[ossuks]

One of the main reason I seldom post here is because there seems to be alot of negativety, and most of that is directed at USAC. I myself am now guilty of doing the same thing. My information regarding Eagle was 3rd party word of mouth. I (in the last few minutes) was informed by someone that I highly respect (and a person who does know the facts) that the car count at Eagle was going to be solid and that rain was there along with tornado threats and a bad forcast.
While I'm posting for the final time I would like to straighten out a myth that I seem to read on this site weekly. With the exception of THAT (and the weather the night before screwd them) USAC has no say so in track preperation. They are a sanctioning body that entrust the promoters they do buisness with to handle track prep! In most cases a promoter wants no input from USAC on track prep, its their facility and they prep it as they see fit. If anyone has a reason to have issues with USAC it is me, but the issues I have are between me and USAC. It would be nice if people would only post facts and not let their personal feeling get in the way (as I did).
I love spint, midget, and silver crown racing and USAC provides the best platform for this type of racing. The issues that competitors have with USAC are between them and USAC. We as race fans have no idea of what goes on behind the scenes to make these events happen. So, in parting, I plan to not post anymore, buy suggest to those of you that do that you have your facts before you post!

[dirttrackfan]

Originally Posted by Gene Franckowiak The only problem with not supporting USAC is when they show up short on cars, you might not see the race happen again next year and races are hard to replace especially for the purse USAC pays. I'm not saying in the short term you didn't make the right call for your team, but looking at the big picture. it is going to be hard to get races for that purse with low car counts.......if enough people come home, maybe next year we all are racing for 1200 to win Before the bashers start.........yes I own a sprint car team and also provide the engines to a USAC team.........so I do know what it costs to race.

Posted via Mobile Device
USAC does not pay the purse at the local track when it's a USAC event, the track promoter pays it while USAC sits back and gets their fair share. If you are racing for $1200 to win that's your own fault because many track pay more than that in Indiana. USAC isn't a winning combination for most local tracks. Unless it's sprint week a promoter is guaranteed to lose money on a USAC event due to the large purse; ie $25000 plus.

[FALCONEDDIE]

good buy

[TeamCGR]

As I stated in my first sentence from the original post; this is not about USAC or the series. They don't control the track prep and most of the time if they try, they get told to "beat it". I have seen it myself. So if someone wants to tear into USAC, use another post please.

As far as not supporting USAC, we've competed in every show except 1, including Sprint week and the entire Eastern Storm series and those 2 weeks are no cheap date, I can assure you. If they don't have a show at one of those Central U.S. tracks next year, it will not be because of the drivers. They field the best in the business. If they can't pay the purses, it won't be the drivers fault, it may be the lack of fan support in that area. Did you see the grandstands at Knoxville? From the camera angle all of us got, it was pretty empty. But, throw a wing on them and it is a packed house. So, if fans support is low, it must not be that important so, I believe, the track prep suffers. The track at Oskaloosa wasn't touched all day after a full night of Wing Racing. We raced Wing Cars in the ASCS Nationals and with the PA Posse guys so we know all about Wing Racing. It can be exciting but our opinion is Non Wing racing is still a better ticket. Obviously not everyone feels that way in the Midwest and Plain States.

If this is going to made Political, then blame me. The Team came to me with this thought and I agreed. When Coleman could not see anything in front of him in Hot Laps that is a big problem to us. We are not interested in running over each other, possibly hurting someone or worse if the track is not prepared. Then, the track ate tires like an asphalt race and the passing in the feature was at a premium. That will also drive away fans. Obviously some guys made it work but for most it was tough. It is a vicious cycle for sure.

So, our decision to come back where Non Wing Sprinters are supported like they should be and the track promoters put the best effort into getting the track ready for a great show was a logical decision for us.

This is not a USAC bashing post, just a post to alert Coleman's fans that we are back in Indiana this weekend where the Beer is Cold, the Tracks are Fast and the Fans know where to see the best Sprint Car Racing in the Country. If that's political or unpopular then so be it.

Pete G..

[wolfracer69]

glad to hear you coming back to indiana always welcome here love to watch colman race at put

[Dirtfan]

Very well said Pete,understand fully.Still remember following you into the fairgrounds @ Oklahoma Speedway in 09, during the TNT Tour, the doors came open and the grill was fired up.What happened @ Lakeside, we all would like to forget.Best of Luck the rest of the racing season!

[nowingsjeff]

I was at Southern Iowa Speedway Monday for All-Stars and Tuesday for USAC. Monday's show was typical locked down winged follow the leader garbage. Yet the track prep was really good. They had a full field of winged cars run a lot of laps with NO DUST what so ever, NONE. I was really impressed by that. No dust at a winged race is very rare. So, I'm salivating all day Tuesday thinking how good USAC was going to be on a track prepared the same way. Unfortunately, as the USAC machines were idling around putting heat in the engines the dust was billowing behind and they weren't even on the gas yet!

USAC ran eight heats, with two of them being pretty good racing.The rest of them were OK, but the feature just down right sucked. It was single file on the bottom. The cars were lifting way early and coasting around the turns, especially turns 1 & 2. The stands were packed with winged people that were in the area because of the upcoming Knoxville Nationals. I heard several of them yell that USAC sucks. And in reality that night they did suck, but not because of the sanctioning body or its drivers, but because of the piss poor track. But to those winged fans it was USAC and traditional non winged sprints that was the problem. That's sad, but that was their perception and their perception is their reality.

When USAC is at Knoxville, Southern Iowa Speedway, Lincoln Speedway in PA or other winged havens a pattern has been consistent. That pattern has been dry slick piece of crap track conditions. I don't think its by mistake either, it's by design. Those tracks don't want their regular clientele to see that there's something better than what they see on a weekly basis with their winged cars. Plain and simple, they're scared. Scared their fans will want more traditional sprintcar racing. Something that they can't deliver as most of those winged guys refuse to run sans wings. That's why Williams Grove won't even book USAC, they know it's a better show than their weekly or WoO show.

My feeling is, before USAC signs a contract with these winged tracks in the future, there needs to be a clause in the contract about proper track conditions. If they can't do that, then they shouldn't race there as they aren't doing traditional sprintcar racing any favors. In-fact, they're hurting the sport, just like they did this past Tuesday with many of the people at Southern Iowa Speedway .

Also a shout out to both Robert Ballou & Dave Darland for calling out the track prep guy before the feature, but especially Robert as he really let them have it. I don't care for the politically correct world we live in, so I found his calling them out refreshing.

[Koonzee]

We've gone to Osky every year since they started the Ultimate Challenge.(The One Night Stand for 30 Grand,back then) If McCarl cared about having two good nights they'd run the non-wings Monday and the wings Teusday.After this year we came back for Belle Claire, Gas and Put also. It's too bad, the Knoxville Non-Wing Nationals were very good this year,great car count,good track prep.Hate to see support for the Non-Wing Nationals drop,because of Osky.But if they can't switch the days,we probably won't return.Might save my vacation time for the Perris Nationals in the future. GOOD LUCK CGR!!!

[ThrowbackRacingTeam]

Ok. My turn to set the record straight. Yes they didn't do near enough work on track prep at Osky but it was also sunny and 30-40mph. wind gusts all day. That will make any track dusty. It was no worse than THAT sprint week which was also sunny and windy. I'm sorry but in those conditions there's not much you can do. This was the first time in the 10 year history of the race that there was dust so lets just give them another chance. It was tacky monday for the wings because it rained like hell sunday night. The winged fans I heard in the stands know the non-wing cars put on a better show when there's something to get ahold of and I assure you it'll be better next year. The racing there is better when it isn't too tacky like last year. McCarl gives each race equal billing and pays more for the non-wing race. The crowd at Knoxville was very good. I believe the front stretch grandstand holds over 20,000 people so a crowd of 7,000 may not look very big from the pits Mr.Gulick. I garuntee they made money that night only paying the standard USAC purse. In contrast they admittedly loose money every week on their weekly winged shows. The real reason the Iceman is headed back to Indiana is the lack of success he's had all year long and it's probably a good idea for him to get some more experience with different set-ups before trying to run USAC full time. Don't blame it on the race tracks that gave you a good track to run on Sunday and the highest single day purse of the year Tuesday. Have fun sharing the bill with 3 or 4 classes of fender bender's in Indiana! Hope to see you at Terre Haute though.

[Koonzee]

Funny, I don't remember 10 cars stopping for fresh rubber at Terre.Don't remember drivers complaining about a tire eating track at Terre.Don't remember NHRA tire smoke at Terre.But I do remember a well prepared track and a great race at Terre. Wind?? It was the best weather at a race this year.Nice breeze,felt great.