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[USAC Racing Forum]

USAC Racing Forum » General Chat » HPD Midgets
2009 California Dirt - How many races and where?

[Brett Roa]

Let's give James Spink and Tommy Hunt a little input.

How many dirt races would you like to run in 2009 and where would you like to see races run?

I would like to see 14-18 races. Along with Ventura and Bakersfield, other venues could include: Victorville, Barona and possibly Santa Maria. We ran some practice laps at Victorville earlier in the year and it seems to be sized just right for the Focus package.

What do you think?

Brett

[sean dodenhoff]

Brett I think it is a great idea to add more shows to the 2009 season. I think it would be good to at a variety of different tracks but, Barona is a rough track usually with alot of rocks....that would just beat up the cars, plus its the better part of an 8 hour tow for us here in the valley.


Sean Dodenhoff Focus 17k

[RacerCody71]

We agree! Lets have some more tracks in the mix. Santa Maria is a cool place and Victorville could be fun. We have never been to Borona so I can't render a opinion. What about some of the central Cal tracks?The only thing I would say is try not to make them conflict with the pavement races. Hopefully the car counts won't suffer to much with the economy...! They were just starting to get good.

[6157]

The tracks have to want the dates first.

I think thats the biggest problem.

[RacerCody71]

So who needs to talk to who at these tracks to get a show at them?

[6157]

Tommy Hunt does the scheduling for the Western divisions.  He does a pretty good job considering what a hard sell racing is in California.  It's never as simple as just calling up a track and telling them you want to race there.  There's a lot of consideration that goes into it, especially on the track's part before it commits to a date.  That goes for any series, not just USAC.

[RacerCody71]

I agree, I think we need to show that there is intrest in running at other tracks. It won't happen over night for sure!

[6157]

I've spoken with Tommy a couple of times about the scheduling process.  Part of the problem is there's not an abundance of tracks in California and some of those tracks are just out of the range of traveling and would result in a low car count.  This is just one piece of the pie for USAC and the tracks to examine when scheduling.  after you show interest, you have to follow through and that means a lot of cars through the pit gate in California.

I know you may want to run all over California but I would say most of your competitors do not.  I'm sure plenty would want to, if they could, but like with many others these days, they lack the means.

[Brett Roa]

6157, I am glad see that you have not lost your youthful optimism. The intent of my post was to see if anyone else was interested in a REAL dirt schedule or if we were going to be forced to chase the big dollar pavement cars around all season. Thanks for setting us straight.

[6157]

Brett, like I said I'm sure plenty would want to but whether they can or can't is another matter.  If you guys want the series to expand, don't ask who and where, ask how and why.

I'm sure your sarcastic reply isn't helping, it's just my honest opinion about racing in California from afar.

[RacerCody71]

WOW that took a turn.

I beleive that there is a large amount of intrest in at least adding Victorville to the scheduale. Heck it can't be any further than going to Bakersfield for most teams and is probably actually closer for a bunch of teams.

We need to keep the dialog open and show that we want to help the series grow.

[6157]

Although I'm certainly not speaking for Mike Gibson or Tommy Hunt, I don't believe the interest is there from the race track for Ford Focus.  There are strong rumors Victorville is looking for some CRA dates next year but again, purse is a major issue.

One new track you can probably look for, at least new to you not necessarily the Ford Focus Series, is Ocean Speedway in Watsonville.