First off I see Ascot Park is the trendy choice. Paper clip tracks don't do it for me. Next to impossible to race side by side there. Qualifying was fun to watch but, that's about it. I believe "Ole Bub" has seen a track or two. Ask him sometime if he thought Ascot was a good "racetrack". Perris is much better.

1- Little Springfield...So much went on there you couldn't watch it all.
2-New Bremen...Great shape with correct banking and width. Lights would have made it spectacular.
3-Riverside...the place just taught you how to race.
4-Devils Bowl- wings/nowings. Don't matter. Cool shape, great surface
5-Haubstat- see above
6-Knoxville/Manzanita-enough said
7-Boone- a must see. USAC would be mega good there

Honorable mention...Bloomington, Battleground, Eldora, Old Limaland, Lernerville, East Bay, Terre Haute, Millstream, Eagle, Lincoln.

Some of the old tracks test my memory but here is my list both old and new.

1. Perris
2. New Bremen (dirt and paved)
3. Dayton Speedway (Larry and Gary show was downright scary to watch)
4. Manzy
5. Terre Haute
6. Silver Dollar in Chico
7. Limaland (the old track was perfect for the midgets)

Vern Plotts

The track would have to be Knoxville. Still wanna go out there for a week for the nationals.

Hogan,

I tend to agree with you about paperclip tracks - but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and take a wild guess that you didn't see many races at Ascot. The surface there made the whole difference. Because it was sooo sticky, the paperclip really worked there. In fact, it kind of created a driving style that I really have not seen anywhere else. How many paper clip half miles have you been to where the fast way around is to pitch the thing full-lock-sideways-and-STAND-on-it, at the flagstand? And speaking of passing, to this day I have not seen a place where you could square it off like Ascot. We're talking about guys going to the wall between 1&2 then cutting down to the berm off 2 with both wheels up, and this was all back before the tires got to be what they are now.

I'll say it this way... never been anywhere else where the clay would suck the shoes right off your feet, at the END of the night.

Certainly not puttin' down any of the other tracks mentioned here. It was very special for me to finally see Terre Haute and several of the other tracks mentioned on this thread. But Ascot during that golden period had a combination of shape, surface, tires and talent that I just don't think will ever be topped.

But, I'm gonna keep looking!

Does anyone know just how much of New Bremen is left at this point? I know that they recently tore down the structures and whatnot, but is the track itself still there? The Beseckers posted a link on here awhile back that had some great pictures of the place. Everything was still there. I'll tell you what, if I ever hit the Powerball for big, big dollars I'd buy the place (if the track hasn't been dozed) and reopen it. It looked like a special racetrack.

Reading was like that all the time, also.:thumb

Winchester, Dayton, Salem, Cincy Race Bowl, IMS. I've been to them all. I wish Dayton and CRB was still around.

I'm with Bob on this one. Had the pleasure of seeing two nights of great sprint car racing at Manzanita back in '92. Brad Noffsinger won the first feature. Richard Griffin (one of my all-time favorites) won the 42 lap feature (green all the way) on night two. It was supposed to be 40 laps but somehow they lost count of laps run. Even got to have a beer with "Doc" Griffin (the Gas Man's Dad) while we waited out a brief shower.

Loved the track, the motel (Embassy Suites), the town, and the people. Gotta get back out there (Perris too) and plans are to do just that as soon as Danny B. retires. Of course, by that time I may be wearing a bib to dinner and watching Golden Girl reruns before my 7:00 p.m. :sleep: . :wink

Great minds think alike, Marv. I, too, loved Manzy (although not quite as much as Reading) and also stayed at Embassy Suites (West) when out there for the '94 Copper World. Manzy ran the second ever SCRA program that night and IIRC it was won by a young J.J. Yeley. Perhaps one of our west coast historians could either confirm that or correct me on it.

Dwight I was at the first SCRA race in 1993 so I checked the SCRAfan.com website and found the following info for their first two races:

SCRA's Inaugural Event was at Ventura Raceway on November 13, 1993. #74 Gary Howard had Fast Time with a 12.006 over the 27 car field. #47 Rip Williams won the 16 car, 30 Lap A-Main.
Date Track Driver Car Owner
11/13/93 Ventura, CA Rip Williams #47 Jan Gaffney
2/5/94 Manzanita, AZ Ron Shuman #11 Jack Yeley