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These are my top 5 all time sprint car tracks of all, these tracks may have run 'em weekly, specials, or just once in awhile.
1. In my view the all time sprint car track (ever) on the west coast has been, and always will be ASCOT PARK!!!!!!!!! There was nothing before, during, or since that can or could match Ascot, period!
2. Manzanita Speedway in Arizona.
3. Perris Auto Speedway
4. Silver Dollar Speedway
5. Santa Maria Speedway
Yours?
Late Model Mark
Talladega Short Track Announcer
My top 5 is real close to yours' Mark.
!. Ascot, no doubt
2. Manzanita
3. Never got to Perris and haven't been in the L.A. area for years...and probably never will be again. That said
Placerville Speedway gets my #3 vote. The weekly winged 360s in the red clay 1/4 bowl turning 10 second laps
is about as good as it gets anywhere and when WoO or KoW shows are there it's even better.
4. Silver Dollar, my home for the last 15 or 20 years. Although I'm sad that it ain't what it once was
I still love the track.
5. Always a huge fan of Santa Maria. When in the mood for non wings went to Ascot. In the mood for winged stuff
it was up to SM to watch Jim Eiland, Ace Duncan and a lot of other good guys. The WoO shows there were
always stellar.
Also loved the Santa Maria Late Model Sportsmen class, one of the best of that type in
the country in my humble opinion.
Pardon the sentence structure. The 'puter is doing weird things right now.
My top 5 will naturally include a couple of Midwestern tracks since Mark didn't limit the selections by geographical local'.
#1. Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Indiana. Best sprint car track I've ever attended. Nuff said.
#2. Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, California. Nearly as good as Kokomo but not quite. The desert fairgrounds setting is very cool, too.
#3. Ventura Raceway, Ventura, California. Tough little 1/5 mile that can, and has, produced some of the best sprint car racing I've ever seen.
#4. Manzanita, Phoenix, Arizona. Sadly enough we only attended the Western World at Manzy once. We would surely have made the Manzy scene again several times but as everyone knows, like Ascot, it's gone forever. The one time we were there the racing was incredible.
#5. The Belleville High Banks, Belleville, Kansas. This place is one of the raciest, and scariest places we've ever watched a sprint car race. We've also seen the midgets, winged 305's and USAC Silver Crown cars at The High Banks and they all are very, very entertaining but the speeds and danger have rendered the Banks off limits to all but the winged 305's. The Silver Crown cars are safe there, as well, but it's just not feasible to schedule them there.
The High Banks are wide enough to run 4 wide and it's conducive to side by side action and passing. The Nationals were always run during the North Central Kansas Free Fair which gave the track and the event a charm and excitement that I haven't found to be duplicated anywhere I've been. The local towns people were so involved and they dearly love their gem on the prairie and they made everyone who attended feel at home and like family! The horrible crash that took BC's life put a pall over the place that likely will never allow anything as fast and agile as full house 410's and midgets race there again. I understand why but it's still very sad for myself and our friends who live there in Belleville.
PS-Part of the allure of Ventura is the unique charm of racing a hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean. The racing probably isn't as good there as some places but the whole setting heightens the experience that is irresistible to a flat land clod hopper like myself!
Ventura is very cool, went quite often, was always fun to hear "screamin" Jim Naylor" abuse his vocal chords. I one time, way back, surfed in the morning, fished in the afternoon, cleaned up at the very nearby Holiday Inn, then took in a show that night.
Always enjoyed the mid-week Fair race in August, they had at the time an IMCA Modified special that drew real well.
LMM
Dam Mark! You were a busy lad back in the day!Quote:
Originally Posted by Late_Model_Mark
Jim Naylor is a huge asset to So-Cal racing and I've been told by several people that Ventura would probably be long gone if not for Jim, but his announcing style is THE most annoying I've ever heard and I've heard some very annoying ones. The best and the most annoying announcers do their thing at tracks that are less than 3 hours apart. Scott Daloisio, who is the announcer at Perris, is the best track announcer I've ever heard, bar NONE!