I was there tonight and the racing was great. The feature wasn’t won by rim riding but the racing was intense and the winner came from eighth. The King of the Hill might have been the best I have seen there and I have missed only one Smackdown. Not sure what people want but it is clear you can’t please everyone.
Ive seen 38 of 39 races and all of the prior BC nights. All in person. Only one i missed was my daughter’s senior football night.
My recollection of prior years is that the track has been known to be different night by night. This year the track was definitely different in that the lip never made it to the wall in 1&2. That said, 2 had a curb that would snatch you in a heartbeat if you hit it wrong. That said, there were some absolute bombs thrown in turn 1 this year. Slide or lift was on full display.
Prior years, guys would enter above the lip in 3, and cut the angle out of 4. Very little if any of that this year. Instead the high side of 3/4 was available if you had the guts and could hit it right. But if you missed, 3/4 also had a couple lower lines guys could use that was fast this year too.
Weather: Maybe it’s because i’m always here with my camper and not in my living room, but i am super stoked about finally having 3 days of gorgeous weather.
Fan experience: Everyone I talked to that did the infield tunnels for driver introduction loved it. Lots of surprised people how wide the infield is and how tacky the track was.
Crowd: i arrived back to my camper at 5:30pm or after all 3 days. Parking was packed all 3 nights. We sat in (from bottom) row 5 Thursday, and row 4 Fri/ Sat and we were fully surrounded. Don’t know where the small crowd convo is coming from because after qualifying wraps up. It was pretty dang full. I’ve seen slightly bigger Saturday crowds, (still packed) but also never seen so many that just stay in the parking lots. The third set of bleachers in the pits also comes into play.
Congrats again to family friend and local hero, Brayden Clark, on a great weekend. Giant steps taken on a super small budget.
(Ed McMahon voice) All in all, I give the weekend 4.5 out of 5 stars. Great weather, great racing.
Originally Posted by WingedFan2019:
Very disappointing weekend, Track wasnt good at all and not a lot of action. Went the first 2 nights, skipped the 3rd night and went elsewhere racing and watched feature on flo. A bit of an uneventful year for USAC, hoping things turn around for them and hopefully Kokomo gets their track back to where it used to be! Very uncharacteristic normally the racings great.
Stick to Hoseheads Winged Fan 2019! Your brainwashing tactics aren’t going to work here.
The annual pilgrimage to Kokomo was both a lot of fun and enjoyable. The fans won again as they always do. Grant obviously was on his game and all of those years chasing Dave Darland honed his skills. People will complain about this and that but the final analysis is always the same. This is the best event/wknd of the year. Only one guy can win each year and this one belonged to Grant. Really glad it was ABB all three nites. I like ripe tomatoes and this years version were fantastic.
Couple points quickly. I took wing fan as sarcasm, maybe I’m wrong. Second I never called for any track to shut down, not once did I say that. Third 76 and 73 are correct. 100% great racing great fun great weather great friends. My only complaint is it’s over. Oh well my favorite weekend of the year is on the horizon 4 👑 baby!
Just so everyone is aware the track is the same as when they re configured it. Track prep is the same, banking is the same, clay is the same. They send clay off every year to a specialist and make sure it is still good.
Now on to the changes, the cars are just faster, shocks are better, tires are better, and they have more horsepower. Reese and Rowdy both work hard to give the fans and drivers a great track and sometimes it may take a few heats to get passing going, but you can guarantee it will be ready come feature time, without a major rework! Glad everyone came and hope to see everyone again next year!
Originally Posted by Josh Spencer:
Just so everyone is aware the track is the same as when they re configured it. Track prep is the same, banking is the same, clay is the same. They send clay off every year to a specialist and make sure it is still good.
Now on to the changes, the cars are just faster, shocks are better, tires are better, and they have more horsepower. Reese and Rowdy both work hard to give the fans and drivers a great track and sometimes it may take a few heats to get passing going, but you can guarantee it will be ready come feature time, without a major rework! Glad everyone came and hope to see everyone again next year!
Josh Spencer
Josh please don't waste your time or energy explaining how its the same track and same dirt and how hard Reece and Rowdy work on the track, to people who aren't even at the track. Streaming apparently shows the track conditions and set up and all the days Reece and Rowdy work on the track during off days, during the week, and even when there isn't a race happening that night or the next night. ABB happened all 3 nights and that's awesome!!
PS: Thank you as always for your services to our community Josh Spencer!!
Originally Posted by Josh Spencer:
Glad everyone came and hope to see everyone again next year!
Josh Spencer
Kudos to you and everyone at Kokomo Speedway for 13 years of excellence. The amount of work you all do, and the constant improvement projects are very appreciated. The expanded golf cart parking in the back lot was a nice touch this year. Lord willing, i’ll be
back for XIV!!
Originally Posted by Josh Spencer:
Just so everyone is aware the track is the same as when they re configured it. Track prep is the same, banking is the same, clay is the same. They send clay off every year to a specialist and make sure it is still good.
Now on to the changes, the cars are just faster, shocks are better, tires are better, and they have more horsepower. Reese and Rowdy both work hard to give the fans and drivers a great track and sometimes it may take a few heats to get passing going, but you can guarantee it will be ready come feature time, without a major rework! Glad everyone came and hope to see everyone again next year!
All great points Josh. But they were racing like the Great Kokomo in the heats. KOTH and Consi's Sat the feature went to the overjuiced bottom.. Even Hazen car passed some hammer motors in the heat rippin the lip.
