Dirt Track Races (sort of long and boring)

My wife and I have been saying we were going to drive down to the local dirt track and watch the stock car races one night. Last night was finally the night. This would be my first visit to a dirt track.

Now, the local dirt track is about 80 miles away, so it's not just a hop, skip and a jump, but it's not an all day trip either. The track is Virginia Raceway, near Saluda, Virginia, a very, up to date, well lit, well maintained 1/2 mile track. Good parking, nice grandstand seats, clean restrooms, good PA system, friendly staff, and so on. One of the nicest tracks I've ever been to. Admission price was less than a ticket to a movie. I could tell most of the fans were regulars, because they knew we weren't. Several people asked "This your first visit? Welcome, and come back again."

They run four classes of cars, a Late Model, a modified, and I'm not sure what the other two are called but one is basically a street stock, and the other is a lower level late model type car. The races were all 12-20 laps, each division ran two feature races. There were 12-20 cars for each division, so they had a good car count too.

The biggest thing that impressed me, besides the good racing which we'll get to in a moment is the fact that they kept the show rolling. When one division was coming off the track, the next one was lined up behind the pace car, and ready to go. One pace lap, tops, and they were getting the signal for "green flag next time around."

The racing was great. Short races mean if you're going to the front, you better go now. I have no idea how they lined them up, for all I know they pulled numbers out of a hat, but they seemed to line up sort of randomly which meant there seemed to at least one fast car back in the pack from the start. A couple of cars spun out, went to the back of the field, worked their way back to the front again. A little beating and banging, but I didn't think I saw anybody "take out" another car. Maybe bump someone up a lane, but that's part of the game. A few wrecks here and there, some spinouts, but nobody hurt and nobody seemed to be mad when it was all over. And there was some VERY good racing all through the pack in each division. The guys (and girls) racing for next to last place, raced just as hard as the leaders.

If you're a racing fan, and you have a short track near you, go out once in a while. I had forgotten how much fun it is.

I grew up going to "jalopy" races. What you describe is like heaven for the fans. Did you get dirty? Last one I went to, I climbed back into my car with dirt all over me. If you ever get the chance, go to outlaw sprint car races on dirt. 1200 HP and twice as much rubber on the road as a NASCAR stocker.

Oh yea...we got dirty. Well dusty really. The track never got dusty, but the pit road did. Anytime someone went down the pit road, huge clouds of red dust.

Something else I noticed, was the red clay. They must import that stuff because the track is in tidewater, and most of the dirt around there is black sand.

I cut my racing teeth at Southside Speedway near Richmond, but it's an asphalt track. Good racing though, especially "back in the day" when Sonny Hutchens, Lenny Pond, Bill Dennis, and Tommy Ellis were running there.

My wife is a dirt track veteran though. He father and uncle used to sell sno-cones, popcorn, cotton candy, and "the racing news" at Hales Corner and Slinger Speedways in Wisconsin (I think they were). She used to go out there and help them, and watch the boys when she was a teen-ager. She said it bought back a lot of memories.

That sounds like my kind of night out right there. Short tracks are fun, but racing is always a whole lot better in the dirt. Here in Oregon, it rains so much they pave everything cars drive on. I have to travel south a couple hundred miles into enemy territory (Cali) for dirt track racing. It's almost worth it.

M&P Freak said:

I have to travel south a couple hundred miles into enemy territory (Cali) for dirt track racing. It's almost worth it.

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My brother travels from PA to Knoxville, IA for the World of Outlaws sprint car races. He also travels from Western PA to Charlotte, NC for outlaw sprint car races (all on dirt).

If you don't like mud in your beer you might want to stay away from Knoxville, IA. When I left the track I could feel the grit in my mouth (and eyes).

being a dragracer I get bored rather quickly watching any kind of racing. I do like watching dirt burners run into each other though!

Around where I live theres way to much "I went to the drunken fist fight and a stock care race broke out" kind of thing. Way to many people get upset that others are not letting them pass or are passing them...... I just don't get it I suppose.

Love watchin sprints on dirt but our local dirt track doesn't run them. We have a little quarter mile bull ring where they run late models, 2 classes of modified's and a street stock division. The problem for me is that they race on Sunday nights and with me needing to get up at 5 am for work, it throws a monkey wrench into my beauty sleep, and believe, I need all the help I can get. Still a good time when I can get out to see the melee a couple times during the summer!!

Watching cars drive around on a circle of dirt doesn't do it for me. Call me an elitist snob, but I prefer road racing tracks of Laguna Seca and Sears Point. I have many good memories of being on the hill above Turn 1 at Laguna Seca feeling the thunder of CanAm cars passing below, or watching a Corvette and a Cobra 427SC fighting for first place.

I used to race on the 1/4 mile tracks in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. In those days there were as many fights in the pits as there were on the track. I loved to race but I could not afford the expense. If you wrecked your car on Saturday you had to fix it before the next weekend. The racing was great. I raced against some of the Streme family. They had a lot of money and sponsors. The next time you go try to sit at the top of the grandstands, you won't get as dirty.

I have a dirt track 6 miles away, a 1/4 mile asphalt 10 miles away, 1/2 mile high-bank 30 miles away, 1 mile super-speedway 60 miles away and the Elkhart Lake Road Track 80 miles away....

I live in a race fan's dream location.


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I was stationed at Fort Knox Kentucky in the Army. I found out through family that I had a first cousin, (female) that lived in Louisville. I got directions and looked her up. Her husband was about half drunk sitting on the front porch messing around with a big revolver of some kind. When he found out that I was his wife's cousin, he was thrilled. He said that my friend and I had to go to the races where he raced. It was definitely NOT BORING! It was a dirt track and he raced in the figure 8 portion. That was one of the wildest things I have ever seen. No wonder he was getting juiced beforehand. Talk about close calls, wow.
Peace,
Gordon
BTW, this was in 1970. Wonder if they still race figure 8 track still.

I grew up going to the "Darlington of Dirt Tracks" Laurens Speedway, in Laurens SC. Good memories with my dad.

Greenville-Pickens was good back before they paved it.

We've been to just about every dirt track in the Delaware Valley growing up. Most are now gone or paved, and that is sad. No more Big Left Turn, Trenton, Reading and Flemington Fairgrounds.
The Grove Williams Grove Speedway is still running as are a few of the others.
For me nothing is more exciting than open wheel dirt track racing, be it 1/4 Midgets with eight year old drivers thru to the World of Outlaws 410 Sprint Cars. Too bad the Indy Car drivers do not have some dirt track racing in their schedule like they did in the 60s.

Any hard fought dirt track race is better than the entire NASCAR season. Go to any 1/2 mile dirt race & see real racing. The way it used to be, back in the day. Most of the older tracks are now shopping centers or parking lots. RIP - Herb Scott, the best driver I ever seen on dirt.

I almost agree

jag312 said:

Watching cars drive around on a circle of dirt doesn't do it for me. Call me an elitist snob, but I prefer road racing tracks of Laguna Seca and Sears Point. I have many good memories of being on the hill above Turn 1 at Laguna Seca feeling the thunder of CanAm cars passing below, or watching a Corvette and a Cobra 427SC fighting for first place.

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I like a track with twists and turns compared to racing around an oval. I'll have to say though, that dirt track is American racing in it's purest form.

I'm with lostlake, on being in racing heaven. There's
also a 1/3 mile paved track near me that has excellent racing.
DELLS Raceway Park. Long enough straights for decent speed,
but not enough to be fatal. (hopefully) The get-togethers
after the races give everyone a chance to socialize.
TACC1

For those of you who say you favor some other type of racing, I get it, but don't really understand it. Racing is racing to me. If it has an engine, wheels and goes fast, I like it. Dirt, asphalt, oval, road, drags, or motorcycles, shoot, it doesn't even have to have wheels, I like race boats too and would probably like airplane races. One's not better than the other, just different. I don't think a dirt race is "better" than a NASCAR cup race, just different. You don't race a 20 lap feature the same way you'd race 500 miles at Daytona, or 24 hours at LeMans.

I do, however, admit that my first love is stock cars on oval tracks.

Same with Summerville

Roadtrash said:

Greenville-Pickens was good back before they paved it.

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Same with Summerville. I remember in 1965 going there to see the 'Mustang Tournament of Thrills'. Last time I was there it was paved and the best part was watching drunk women fighting in the stands. One thing that was cool though was that there were some 'local boys' we knew that were racing that night.

CajunBass said:

For those of you who say you favor some other type of racing, I get it, but don't really understand it. Racing is racing to me. If it has an engine, wheels and goes fast, I like it. Dirt, asphalt, oval, road, drags, or motorcycles, shoot, it doesn't even have to have wheels, I like race boats too and would probably like airplane races. One's not better than the other, just different. I don't think a dirt race is "better" than a NASCAR cup race, just different. You don't race a 20 lap feature the same way you'd race 500 miles at Daytona, or 24 hours at LeMans.

I do, however, admit that my first love is stock cars on oval tracks.

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Would agree... if I was the one behind the wheel anyhow. As for the 500 laps or the crazy endurance races... Im pretty sure I would get bored. At a bomber race (street cars with the windshields knocked out and doors chained shut) we had a team of 10 guys or so. 3 of them were racing, the rest were wrecking everyone else.... I was wrecking and by the end of it it was getting dull.

And my intro into racing is at the dragstrip my family has run for as long as I have been around. Dad had to work there every saturday so I was always running around getting into trouble until grandma caught me and put me to work in the concession stand.