Labor Day Race?

[BigO]

Greetings,

After really not feeling up for the run from Kernersville to Ace tonight (and then having to sit through kids bike races, and end up having to go in early Tuesday), I was wondering how the Run-What-You-Brung race went. I like the format, but was curious how it worked out.

[benfield77]

it was worst than the race down the highway

[BocephusFan]

I drove down to the track from Reidsville and got there about 5pm. I saw there were almost no cars in the parking lot so I decided to ride down to the hill at turns 3&4 and walk up the hill to see how many cars were there, before deciding to spent $5 and 4 hours to watch this thing. I saw what looked like 3 to 4 cars per division MAX. I decided this is gonna be a waste of time and money and left.

[benfield77]

they ran one late model with three mods had about 6 u-cars and fire works was crap

[RACEFACE]

Larry "The Idiot" Rose should have raced a regular weekly "POINTS" race.....If nothing else I'm sure Phillip Morris would have brought a dozen or so Late Models with him. As a fan I appologize to the Pack family for Ace Speedways inability to pay respects in a proper way.
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[jhofficial]

I read else were that the racing while low car count was outstanding and the crowd was huge.

[BocephusFan]

If it was a "huge" crowd I'd hate to see a small one.

I mean at 5:15 (45mins before green flag) the rear lot was like half full and the front lot had cars in the first row only. The stands were emply. The front stretch looked to have maybe 80 people tops, and the backstretch maybe 40.

I've been going to Ace since 1996 and loved it back then, but it has gotten terrible the last couple of years. I still attend usually becasue it is the only Friday night track in the area, but if there was another on friday I would leave Ace.

Bowman Gray and 311 have the most exciting races in the area. I also like Orange County's setup if they would only have more races in a season.

[RACEFACE]

Hey BocephusFan.......sometimes you just have to over look what "the most ignorant man? on the internet" says........most definately 1 Late Model and 3 Modifieds racing together isn't a good race. To anyone who thinks thats good racing I feel sorry for them.

[jhofficial]

All quotes taken from some where else. Place and people shall remain nameless.

1 There was 1 LMSC but he ran with the 3 modifieds. The 45 mod won, 16 LMSC 2nd. The car count was low in most classes, but the racing was great. Keith Brame won in the Extremes. The 81 won Sportsman 51 2nd. 16 won mini stock and Dennis Capps 2nd. Not sure about mini cup. There was a big crowd in the stands!!

2 I was there and the racing was great. Also, there was alot of people in the stands. We plan on going back for a regular race night because our home track is closed for the season. Thanks for having a place to come see some more racing!

3 I went also , I think with more time there would have been alot more drivers there , hard to get something going when you only have 5 or so days ya know .


4 Friday night racing is pretty good. Lots of rubbin' on the tight martinsville-ish corners.

5 Ill say Ace does all they can, to make the track a better track, attract more fans and drivers, their MGMT team is the nicest bunch of people you will ever meet!!

[AlkyMadness]

I like Ace, but they should have cancelled Monday totally when the ASA-SMT sank last week. Was it really necessary to make their employees have to work on the holiday just for this? I don't think so. And, they could have saved their fireworks for later in the year when the Whelen Tour comes on 10/2 or for the last race on 10/31.

I thought about going over, but I didn't get back from Tazewell until 6:30am and after three days of traveling to tracks I just didn't feel up to it. I was going to go to Traverlers Rest for the SASE, but heard they might have a low car count and rain.

This had failure written all over it. I'm surprised they even had one LMSC show up. Running anything on the night of Labor Day Monday is never going to win. The roads are crowded and all anyone can think about is getting home and getting some rest before they have to go back to work.

Now, the idea of a Run What Ya Brung or Anything Goes race should not be trashed. Put up a decent purse (and pay thru the field, not just the first five places) and let the drivers get creative. East TN used to have these and the drivers would break out the wedge cars and be screaming around the tracks like Bulls Gap.

With time to prepare, there's no telling what some of these teams could come up with.

[BigO]

Just a few thoughts . . .

I hate that this fell apart, I really do. Not that I am much of a fan of the management at Ace, but I had hoped this would have worked out somehow. For once, they management there has lost more of its respectability for no fault of its own.

The "run what you brung" concept is great, and I wish some track around here would take it seriously. Finish up for the year, take two weeks off, then run it for some good money. I guarantee you will have some wild cars show up. Nitrous U-Cars, big carbed modifieds, lightweight late models . . . maybe even someone wedging an old 302 into a Mustang mini stock.

To be honest, I've wondered for a while what would happen putting top-notch super late models against top notch modifieds - top ten cars from both divisions after a big race, 25 laps, $5000 to win and bragging rights. Monday was not a great test of that, though.

As for having made Monday a points race, that's more than unfair. Most teams, if they weren't on vacation, probably already had other plans. There would not have been many show up for the race, and probably fewer this Friday. As unpopular as the management has been, that would have just drove more away.

Final thought: Labor Day Monday isn't necessarily a bad day for a race. Think of making it more of a club race, and start it earlier in the day. IF they cannot revive the Labor Day mod race, keep it a kids race. Put on a big carnival, and a big U-Car race and chain race for $5. It has it's possibilities.

[corey17]

Larry "The Idiot" Rose should have raced a regular weekly "POINTS" race.....If nothing else I'm sure Phillip Morris would have brought a dozen or so Late Models with him. As a fan I appologize to the Pack family for Ace Speedways inability to pay respects in a proper way.
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That's a pretty ignorant remark. Ace Speedway is no way at fault for not running the mod race, that sits squarely on the ASA modified people. Brian was a dear friend of mine, and i put it all on the mod people. They canceled 5 days before the race and Ace felt they needed to do something for the fans, putting together an unscheduled race 5 days in advance is not easy, but I wouldn't expect you to know that as you only have sat in the stands. Philip Morris wasn't going to come regardless, if you ever read the points you can see that he doesn't need to. No way to schedule a "points" race on such short notice, people in the points were on vacation and that surely would have not been fair to them.

As far as the racing last Monday, it was kinda funny. At first I thought it was the worst idea ever, but by the end of the night I had had one of the best times ever at a racetrack. The stands were surprisingly full, the kids got to ride around in the cars, and the modified race was very good even with only 4 cars. I commend them for trying to put something together, it beat sitting in front of the TV. They have some other problems at the track, but at least it seems they are trying to do something.