Local Dirt Track - WOW!

[Mike Bell]

Well, I finally got off my rear and took the wife/son out to the local Saturday night dirt track. All I can say is "Wow, just wow". For the $10 dollar entry fee per adult ($6 for the youngster) it was well worth it - the entertainment value alone far surpassed anything I've witnessed lately. The sight of 9 cars beating and banging so that 4 can transfer to the main event was, well, fun! I've never seen so many yellow flags in a 15-20 lap race lol.

We watched two classes have last chance qualifiers, "Hobby Stock" which looked like cars from Mad Max movie where you knock the windows out and weld in a cage and go racing to the Limited Modifieds where it's all tube frame and they lift the left front on corner exit everytime. In the feature races, 24 cars lined up on a little 1/4th mile dirt oval and went at
it, great stuff. Actually, it was more like chaos in a circle. :wink:

www.gatormotorplex.net

To give you an indication of the entertainment level, my 9 yr old son said "Dad, this is 100 times better than going to watch a NASCAR race!".

Yes, son, it is - and about 100 times cheaper too! :lol:

[chicane23]

Yes, that is some serious entertainment!

Wayne, Sylvia, my wife and kids went to Devils Bowl in Mesquite, Tx two weeks ago and had a blast! We all pick a car and the who ever picked the best finisher gets a dollar from the others. ;-)
We had a blast. You may pick the fastest car, but that doesn’t mean he will finish the race. ;-) You get big wrecks which means big excitement. ;-)

The winner of a race can make some serious money, with a $20 entry fee.

[Mike Bell]

Hey, good idea John. Next time I'll bring some friends and a bigger cooler and some one dollar bills lol. :lol:

I have no idea what it's like in the pits but we felt like the fans were well-behaved and I never heard a curse-word or saw anyone who had too much alcohol, contrary to all the stereotypical warnings we had received in advance.

Next time I may plunk down the $25 for a pit pass and go check out the cars and between race action. Like a moth to the flame..............

[Lewis Tanner]

Believe it or not, one of the best dates I ever went on was to a dirt track race in Tulsa. Damn I miss that girl...

[Mike Bell]

LT, maybe you should call her up since ur going to be in town next weekend?? 8)

See you in a few days!

[chicane23]

The pits are fun, we have a few friends that run a car and and I have been trying to talk Wayne into buying a car and I would help work on it and be his pit B.... ;-)

He has gotten pricing and all.

[CMC17]

Dangit. I live about 5 miles from the Gator track and have never attended the racing on Saturday night. Sounds like it's a lot of fun to watch and will definitely make it out there!

I've always wondered what it was like out there.

[Mike Bell]

I almost gave u a call EV but thought better of it since it was about 7:30pm when we headed out. We had been warned to let the sun go down before getting out there since the stands at Gator face west and are concrete.

We got there right at twilight and the concrete seats were still hot! Next time we'll know to bring seat cushions or chairs lol. You and LZ would have enjoyed it, I also think Kari and Tyler would have had a blast!

[mitchntx]

I raced a 69 Chevelle in Econo Late model class at Rose Bowl in Tyler and Devil's Bowls in Mesquite back in the mid 80s.

It's a lot of fun to watch for sure.

But it can be a real grind competing week in and week out.

James (AllZWay) raced dirt tracks up until the local tracks whipped him with rules

[Mike Bell]

Yeah, I figured there was another side to the story. The way these guys (and gals) were beatin and bangin in the "Hobby Stock" class was fun to WATCH but may be a bit more than I would be willing to TAKE as a driver/owner lol.

The modifieds were faster and cleaner but their racing was still full of potential disaster too. Sideways in 3 with the full field coming around fast looked scary but there must have been some sort of race receiver system in place as the leaders all got whoa'd down very quickly as the yellow light system was activated.

We even saw a red light condition when one of the modifieds in the LCQ got up onto the concrete wall and flipped over one time. Sparks flew, and the right rear wheel left the axle tube with the axle attached. Still, it was a great show and my first visit to that form of racing. Ten miles from the house and I'd never bothered to go watch, now I'm glad I made the trip.