If I was giving the Gateway Dirt Nationals a letter grade...........

[turnleftandgasit]

B-

After watching the Thursday PPV, I was worried how the rest of the weekend was gonna playout.
Friday show was outstanding, and is the reason for them getting a B.
Saturday racing wasn't near as good, then made worse by Bloomer winning. (begrudgingly wishes congratulations.)
DirtonDirt and production crews were AWESOME. So they yelled, got excited, and had fun.......What were they thinking? We made comments about how we liked it not being all stuffy and full of themselves like Nascrap.
For a first year production, and everyone learning on the fly, I think they need more kudos, and Tony Izzo can suck eggs for his rant against the show.

How to improve next years show, I don't know, but that never stopped me from throwing something out their, so here goes:

Drop the mods. Sorry, I said it, but I feel that would solve some of the track problems. They knife the corners and make ruts.......it is a fact, they tore the track up far worse than the LM's.

More heats, less cars per heat. Most races were crash fests till the car count was whittled down.

Keep the tires pulled in. Creating more room to run down low created better racing than creating more room up top.


All said I had a great time, looking forward to next year already.

Pappy's BBQ was good, but not the best brisket I have had. TX wins that hands down still.

[ptown]

I'd give them a C+

I'm going to go next year but they need to figure out a way to get things done faster, that's way too long especially if you have kids.

[calverton]

if you were not there its kinda hard to give a grade ptown,betcha you didn't know they used a chemical from vp racing fuels on the track to keep the dust down it didn't look they used the same amount saturday night as far as less cars most of those teams never ran a track that size need to run a couple nights at Macon or Belleclaire

[rickybrown1952]

i give it an A- only because several cars that was scheduled to be there decided not to show other than that 1 of the Greatest shows I ever seen

[Highside Hustler25]

For a indoor late model race in December?

I give them a A+ !!!

[ptown]

if you were not there its kinda hard to give a grade ptown,betcha you didn't know they used a chemical from vp racing fuels on the track to keep the dust down it didn't look they used the same amount saturday night as far as less cars most of those teams never ran a track that size need to run a couple nights at Macon or Belleclaire

Yes I did know they used the VP stuff, they talked about it more than once o the DOD broadcast, I wish the track had been slicker Saturday night I think the racing would have been better but this is all new to them so hopefully they learned something for next year.

[calverton]

yes they did miss Saturday night oh well it happens as far as the grade a race in December among friends geting dirty priceless

[chathamracefan]

A solid A. Definitely worth repeating with lots of room to grow. Room for improvements to help show move faster. More heats with fewer cars and maybe a solid barrier (dirt berm maybe) instead of tires in the corners.

[zyoung25]

For a indoor late model race in December?

I give them a A+ !!!

Exactly. The racing was awesome, and that's what I came to see.

Only thing I have to complain about, that they may be able to help, is access to buying a pit pass. We bought our tickets as soon as they went on sale, and at that time pit passes were not for sale to anyone that wasn't involved with a car being there, so we were told. It was a hassle having to stand in line to buy a pit pass, when we bought our seat tickets months ago and could just go through the turnstiles and not have to stand in line. At any other dirt race in the nation that I've been too , you can just walk up to the pit gate and upgrade, that wasn't the case here. We walked all the way around the stadium, and 2 of the 3 places ticket booths, said they could not sell us a pit pass, it had to be bought at a certain one. Shape that up, and I'll have nothing to b!tch about.

I understand the may not want just anyone walking around in the pit area, if that's the case, then just don't offer them to anyone that isn't a press or team member. Don't advertise it, then make it a hassle for people to accomplish.

[rickybrown1952]

I'm planning on getting my tickets early next year not that our seats wasn't good this year just because we like to sit on the front straight hopefully the best driver of all time can make it next year?????

[ride height]

I thought for a small company, the production was pretty good. They do have sound issues. Bens mike was pretty hot, and others you could barely hear. Not a crisis, but thats a point they need to work on.
After Thursdays trainwreck, I thought it was going to be a total joke, but they really pulled it out of the jaws of disaster Friday. It took way too long to run the show, but for a first year, they get a total pass on that. It will have to improve to grow the crowd though. Im sure it will improve. The track Saturday was rough as a cob. For those on here that dont actually race, you have no idea how many cars broke expensive parts underneath trying to run Saturday. Cars coming completely off all four wheels is not what you want, but ive been to long standing tracks and seen that happen once in awhile. Hopefully they improve that. All in all....id say B- as a total grade. Could have been way worse, could have been better, and im sure it will get better.

[calverton]

gates should 've been opened earlier also

[zyoung25]

The track did get too rough Saturday, I seen one mod busted a tranny in half. I think they farmed it a lil too much before the features, ya live and learn.

[calverton]

yep fridays track was alot better

[MUD MAESTRO]

To grow this event new or casual fans must help fill the building. Question? Did this event succeed to that end?

[Punisher88]

I was there and raced on it in my lm. I qualified 53rd out orb97 and was in a transfer to the back main til a yuke tire knocked me out. (Turns out when your not used to yuke tires they can cause you a few issues. Lol) anyways Thursday I was seriously skeptical. I think they just kept working it too much and the consistency of the dirt is just so fluffy and soft it needs to be left alone more. So Friday and Saturday they didn't work it nearly as much and the racing and track was much better. I think Saturday would have been as good as Friday had they not prepped it before the feature as heavily. For them having to deal with all the co2 level issues and finally getting that figured out I think it turned out pretty great. They were dealing with alot more than just race cars. They had EPA up their busts all weekend which cause tons of downtime for co2 levels, which they adjusted to later Thursday night and we're able to run the second half of qualifying MUCH more smoothly. One big improvement I'd like to see is having the jersey barriers all the way around the infielday with and entrance and exit in the middle so cars could still pull off easily. Or put a dirt berm through the inside of the corner would be best and would have saved me a few dollars. Lol

[Krooser]

From what I can see it certainly was better than the deal at the Silverdome in the 80's...

[ptown]

To grow this event new or casual fans must help fill the building. Question? Did this event succeed to that end?

No way will you keep a casual fan there for 8 hours.

[calverton]

yes cry baby some things need to change and things could be prevented like the EPA sniffing how about a road trip just from the pits to the entrance to the track

[SHOE32]

A+ for effort and giving us racing to watch till Arizona.