I-55 Raceway -- the track!

CRAZY!

Originally posted by laynejw
Also I think the idea that rougher racetracks tear up racecars is a bit flawed. I think far more cars have been tore up by cars getting spun on slick surfaces and causing pile ups. These pileups are blamed on the driver causing the accident and thus aren't attributed directly to the race track. If cars were built sturdy and hefty enough rough surfaces couldn't touch the cars and thus we wouldn't dust the fans or have to worry about traction control being a factor. It all comes from the twisted psychology of the racer and even worse the fan. I can call it twisted, because I have the same problems and stubborn concepts on other issues.
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SLICK TRACKS ARE BY FAR MUCH CHEAPER TO RUN ON THAN TACKY OR ROUGH OR WHATEVER ELSE YOU CAN DREAM OF
!EASIER ON TIRES,SHOCKS,DRIVETRAIN AND DRIVERS AND LESS WORK DURING THE WEEK GETTING READY TO GO AGAIN! AND ALSO I CANT REMEMBER WHEN PEVELY HAS BEEN A BOTTOM DOMINENT TRACK,USUALLY WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING AROUND THE TOP AND YOU NEED TO RUN THE BOTTOM TO PASS YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DROPPED ANCHOR AND THE TRAIN GOES BY! ALOT OF GUYS FIGURED THE TRACK WAS GOING TO BE HARD AND SLICK THIS WEEK JUST BECAUSE RAY HAD NO IDEA WHETHER IT WOULD HOLD TOGETHER OR NOT!I NEVER NOTICED THAT IT WAS HARD ON TIRES EITHER!
 
Most of my experience is with IMCA tires even though we run more open rules than even UMP in most other areas. It costs us about 5-6 times in tire bills to run on reak dry slick and abrasive racetracks as opposed to dry slick tracks. Some of the shocks on our car ran alot of years (old steel body Carreras) on really rough 80s-90s racetracks in the Kansas City area (at the old Lakeside (a 5/8) in Kansas City Kansas the water truck got payed by the load with no cap...). I will agree that the motor costs go up with heavy tracks. And at Pevely it is harder on drivers, but I'm of the opinion that Pevely is too fast of a racetrack. Great from a fans perspective, but still too fast to be super tacky. I know alot of cars got hurt last year when it was so heavy. If all tracks were like Warrensburg, MO or Belleville, IL then injuries wouldn't come as often. I mean the speed difference between a slick Pevely and a super tacky Godfrey is still substantial. If you are worried substantially about real costs stay off big tracks. Ya on the little ones you bend alot of body panels and some tie rods, but the actually money shots don't come very often. Not to mention the motor savings.
 
People also need to read all of the posts before commenting on them. For the modifieds it was definentily a top dominant race track. The Late Models on the other hand need more cushion to run on (because of RR wheel offset) and for at least most of the end of last season there wasn't enough of it there. Does no one else remember all those nights with Dixon throwing sparks being the only one attempting to run up on it? It happened. I also remember the end of 2000 having alot of nights that turned out just like last Saturday. Like I said though I'd like fairly rough dry slick tracks. Doesn't affect our driver any and it invalidates traction control. Who could argue that.
 
my opinion

I said it before and I'll say it again, track conditions are going to change from week to week and race to race. Everyone has to adjust to track conditions and the driver/crew that makes the best adjustment to their car will reep the benefits. I personally like to watch the latemodels and modifieds run the top, but again if track conditions only allow for the bottom groove to be the best way around then you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
No one disagrees that conditions change. The idea is that the track gets the general process right. It is true that on some weeks there will be less passing than others. It also was the first week after the change in dirt. The idea is not to send a positive message to promters for every "not terrible" thing they do. Contentness makes them lazy and unwilling to make things better. I mean why do all St. Louis modifieds make less in purse money than modifieds in the Kansas City area. You have good quality cars like Mr. Hoffman, Scott Weber, and countless others that are deserving, but would take alot of time to write out. Granted they aren't the top class like they are in Kansas City, but your tire cost is much greater. Warrensburg is paying 1000 to win a 100 to start and good all the way through (i.e. 900 for second etc). Sedalia, Lamonte, and Grain Valley are all supposedly going to pay 800 to win and Lakeside is paying 600 to win and 150 to start. Pevely is the hardest place to run in St. Louis and has considerably lower purses. It is partly, because if anyone becomes critical of the way Pevely does business they are ostracised. What if somewhere like Montgomery County paid 1000 win for the modifieds. Don't you think they'd take the car counts. I'm still a supporter of Pevely, but I think they could do much better than they do.
 
laynejw-

You disagree about the banking change?? I told you there was a change - MORE banking. YOU said originally that there was LESS. I guess you did not notice Algaier move up 15 or more positions by running the MIDDLE
 
laynej , i feel ignorant for reading your post now , but you are right you dont have a car so you wouldnt know track conditions. and yes dirtgirl the car was hurt very bad front to rear, Jumper will have the new chassis done in couple weeks thanks for asking .
 
laynejw

Do you even know what you are talking about? Yes, granted every racetrack has room for improvement, but I-55 is a superior track to go enjoy a race and also race every week. I've been going to this track for 17 years and they make continuous improvements FOR THE BETTER each and every year. Yes they could pay more purse money but it must not be too bad because the car counts aren't declining. I think I'm getting off the subject of this thread, sorry. Basically what I'm saying is the track surface is just another improvement the track is making, and yes it may take some time to get the track racey in all the grooves but the show will go on every week as it always has. I think it held up pretty good for the first night with the new surface. Just my opinion. :rolleyes:
 
GOT IT BACK FROM THE FRAME MACHINE YESTERDAY, AND IM AWAITING A NEW REAREND , IT BENT IT FRONT AND REAR PLUS THE REAREND HOUSING AND ALL THE FRONT SUSPENSION EVEN LEFT FRONT WAS BENT, MOTOR HASNT BEEN CHECKED YET BECAUSE MOTOR MOUNTS WERE SHOVED OVER . ORDERED NEW CAR IN OCT BUT IMPRESSIVE WAS TOLD NO HURRY BUT NOW THERE IS!
 
You didn't read what I said. I said they lowered the change in banking from the top to the bottom. Less or more overall degrees affects nothing and I couldn't tell you what the numbers are, but my information came from a previous post by the people who did it and from watching the track and comparing it to previous nights. Yes I do work on cars and for a couple of years mounted every new tire for a competitive modified team and have been to more racetracks than many of the racers on this board. This ignorance lies not in my posts, but in this strange protection everyone seems to be willing to give Pevely. It is the best racetrack in St. Louis, but everyone seems to think that it means they do everything correctly. I have a feeling that the track conditions are going to be sub par all season (with par being those of Northwestern/Central Missouri tracks). The purses to intake ratio for the track will also be incredibly low. Look at the amount of consessions/tickets they sell compared to what Belleville or Highland sells. Then consider that they don't pay very much more purse out. One of the lowest in Missouri for that matter. Pevely has a nice facility and draws the best cars. If those cars went somewhere else people would be stupidly and illogically defending that track. People do the same things for Lakeside in Kansas City and it really baffles me.
 
well layne just stay in central or northwestern mo tracks ,OH BY THE WAY ONE NIGHT DOES NOT MAKE A SEASON
 
No it does not, but in my experience race tracks do not get better without a substantial amount of noise. To be honest, from late 2000 through the beginning of last season, I saw some of the best racing I've ever seen at Belleville and Pevely. However, poor track preperation is beginning to look like a trend. Warrensburg has problems of equal severity, but in the opposite direction. It is usually incredibly sloppy and they can't keep a road grader off of it during intermission. They do pay $1000 to win $100 to start for a modified feature and that tends to make up for it though. And being that I will graduate from this terrible hole that is Rolla in December it looks like this season might be my last watching in the St. Louis area. I will never understand this areas unwillingness to hear criticism about their favorite tracks. It in the end becomes an acceptance of the downward spiral that the money end of the business must by its nature eventually bring about. The only way around it is to shake up the system. It is funny that people got angry when I said what I believed was the truth about Tri-City and that some of the people who accepted and agreed with me on that issue would turn around and say that criticism isn't welcome. We'll see what happens next week. We may have the greatest race that we've seen in years. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. I will, however, be there watching intently and hopefully.
 
laynejw, I missed what you said about Tri-City, but chances are I'll wind up making that my regular track again. The racing the last few races of last season and then again opening night have left me with a desire for something else, so I'll probably try TCS again on the 17th when the WoO is at I-55. If they give me a good show, I'll definitely be back. From what I've been reading, it sounds like they had a pretty wild night up there. I was hoping the GPS would be like a majic wand for the track, but I really see no improvement.
 
OH HE WHO IS SO WISE (we all know who that is)

YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
 
Layne,it seems everyone is into bashing you for having an opinion. I personally agree with almost all of what you said in your post.
 
What is it you need to see? A birm up top? More cushion up top? What would make the track the way you want to see it? Instead of talking about degrees and GPS and all that technie stuff bottom line what is it that would make this the type of track you'd want to watch at? Well besides knowing I'm there :D ;) LOL!!!!! I'd say this for all tracks.... Let them all know I'm sure they'd like to hear a resonable response I am sure..... Then a suggested soulution might be helpful also... ;)
 
Personally I'd like to see a track without a wall all the way around that had enough progressive banking to make it even quickness to go around any point on the racetrack. That being an impossible dream more than a reality yes I'd like to see more of a cushion for Pevely (and Belleville although I wasn't able to be there last Friday). The only way to do that is to water the racetrack more at the top. Alot of tracks get into the funk of watering both the top and bottom of a racetrack the same. At places like Pevely this results in too good of a track on the bottom and an early wearing out of the cushion. At a place like Warrensburg it usually ends up in a super heavy one lane track around the top with a slime pit on the bottom. Water runs downhill and the track has to find that balance. It is something that everyone knows, but few take the time to compensate for. Alot of really old tracks (like the defunct Riverside Stadium in KC) used to have drainage systems in the middle of the track to remove this affect and still make it easy and quick to water it with a truck. The old really short tracks in Kansas City (the 1/5 mile Olympic Stadium for instance) wattered the track with a big hose. The promotor took the time to insure the track was in perfect condition. Some St. Louis tracks might have good drainage under the scenes, but by the way they seem to end up I doubt it.

As for my past comments about Tri-City. They were more directed to the fact that they were deceptive in what they called a Late Model and modified up there. I would've called them Limited Late Models (or sportsman) and B-Modifieds. Tri-City has taken a huge step in the right direction though (Even though the Steel Block thing is a little pointless). I was thinking about going up there during the Outlaw show, but decided on visiting my Grandmother in Bolivar and going to there and either Wheatland or I-44.
 
Also I am sorry for my techno babble. It comes from me being a computer programming junkie. I see everything as an engineering problem that is to be solved. As for what I think is the best **track** is in St. Louis, that is more subjective, but taking away the effects of the promoters and the normal field of cars that run there, I would have to say that it is Highland followed closely by Belleville. That is because I love short little tracks like that. With the way things are being ran right now the best program IMO is I-55. I have said repeatedly that they are not perfect or above criticism, but they have the right cars to make it exciting. Short of Lakeside Speedway, Central Missouri Speedway, and Boone, IA, Pevely has the one of best sets of modifieds in the country and a fine set of Late Models.
 
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