With being able to attend both the asphalt and dirt nationals, I would like to give my opinion on what I saw throughout the weekends. At the asphalt nationals in Langley the only division that was there were Legends, but they did have a Thunder Car and Bandolero demonstration as well. The promoter of Langley Speedway was very much into and proud to host the Legends nationals with making everyone feel a part of the whole event. They took their time to make sure the track was clean and after every incident or oil down, they would not restart until the drivers were happy with the track. They gave everyone plenty of time in between races, and put on a very nice presentation for the ROC races along with the main events with driver introductions and trophy ceremonies. Even in the YL race they brought the kids out on a tricked out school bus to make it more fun for the kids and fans. Everything was done in a very professional manner and it was a great event to experience.
Now when we arrived at Springfield Raceway and saw the track I first thought that it looked like a nice track to hold such an event but after the weekend started my opinion changed. The first thing I noticed is the lack of track prep, throughout three days the crew did nothing much other than scrape the track and water it down. I wish I knew that ahead of time or I would have brought our asphalt cut tires with out because by the end of the weekend it was an asphalt track. With the track hosting a national event I know plenty of others including myself felt that it was disrespectful towards the Legends division that they had other classes and tried to run the event like a regular night race. On Thursday with open practice, they gave a total of 2.5 hours which after everyone got out you were lucky to get out for three 10 lap sessions because of the other divisions being there. On Friday, the track promoter would not give anyone time to go over their cars with rushing people through qualifying and right into heat races, they didn't even post the times or heat race lineups. Now with the ROC races usually they let the drivers draw for position and do a driver introduction which the track did not do. On top of that they didn't even give Krentz enough time to do a trophy ceremony.
On Saturday they had a quick round of practice and then re qualified the semi pros due to transponder issues. With having only a-mains to run it took some convincing on Krentz's part to get the promoter of Springfield to allow us to do driver introductions and trophy ceremonies. After practice Krentz did a quick ceremony for the winners of the ROC races, when he did that the promoter was yelling at the pit box that he didn't approve that it he didn't have time for "this shit" So when it came time to run the main races they did go along with Krentz but you could see that the promoter didn't want to. So after the pro race which I was in, while we were in tech the track promoter shut the lights down, locked up and left while Scott and the other INEX officials are doing tech with flashlights.
After speaking with people from that area it seems like there are really good race tracks and competitive racing out that way but if they hold the Nationals at Springfield Raceway again I am sure they will not have many cars. I really do feel sorry for the people who attended the dirt nationals because they did not get to experience what I was able to down at Langley the weekend before. Congratulations to all the the winners at both the asphalt and dirt nationals of 2010.
TM
www.team510racing.com
