The New Eagle Raceway

Saturday I took my first trip to the races this season, and visited the weekly show at Eagle. It’s the first season in nearly 20 years where the 360 Sprinters were not part of the weekly program. For people like me who grew up around the Nebraska 360 Scene, it’s a bit jarring when I walked into the pits.

Who are these guys?

Let's go back 16 years. Yeah, that long. 

In 1997 when Craig Cormack took over Eagle from the Beecham family, the track was billed for that first year as “The New Eagle Raceway.” That was the official name of the track for the season. 

It was fitting: the old wood grandstands were being ripped out for concrete and aluminum stadium seating, and a 100,000 watt sound system replaced the monotonic bullhorn speakers. 

There was a definite culture change, a raise in professionalism, and maybe a bit of a high-brow attitude to go along with the polish added to the facility.  

But it was appropriate dress as we sailed into that sea of economic prosperity that closed out the 20^th century. Fans saw the concept of “sports entertainment” being put into action with the sideshow becoming an integral part of the show as a whole. It wasn’t about going to “the races” - it was about going to “Eagle Raceway.” Some decried the “circus” and insisted that the purity of the sport had been somehow compromised. What they didn’t realize was the sport is a circus. 

We heard the howls again in 2006 when Roger Hadan took over Eagle and brought in a different style of entertainment, where the sideshow was bus races and garbage truck jumps.  More affordable classes were brought in to bolster the dwindling car counts of the long-standing 360 Sprint and IMCA Modified classes. The times were changing, and again the setting befitted the state of the nation. 

(I want to make something clear: I’m not looking down my nose at any of this or any of the changes. Frankly, Roger’s hit some home runs that we could’ve only dreamed about before. He reacted to the market and its tastes. I’m not immune. I waxed poetic in this blog about enjoying high-school and early college age kids smack each other chasing a rubber disk on a sheet of ice. The last thing I want when I sit down would be a bleu cheese platter with a glass of Chilean Malbec. I’ll take my domestic beer, thanks.)  

But while the rules stayed the same, the times around us changed and we saw the 360’s car count dwindle to the level we saw when Eagle first brought back the sprint cars to a weekly show, and in some cases – lower.

Long story, debates, internet backbiting, yadda, yadda, yadda...

We enter a new era – the IMCA Racesaver 305’s. Welcome to The NEW Eagle Raceway.

What did I think?

As I said before, they’re different. The sound is what got me first. Not as loud, not that ‘punch in the chest’ when the green flag is dropped. There’s a difference. I noticed it shooting pictures. The cars set in different, the car sets in later, and they don’t have that launch out of the corner.

They are different.

I didn’t say bad. I said different.

Hotlaps were impressive. The sprint cars were the fastest thing out there. But as we hit the heats, I saw a definite a gap between top and bottom in equipment and skill. It still was entertaining. I watched the A feature from the road as I sneaked out early in fear that the oncoming storms would catch me in a Cass County quagmire.

The race was decent. Mike Boston provided the drama, and Clint Benson took the checkers. Shayle Bade can wheel a race car. Her second place finish is only a sign of things to come and for the first time, Eagle will have a ‘winged woman’ holding the first place check. It will be soon.

In the first year of a class, gaps between first and last are bound to happen, and most have never driven a sprint car competitively. I'm sure it happened when the "modified sprints" took to Midwest Speedway in the early 80's, but as eager fans and participants we didn't see it. This will change, and I likened it to when Eagle ran the wingless 360’s in 2008. The drivers were tentative until the final night of racing when they finally started figuring it out. Problem was, fans didn't really care. I think this time, the fans will embrace it.

The learning curve will be shorter for the 305’s. And the class is on solid footing. Getting 17 to show up three nights into the season isn’t shabby. The overall speeds and competitiveness will improve. It will become more refined (and yes, expensive), but maybe it’s more manageable than the 360’s that left. While the class has been given the title as the ‘main event’ by the promoter, it will earn it on its own soon enough.

Outside of that, the A mods are still the best show out there. About anyone who starts that A feature has a legitimate chance of winning. But if you want to see the future of modified racing, look no further than the gaggle of SportModifieds owning the pits. 47 of them last week. It’s accessible and competitive. Laini Schwartz topped the field, and hats off to her. Wins are earned when you have that deep of a field.

While I’ve had mixed feelings about the SportMod class, one thing I’ve seen is that it is now becoming the entry point for racing at Eagle. It’s a trend I like. I’m not sure of the future of the Hobby Stock. Are we going to start seeing Ford Fusions and Toyota Camrys being converted to a frame for a small-block V8? I don’t know how you even pull it off. Maybe there are more RWD relics out there, but how long does this last? And I think the compacts are still a great way to get under the lights, but as we’ve seen, the FWD cars may not be the best point to learn techniques for the big machines.

Eagle has changed in its 50 years. The track that hosted Hall of Famers is a different racetrack than the one I grew up at. That track’s different than the one I worked for. And this new Eagle Raceway is different than the track Roger took over in 2006.

It's unfair to make any comparison. I haven’t seen anything like it before.

-Jason