It’s back!

racenut69 · 9/22/24, 11:53 AM

Eldora changed when they raced the Nascar Trucks...Can't have dust on TV! Glad I went in 1997 when Earl was there...JMO...

EldoraMark · 9/22/24, 1:40 PM

I have been going to Eldora for 62 years. I have been to many races when Earl did the track prep and it was a dust bowl.

Charles Nungester · 9/22/24, 2:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EldoraMark

I have been going to Eldora for 62 years. I have been to many races when Earl did the track prep and it was a dust bowl.

Yeah, Many of them features were dusty as hell. In fact, waves of dust. But the track was fast as hell Had a three ft high and four ft wide cushion. Now it's a slow skating rink with a 5mph speed limit.

fourteen fan · 9/22/24, 3:45 PM

We stayed to the bitter end. Wanted to get our 50.00 each worth.
I would suggest going back to the format of qualifying and heats say Friday night, and b mains and features Saturday. Just two any races on Saturday unless they start earlier.
What is really irritating, is the way they treat the silver crown drivers.
Almost every year they have a junk track to race on, and they wait around all night to race at 1am in front of very few people!
Come on Levi, we know you can come up with some kind plan that works better than what the 4crown is now.

B99 · 9/22/24, 4:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grocery Guy

90+ degrees, bright sun both days, drought conditions, four divisions of cars....what were we expecting? The program even started little late, 6:30pm, because they put extra water down. They tried to rework the track, but it was so hard and slick. The Silver Crown race just became follow the leader around the bottom. Don't get out of the rubber. I think Briggs Danner could have challenged Mitchell, but he was just stuck in the rubber and was not going to harm Kody. It's interesting that we usually don't see this kind of dust at the big late model races.

WHat did we expect? How about a decent race track. Quit blaming the weather. I've been to tracks all over the Midwest this year, seen daytime racing as well, and did not see a track this bad until last night.

B99 · 9/22/24, 4:37 PM

Just returned home after a 5 hour drive.

I love the 4 Crown, really do. And last night was one of the biggest if not the biggest crowds I've seen there for this event. Was really looking forward to the evening. Great weather, had a great drive over as well. I've seen day and night races at Eldora and in the 50 plus years I've been going to dirt tracks last night was quite possibly the f***king worst POS I've ever experienced. Dust Bowl Oklahoma could not have been worse. I was in turn 1 and could not see the cars in 3-4, and at times in 2.

The track wasn't that bad in hot laps and qualifying. You'd think it would get better as the sun went down and it got cooler. It didn't, it got worse. The USAC Sprint B main was won by a guy driving it as if it were pavement. And Kudos to the USAC Sprint guys for not having 27 yellows or reds and actually going out on that POS for their feature.

Ballou was right in his interview. Whatever they are doing, it ain't working. At one point the poor folks in 3-4 and the main chute were sitting in a cloud of dust. SOmeone should have received pink slip for that fiasco last night.

And getting over at 145. Ridiculous. They started racing pretty much on time, and other than that idiotic track rework kept the program moving.

yeleyfan76 · 9/22/24, 7:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grocery Guy

90+ degrees, bright sun both days, drought conditions, four divisions of cars....what were we expecting? The program even started little late, 6:30pm, because they put extra water down. They tried to rework the track, but it was so hard and slick. The Silver Crown race just became follow the leader around the bottom. Don't get out of the rubber. I think Briggs Danner could have challenged Mitchell, but he was just stuck in the rubber and was not going to harm Kody. It's interesting that we usually don't see this kind of dust at the big late model races.

What was I expecting?? I was expecting to see a 30 lap Usac National sprint car race. They ran an efficient program with no midget qualifying, and 3 cars on track timing. That’s how you do it.
I expected after that the track prep/maintenance would be stellar. I did not expect a dust storm like you get in the desert. The two toy tractors they put on the track to open it up was a joke. A pickup truck with a water barrel in the bed of it was a joke. Anyone and I mean anyone who thought the outcome would be different is plain foolish. I expected Tony Stewart to have a better operation. Instead his panties were in a bunch about Ballou saying the track sucked.

Some people were saying it’s was bad some years Earl had the place. That may be but, it was only a couple of weeks ago how Stewart was lauded for stepping up during world 100 week for fixing his track after disastrous track prep. Lucky for them he had 3 more nites. Once again the series that started his rise to prominence is the one he has kicked to the curb. No three more nites to make it up. Stewart owns the place and this was his mess. I feel sorry for Levi as I’m sure he was hoping for better as well. I was really hoping that returning to this event after 12 years away would yield good results. Oh well I guess I was the fool.
Maybe the 50/50 money his foundation garners could go to prep equipment and people who know what they are doing. Stop blaming the weather, the amount of cars, and saying the sprint cars should not have run first. I expected better from Tony Stewart.

Pancho Stapp · 9/22/24, 7:41 PM

My group seen Levi and was nice and cordial and I wanted to say something about that fiasco but my son said leave it and he was right. Levi inherited this ******** and that’s the bottom line. I guess we give him a shot in all fairness but if it’s a continuation of this I don’t care if we come back. I live 50 minutes west of this place and been coming since 65. I know I am spoiled to be so close but this is cluster f$&k.

openwheelfan1 · 9/22/24, 9:57 PM

I’ll start by saying we were NOT at Eldora either Friday or Saturday night. Just too far to travel at this point in my life. I went to Eldora a great deal in the latter 70’s and up to the mid 80’s when we lived in Dayton Ohio. Back then, the vast majority of the races at Eldora were day races, although there were a few night races. That said, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I saw Eldora as dusty as it appeared to be on Saturday night. Yes, I know tires are wider and of different design, construction and materials, but other tracks are running programs with near the amount of cars with less dust.

I really don’t know what the answer is, but it was obvious on TV that by the time the midget feature was done, the crowd was down to less than probably 25% of the start of the night. $50 to leave before the show is complete is not something I can imagine lots of people will do again.

ThrowbackRacingTeam · 9/22/24, 11:49 PM

I was there last year and watched track prep on Saturday. I kept wondering why they weren’t watering it more. It was a total joke how little track prep they actually did. So this year I made a wise choice not to go. On top of the dust, it’s too long of a program on Saturday. The wings and midgets should only run features Saturday, no heats or time trials. That would help a lot but the track surface itself is one of the worst in the country. Knowing what Saturday night was going to be like, I watched football instead and then watched the race on Sunday so I could fast forward through the winged racing and other downtime. I was able to see all the USAC racing in about 3 hours and not a spec of dust on me.