[Midwest Connection]

Left Arnold, MO. on Thursday morning, hit rain east of Terre Haute, IN., said the heck with it and kept on movin' down the road to ORP. After driving this far and being rained out at Bloomington Speedway in May, I did said to myself - "not again." But the rains came and went in Indy. ORP was dried off and on with the show. I have read a lot of the comments on here about the racing at ORP, and everyone has a constructive criticism, which is there God given right. But, let me submit this comment which is as true as I can state it. For me, I am 1st and foremost an open wheel fan going on 50 + years starting way back with the supermodifieds and modifieds at Oswego Speedway, New York. I recently made the 15 hour trek up and back to Oswego Speedway for the "King of Wings" supermodifieds. Ok! with that said, equally a favorite racing genre of mine is Silver Crown, non wing sprint cars and midgets. So, I go to Indiana to watch these open wheel genres race. True, some races are better than others, but for me to be able to see any open wheel non wing racing I head on over to Indiana. And, yes it is expensive for me to pursue my hobby of race chasin' as well.

Bottom line: The only non wing supermodified racing in the world on a weekly basis is Oswego Speedway, New York. For me it is a long commute on a weekend. So, other than MCS Speedway and Tri City Speedway in Illinois, I head up to Indiana to watch the non wing sprints which in my opinion doesn't get any better on a weekend. The Indiana non wing sprint car racing is awesome, it is #1, and I always have a good time there, it is all good to me. But, along the way, I have seen many of Indiana's great open wheelers, made a lot of Indiana friends, which it makes it all worth it for me. The End

Have a good day...see you at Haubstadt tonite 25 July for the MSCS and POWRi midgets

Rich - Arnold, Missouri

[AustinSprinter]

Thanks MWC....Nice shots from ORP!!....Looks like that could be Morgan Shepperd,standin with his back to Newman!!.......
___________
Brucer'

[IndyBound]

Thanks Rich for your great pictures and comments. Sometimes reading some of the negative post on here about the races in Indiana makes me appreciate the racing I get to see all the more. It also makes me think of the classiest woman in supermodified racing and the values she taught all of us that supported her husbands racing. You never stood up and cheered when an accident happend, you never booed another competitor, you respected every competitor, you might not cheer for another competitor when they beat you but you certainly wouldn't boo them. Nor would you run down the track owners and competitors like I hear happening today. In todays economy more than ever before I feel racers need to appreciate what they have and support it more than ever, it can all be gone in no time.

Patti