Kankakee Speedway

[dirtluver]

Great job. Good racing. Will be back for sure next friday for sure. Was well run and good races. Its only going to get better. Keep up the good work.

[TheJet-09]

That's good to hear. I appreciate the new promoter stepping up and taking on the challenge. I haven't been there in years but hope to make it out sometime this summer.

And as a fan of Farmer City, too, I hope they work together to keep car counts respectable (at least for late models).

[Clayton_Wetters]

How many late models showed up and who were they? Good to hear something positive on here about Kankakee for a change!

[Highside Hustler25]

10 late models. Oppie with the win.

Farmer City had a whopping 9 super lates.

[Jim11h]

Didn't those tracks get 25-30 weekly at one time?

[Highside Hustler25]

Didn't those tracks get 25-30 weekly at one time?

That was before a handfull of guys went National and another handfull are chasing regional tours.

[reid boys]

I don't pay for MRP but it looks like the new engine rules didn't really work that well. Chase osterhoff has a super and a crate, judging by the qualifying times it looks like he was in a super. The crates are still 8 tenths of second off if the supers. Is there any more that can be done to lessen this gap?

[TheJet-09]

I don't believe there's any way "mechanically" (or rule wise) to level the playing field. I can take my open LM to Kankakee, Farmer City, FALS (or any track for that matter) and will never be in the same zip code as Spatola....because "all things are relative" and I know that going in, so I'm okay with it (and I'm not griping about Mike, just using him as the example since he won).

But my argument for the rest of my life will be that straight up starts have no place in weekly racing. It stinks up the show. Nobody wants to watch follow the leader. Make these fast guys pass some cars for a change.

In the late 90's I would drag my junk out to East Moline on Sunday nights...one of the baddest little tracks there was. They had some system (I don't remember the specifics), but if you won the week before you couldn't start any better than 10th (or something like that). In the first seven weeks of the season, there were seven different winners. It kept the racers interested, and I'm sure the fans enjoyed it.

The cost of racing is far beyond repair, but it's not too late to fix what we have left of the sport.

[Clayton_Wetters]

10 late models. Oppie with the win.

Farmer City had a whopping 9 super lates.

I wonder how many of these guys (probably Opie) will be at Farmer City tonight? Or have they pulled the plug to?

[golddirt]

Farmer pulled the plug yesterday. Kankakee is running

[Clayton_Wetters]

Farmer pulled the plug yesterday. Kankakee is running

Well what the hell. Thought I seen that Kankakee had cancelled. I guess not. Thanks for clearing that up..So I wonder how many will go to Kankakee then that would normally go to FC...

[TheJet-09]

The open LM have to run a restrictor, so it might depend on who even has one (the inserts, etc) or not. I think crates can run as they are. It'd be nice to see a car count in the upper teens.

[chathamracefan]

I don't believe there's any way "mechanically" (or rule wise) to level the playing field. I can take my open LM to Kankakee, Farmer City, FALS (or any track for that matter) and will never be in the same zip code as Spatola....because "all things are relative" and I know that going in, so I'm okay with it (and I'm not griping about Mike, just using him as the example since he won).

But my argument for the rest of my life will be that straight up starts have no place in weekly racing. It stinks up the show. Nobody wants to watch follow the leader. Make these fast guys pass some cars for a change.

In the late 90's I would drag my junk out to East Moline on Sunday nights...one of the baddest little tracks there was. They had some system (I don't remember the specifics), but if you won the week before you couldn't start any better than 10th (or something like that). In the first seven weeks of the season, there were seven different winners. It kept the racers interested, and I'm sure the fans enjoyed it.

The cost of racing is far beyond repair, but it's not too late to fix what we have left of the sport.

I grew up in the Quincy IL area & attended that track weekly pretty much every year from mid 70's to 1990 or so. In those days, I don't recall every seeing qualifying for any class in a weekly show. My dad raced in the late 70's in the hobby stock class. I think (emphasis on that word) they used something similar to what you describe. I think the heats were on a pill draw but the feature had some sort of invert so the top guys weren't always starting in the front rows. I think after so many weeks current year points standings came into play also. But the concept was similar to what you describe.

These days most tracks time trial their top 1, 2 or even 3 classes so the top dogs start at the front of the heats & the feature. Some kind of handicapping or straight draw gives the best chance of putting on an entertaining weekly show. And as you mentioned keeping more people interested. If you know every week you have not even so much of a chance of starting up front in even a heat race, it's much easier to get bored with it all & decide to do something else with free time & money.

Heck, these days, the cost of the sport has gotten so out of whack that it's rare to see a Spatola level guy run weekly shows. Since MARS came in, Feger & Unzicker have cut back on the weekly shows they run. The powers that be let the cost get so out of whack while chasing the "next level" that the guys that have good enough equipment to run regional & maybe be competitive with the big national tours when they come around, have too much $ tied up in their equipment to unload for a weekly show paying $1500 to win. Hopefully the fact that they essentially killed their own feeding ground doesn't lead to the day where late models are extinct other than the national tours.

That sounds sort of crazy but that is basically what happened on the 410 sprint car side. There has been a resurgence in the last decade but 410's don't exist as a weekly show outside of Knoxville, IA, Husets SD, Jville IL, Farmington MO, PA, OH & CA that I know of. There are a few regional series that fill in the gaps (IRA in Wisconsin for example) but off the top of my head those are the only weekly 410 tracks in the country. They are healthy in those areas but basically non existent everywhere else. Check out the car counts when WoO goes to those non hotbeds. Lots of nights without full fields to even run a B main.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Maybe give Jason Feger the WIN tonight. He just posted on Facebook he will be at Kankakee this evening with his merch trailer.