Eldora race surface!

[play4kps]

There is not really much to say, huge payout and a extremely poor race surface. We can make excuses all day, but thats a cop out. If any other track provided that race surface, 4m would be riddled with the comments, they should never go back there, but for some reason Eldora gets a pass, year after year. The biggest problem nobody wants to look at is, Lack of racing on the track, Eldora sits dark for so much of the year, they never get a handle on the race surface or see what needs fixed on track prep! In case anyone is not paying attention, Late Models will not hit the track at Eldora till Labor day, thats right, Eldora doesnt race late models all summer, Other than the dream, June, July and August will not have late models, or much of anything else. The Appleseed was dropped from the schedule this year, another blown oppertunity to see what kind of race surface you have 2 weeks prior to the Dream and work on it. It looks like the staff at Eldora spends more time on everything but track prep. Hey we got a 3 day race weekend coming up, Lets prep the track thursday morning! sad.

[chathamracefan]

It was awful for the feature. Also the way the cars race makes it not as good as it used to be even when track is prepped good. The same 1 or 2 people win every race there these days. Lacking some rule changes 1/2 miles are becoming a waste of time to watch these cars race on.

[lurker]

---, they never get a handle on the race surface or see what needs fixed on track prep! ----

While I’d agree with the generalized point that you are trying to make in your post, I’d totally disagree with the quoted part above.

Tony, knows exactly what he is doing with the track prep. Hard and slick. And as I said in another thread ---- the racing surface was way better before Tony NASCAR’ized it, and Madden’s post race comments were spot on.

As I’ve told CIRF and kidrock in the past, Eldora was my home track as a viewer for many-many years, during the Earl years, and I’ve probably seen more races at Eldora during that time frame than any other track close to me --- if Eldora had a race, I was there. Wing and non-wing sprints, Silver Crown, Midgets, LM’s and so forth. Yet I rarely go nowadays because of the hard slick no cushion track.

[Pennsboro32]

I’m not going to make excuses for them or any other track but it hasn’t rained in parts of the country for over 3 weeks.

[EDERDS]

The Eldora track we love retired when Earl Baltes sold the track.

[Highside Hustler25]

Eldora has a pond. Actually I think they have a pool and a pond.

[TRocket8]

I think that they put too many laps on it over the weekend. The only races worth watching are the saturday night heat races. They should probably dump hot laps on Saturday too.

[Barbecueboy]

Pond would be good for most of us 4merz.😂

[Morgs153]

When I go to the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake I know that I will be spending a long evening at the track because they always farm and work the track before the features. I've seen people complain about it and I will never complain about. I'm always treated to a good race.

I've made the 8-9 hour drive to Eldora before and loved the experience of being there. I've always wanted to make the trip back again but after the last few years of watching what I have, I'd be hard pressed to make the trip in person again. If I would have spent several hundred bucks on gas, hotel, eats, tickets and ancillary items to see that feature, I would have felt a bit jobbed.

[Mams]

Last night’s race surface will be perfect for the DTWC track conditions we all love - lockdown after 1/4 to 1/3 of the race.

[Josh Bayko]

The Dream and World been about the party more than the race for years, even before Tony bought it. It’s the same way with the sprint car biggies. It happens to most big short track races at some point.

The DTWC should be a little more race focused, however, with that many cars there the track is going to take even more abuse. Still, it should race better than PRP at least.

[Jed]

A few thoughts…
-Maybe they should have made another attempt at bringing in new clay last fall.
-I know Eldora is run by Jerry Gappens nowadays, but Smoke’s focus doesn’t seem to be on dirt racing anymore does it? Was he even there this weekend?
-The spoon shaped surface Earl had at least would allow for Hail Mary slide jobs. When they’re locked down on the bottom it’s pretty much over.

[play4kps]

Take most of the banking out of at least 3 and 4 and maybe some out of 1 and 2, that will slow the cars down hoping the track holds up better, The track at this stage cant take 95 cars taking qualifying laps. Im standing strong on my post about lack of racing! Look at Knoxville, they race every weekend there. They know what needs to be done to keep the track race ready. When your only open a few weekends a year, track surface will always be a crap shoot. Chances are, if they ran the Appleseed, the track would have probably been better. Its kind of sad that the so called mecca of dirt late model racing is putting out this poor of a race surface for a race paying 129,000 to win. sad.

Warning, harsh comment, if Eldora is not about racing and just about the partying, then why do any of us go? Why bother? I can stay home and party or go to the local bar and party, not travel 1000 miles or more like some fans!

[lurker]

Warning, harsh comment, if Eldora is not about racing and just about the partying, then why do any of us go? Why bother? I can stay home and party or go to the local bar and party, not travel 1000 miles or more like some fans!

I live closer than most of you here on this forum board, a little over an hour away --- and I rarely go to Eldora anymore, maybe 4 times since Tony bought it, and that was for USAC, and one World 100.

[lurker]

Black F is right ---- "the party hasnt changed but the racing has. prior to stewie, eldora always had both."

[lurker]

Im standing strong on my post about lack of racing!

I get what you’re saying but I disagree. Just look at Kokomo. They don’t race weekly any more, specials only, and Reece O’Conner always has Kokomo in tip-top shape surface wise. Watch the USAC Midget show on Flo tonight, then the highlights of the XR DLM show on Monday. The track will be spot-on for both nights. A bottom, a middle, and a cushion up top.

[play4kps]

Kokomo is a 1/4 mile. Eldora is a high banked half mile, big difference is track prep needed, thats why I said maybe remove a lot of banking so the surface might hold up. And whats to say Kokomo doesnt take track prep more serious than Eldora.

[lurker]

Jed, I know at one time when Jerry Gappens was at Gas City Speedway he was in touch with social media stuff like IOW forum board, FB and so forth --- and he took all critiquing comments seriously. Hopefully he reads this and passes it along.

[lurker]

And whats to say Kokomo doesnt take track prep more serious than Eldora.

They do, that was my point. And if you take any more banking out of Eldora, its not Eldora any more. You do realize, Tony took banking out of Eldora for NASCAR, and the Trucks series, and Eldora hasn’t been the same since, then add in the dry prep for NASCAR that spread into everyday Eldora --- which is what we have today. Even though the NASCAR Trucks don’t race at Eldora any more.

[Jed]

I definitely wouldn’t make huge changes like removing banking. Like another poster said, it wouldn’t be Eldora.
What was the reason for them attempting to put down new clay after the ‘21 season? Obviously it turned out bad so they scraped the new clay off and we’re still racing on the old surface. Does a track end up with too much rubber in it? Please excuse my ignorance. My point is maybe they were right and they do need new clay? That’s obviously not something that can be done during the season tho. If it were my track we’d be having a meeting Monday morning and figure this out before they screw up the whole deal.