Interesting comments Ed.
I still love the Fairgrounds dirt oval. Placerville (CA where I live) has one
and
even though it gets a bit dusty, they have all kinds of stuff show up.
Everything
from MC powered Mini Sprints to 410 WOO sprinters.
In Sacramento they have been talking about their big problems with street
racing.
The city fathers don't know anything about history. So-Cal had the same problem
in the late '40's. With support from Police Dept's (Pomona was the first, I
think)
drag strips were opened. As well as weekend racing, in the '50's they had night
grudge racing for registered street cars. I miss that a lot.
But Sacramento won't set up anything like that even thou they have two (2!)
X-USAF bases in the county. Makes me want to scream!!!
When I lived in San Jose, we frequently went over the hull to Watsonville
Fairgrounds on Friday night. It's the best 1/4 mile dirt track I have ever
been too. High banked clay that the Pacific Ocean, 2 miles away, kept somewhere
between heavy and very heavy. Dust was rare. It was/is one of only two NASCAR
tracks where you can still earn NASCAR points in a figure 8 race. Two times in
26
years I saw the two West Coast point leaders race in the figure 8 race. The
figure 8
regulars gave them lot's of room both times.
Friday night Flat Track at Ascot was one of my all time favorites, second only
to
Bonneville. Watsonville would be #3.
I think NASCAR at the local level still has a lot of racing in it. I'm sad that
my
grandson will never be able to see something like Bell Elliot coming from
almost three laps down, to win the race. I still remember that like it happened
yesterday. God, I just got goose bumps typing this...
Bryan
Ed Weldon wrote:
> I'm beginning to see a common thread here. Maybe has to do with the race
> course. The more perfect the course the less interesting the race. I like
> the old sticker saying "Salt(or dirt) is for racing, asphalt is for getting
> there".
> Or is it in the uniformity of the cars? If they make the track perfect, the
> cars all the same what's next? Rules on the size,shape and IQ's of the pit
> crew people? A spec driver clone?
> Pretty soon we won't be able to tell the difference between a real race and a
> video game.
> Ed Weldon.............If all you want to do is go fast, buy an airline
> ticket.
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