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THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HAD FOLKS TALKING
THE PRAIRIE DIRT CLASSIC GOT A TOTAL PURSE BOOST.
Fairbury American Legion Speedway
Fairbury, Illinois
31st Annual Prairie Dirt Classic
Friday, July 31st & Saturday, August 1st 2020
$50,000 to win & $2,000 to start.
Someone said they ant a big one... LOL will now they CANT say that NO more..
Drivers love coming to this track and now the Track is paying them back for coming.
PDC IS a Classic and a BIG ONE Cause Cold Stone Says so.. Have a beer.
I wonder if Mr. Curl will have to consider making the PDC. a Late Model only race in the near future. Also, the powers that be should consider doing something creative around turns 1/2 for more seating, even if it's a grass hill for lawn chair/ blanket type area.
Have heard they working on that they have added last 3 years and plan to add more.Quote:
Originally Posted by dirtyboy
the seats in 1 and 2 are on the 1/2 mile so they have to be were the can remove them if they have to
Need more seats for sure. They really need to tear down the frontstretch wooden stands and put large new ones up. Did they also move the dates back one week for next year?
not sure what their going to do. no room for seats or pit parking. you raise the purse which will got more cars an more fans. turns 1 and 2 to risky to put seats there as they even have signs park at your own risk. as far as grandstands they won't go anywhere. there well built an oldest around as far as 1/2 mile track I do believe since its a fairgrounds they have to race on it once a year by illinios law. and yes they kinda moved it back a week just how the calendar falls. I'm guessing cedar lake got moved back a week to.
Totally agree!!Quote:
Originally Posted by thexfactor0210
got a driver's list yet?
You are correct. I checked and Cedar Lake was moved back too. They could tear down that beer stand building on the backstretch and put more stands there? I have to anticipate they have a plan if he wants the event to grow.Quote:
Originally Posted by t4g2
I know their in the process of buying farmland down the road. but that won't solve the problems that need to be addressed. I did hear that was talk with the beer stand being moved an bleachers added. I also heard getting extensions/add ons for bleachers they have already.
It’s already a crown jewel in my mind
I can't remember them running horse races on the half mile in a decade or more.
Dont have to no moreQuote:
Originally Posted by turnleftandgasit
don't they run harness races during fair? just asking
I heard that since Curl bought it the horse track and grandstands can go. I don’t think the grandstand will be gone anytime soon, but I did hear a rumor it has less than 5 years left. If they do that they could put all new large grandstands closer to the track on the front stretch. They could cram more campers on the grounds if they needed to. Especially in the back. I think the private sites and overflow west of town really helped.
I heard several things. he's got to be careful what he does 1 wrong move an the regulars you will make mad and the town mad. I heard her trying to buy the school flip the start finish line. to me he has to have something in mind to make the $ back otherwise he's just giving $20k away. as it being 30k and it's maxed out so he won't gain anything. So the option would be is to raise admission. and reality is hate to see big changes just for 1 weekend otherwise theirs plenty of seats for any other night.
Curl dont do a thing if it dont help, and it must make money, and he loves every one being happy, So he has a Plan i bet on it.
The frontstretch stands have to go! Then build a big section of aluminum stands closer to the track like at Charlotte and Mansfield. :)
Definitely no longer horse racing, they have started putting in road packing material to make the stretch around turn two more solid, definitely helped when it rains.Quote:
Originally Posted by t4g2
For those wanting the stands taken down, I did see a comment on another post about this being the Wrigley field of race tracks and that kind of rings true in my mind. There are probably a third of us who attend every week that are attached to those stands that we grew up in. Dont get me wrong I love the event and the growing and have a vested interest in seeing it grow but there are more people than you think that dont want to sit out in the sun and weather that keep the place going week in and week out. I do believe the group will find a way to add some more but I think it is going to be more like a professional event unfortunately some times you sell out and that is just the case cant always add people. I think they have nearly reached that point near capacity. I hope one day they are able to add a second big show.
As far as dates go, all the dates are getting pushed to a week later because Labor Day weekend is later than normal next year, which puts World 100 Sept. 10-12.
yeah I figure that's how the calendar falls next year. we had a great time. I just wish they would have said who was going to be on sauve talk as I didn't go up but would have if I knew babb was going to be interviewed.
In my personal opinion. I like the track just the way it is. They do have an option to add a few seats on the back straightaway and that is to connect the two separate grandstands on each side of the beer garden and put a small section of seats over the top of that area. Make it one long grandstand area. The middle section just having a couple of (maybe 3-4) rows above the beer area. It may only help about 40-50 people have seats but at least it something which is better then nothing at all. Just a thought I've been thinking about to help increase capacity.
They like to suprise people with Suave Talk.Quote:
Originally Posted by t4g2
One of the perks to showing up live that the PPV doesn't get to see.
It seems step 1 to expanding the facility is finding where to park the extra capacity. We got there at 2:30 on Saturday & the school grounds were close to full then. If they acquire more land, that frees them up a fair amount. More land would give them more room to play with in the area of seating. They definitely have room on either side to put up bigger stands if they aren't using those areas for parking. Just takes more $$.
It is quite obvious that Matt Curl & his staff know what the heck they are doing so I am just going to assume he has a good plan in place. I could see them turning it into a smaller version of a Knoxville type of setup with good sized bleachers on both sides.
I am going to qualify this as unsubstantiated because I did not see them myself but from a very reliable source I was told that new bleachers are already on the grounds (purchased from a high school in Kokomo, Ind.) and that the on-going sewer project in Fairbury will go through the speedway grounds and that fill dirt from this project will be used to raise the new bleachers off of the ground. I do not know where Matt plans on putting them. My guess is turn one.
First I will ask...Why? Its not needed. Its a sellout, its a great race that pays enough. 72 cars showed up for what they pay now.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoosierDirtFan
Next, are they adding seats or just raise the ticket/pit costs?
Asking for a friend.
I thought they might go back to heats on Friday... That has to be a $20k purse in itself right now.
I highly doubt it is about raising ticket prices. Look what they did with the weekly shows. Higher payouts and $10 tickets. Who knows.....it might go up a little bit, and I’d happily pay a little more. With the sposnships they have I would not expect a large bump.Quote:
Originally Posted by dirty-white-boy
Because they can. It’s about putting more money back to the drivers and teams that help support the show. As far as seats go I’m sure Matt Curl and staff have a plan in place to add seat down the road. This years race weekend was great.Quote:
Originally Posted by dirty-white-boy
Does anyone know when tickets went on sale for this years race? Would like to know when to expect them to go on sale for 2020.
Previous years they send out renewal notices to the ones that have reserved camping and reserved seats the first week of March then what doesnt get renewed goes on Sale the first week in april usually mid week like a tuesday. Just watch the website and facebook around that time for more information as they may change things not for sure though.
March 1st for renewals...
This is from 2019 email:
The deadline for renewals is March 24th at 5pm. NO EXCEPTIONS. You are responsible to purchase all of your desired seats and camping sites. Any items not renewed during the priority window will be offered to the general public on April 2nd at 10am.
Thank you!
Shannon was the opening act for the Flatland Flash:DQuote:
Originally Posted by t4g2