....since I've been to a short track to throw my hard earned money at the local and regional heroes of dirt racing. My god how I've missed it. Short track dirt racing is the purest form of automotive competition ever created. I dropped into New Egypt NJ speedway with my 29 year old son, it's the first time we've been to a dirt track together in 15 years. We were Flemington stalwarts until the asphalt moved in, then making a yearly pilgrimage to William's Grove.

There are few sensoral experiences which will never be translated to television, short track racing has the crackle of the big block exhaust, the color and visual experience and the vibration of the motor in your chest. After a 15 year hiatus I watched Billy Pauch, Doug Hoffman and Frank Cozze finish 3-4-5 in a feature.....the bizarre thing is they were all there the last time I watched a dirt race.

Also in the field were the URC sprint cars. My memories of them made me realize they were no where near as fast or as professional as they are now. I have no idea of the racers, it takes several races to make the attachment, but the show was well worth the price of admission despite a 2 hour rain delay. My son and I were entertained and have another racing memory to share.

God I love the short tracks. It's where the real people race. It's where you can still smell the methanol, the octane in the gas, the funnel cakes and dirt in the air. It's real racing.......still.

Dopey

I'm amazed how people who were once diehards can just stop going to their local track so quickly...but it seems to happen quite often...real life gets in the way and such...I have to believe that if "casual" short track fans went to a race just once or twice a year, all the tracks out there would be better off...

TommySalami - 14 September 2008 04:31 PM

I'm amazed how people who were once diehards can just stop going to their local track so quickly...but it seems to happen quite often...real life gets in the way and such...I have to believe that if "casual" short track fans went to a race just once or twice a year, all the tracks out there would be better off...

We were diehards at Flemington until they paved it. Then it shut down and raising three kids took presidence from their sports to academic endeavors. Disposable income dried up whilst we were raising the three and some things just couldn't be afforded. As time went on their work and sports became more of a time drain, fortunately we could keep track in other ways. The internet and cable motor sports were not possible in the early 80s, now it's common place. AARN was the paper to read and that was the only way to keep up with the short tracks around here then.

I recall in a LETTER to Larry Nuber that the world needed a 24 hours racing network, back in 1988 (thereabouts) and his response was he didn't feel enough resources were in place yet to make it viable. It took another 5 or so years, I don't even know if Larry lived long enough to see Speed begin.

Yep life gets in the way for various reasons, but the pay off is a return to the grandstands as life slows down in the later years. The odd thing was some of the guys on the track never left which was amazing.

Life is again good.

Dopey

Grew up at Saugus Speedway and Mesa Marin Raceway, even got a season or two in behind the wheel there. as well as a couple seasons of dirt at Ventura, Bakersfield, Rosamond, and Tulare. Then I moved to Oregon, and my two fave SoCal short tracks closed up. The first couple years up here were spent faithfully at Cottage Grove, with occasional trips to Willamett and Portland. Then the wife got tired of the same thing every weekend after ten years, and the ticket prices keep going up, the car counts keep dwindling... Now my son is 15, loves to help in the pits, and we get all excited about the new season. Then the familiarity sets in, there's a Cup night race on, there's a good concert in town, the wife wants to spend the weekend at the beach, cruise night, and its back to going to special shows for the rest of the season, NASCAR West or Supermods at Roseburg, SCCA at Portland, Nostalgia DRags at Woodburn, and ASCS Northwest Speedweek. Still go to alot of races, just not as many weekly shows at the local track.