The Pace Lap - May 25, 2010

I plan to make it a sprint car pre-weekend at I-80 on Thursday and JMS on Friday for two ASCS Midwest go-rounds. My Eagle streak will likely be broken this weekend as I plan to take Saturday off. A three day weekend keeps some peace at home.

- But I did hit Eagle again last Saturday. I broke out the shorts (shield your eyes from the whiteness) as the temps hovered around 90 and combined with 40+mph wind gusts, dried things out quickly. Some of the water dumped in the pits could've been put to better use on the track...but it wouldn't have mattered.

159 cars hit the speedway - the meat of the purse was covered for sure at the back gate with a nice crowd making for plenty of front gate gravy.

What the hell are you talking about, Jason? Maybe the week off is a good thing for you.

Anyway, the 24 sprinters were the most for a weekly points show this season. Enough in fact for a B feature. Regan Kitchen took a break from retirement to "help the car count" in Ryan's car and looked pretty decent to boot.

There have been a lot of rumblings about the sprint car count at Eagle. But consider this piece from Brad "IBRACN" Brown. In it he mentions that at some tracks, sprint counts are in the low teens, if they're even in the double digits! Even the Mecca of sprint car racing, Knoxville, IA is in the low 20's for 410's and the upper 20's/low 30 for 360s. So the fact that at least for the first 1/3 of the season, Eagle's been filling full A feature fields is a positive.

Some complained about the dust and I sympathize. But that's a lot of cars, starting half an hour earlier, in an increasingly warmer time of year and with the sun higher up to bake the track. Yeah, it was windy...but I feel that with these conditions, dry tracks may be the norm for the season. I don't mind a track that goes dry every so often. However, if you mind...prepare to get used to it.

The multiple spins, yellows and wrecks pushed the show to 4 1/2 hours, with a five minute break. The delays caused Eagle to postpone the Mini-Van race afterward. The track slicked up later (as expected), but wasn't as bad as it could've been for all those cars. The slick conditions led to a lot of spinouts, especially in the sport mod class, and later in the sprints. Jack Dover closed the distance to Stu Snyder after a late yellow flag in the sprint A. Despite nearly looping it and bicycling late in the race, he took the lead back from friend Stu Snyder to take the checkers and made it three out of the last four. It was a nice turn around for Jack as he suffered a nasty wreck the night before at Jackson, MN.

- "I always measured the success of a race by who finished second to me" was a line from Mario Andretti I read in this month's Motorsport magazine. The question is, does the level of competition they beat measure your opinion of a driver's abilities?

In the IMCA Modified division, Eagle promoter Roger Hadan remarked that according to IMCA, the program at Eagle is the toughest in the country. I haven't seen these figures, but it would be hard to argue. Shane Hiatt picked up his first career modified win holding off the likes of defending track champ Jordan Grabouski, last year's National Champion Dylan Smith and multi-time IMCA National Champ Johnny Saathoff. Hiatt drove solid, didn't flinch an inch and picked up a win he could be proud of on any night, even if it was his first.

For the entire season, there has yet to be a repeat winner in that division. I'll put the competitiveness and on-track action of Eagle's IMCA Modified program up against any program of any class in the country when it comes to quality.

- If you're a dirt track racing fan, and the schedule this weekend doesn't satisfy you, nothing will. You could go from Thursday to Sunday and hit a lot of great events and not visit the same track twice. If that isn't enough and the annual big-league racing lineup doesn't make you happy, then I don't know what can be done for you. Go watch some meaningless major league baseball game.

- This may be anathema to any hard core dirt track fan: sometimes I think this area of the country needs a short, paved oval. Yes, paved. Something different and something that could serve more purpose. Dirt tracks have limitations, with rainouts the obvious one. I just think it would add to the variety.

Don't freak out dirt fans - it won't happen.

- With that in mind, I'm planning to visit Motorsports Park Hastings for some event, whether it be karts or SCCA or...

- And, in that vein, if you wish to push wine and cheese racing to its limit, Formula One will be making a comeback to the U.S. in 2012 at a yet-to-be-constructed track near Austin, TX. Yes, there's a snob factor, but I like seeing the pinnacle of technology and the spectacle.

I think many agree that "big league" racing often forgets its short track cousins. Notice I didn't say "heritage." Like it or not and despite what NASCAR would like you to believe, auto racing was a rich man's game to begin with as only the rich had cars. Despite that, I think it's a good thing for the short trackers to get a taste of the big leagues, especially if only for ideas to bring home to the bullring.