Well guys if you didn't go to Salem you missed a great night of racing. The USAC Sprints were close and fast!!! The Extreme cars were just what they say EXTREME and FAST. Thanks to all who showed up to watch and to those who raced what a show!!!!!!
Awesome race extreme cars were so fast but man they were dropping like flies. Usac was pretty good, bigger car counts would be nice but what do you expect for an asphalt track nowadays. Posted via Mobile Device
had a wonderful time at my first pavement race i knew going the car count would be low but man what a race. hmiel was gone but the battle from 2nd to 6th was amazing at the end. You dont get slide jobs on pavement but the speed makes up for that and i will def be back for some more!
I thought it was a good show....worth $5 extra to me. I'd like to see the two series hook up a couple times a year....especially with the car count for USAC right now. It would have been a pretty weak show without the wing cars. Two heats and a feature wouldn't have been much for $20. DeCaire flat out kicked ass all night....that car could run all groves. The USAC feature would been a hell of a finish for the win.....if Hmiel wouldn't have left everybody.....he's on his game right now....looking forward to seeing him in an Indy Lights car in a couple weeks.
I thought the crowd was pretty decent....especially with the heat and rain earlier in the day. Nice job by all parties.
I agree w KT above on all fronts. Gerster had 2nd by sheer will until the last two laps when he got moved up and the other three cars in that pack got around him. Decaire was fast and CONFIDENT all night long. His dives to the bottom going into 1 & 3 could've been tragic if executed differently. But he was moving up all night. He actually qualified faster in the spring (14.299 in May) to his 14.329 in the heat of August. Both impressive. The May race may have been the stronger field, but after having that win vanish in the last corner he was determined to put that option out of play.
I really hope those who came to Salem for the race were satisfied with the program. Yes, the USAC field was (is) down, and pulling that wing around for thirty laps in that heat took a big toll on the MSR field. A curious note; the USAC drivers are all in very goood shape. The MSR field has a cross section of driver from all avenues of life. Some of them, just like some of the fans, had a tougher time with the heat. After ther race I had almost every driver tell me their sweat in the helmet caused problems. Some of the cars pulling off were for that reason alone.
150 mph and eyes burning with sweat will seem to make people rethink things.
This Saturday the wing cars go to Slinger (WI) Speedway. One has to believe the weather will be cooler up there.
The Salem race will be available on tv and archived at www.mustseeracing.com in about two weeks. Click in to see where you can catch the replays.
First time ever seeing the wings on pavement and it was pretty cool to see them literally fly around the track.
The heat wasnt that bad as the shower cooled everything down but it certainly was muggy. No wind at all made it pretty miserable for the last hour the sun was up.
USAC put on a good show with as many cars as they had. Aside from Hmeil, who left the field, they were all pretty evenly matched. Great, tight racing. It is a shame that there isnt more USAC pavement cars but I dont blame them as USAC has literally abandened that market. Still, was very fun to see them. I would of NOT paid $20 alone for just USAC either. For $25, it was a good show with the wing guys as well.
