[ronmil]

There was so much action in the 50 lap midget feature, it was hard to know where to watch. I attended Friday and Saturday and had a great time!

WOW!!!! Thank you Tri City Speedway. Great racing, great friends, and thanks to Morty and Deb for the tacos. What a race!!!!!

[Jerry Shaw]

Originally Posted by Tim Clauson Last nights race was incredible to say the least something like 19 slide jobs for the lead in the first 30 laps. On the lap 30 caution Greg Wilke and I got up looked at each other and just said "wow" that was all we could come up with. For those who want to tell the world how horrible it is out there make sure to talk to those who attended this weekends events, sanctioning bodies working together, close to 50 midgets in the house. promoters who went way out of there way to make all feel welcome. And one hell of a race ! Usually on the front stretch you have one really happy driver and two really pissed off drivers. Last night was different as I think they all realized that they may have just participated in one of the greatest midget races ever. I can not wait to read Jerry Shaw's take on the weekend events, my guess it it just might be as good as the race itself .... Tim Clauson

It was literally one of the greatest races I've ever seen. I was hesitant to describe what I saw last night, because what I saw was simply indescribable. At least to try to do so in terms that someone who didn't live through this Category 5 hurricane of a race, could read and relate to. In a way that would really do this Instant Classic justice. You can go a lot of places, on a lot of nights, in this part of the country and see some pretty intense racing action. The best anywhere. But even that doesn't prepare you for a race of this magnitude and sustained intensity. Nothing does. Because you just don't have that many racing experiences to compare it to. Your typical great race will give you an adrenalin rush while it's happening and for a little while after it's over. This experience was more than that, it was an emotional roller coaster. One on the the biggest, baddest, fastest roller coasters around. Both during the race's only yellow and after the checker fell, there were two things that I noticed about my state. I had a grin that you couldn't sandblast off my face. And my eyes were welling up, in a tears of joy or an I just jumped out of an airplane kind of way. And every other person I saw looked just stunned. So I definitely wasn't alone in being profoundly effected by this epic race.

Some of the things that stood above all the other great things, in this race to me were:

-The way this thing just immediately turned into a free-for-all, from the drop of the green. Skirmishes were breaking out everywhere. A battle here. Another one right behind it. And then this battle catches the other one, leaving the race with an even bigger one. It was almost like one of those Chinese Kung Fu movies. Throw downs from opening credits to the closing ones.

-Just when you though it couldn't get any better, Steve, Brad, Bryan and Darren reached lapped traffic. Sometimes that interferes with the great racing that's happening. But not on this night. The way these four even stepped up their battles, zipping through the backmarkers like they weren't even there, without anybody hardly even touching anybody else, was unbelievable. I still don't believe it. It was probably the high point of this great, great race.

-Well before the half way point in the race, BC's brakes were glowing. It was obvious he was probably racing on borrowed time. Going down the backstretch, a big spark came out of his left rear. You knew they were gone at this point, for all intents and purposes. You expected him to start dropping back, before too long. But instead, he continued to fly down the straights, but started hunting for the softest places in the outside wall to hit and leave himself in a position to take off out of 2 and 4 and still be fast on the straights. And then once it seemed like he had worked himself out a system, he started going after positions again. Using the wall as his brakes. Still getting a Top 3, while doing this for more than half the race. Again, unbelievable.

-The heartbreak of seeing Steve Buckwalter slow on the backstretch, after it looked like he may have been on his way to being the last man standing, in this Battle Royale. The way he sliced and diced his way through traffic, not only holding off Kuhn, Clauson and Hagen, but opening up a lead on them, was riveting. This guy has proven that he has as much driving ability as any other top midget driver out there.

-Darren Hagen has always been fast. And he's always been aggressive. But he showed everybody in the sport that he has raised his game to a new level. This event was was a collection of almost every great midget driver out there. On the best midget track I went to this year or maybe ever. On three nights that offered different types of track conditions. And he was The Man on all three nights. And the patience he displayed Saturday night in picking them off one by one, methodically, while at the same time striking quickly when the time was right, should be a little unnerving to his competitors. If this version of The Hawk is the one you see showing up at these big races, everybody's going to have to step their game up a notch, as well.

The Gold Crown Nationals may be young, in terms of how many years they've had it at Tri-City Speedway. But it doesn't have that feel to it. It didn't seem like just a three-day race. It had a big time "Event" feel to it. The racing was great. It's an awesome facility, with a great racing surface, that's ran by people who try really hard to put on a great show. And the facility's laid out in a way that the fans really get to mingle and interact with one another. I got to spend time with many of my old IOW friends and meet new ones, like Jimmy, Darren and Gary. I had such a great time at this event and am definitely going back next year.

Jerry

[AustinSprinter]

As always,an excellent Summary Jerry!!..like Tim said....I'm thinking alot of us on here, could hardly wait to hear from you on this one!!......Nice Job Jerry!!........
__________
Brucer'

You guys are really bumming me out. After two nights of great midget action, I left Saturday morning for the Dirt Late Model Nationals at Knoxville. The track has been very good to the Hawkeye Racing News this year, as has Tri-City Speedway, so I wanted to cover their event also. Shoulda done it in reverse. Met some great people, visited with old friends.

[berks co]

Steve Buckwalter makes PA look real good. He was fast Sunday at Big D also. I can't believe he doesn't offered a ride in the INDY area.

[racefan20]

Originally Posted by berks co Steve Buckwalter makes PA look real good. He was fast Sunday at Big D also. I can't believe he doesn't offered a ride in the INDY area.

It all about $$$$$$$$$, he certianly has the talent.

[racefanindy]

Jerry, I couldn't have described the Gold Crown finale any better. That was the best midget race I've ever seen! Slippin & slidin, dippin & divin as Larry Rice was known to say. There was one lap where Kuhn & Clauson dove low into turn 1 side by side that looked like disaster about to happen. You couldn't have squeezed a piece of paper between the two of them!! Lots of slide jobs & wheel to wheel racing. Congrats to Darren Hagan on his three-peat weekend!

We had a great weekend. Really nice track, perfect size for midgets. Following a recommendation on IOW, we visited the Transportation Museum on Friday. If you're a train buff, this place is for you. Situated just outside of the first train tunnel west of the Mississippi (around 1850), & has a large variety of locomotives & train cars on display. Their website doesn't do it justice. Saturday we toured the Bud brewery in St. Louis. Some of those buildings, still in use, date back to the late 1800's. Really interesting tour.

Just read a note on Hoseheads forum that said the teams were told Saturday that next year will be all 3 nights non-wing 410's. I hope that's true. That's the only thing that could improve the Gold Crown Nationals. We're already planning to go back next year.

[spindell]

Thanks to the Gundaker's for putting on this great event. Thanks to the car owners and drivers for putting the equipment on the track for us, and thanks to USAC and PowerI for working together to bring 48 midgets together for one of the most memorable weekends of racing in a very, very long time! Goes to show, that if the clubs can work together, maybe midget racing can not only be saved, but flourish again! One can only hope!
It was great seeing old friends and getting to meet many new friends from this forum.
The action on the track has been covered to perfection in this thread, but still gives me goosebumps to think of the quality of racing we seen this weekend. These drivers are true professionals, and second to none when it comes to talent and bravery!

[T&A Racing]

Wish I could have attending. Never seen a bad race there before and this one sounded even better.