Hartford (MI) Speedway - Going from a 1/2 mile to a 3/8's mile. Pictures.............

[PennDirt]

Just an encouraging thought: Sharon Speedway successfully went to 3/8ths from its half mile size. There has to be other success stories out there, too.

[Cardirt0]

Is the track you speak of near Fisher, IL? If it is I was never there. It was just a bit before my time but I've heard plenty about the place from some of the older guys. I went by it often on my way home and back to Urbana-Champaign on some weekends and holidays during my college years. At that time I was distracted from racing by the young coeds and the search for where the next keg party would be held, in that order!! LOL!



A couple of other tracks in Illinois and Indiana that you should make an appoint to see racing are Mighty Macon in Illinois and especially Kokomo, Indiana!! Kokomo is definitely on a par with FALS in regards to a must see status!! I'd put Kokomo up against any weekly track in the country including FALS and that's sayin' something.

It was on the Dewey Fisher road 4 miles out of champaign.. right in the middle of the s turns between champaign and rt 136
PS Red Lion Inn... REO Speed Wagon

[CIRF]

PS Red Lion Inn... REO Speed Wagon

Chances R Bar.....Head East
Red Herring Coffee House....Dan Fogelberg
Brown Jug....Duke Tumatoe and the All Star Frogs


Ahhhhh, what a great time to have been young and in a Midwest rock & roll hot spot!! DAM the midterms!! Let's go to the Red Lion!!!! LOL!!

[dmr37]

It was on the Dewey Fisher road 4 miles out of champaign.. right in the middle of the s turns between champaign and rt 136
PS Red Lion Inn... REO Speed Wagon

Track located at 40° 13.227'N 88° 17.078'W. If you set your Google Earth time machine back to 1994 you can see the outline of the track a little more clearly.

(RIP Gary Richrath)

[Cardirt0]

Chances R Bar.....Head East
Red Herring Coffee House....Dan Fogelberg
Brown Jug....Duke Tumatoe and the All Star Frogs


Ahhhhh, what a great time to have been young and in a Midwest rock & roll hot spot!! DAM the midterms!! Let's go to the Red Lion!!!! LOL!!

Man there is a good change we had a drink in the same bar more then once ...LOL
The Frogs one of the Best bands that did not make it Big...Good Friends with most of them bands.. Know all the guys in the Frogs and Head East and REO... Terry Lettrel was the lead singer back then and went out with my niece......REO had a House on Campus,,, Passed out there lots of nights....

[Cardirt0]

You can still see the 1/4 and 1/2 mile now on a live shot....

[CIRF]

Man there is a good change we had a drink in the same bar more then once ...LOL
The Frogs one of the Best bands that did not make it Big...Good Friends with most of them bands.. Know all the guys in the Frogs and Head East and REO... Terry Lettrel was the lead singer back then and went out with my niece......REO had a House on Campus,,, Passed out there lots of nights....

Gary, I'd bet good money we were in the same campus town bars at the same time back in the day!

U-C was a hotbed of rock music in those day.

I knew a young lady who attended Parkland back in those days and she did some baby sitting for a couple of the members of REO Speedwagon while they were out doing gig's. Had a beer or two with those guys during that time period.

The Red Lion Inn, Second Chance and Papa Del's Pizza were a short walk from each other and it's a dam good thing. Papa Del's is, to this day, the best campus town pizza.

Second Chance was the best of the campus town bars that didn't feature live music. Fun place. They must have lost $1500 worth of drink glasses every weekend. Everybody walked out with a drink in their hand. It was sad when that place was gutted by fire. I almost cried!! LOLOL!!

[Josh Bayko]

I intentionally omitted Pittsburgh. I was still under the impression the track was sold and being closed. The last I read it was really happening this time. I see, as of today, new clay is settling and a 2017 schedule is in the works. My bad, I don't cruise racestud.com at all anymore. A true homebase for PPMS haters to cluster. That and Miley shenanigans are always hard to separate from fact and fiction.

Of all (now) six notable Pa speed plants, I'd have to say PPMS is the most ominous in size and banking. It's like the builder said "Let's build a half mile track with extra big balls".

Our family lost interest in PPMS after the MACS demise. It turned out that UFO races just no longer made the high-price tickets, long drive and run-down facility worth the hassle. I will admit, seeing the old STARS and MACS races were great memories and the All Star Sprints were absolutely scary to watch.

It's not sold, and it's certainly not closing. The 2017 schedule is already out and the Mileys have re-clayed the place and are in the process of doing some other improvements to the facility, which leads me to believe 2018 and beyond will have schedules, too.

[Cardirt0]

Gary, I'd bet good money we were in the same campus town bars at the same time back in the day!

U-C was a hotbed of rock music in those day.

I knew a young lady who attended Parkland back in those days and she did some baby sitting for a couple of the members of REO Speedwagon while they were out doing gig's. Had a beer or two with those guys during that time period.

The Red Lion Inn, Second Chance and Papa Del's Pizza were a short walk from each other and it's a dam good thing. Papa Del's is, to this day, the best campus town pizza.

Second Chance was the best of the campus town bars that didn't feature live music. Fun place. They must have lost $1500 worth of drink glasses every weekend. Everybody walked out with a drink in their hand. It was sad when that place was gutted by fire. I almost cried!! LOLOL!!

Garces pizza in the red Lion you could order the a slice not on the menu and you get 2 joints with it LOL
The the REO guys were a lot of fun to party with He!! we may have know each other LOL
I think Second Chance was were they stared the Cup too go when they put someone at the front door and made you put it in a cup.... LOL
Second Chance is gone say it was burned because a lot of Gays went there... Red Lion is still there....
Chances R Bar turned in too a Gay bar...Its called Chester street now...

[CIRF]

Funny story about Chances R. Not long after I graduated we started going down to an Illini football game every year, and we still do. Anyway, we always took dates down to the FB games and had been in CR the year before but didn't know it had gone alternative. If you remember there was a gazebo type platform built up about 2' above the floor just inside the door and that was where you paid the cover charge. The bouncer that was taking money had to tell us 3 times that the 4 of us didn't want to go in. Finally we figured out what was going on and high tailed it out of there. I almost cried, again!!

CR was the best rock and roll bar I've ever been in to this day. We loved to go up to the second balcony that overlooked the stage and dance floor and set up there. Ya' had to get there early to get a seat up there but it was worth it!!

The Red Lion in Bloomington, IL was a very cool place, too. That place also had a balcony that overlooked the stage and dance floor. I had some close friends that went to ISU and that place was the hot spot for our crowd in Bloomington for a long time. I actually liked the Bloomington Red Lion better than the one in Urbana-Champaign but the bands were better at the U-C Lion.

Ahhhhh, to be that young again!! LOL!!

[Cardirt0]

Was a lot of nights one of the band guys would say gary can we party at your place... Knowing I had a Kick A$$ sound at home.. He say got some girls want to party... End up with 5 or 6 guys an 10 or more Girl from the U of I all of them 10s YES too be that young and all them Girls.. REO got me more P====... well you know what I mean.... Crying now that its over LOL

[intel8]

Head East and REO, two of the best "live" bands in the Midwest, never missed a chance to see them.

[CIRF]

We just went to see Head East at the grandstand at the 2015 Du Quoin State Fair. They opened for Night Ranger. I think the last time I had seen Head East live was in Chances R in Champaign. They were still pretty good for a bunch of old guys!! LOL!!