Dirt track at a drag strip??

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doogievlg

doogievlg

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One of our local drag strips built a dirt track and is planning on running on it on test and tune nights and even during some points race. This seems like an incredibly dumb idea to me but does anyone else have any tracks like this around them? BTW for all the drag racers around Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana this is at Edgewater.
 
Most states have a couple drag strips and struggle to get anyone to watch. Most states have dozens of dirt tracks and get hundreds, if not thousands of fans in the stands.
 
I don’t see it helping the drag strip at all. No drag racer wants their stuff covered in dirt as well as the track. We have about five drag strips within 2.5 hours and the owner of this one has been pushing the racers and fans away for years now. This could be the final nail in the coffin for the drag racers.
 
doogievlg said:
I don’t see it helping the drag strip at all. No drag racer wants their stuff covered in dirt as well as the track. We have about five drag strips within 2.5 hours and the owner of this one has been pushing the racers and fans away for years now. This could be the final nail in the coffin for the drag racers.
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I highly doubt he's considering a dirt track to help a drag strip. He's trying to pay the bills. It usually works the other way around. Dirt tracks put in drag strips as a side show.
 
Pascamp said:
I highly doubt he's considering a dirt track to help a drag strip. He's trying to pay the bills. It usually works the other way around. Dirt tracks put in drag strips as a side show.
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It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I really want to see someone buy the track from this guy. It has great potential but the owner is awful.
 
Anyone ever been to Route 66? They've got Drag,Nascar, and dirt all in the same gigantic field.
 
Lebanon valley dragway does it just not at the same time. When we stay over you and they
Run the dirt track you have to cover everything.
 
furrystump said:
Lebanon valley dragway does it just not at the same time. When we stay over you and they
Run the dirt track you have to cover everything.
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Lebanon Valley is a perfect example. That dirt track has got to pay 95% of the bills there. The first thing you see on their website is a field of big block modifieds. Google them and you'll probably get mostly dirt hits.
 
The only issue is if the wind is really whipping it with blow dust through the back stretch gate onto the strip at half track, but at that point the wind is a problem anyway.
 
furrystump said:
Lebanon valley dragway does it just not at the same time. When we stay over you and they
Run the dirt track you have to cover everything.
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This would be the smart thing to do. Run the Dirt track on a day when there is no drag racing going on.
 
They run sat night, as we finish up they are in the gate line. If we are staying over its just enough time to eat a grab a beverage, cover everything and watch the modifieds.
 
The red circle shows where the dirt track is. It wouldn’t be such a big issue if they were not right on top of each other.

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The only problem I see is the promoter will have a sharp learning curve as drag strips are a whole different deal than oval tracks... especially track prep. Lots more work.

And most guys won't race unless it's a sanctioned track...likely UMP in that area.

Fwiw there's been a lot of talk about this new track on a few dirt track related boards.
 
The red circle shows where the dirt track is. It wouldn’t be such a big issue if they were not right on top of each other.

Krooser said:
The only problem I see is the promoter will have a sharp learning curve as drag strips are a whole different deal than oval tracks... especially track prep. Lots more work.

And most guys won't race unless it's a sanctioned track...likely UMP in that area.

Fwiw there's been a lot of talk about this new track on a few dirt track related boards.
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I love dirt track racing and more specifically sprint cars but Lawrenceburg is literally 15 minutes from this track and that is a great track.
 
Las Vegas Motor Speedway has the asphalt oval, dirt track, and drag strip all next to each other and they don't seem to have an issue with it.

We went out there for the Nascar race one year and the World of Outlaws was also running. Went to the Outlaws Wednesday and Thursday night, hit the casinos on Friday and went to the Busch race Saturday, and cup race on Sunday. What a trip!!!
 
Thats not close! Look at lebanon valley dragway. The return road is the only thing between the strip and the oval.
 
I used to race at dragway 42 and the pit and return roads were lime stone and I had to run a air filter to keep the lime dust out of my engine, most guys ran with no filter at all, then I started to run 2 6 pack filters glued together and they were packed with white dust from the lime, I can't see a drag race running with a dirt track at the same time, who wants dirt in there engine?
 
furrystump said:
Thats not close! Look at lebanon valley dragway. The return road is the only thing between the strip and the oval.
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The first time I went here I thought it was a smart use of space when I was on the return road with the steel back wall to the dirt track on the passenger side.Space is money and it would seem half of the drag strip runs along the back of the track,Talk to the Etown owners about what wasted space pays in the off season.
 
doogievlg said:
One of our local drag strips built a dirt track and is planning on running on it on test and tune nights and even during some points race. This seems like an incredibly dumb idea to me but does anyone else have any tracks like this around them? BTW for all the drag racers around Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana this is at Edgewater.
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Englishtown’s Race Way Park has that and a scca road course all within a minutes walk of each other. They still closed down....
 
I used to run at Utica-Rome dragstrip back in the 80's. Next to the 1/8th mile strip, there was a small oval asphalt track that we used as the pits. The oval track did so-so, but the drag strip was always rocking.

It changed hands and the new owners decided to build a dirt track, because that's where the interest was... So... They also decided to make it bigger and in doing so, they covered the drag strip starting line with the new dirt track... and said "We'll build a new drag strip"... That was 35 years ago... It never happened.
 
fayettville nc motorsports park has both no issues, natral bridge va raceway has both, no issues! most dirt tracks running crate motor class's now days and dont stir up the dust as much as open steelheads and supers do! proper track prep should keep dust down nuff to not be a nusence. the breeze and its direction will be biggest help or hurt in this. dirt fans and racers accept the dust as part of the racing thay love but rest of the motor sports population dont care for it! if its that big a deal you said 5 other tracks convenient to you, your track owner spent the bucks to do what he felt was best for him, way life gose! i like all types racing but dirt an drag my favorites.
 
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