A Night at the Races- Eagle Raceway Dirt Oval

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg)
08/24/2014 at 21:08 • Filed to: oppositelock, racing, sprint cars

Last night, my family and I headed down to the little town of Eagle, NE to watch some good old fashioned dirt track racing. If you choose your racing based on the pace and the paint-swapping, dirt racing is like hockey: constant action and a fair amount of violence. Almost every video I took involved some sort of crash or mishap, including a couple rollovers, so they are all worth watching in their entirety.

NASCAR was born on small dirt ovals like this, and yesterday, we got to see cars which are in no way descendants of those early rumrunners, unless you count the beater Cutlass Supremes. What we did get to see were four very different types of cars:

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which are compact 4-cylinder, FWD coupes (in this case, Cavaliers, Neons, Escorts, Preludes, and a pair of Intergas) that have been completely stripped down, but are mechanically fairly stock:

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which consisted (almost) exclusively of mid 80's Pontiac, Olds, and Buick G-Body Coupes (Cutlass, Grand Prix, and Regal). I say "almost" because there was also a lone A-body Malibu coupe (late 70's):

IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds:

And last but not least, the legendary !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

The night wrapped up with the grand finale, the Sprint Car championship race. I should point out at this point that I ended up sitting next to a very nice who was about my dad's age, who had been pointing out before every race which car I should keep an eye/lens on. 9 times out of 10, he was right, and the car would win. Turns out, he was a sponsor of one of the Sprint cars, US army car #3 (black and yellow), driven by Shayle Bade. The screaming you here during the championship races was by myself and my family, his family, and some friends of theirs also seated next to us, because the #3 spent the entire race in a close second. The race finished with her in second, but a crash at the finish meant the last 2 laps were run again.

She finished second again, but there was another crash, so 2 more laps were run.

It may be hard to see in this last video, but you should be able to tell by the fact that the yelling and cheering gets exponentially louder, that on the 3rd running of the last 2 laps, she took the lead and won. It was a great high note on which to end the evening.

DISCUSSION (11)

MC20 > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/26/2014 at 15:24

Need an explanation on what exactly a modified is?

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > MC20
08/26/2014 at 15:31

Click the link.

MC20 > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/27/2014 at 10:03

I know what they are, I just saw you had explanations on the rest of the classes. Modifieds are probably the best form of circle track racing, maybe grassroots racing in America.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > MC20
08/27/2014 at 12:23

I kinda get what they are, but not well enough to explain them. Same with sprint cars. SC's & HS's are easy because they start out life as production cars.

Bump > MC20
08/27/2014 at 12:36

I will argue that the IMCA style modified has ruined grass roots racing. The reason is because how cheap they are to run.....you end up getting drivers of various skill levels together and the end result is almost always more cautions and a drawn out show that is not very entertaining.

For my money sprint cars are the best form of dirt track racing, non-winged preferred but 410 winged is OK too. Silver Crown and midgets fall in close behind, dirt late models have too much BS and blatent cheating to be very entertaining for me anymore.

MC20 > Bump
08/27/2014 at 13:10

I would have to agree actually, slightly. IMCAs rules do keep modifieds so affordable that you do get alot junk out there. Cars at weekly shows have ~500 hp, not much for shocks because of their claim rule and until next year 9" rear ends.

UMP modifieds, although IMCA style (stock front clip, 8" tire etc.) have softer compounds, no claim rule on either shocks or engines. So here you see schrader valve bilstiens and 750+ hp engines. Carbon fiber driveshafts, fabricated lower a arms. Along with spoilers and slightly more lax body rules.

Same goes for USMTS, USRA and other "IMCA style" modifieds

And as for late models, other than the fact that theyve priced themselves out of popularity, allthough there isnt really any dirt race that compares to the World 100 at Eldora, had the privilege to work on a late model the last year which made the big show.

MC20 > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/27/2014 at 13:13

Mods do aswell. slightly. 90% of cars are on a chevelle clip. The 68-72 variety A-bodies. with the engines set so far back the radiator is in the front cross member. IMCA rules state the frame rails must be maintained past the driver. Although once you are behind the lower control arm mouths theyre just for show.

Bump > MC20
08/27/2014 at 20:44

Been the the World, been to the Knoxville National's, been to the Chili Bowl. Chili Bowl has the best racing, Knoxville has the most tension and World 100 has the most drunk people.

Congrat's on making the big show....I do like the Saturday format, just wish the invert was deeper for the heats.

MC20 > Bump
08/28/2014 at 09:06

Chili bowl is on my list, was at Knoxville in 03. It is definitely something to see.

Winternationals is fun in volusia, every hotel lobby, bar, strip club, is just filled with dirt racers. Of course you have to deal with the "die hard Junior fan, thats never heard of dirt racing" every now and again too.

Syracuse should be on your list, got to work on a car there last year too. Its unbelievable the drone that 46 big blocks spinning at 8000+ make. Throw fuel mileage into the game and it makes one hell of a battle.

Bump > MC20
08/28/2014 at 10:16

Just a fair warning.....the day after your first Chili Bowl trip you will be booking your trip for the next year. I went from 80-100 nights per year at a dirt track to less than a dozen when I moved out of the Midwest 7 years ago....the Chili Bowl is the only race that I refuse to skip.

PS, do it right and hit all 5 nights, the prelim's are the best when they try to whittle 70 cars down to 3 each night for the Saturday A main.

MC20 > Bump
09/02/2014 at 09:15

Ill have to get to that soon, as well as Boone, I work for the company that owns Allstar Performance now, so hopefully I can go to some of these on company time