Big Diamond Raceway, what a wast of clay or is it dirt! It acted like dirt! 5 water trucks at the track, 3 used on the track. 2 to 3 wheel packed for hours on end! They paved the track into smooth dirt! The first car out on hot laps, through up dust. My we are spoiled out West! I'm glad this was my last time back there. The main had to be a thrill a minute for the drivers! They could not see what was going on in front of them! I wish it rained there also! Would have saved some money! :thumbsdown:

Joe

One person who shall remain nameless unless they decide to claim the quote said, "Big Diamond would be a nice place for a racetrack!"

Hey, hey, hey, here fellas....cmon now, I agree the dust was BAD, ABSOLUTELY IT WAS BAD, but as for the racing, let's be honest here people, the last 2 years the feature race has come down to the last lap, THE LAST LAP, the actual racing for these shows have been VERY GOOD, and that's not JMO, but the opinion of MANY....The dust cloud might have been hanging over the track, but there were still guys making moves and passing cars the entire race, just the facts here OK....And as for the bs comment about "BDR would be a nice place for a race track", man, that's crap, BDR has been around for about 30 yrs, the new promoters took over the place 3 yrs ago and brought it back to life, they practically rebuilt the place, and right now, IT IS one of the most FAN FRIENDLY race tracks anywhere in PA, the new promoters BEND OVER BACKWARDS to try and make everyone who comes through their gates happy, and as at any dirt track, some nights are better than others....Sorry you felt this way GASMAN fan 50, your entitled to your opinion, and we all have one, but your a little off base IMO on your comments....And just for the record, BDR applied new clay to the track about a month ago, in hopes it would be in good shape by the time the USAC show rolled around, well, it wasn't, but ya know what, they TRIED to make things better for this show this year, give them some credit for that....Also, from what I was told, BDR WANTED to work on the tack before the feature rolled out, but USAC told them to let it the way it was, GO FIGURE....I guess if USAC comes back East again next year, and they book a show at BDR, I can GUARANTEE YOU BDR WILL TRY AGAIN to make things better, thats just the way they do things, so maybe next year, if and when they have the show, you can read about it somewhere how AWESOME the show was, because it probably WILL BE !!!!

They may want to add Camel racing to the card next year as a support class. Camels love sand.

I'm going to guess you're a little biased here. The clay they use doesn't appear to be very good. It looks very sandy. The racing was good no doubt, but compared to midwest tracks, the dust is just awful. The facilities are nice and nobody can argue that. The quote was in reference to the actual track itself. Nobody can say anything about the promoters and nobody has. The fact that it lies in an actively mined area on top of a mountain probably has a lot to do with the drainage and excessive dust.

Some things that should be pointed out...The system they use to water the track is cool, as they basically have at their disposal a natural water source that comes from the strip mine to water the racing surface. But to me, part of the problem they have is that they water the speedway with three 9,000 gallon water trucks and then roll the track in with them, packing the surface so tight that it seals over and the moisture never gets deep into the track. Combine a sprint car event with that gritty, sealed over surface, and you have a recipe for dust. The track could be ideal for a USAC event if they changed their philosophy to suit the style of racing they have that night. Just because it works for stock cars, doesn't mean it will for sprint cars.

Btw, even with the dust, I have enjoyed going to Big Diamond the past couple years. It's a great facility, and the racing itself has been good, it's just too hard to see in the feature through the flying dust particles. I personally hope USAC returns, and that a better plan can be devised to keep the dust down.

But, that's just my opinion.

DM

Now you know why I said, (DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!) Dean Mills, got the message! You can't pack the track with water trucks!!!!!: 2 1/2 hours :kookoo

Ascots, best track packers were the midgets! Man what a track record breaker night that was!:applaud: I hope they use the midgets next year! Just an idea!!!:applaud:

The cleanest restrooms I have ever been in! That is a plus for the ladies!

Joe

I don't pretend to be a track prep guru, maybe your guys suggestions would help for next year if USAC comes back East, hopefully someone from the track will read this board and maybe give it a try....I am biased, I LOVE BDR, and the place has really turned into a SUPER race track and facility since the new promoters took over, and like I said before, all they try and do is make everyone happy, and feel APPRECIATED and that is the honest truth, it just kinda got to me how I took the "tone" of some of thses posts....Hey, don't get me wrong, I've been going to dirt track races all over for around 30yrs, I know the dust last Thursday was a problem, and definitely NOT IDEAL, BUT, there was many things that were great last Thurday, and the racing was DEFINITELY one of them, but most choose to always want to talk about the negative, and really don't talk too much about the positive....I'm not saying all people, but you could have basically a GREAT night at any track, 90% of the show could be right on the $$$, but if ya have one or 2 things go wrong, people will fire up the boards right away to talk about the 1 or 2 negative things that happened at the show, instead of talking about the 90% percent of the show that was great, for some reason that's just the way it is on hese boards....I'm not saying people shouldn't have talked about the dust last Thursday at BDR, but after they mentioned that, they could have brought up the other GOOD things about the place that happned that night, and there were many....JMO, I hope USAC returns next year, I know the fans around the area LOVE these guys and the fans love seeing them at BDR, as you can tell by the BIG crowds at the place for these 2 shows, and if they do come back, I can guarantee you BDR will try the best to make next years shw better, it's just what they do.

I seem to see that a lot, Tracks being overpacked and lets get this straight, A track thats run on a lot or winged gets packed tighter and unless dug up will stay packed and seal quickly no matter how much water is put on em. You need lightweight vehicles with soft big tires. Preferably something like Pac Man but trucks with Ballon tires will work to knock the majority out.

Let the cars finish the job.

I can't knock Big D, I wasn't there. I for one apreciate the fact that they would take on a race like this and hope they do so again.

Chuck

I enjoyed Big Diamond the last 2 years. Yes it got dusty, but I thought the race was pretty good. I thought it was a nice fan friendly place. People like them are what make an eastern swing possible.