It's be interesting to see the different views and unique experiences all you guys and gals experienced in 2009?

---------- Post added at 11:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 AM ----------

1. Kamp Sprint Week. Almost the whole thirty laps there were three our four people vying for the lead and the two and three wide final laps was incredible. They crossed the line three wide. Nobody seemed to know who won. Personally I thought it was Whitt but I was sitting turn two end. When DD was announced, the crowd went wild.

2. LBurg Nationals. Two 30+ Lappers with over fifty cars, Damien and Jon put on clinics. Frolic, friends, tons of racing!

3. Sprint Week, Terre, Just had a great time. Frolic, Racin at what to me is the ultimate sprint car track

4. Hulman, Probably because it was my first time at Terre, The Coondog commin from 16th to 4th. I just found it wild. Throw twenty cars at 120mph into a narrow corner and see what happens

5 Toughy but I'll go with my only visit to Bloomington last year, July 3rd. Two guys racing side by side for multiple laps, Bicycling ect.

Chuck, who had many other moments on his highlight reel.
Eldora opener seeing the SHortbus Before Surgery, Having a free pit browsing before the races, Seeing the Shortbus after surgery mulitiple times PRICELESS!

1) Bloomington Midget Week race. What a show!

2) Williams Grove Wingless Super Sportsman Show. For only running wingless once a year they put on a super show.

3) Kokomo Midget Week. I was so hoping Buckwalter could pull it off.

4) Lawrenceburg Midget Week. Sitting under the big A with friends can't get much better.

5) Kids night at Williams Grove in August. Taking my son to the Grove for the first time was great!

Chuck,

Great question! Sitting here trying to remember and all of a sudden I realize that the 2009 season was one with outstanding racing. Here are the ones that come to mind right now.

1)Sprint Week @ Kamp. Just as Chuck describes three and four wide through out the feature. Darland, Whitt, Stanbrough and others too numerous to mention. Great show.

2)Sheldon Kinser Memorial @ Bloomington. Young Mister Niflis put on quite a show. A great win for an underdog and proof that in Indiana sprint car racing, anyone can win on any given night.

3)Sprint Week @ Haubstadt. Great battle between Levi and Bryan with the whole deal on the line. It just doesn't get much better than this. Also had the opportunity to park next to Dave Darland and spend time afterwards with he and the Darland girls.

4)KISS Show @ Paragon. Another classic with Stanbrough coming from deep in the pack to post the win. A driving clinic for sure with a great setting as the backdrop. The hillside seating here and at Bloomington is a throw back to good old times.

5)Power I @ Southern Illinois Center. A great battle between Loyett and Kuhn with a little "extra" action after the . A great way to start off the 2009 racing season.

Honorable Mention:

The ISMA & AVSS doubleheader at Toledo is always a great show. This latest addition didn't disappoint.

Almost any Sunday night at Kokomo deserves mention.

And finally for fun and frolic, Section "A" at the burg is always an enjoyable experience.

Hope everyone else has great memories from 2009 and I look forward to more of the same in 2010.

Just gonna list 5 in no order... I live in Canada and only seen 6 races in Indiana this year. (one was late models: The Indiana Icebreaker at Brownstown. So I'm listing some non Indiana and some non open wheel races...

I was at my lowest race count in 4 years with 43 races.
- Hoss Sprints at Anderson - 71 Year Old Hurryin' Hank Lower holds off the kids for 60 laps at the tight 1/4 Mile.
- Shane Hollingsworth wins the Hoosier Hundred. - Correct me if I'm wrong, was this the car that was stolen? Nonetheless still a feelgood story for that team. My first time there, Larry Rice passing that week, and a whole lot of history at that place. Not saying the single file racing was good, but the speeds down the frontstretch were amazing.
- Shannon Babb wins UMP Summernationals race at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. - Not much excitement on the 22nd of 23 races in the month long 'Hell Tour', the wide turns of WMP with some 3 wide action at times was exciting. Still having determination to race after the rain delays and hot days of the Midwest summer was really neat. Another new track to my list and my first Summer Nat's race, home by midnight.
- Shane Stewart wins the 5th Annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals - Lots of Americans and out of province Canadians filled the 72 car roster at the beautiful 3/8's mile Ontario oval. 360's and wings, but a great track, and a great event getting bigger every year. While Ohsweken Speedway is a staple on my list every season this was my first time at this event.
- Dennis Erb Jr. and Jeff Babcock win UMP Fall Nationals at Eldora - 115 Modifieds, 56 Late models
$20.00 ticket, 14 heat races, 7 B-mains, 2 Races of champions and 2 A-mains. Almost 11 straight hours of cars on the track. All in one day.

As Mudpacker mentioned the ISMA & AVSS show is always a great event.

Hmm. Very good question. Let me see.

No. 5: Inaugural Lone Star 100 at Battleground Speedway, Highlands, Texas for WoO Late Models. Great race. For the entire distance, there were multiple grooves and constant lead changes. Not your typical WoO late model race. Shannon Babb got his only win of the year, and got to ride the Longhorn Steer brought into victory lane. Similar event on the schedule for 2010, but don't believe it will be 100 laps (one day show only).

No. 4: Modified Madness USMTS Modifieds again at Battleground Speedway. First day of a three day show, and the only day that got in due to rain. Local driver Howard Willis driving an Evolution chassis gets a rare (for Howard) USMTS win, fighting from mid pack.

No. 3: Regular show at VCS on 16 May 2009. Nick Bilbee flat out drove Jon Stanbrough that night. So many times I thought that Jon was going to get by, but Nick came right back. Just an amazing race. Minus a point or two because of the dust, but VCS was the only track racing after heavy rains in the area that night.

No. 2: Hmm. I guess I will go with Chad Boat's win at Kokomo during Sprint Week. The track was heavy and treacherous all night and tough on both cars and competitors. Nic Faas had that terrible multi car wreck but still came out and raced in the feature while coughing blood. There is a toughness among sprint car drivers, while maybe not wise, is certainly amazing.

No. 1: Easy choice, and I am not alone in this one. Kamp Motor Speedway during Sprint Week. Others have described the race better than I can, only to say that many folks, feeling Kamp would be miserable and dusty (it was a little on both counts) missed an incredible performance. To be honest, if not for the dust, Kamp would even be one of my favorite places to at least shoot a race. You have to love the shape of it, the width and the banking. Others may argue, but it reminds me of a 2/3 scale Eldora.

No particular order

ASCS National opener at the Devils Bowl
October ASCS Nationals at Cowtown
Winternationals at Devils Bowl
November Sprint Shootout at Cowtown
Topless 100 modifieds at Cowtown

I saw 5 stinkers this year as well.

ASCS regional at Kennedale Speedway Park
Memorial Day race at Winona (Tyler, TX)
4th of July at Cowtown
Cowtown sprints at Kennedale Speedway Park
WoO at Lone Star

That looks balanced, but my season wasn't balanced. I saw lots more races this year that couldn't make the top five, but were much better than the stinkers. 11 tracks in 2 states. Not bad for being retired on a limited budget. I just hope 2010 is as good.

I don't have 5 but here are a couple for you guys.

Friday night at Oval Nationals the photo finish was amazing.

Saturday night at Tulare Hanson won but any of the top 4 would have won if there was on mistake.

Midget race at Perris watching Darron Hagen coming from 26th to 1st like a man on a mission....

In no particular order.......

KISS race @ Haubstadt: Blake Fitzpatrick looked like he had it in the bag but jumped the cush with two or three to go allowing Short and BC who were running the bottom to pass. Brady held off a hard charging run from Clauson and beat him by half a car length. Great finish!

Sprint Week finale @ Haubstadt: Levi and Clauson going at it for the win and title.

Powri @ Du Quoin mini-mile in March: Loyet charging from mid-pack closes in on Kuhn in the Felker #37 in the final laps. Makes a big desperate slider in turn three on the last lap and knocks him out of the way to get the win, then Kuhn immediately retaliates taking him out in turn one after the checker. Kuhn awarded the win off a judgment call from Powri. Pretty entertaining stuff!

World of Outlaws @ The Ditch: Great race with Tim Kaeding, Tony Bruce, Randy Hannagan and Brooke Tatnell going at it for the win. Donny Schatz gets lapped in all of the excitement. TK gets a win for the Kaeding's at the historic track.

World of Outlaws @ Haubstadt: The night after seeing the great race at The Ditch, The King wins a thriller after battling with likes of McCarl, TK and Hannagan. Hannagan breaks while leading and TK gets taken out after tangling with McCarl after the caution came out. Steve and T-Mac battle for the win. Coming down to the line with two to go, Steve charging on the outside gets along side McCarl. They both touch and Terry goes spinning upside down ending his night. One of the best runs I've seen Steve pull off in a while. He looked like he could have been in his 20's again that night. Daron Clayton charging from 24th to 10th was fun to watch, proving he could race with the best winged guys on his old play place.

USCS Fall Nats. @ The Ditch: I think most of us saw the You Tube vid of what happened with Sammy and Stenhouse. I was just glad I was there to see it all happen at the track that night. One of those races where you just had to have been there.

i-75 1-70 - i-95- pa turnpike! And out of the parking lot!

1. Kamp Sprint Week. Finish too close to call.

2. Ultimate Challenge Osky - Great battle between Darland and Hockett

3. IRL at KY and Chicagoland. Great finishes.

4. Midget Week race a Bloomington

5. All races I saw at Kokomo. Another great season.

Special mention to the show at IRP during the Brickyard. The racing is not always side by side there, but I love going to that place. It was nice to have around 70 total cars show up for SC and midgets.