Track Conditions

First off let me say kudos to the Farmer City for the outstanding track conditions for two days of the Illini 100. It seems to be the norm in Illinois to have outstanding race surfaces. You can tell Illinois track work hard at preparation and aren't afraid of the water truck or grader.

As I looked through the weekly photos on DoD it appears the majority of weekly tracks don't put forth the same effort as they do in Illinois. Most tracks look like asphalt with zero mud in sight. Race teams work countless hours preparing their cars to be the best they can be while race tracks look like they show up on Saturday and spread some water.

The tracks that work hard on their surfaces and give us killer racing continue to survive. I hope the other's take notice.

Way to go Farmer City! Yet another Illinois track that does great track prep.

Keep up the good work, and it should pay off.

Love good track prep !

dirts for racing, asphault/dirtphault is for getting there!

my family ran a track in the late 70's early 80's...we raced on friday nites...we would start watering the track on wednesday afternoon and wouldnt stop until friday afternoon

things a bit different down here in the south , come late june or early july , you can dump the coosa river on it and it will still dry out , which , I personally liked a dry slick track , it took more thinking suspension wise and less motor , which gave us an advantage , but of coarse with todays technology in suspension and aero , there hooking those big powerful engines up on sand ....lol...

A dirt track is like dairy cows- have to be milked daily, not just on race day.

I remember when this wasn't the case in Illinois. Used to be, FC, Fals, Spoon, Peoria and others were dust bowls. Always went home needing a shower. Not sure how but times have changed.

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Originally Posted by manwplan

First off let me say kudos to the Farmer City for the outstanding track conditions for two days of the Illini 100. It seems to be the norm in Illinois to have outstanding race surfaces. You can tell Illinois track work hard at preparation and aren't afraid of the water truck or grader.

As I looked through the weekly photos on DoD it appears the majority of weekly tracks don't put forth the same effort as they do in Illinois. Most tracks look like asphalt with zero mud in sight. Race teams work countless hours preparing their cars to be the best they can be while race tracks look like they show up on Saturday and spread some water.

The tracks that work hard on their surfaces and give us killer racing continue to survive. I hope the other's take notice.

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there are a few that try to put out a good surface every week and have good racing. talladgea, senoia, magnolia, duck river, whynot. Its not the norm tho, some of the tracks close to us rubber during weekly racing, try to avoid those. I dont mind slick but racing around the infield tires is not for me

The dirt itself makes a huge difference; the difference between the midwest and the south is night and day. Even the difference across a state can be very notable (closer to the beach, sand content gets high). Definately takes a lot of work regardless, appreciate those that put out the effort.

We used to race at a track that had good black gumbo with zero sand in it that would suck your shoes off even after all the races were over and another track that is 14.6 miles away as the crow flies would be dry and dusty with old field dirt on it. The good track had a sprinkler system all the way around the outside wall. They also started watering on Wednesday.

Many tracks appear to water a lot on raceday, but you can water all you want and it will get dryslick anyway if they don't cut the track up and let the water soak in.