I've never seen a midget run in the 14 second range at Eldora,but have seen sprints do it. They might be the around the same speed when it's dry slick,but not when it's good and hammer down.

Sprint track record is over a second faster than the midget record.

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy

Let me tell you, I love both places, But belleville is faster and meaner, would love to see sprints and silvercrown there. ossuks is right, the gaurdrail is about 2 1/2 feet tall with no fence. I wish belleville was in indiana. For those of you who have never been, You have no ideal!!!

And the winged sprint track record is two seconds faster than a non wing car.

If Belleville can handle a WOO car it should be able to handle a non wing car.

A wing car is a lot more stable and locked down than a non wing car is,and that makes a big difference.

There is such a difference between the way you drive the two tracks. Eldora is bad fast, and I really struggled there for a long time and a lot of respect for the place. But when both tracks are on the fence, Eldora you run with the right rear hung out against the cushion, working the throttle. When Belleville is on the cushion, you are spending most of your time staring directly at the guardrail and turning left, wide open. I wasn't at the WoO show, so I can't say anything about it. I have seen 305 and 360 sprints run there. I know with less HP, they can't always run as high, but they generally aren't right against the guardrail like the midgets. Maybe the WoO cars were. Wing cars don't tend to throw the dirt up the track as much as non wing cars. I, along with plenty others, have been pushing for Silver Crown cars to get to Belleville. I do not think non wing sprint cars belong at Belleville. I stay in touch with the fairboard and I know they really want to build Belleville back. So keep that weekend open. I'm thinkin it will good

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Pretty much knew the WOO cars ran B'ville would be used as a reason to race USAC sprints at B'ville. And really don't want to get into the wing/non-wing, USAC vs WOO thing. But, let me put a little light on how I felt a few years ago when working for USAC and attending B'ville as a USAC representative and having discussions with the fairboard about this exact topic.

The above mentioned safety issues were areas that had to be addressed, but more importantly was the fact that there was no need to race sprints or SC at B'ville. Why/or what was my reasoning:

The men that drive those cars are men that I grew up with and or was watching grow up. The men that drove those cars were sons, brothers, husbands, friends, uncles and DADDYS. There are 100's of race tracks around the country that we could race on that did not pose the safety hazards of racing at B'ville. I know, racing is dangerous and you can give me example after example of how drivers were injured and killed at short tracks with top speeds of 60mph (I have had the misfortune of witnessing 2 deaths at Speedrome/a 1/5 mile flat paved track)but really we all know that the potential for tragedy would be huge in comparison to most other "short tracks" AND yes, there are those that love the big fast places, I know Jerry loves B'ville as do a hand full of others, but why are there 200+ cars at Tulsa and 18 at B'ville? The Gold Crown Nationals averages 50 cars, why was there only 18 at B'ville?? Remember, Putnumville has ran as many races this year as there have been B'ville midget nationals, so, if all the major injuries that have happened over the history of the Nationals had happened this year at Put, there would be no racers at Putnumville.

It was my feeling that we could race Bloomington, Kokomo, Gas City, Eastern Storm, Buck-eye Nationals, ect... and our guys would be surrounded by a much safer facility then THE HIGH BANKS!
I always felt grateful (and lucky) each year that we left B'ville and we did not leave someone behind.

So while I'm preaching let me add this, those of you that have a man racing that you care about: go to the ambulance where you are racing and find out:
1-Can the ambulance transport?
2- If no, you will be assured that they are only 5-7 minutes from the fire station,or something similar, they will leave out the IF the equipment is not already on a run! By the way, can you hold your breath for 7 minutes?
3- Do they have a Paramedic? Not an EMT, and don't for one minute buy into the qualifications of an EMT vs a Paramedic.
4- What kind of fire equipment do they have? Do they have plenty of water to secure the driver, do not think a few 5lbs water cannon will get the job done?
5- As of October of 2010 USAC had lowered their safety standards and no longer required a paramedic, I told Kevin Miller I would not work in 2012 without paramedics, I don't know why he replaced me in 2012, I'm still waiting on a answer?


**** Bellville always had the best in safety equipment and staffing[/quote]

**** There are several Tracks that have great safety teams, but, there are several that do not!

---------- Post added at 12:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 AM ----------

Over the years the conversation always come up "who was the best you ever seen?" I always replied that there were some that were specialist at certain forms of racing, and when it comes to the BIG FAST joints IMO Jerry is as good if not the best I've seen in my lifetime.

I did attend the WoO race this year, plus I've been to a couple of All Star shows there in conjunction with the midget nats, and if memory serves, the winged 410s run ALMOST as high as the midgets, but not quite. I don't recall seeing any of the sprints running up against the rail. Incidentally, in checking the Highbanks web site, there's a 3.2 seconds difference in track records between sprints and midgets: 14.258 compared to 17.500.

........[/QUOTE]

Your post has a couple of intersting points. You state that you always felt lucky to leave Belleville with no injuries. Is your concern with the track facitlities or the speed of the track? It would seem that if the facilities are the issue that the track would not be safe for any of the four classes that are being discussed. I thought that people were arguing that the cars are going too fast, which is why I was arguing the case for the WOO cars. I understand that they are different cars with different styles. However, the WOO cars do go faster.

The point about the midget car count is another topic entirely. I have a lot of opinions about that one.

Reading CoonDogs post was also very interesting because he is one of my favorite drivers. However, a Belleville midget nationals with Silver Crown cars does not sound as exciting as a triple bill. A triple bill show at Belleville would be a "must see".

Your post has a couple of intersting points. You state that you always felt lucky to leave Belleville with no injuries. Is your concern with the track facitlities or the speed of the track? It would seem that if the facilities are the issue that the track would not be safe for any of the four classes that are being discussed. I thought that people were arguing that the cars are going too fast, which is why I was arguing the case for the WOO cars. I understand that they are different cars with different styles. However, the WOO cars do go faster.

The point about the midget car count is another topic entirely. I have a lot of opinions about that one.

Reading CoonDogs post was also very interesting because he is one of my favorite drivers. However, a Belleville midget nationals with Silver Crown cars does not sound as exciting as a triple bill. A triple bill show at Belleville would be a "must see".[/QUOTE]


This is one persons opinion (mine), which will get you a free cup of nothing!! I spent 34 years traveling the country doing races for USAC, so I do feel that I have a little knowledge (some would say very little). When you add the speed at B'ville to the lack of updated safety issues you have a situation that has an above average chance for a tragic situation!!

One example that I thought about a lot is the catch fence on the front stretch needs to extend 150 ft or so farther toward turn 4, when Scott Hatten hit a spinning Teddy Beach (no way to avoid) he sailed close to 175 feet outside the track, had that same situation happened off turn 4, we would not be discussing any type of racing at B'vill