Saturday. Hard to tell crowd size as the stands are so big but I’d estimate 800-1,000?

I had a seat in the grandstands but bought a pit pass so I could wander around and check out the cars and crews work on the cars. I really find the pavement stuff interesting.

I do like the format. Three classes: sprints, midgets and Silver Crown. 25 bucks. One day. Practice, qualifying and features. No heat races. The entire day went off like clockwork. I hope this show is scheduled next year. It has the potential to become a “Midwest Copper Classic”. If they could somehow add supermodifieds (ISMA/MSS), I think it would become a “Can’t-miss, pavement open-wheel event”.

The sprint car race was the best feature of the day, I thought. It went non-stop, green to checkers. Tyler Roahrig stalked and passed Kody Swanson with five to go. Good field – 23 cars. Plus, sprint cars really, really rip around that place.

I have to be honest, the midget race was a dog. They can't all be barn-burners. I was hoping for at least 20 midgets but they only pulled 15. A few of which were taken out in a wreck on the first lap. I think only about a half dozen finished. Bobby Santos walked away with it. Jake Trainor looked to be Santos’ only real competition, and may have made it a race, but it sounded like he puked a motor early on. 40 laps may have been a bit much. Might want to rethink that next year and make the midget feature a 25 lapper instead.

100 laps of Silver Crown cars at IRP can often be a snooze fest, especially when Kody Swanson starts up front. However, I did enjoy this race. Kody and Tanner Swanson raced nose to tail most of the race with Tanner getting by Kody in lapped traffic with 20 to go. Tyler Roahrig was fun to watch picking off cars on his way to the front. Drivers have mentioned for years now that the Silver Crown races have become 100 lap sprint races. You go all out, every lap now. It's evident on pavement too. No one seemed to be conserving tires or fuel. It was a good show.