Just a few rambling thoughts on the show at IRP on Saturday. Keep in mind, I started my racing fandom in the pavement world of Northeast modifeds and supers, so my opinions on pavement racing are a little biased…

Beautiful afternoon and early evening. You couldn’t ask of a nicer fall day at the end of October. This time of year in Indiana is always a crapshoot but IRP definitely lucked out Saturday. Hard to tell crowd size as the stands are so big but I’d estimate 800-1,000?

I had a seat in the grandstands but bought a pit pass so I could wander around and check out the cars and crews work on the cars. I really find the pavement stuff interesting.

I do like the format. Three classes: sprints, midgets and Silver Crown. 25 bucks. One day. Practice, qualifying and features. No heat races. The entire day went off like clockwork. I hope this show is scheduled next year. It has the potential to become a “Midwest Copper Classic”. If they could somehow add supermodifieds (ISMA/MSS), I think it would become a “Can’t-miss, pavement open-wheel event”.

The sprint car race was the best feature of the day, I thought. It went non-stop, green to checkers. Tyler Roahrig stalked and passed Kody Swanson with five to go. Good field – 23 cars. Plus, sprint cars really, really rip around that place.

I have to be honest, the midget race was a dog. They can't all be barn-burners. I was hoping for at least 20 midgets but they only pulled 15. A few of which were taken out in a wreck on the first lap. I think only about a half dozen finished. Bobby Santos walked away with it. Jake Trainor looked to be Santos’ only real competition, and may have made it a race, but it sounded like he puked a motor early on. 40 laps may have been a bit much. Might want to rethink that next year and make the midget feature a 25 lapper instead.

100 laps of Silver Crown cars at IRP can often be a snooze fest, especially when Kody Swanson starts up front. However, I did enjoy this race. Kody and Tanner Swanson raced nose to tail most of the race with Tanner getting by Kody in lapped traffic with 20 to go. Tyler Roahrig was fun to watch picking off cars on his way to the front. Drivers have mentioned for years now that the Silver Crown races have become 100 lap sprint races. You go all out, every lap now. It's evident on pavement too. No one seemed to be conserving tires or fuel. It was a good show.

Fantastic observations IMO.

Thank-you for posting this! I had only saw the results Saturday night and skimmed Richie's (always verbose, and informative) reports; and spent time (between working hours and what not at our local pavement track; Rockford Speedway) somewhat romanticizing about the IRP glory days and the 1990 "hay days" or pavement open wheel racing; wondering if events like this were sustainable and could continue on.

And then: I was passing out Sunday evening and checked MavTv, and there was the Sprint car race re-air! Stayed awake for that!

I share your positive outlook for these types of races, and hope they can go-on and grow.

Thank-you to ALL the teams and fans that attended!

Two questions:

What were the (possible) piles of dirt outside of turn 4-ish?

Pit row looked GREAT with all those cars, BUT (to make it better for the teams); could certain height haulers be allowed to be parked in the infield? I swear they used to "back in the day" (90s) when I used to attend races there.

Pit row looked GREAT with all those cars, BUT (to make it better for the teams); could certain height haulers be allowed to be parked in the infield? I swear they used to "back in the day" (90s) when I used to attend races there.[/QUOTE]
The only trailers that were allowed to stay in the infield in the 90’s were the Hoosier truck and USAC’s stuff. We always had to pull in and unload and the rigs were parked outside the track.

Actually, the load in/ load out process at IRP has been pretty smooth for the last few years. Pit stalls are now assigned prior to the event (you register for the event), so everyone now knows where they are going-it eliminates the mad rush and traffic jams on pit road as everyone fought for a preferred spot. Some teams pull down pit road while many unload in the infield. Just glad we get to race open wheel cars at IRP several times a year. Saturday's event ran like clockwork, on schedule all day, 1st feature just after 5pm and the last checker fell before 8 pm.
Green to checker for the sprints, one red flag in the midgets (lap 1), and I think only one yellow in the Silver Crown feature.

I thought the show at IRP was good. The sprint race was really good. I also thought the price was a real bargain.

I'm in agreement with everyone. It's great to see the IRP oval making a great comeback. Kudos to the management team for having the determination to make it work, along with USAC and the 500 Sprint Car Tour. Saturday's program was run off in a timely matter with no delays. Great history on the PA by Pat and Brad. I think the racing fans have accepted that we don't need heat races for the IRP races, which saves more tire wear. For only $25 dollars you got to see 60 great pavement cars. Few weeks ago it was only $15 (or less for HARF fans) to see the Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson. Kudos to Rick for building his pavement series and races. Let's hope these reasonable gate prices can pay the purses at these tracks. All the talk about the Hoosier Hundred coming back is interesting. Let's be honest....attendance at the mile Hoosier 1Hundred was never great in the latter years. Let's hope fans come out next April to support the new IRP endeavor.

I made the trip because of the free camping and being a big show. If you like open-wheel pavement racing this is one of the best places to see it. The staff was more than friendly.