Pace Lap part 2

Throw the yellow, get back in line, whatever. Here's some commentary on the week past, week ahead and whatnot.

-I spoke to Roger Hadan about the rut in turn one, which has been particularly nasty the first two weeks at Eagle. Roger said they dug up the bottom half of turn 1 and 2, replaced drain tile, laid down Bentonite, 3 inch rock and wire mesh along with cloth to hopefully seal the turn from underground water. He said that when they dug in to turn one, water came out of 3-inch hole for about an hour, shooting 3 feet in the air at times. Many fans already knew there was a spring under the track.

-The best solution had to come from sprint car owner Mark Burch (mbmotorspt) in this thread on dirtdrivers.com: "Please move the flagstand to the back stretch. That will eliminate the ruts in turn one."

I nominate that as line of the year.

-For all of the commotion about turn one, the real issue was the 10 (or more) red flags that night, and most happened outside of the "ruts." I just don't understand why on the opening lap, I'd need to see the Sport Compacts going four-wide into a turn. It's not a one lap race.

-Another issue: after seeing the picture of Doug Lyons' car, there was a comment by Jeff Joldersma, builder and racer of many Sport Compacts (not Lyons' car) about the fact that the cage on Lyons' car wasn't welded all the way around. He also offers testimony from another racer who flipped that night (and caught fire) about the quality of the cage.

Looking in the IMCA rules, there's nothing that says that but isn't it COMMON SENSE? Who would trust themselves to a partially weld a roll cage and why should that be allowed to take to the track? Those cars are running at highway speeds under racetrack conditions. Yes I know racing isn't "safe," but I'm worried. Maybe it's time to think about where this class is now and be PRO-active. I'm not talking about getting rid of it, just now that we have some real world data, see what we can do to make some improvements. These cars aren't hobby or street stocks, they're engineered very different. In my book, the similarity ends at four wheels and a motor.

-There's more than just Eagle... It's nice to see that 3/4 of the Butler County Motorplex Schedule has been filled. There's an IMCA Modified & Stock Car show on May 20, the previously mentioned ASCS show on June 1 and the USMTS contest on July 16. I hope that we will see many more shows next year, be it from the current promoters or new ones. It's a racy little place and I'd hate to see another track go by the wayside.

-I'm rooting for the Shelby County Racers Association and the "New" Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, IA. Again, with Denison limited to an ASCS showand Figure 8's let's hope that the track fills a growing void in Western Iowa.

-I plan on heading to US36 Speedway next Friday (May 11) for the World of Outlaws show. After reading and hearing so much about how racy the place is, I'm looking forward to visiting there and bringing back some pictures. One thing: I'm getting more impressed by the new team at WoO. I think this is finally the group that can bring them to the "next level."

That's it for now, let's hope for nice weather despite the forecast.