COMMENTARY-Gripes, Fantasies, Marathons and Speeding

I've done my share of griping about Eagle over the years. There are times when I don't agree with what choices are made, or at times how programs are run.

However, I think everyone in the local race community should feel fortunate that we have an extremely nice race venue so close to home.

I was reminded of that fact this weekend when we attended the ASCS show at Denison, Iowa. While the facility there was nice, they just didn't have all of the pieces together to put on a truly great event. I realize they don't run weekly shows, or even hold races often, but that is my point. We have a first class facility that does run weekly shows.

On our drive back from Iowa, Aaron Allgood told me how spoiled we are with the tracks back home, and I couldn't agree more.

That isn't to say that Eagle is infallible. There are times when I feel they could do things better, or change the way they run shows, but in the end, it's still as nice a place as any to watch the races from a fan's perspective.

In my perfect fantasy-world, the Eagle pits would be full of sprint cars, and programs would last three tidy hours and pay $5000 to win. That's just not realistic these days.

Sometimes I forget that without Eagle, we'd have NO sprint car racing in Lincoln, and that would be the worst possible scenario for any open wheel fan.

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July is always a difficult time of year for a lot of race teams. This was evidenced over the weekend by a lot of local teams not in attendance. Parts break, motors blow up, cars crash, and they all cost a lot of money to fix.

In that magical fantasy world of full fields and $5000-to-win weekly features, no teams would ever be forced to sit out because of a lack of funding. Sadly, that's what makes it a fantasy.

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Starting this Saturday night, July 26th, a race fan can watch an open wheel show in this area every night for sixteen consecutive days.

It would take an extremely sick, and twisted individual to even attempt to see that much racing. It's overkill, it's not necessary, and it sounds like a LOT of fun. There's a pretty good chance I may try and make the whole marathon.

I think you all realize that I am disturbed enough to try it. It may require a few cases of NOS Energy Drink to keep my energy level high enough to do it, but luckily I have a source.

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With so many races in consecutive days, I'll do my best to provide timely updates.

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The Eagle race on July 26th is Fan Appreciation night. Tickets are only $5, with food and drink specials throughout the evening. I've said it before, you won't be entertained anywhere else for a cheaper price.

It's also Kid's Night at Eagle. It will be interesting to see how many bikes are given away. They've increased the number of bikes every year, and I have a pretty good feeling this year will be a new record.

With everything planned for this Saturday, I won't be surprised to see an extremely large crowd at Eagle.

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I will never understand why drivers have to speed through the pits. I saw cars from every class guilty of this on Saturday.

I realize you have to watch where you step in the pits, but drivers need to realize that when the race is over, they don't need to continue it up into the pits.

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Another thing you can add to my ever-growing list of "things I don't understand" is why drivers will ignore a black flag.

This is something I see from time to time in the IMCA classes at Eagle. Guys, if you're being black flagged, chances are something is keeping you from being competitive, so why stay out there?

Do yourself, and everyone around a big favor and pull off the track.

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I should mention that in spite of the five advertised classes to be run in Denison on Friday, they really only had three.

They combined a couple of the classes into one, and did a good job of moving that part of the program along.

In fact, I was pretty impressed with not only how fast those hobbies and pro-ams went, but how cleanly they raced each other. Same for the mods, everyone seemed to race hard, but without much contact.

They put on a pretty good show, probably better than the sprints.

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That's all for now.