2 New Tracks: PA's Nicest to PA's Newest; Figure 8s & Rednecks
It was a gorgeous weekend here in western PA- a rare one with wall-to-wall sunshine, little humidity, and a slight breeze. September generally is a fair month weather wise. For two Fridays in a row the weather has been outstanding and that trend is to continue this weekend.
Friday nights in September though in western PA and eastern Ohio is generally slim pickings when it comes to racing. High school football is big and kids are just back to school so unless it's a special events the few Friday night tracks either shutdown or switch nights.The only racing I knew of was Raceway 7, Motordrome, and Lake Erie. Having been to all three tracks before and with my intention of going to Raceway 7 next week and not being an asphalt fan, I realy wasn't excited about going to any of them.
With no late models at 7, I checked Lake Erie's schedule and to my delight figure 8s were on the card. When I went last May for the first time they were not and only a couple hundred people were in the grandstands. Management changes over the offseason has apparently resulted in larger car counts, numerous special events, and larger attendance. Friday's crowd was nothing to write home about, but definitely better than when I went last year at probably double the size.
Car counts were still low to modest at best. The headlining late model division were featured in a 75 lapper and increased purses were announced for the other divisions. Admission was $15. They did have a full field of late models. The other car counts were 22 legends, 10 bandoleros, 10 street stocks, 7 figure 8s, and 5 4-cylinders.
They started only a few minutes late and took a brief intermission to allow the late model crews to bring their equipment into the infield, did some giveaways, then a did quick driver introductions. Just after 10:30 the late model, bandolero, legend, and street stock features were completed. The flagmen moved from the oval flagstand to the one the one exiting turn four for the figure 8 race. LES F8 made for my 4th figure 8 track. The plastic-type jersey barriers that were set up for the late model pit area in the infield were removed where the cars crossed into the infield.
Despite just 7 cars they did put on an entertaining and exciting race that the majority of the crowd stayed for and then left before the final event which was the 4-cylinder feature. Lots of passing and some bumping. The top four cars stayed in a pack for the entire 15 laps swapping positions. The next two cars raced a good distance back and the last place car simply seemed to be out there just to be out there. He stopped and let cars cross when he could have easily made it by the X and got out of every ones way. He even "earned" some boos and chicken calls from the crowd! Bob Morgan was the winner of the event.
Lake Erie is a wonderful facility. I still wonder how they operate it on a weekly basis. Their overhead has to be tremendous. They must do well enough on their special events because I know they are taking big hits for all the more they draw on weekly events. You can tell their fan base is very different than the typical dirt tracks in western PA. It's a very laid back atmosphere. Very little if any racing shirts and the one's that are are NASCAR. In my two visits I've noticed many older couples and not the low-income, beer-drinking, "redneck"-type crowd.
On a side note, I stopped and ate at the Golden Corral on the way to the track in Erie. We're getting one in Hermitage, PA by the new Super Wal-Mart that is being built. It's been a long time since I've eaten at one as there aren't any that I know of around my area. It was well worth it. I forgot how much selection and the quality of the food is excellent for I think it was $8.99. Some buffets aren't appealing at all, but that's the total opposite here. The food looks good and is good! I ate like I had been stranded on a island. I probably ate at least $30 worth. I was really amazed at what they had to offer.
#95 Thunder Mountain Speedway (3/8-mile dirt), Knox Dale, PA (9/11/05)

From one extreme of western PA racing at one of the nation's top short track facilities on Friday night to western PA's newest facility on Sunday afternoon. About the only thing in common with the two facilities is that they both have Speedway at the end of their name and present auto racing.This track was basically built because nearby, and I do mean nearby, Hummingbird Speedway dropped the truck division. The Geer Family had trucks and raced at Hummingbird before the track dropped the divisions.
TMS opened up late last year (I believe early September) running some Sunday shows then switched to Saturdays in October basically forcing Hummingbird to close early even though October isn't early for western PA. In the past, Hummingbird had run right through the end of October. I believe they only got one or maybe two Saturday shows in before calling it quits and announcing Saturday nights in 2005 against Hummingbird, which is about 10 miles or so down the road.
I had planned on hitting one of their late October shows, but as stated they called it quits. Working at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday nights severly cuts down trackchasing opportunities as the majority of tracks operate on Saturdays. It's one reason why it took me so long to get to many Saturday night tracks and tracks like McKean County, Hesston, Painesville (OH), Midvale (OH), and Barberton (OH) are still on my "hit list".
With Thunder Mountain's schedule showing their final show on September 24 it was questionable if I was going to make it to the region's newest track. The 17th and 24th would have both been possible options as we are not racing at Mercer those days, but it would be likely that I would have found somewhere else to go.
Following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in the wake of the upcoming fourth anninversary of 9-11, TMS decided they would hold a "Race for Relief" with all donations from general admission going to the Salvation Army. The drivers would race for pit pass proceeds.Sounded like a good cause and with the only other race being Tri-City's 100 lapper for Stock Cars I decided on TMS.
Once you get off Interstate 80 and get away from nearby Brookville you've basically left civilization as it's "Backwoods USA". Winding roads finally came to Knox Dale, PA as I felt I had gone back in time about 50 years. The newest thing in "town" was the post office. The sights were worth the trip alone as I had never been in Knox Dale or the surrounding roads that led to the speedway. I arrived at just shy of 2:30 PM with the scheduled start time of 3. I assumed hot laps were finished. I walked up the steep bank and paid the $5 donation to the Salvation Army.
Reminded me off an entrance to an old stadium as you walked under the scoring tower/concession stand. To the left was all lawn chair seating. To the right were bleachers and a small "walkway" up to the crowded area to the entrance to the small concession stand. For me it's very odd not to recognize people at a track that is so close to home. There were two guys (brothers) that used to own a sprint car that does engine work in nearby Brookville and one fellow "Fred" as is identifiable from his work outfit he always wears, who is always at races in this "area". Other than some of the drivers I recognized, that were the only familiar faces.
The grader was cutting the speedway and run in vehicles were on the track. There was no announcing prior to 3. At about five minutes after 3, the pace truck carrying the American flag in its bed came onto the speedway leading about 6 races amongst the various classes then more followed so I assumed they were going to either be bringing out a car from each division or bringing all the cars out for some type of tribute.In the end it turned out to be just hot laps as they put the cars from the other divisions in the infield as the steel block late models hot lapped first.
After hot laps were completed at just before 3:30 the announcement was made that they were going to do something that had never been done in the history of TMS. My mind was "racing" and all the various imaginable thoughts of a track of this sort in this area saying something like that. It turned out that they had someone to sign the anthem and it was a 14-year-old girl that did a respectable job. Boy was I relieved!
For such short notice as basically the only way anyone knew about the show was from the message board or their website, and they did race the night before, a very good crowd was on hand for all the bigger the facility is. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-500. It was a very warm day for almost mid-September standards especially in one of the cooler areas of the state with temps in the 80s.
The facility reminds me of Dog Hollow Speedway in Strongstown, PA as it looks like it was cut from the same mold. Both have a similar scoring/concession stand, rocky grandstand area with both seating and lawn chairs (although Dog Hollow can hold many more), relatively same size track (Dog Hollow is a hair bigger) and surface composition.
Car counts were low to modest at best with 65 cars amongst 6 divisions with 16 4-cylinders, 15 super stocks, 12 steel-block late models, 12 micro sprints, 6 trucks, and 4 pure stocks. Pit passes were $20 and I'm guessing there would have been about 250 in the pits meaning the six classes were racing for $5,000. It said this was a non-profit event for the track. The concessions may have paid for their insurance (assuming they do have it), but unless the employees worked for free, plus ambulance, fire, fuel, wreckers, and other various expenses I wonder how they didn't lose money unless all the pit money did not go toward the purses.
Heat races took about an hour to run and they announced they were taking an intermission to water the track and work it back in. They called for all the drivers to come out for a picture on the frontstretch and a Chinese auction was going on in the grandstands with the proceeds going to the salvation army.

They interviewed a guy that was from NJ filming the races who sends footage to Speed Channel. He was with Lynn Shaffer (sp?), who produces the popular "Thunder in the Mountains" tapes. I'm guessing they were at Port Royal Speedway on Friday and Saturday for the Tuscarora 50, stayed over, and made the two hour jaunt over to add to their track list. Following the interview, the auction had ended and the announcer began giving away all the prizes off the tickets purchased. This seemingly went on forever. The crews did work on the speedway as it was graded again. The only water put down was above the cushion and on the edge of the infield.
At about 5:30 cars were lining up and the announcer said the flagman was ready and all the remaining winning numbers would be on the table at the auction to claim. I believe they announced over $4,000 was raised during the day, which would seem about right as the auction was at around $2,000. 400 people times $5 would be another $2,000.
The 25-lap steel-block late model was first and 11 if the 12 cars took the green. The race was decent as Jason Witherite passed Ted Gallaher on lap 10 of the 25-lap race and survived 6 cautions. One of the cautions seemed to be a mystery as no cars stopped, no debris was picked up, and nothing was said though people were wondering.
Following the race something transpired that I can't recall ever happening in the some 1,100 races I have attended. Witherite, who won the race, crossed the scales and instead of coming out for victory lane, flew into the pits. People in the stands thought he was light, but the announcer said something about the car being hot. They waited and waited on him to come out, finally the next division came out on the track and the announcer, flagman, photographers, etc. headed back to their posts like people leaving dejected after waiting on an athlete or movie star that never showed.
The micro sprints started 10 of the 12 cars and just 2 cautions slowed the feature won by Jeff Bacha, who led all 15 laps.The super stocks was another story. Watching many stock races away from far western PA, I knew what to expect lots of banging, lots of cautions and lengthy ones, slow lineups, etc. It came to fruition. The 15-lap race started 13 of the 15 cars, but had 6 cautions in just 15 laps. Jamie Barber led all the way. The race seemingly went on forever. Long and I do mean long cautions. One car went over the backstretch into turn three all by itself. I have no idea what took so long. When they finally got the car on the wrecker and they brought it across the track into the infield the car came crashing off the hook. Two cars tangled in turn two and were hooked together. Just the typical type of stock racing as the cars look like they went through a meat grinder.
At 6:45 nearly four hours after the scheduled start time I had enough. I'm just glad they ran the top three classes first. Three features still remained for the lower classes. These tracks just amaze me how they could never handle a large amount of cars and run off any semblance of an efficient show. I get frustrated and antsy very easy. While it was good to add a new track, I doubt I will return unless there are sprints or modifieds scheduled.
The crowd of fans were expected for this type of track and I also get very uncomfortable and am always looking for a different place to sit. It's scary to see our future generation of children when you look at their parents. Considering it was a special Sunday afternoon program, I'm sure their Saturday night crowd is much worse and I can believe that from the stories I've heard. TMS did make for my 42nd Pennsylvania track, which according to the Trackchaser PA standings ranks me "unofficially" tied for 24th.
I stopped at an Arby's on the way home and as usual as I quickly got disgusted. What is supposed to be "fast food" sure wasn't. There was one girl waiting on her food when I entered and a guy and I think his son ahead of me. I went to the restroom and cleaned up and waited on them to order. I placed my order with a girl that wore a name tag in training. It seemed like everyone else in the establishment was also in training.
One of the girls even made the comment that they were really busy for 8 o'clock. There was one other couple eating in the restaurant, the girl waiting on the food, the father-son, myself, and a family of three that just came in after I ordered and they were really busy?
This was Grove City now keep in mind- a town of about 9,000 plus it's a college town and the Arby's is right beside a 24-hour grocery store and Wal-Mart. The girl's food finally came. She just got out the door and came back in when there was a mistake on her drink order. The father-son got their order, which was just a sandwich and drink each. I just ordered a roast beef, curly fry, and a Dr. Pepper.
Of course when my order came, which had to be at least 10 minutes later the fries weren't done. I took my order and sat down, the sandwich that was waiting in the shoot was now almost cold. The family that ordered after me got their order which included fries and an employee came out and sat down with her meal that included fries. At this time I had just started to get up when I saw them coming out with my order. In a place like this it's almost useless to even bitch as it seemingly comes with the territory anymore.
89. 1/2 Mountain Speedway, Saint Johns, PA9
90. 8/12 Big Diamond Raceway, Minersville, PA
91. 8/13 Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton,PA
92. 8/13 New Egypt Speedway, New Egypt, NJ
93. 8/24 Westmoreland Fairgrounds (Rolling Rock Arena), Norvelt, PA
94. 9/9 Lake Erie Speedway (figure 8), North East, PA
95. 9/11 Thunder Moutain Speedway, Knox Dale, PA
May God Bless!



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