ROC modifieds at Spencers
- Thread starter leadfoot4
- Start date
Just for the record, I posted the question before the "press release" was posted.............
rg23
Veteran
No worries. You're good.
rg23
Veteran
Results are at this link: https://www.rocmodifiedseries.com/schedules/event/462483
Chuck Hossfeld won.
Chuck Hossfeld won.
I know that I'm no longer a young kid, and would hate to be classified as an "old fogie", BUT.....
I'll start by saying that as always, I enjoyed the races, this past Friday at Spencer Speedway. However, I believe that when I read the pre-race notice that was released, it stated the gates opened at 5PM, with qualifying at 7:15 PM. I'm assuming, maybe incorrectly, that they meant "time trials" when they said "qualifying".
In reality, "time trials" started at 8:15, and as you can imagine, things then proceeded pretty much an hour later than expected, for the entirety of the evening. At the risk of sounding like I have a bad case of sour grapes, I pose the question...is there any reason for the show to go well beyond 11PM, especially on a 57*F evening? I live in Webster, about 18-20 minutes from the track, depending on traffic. I had one of my friends riding along with me. He lives about 4-5 minutes west from me, which added 10 minutes, at most, to my trip home, as I had to drop him off at his house. I got home a few minutes before midnight.
I feel sorry for the racers that were then looking at a 4-5 hour tow, to get home..........
I'll start by saying that as always, I enjoyed the races, this past Friday at Spencer Speedway. However, I believe that when I read the pre-race notice that was released, it stated the gates opened at 5PM, with qualifying at 7:15 PM. I'm assuming, maybe incorrectly, that they meant "time trials" when they said "qualifying".
In reality, "time trials" started at 8:15, and as you can imagine, things then proceeded pretty much an hour later than expected, for the entirety of the evening. At the risk of sounding like I have a bad case of sour grapes, I pose the question...is there any reason for the show to go well beyond 11PM, especially on a 57*F evening? I live in Webster, about 18-20 minutes from the track, depending on traffic. I had one of my friends riding along with me. He lives about 4-5 minutes west from me, which added 10 minutes, at most, to my trip home, as I had to drop him off at his house. I got home a few minutes before midnight.
I feel sorry for the racers that were then looking at a 4-5 hour tow, to get home..........
Glad to see that I'm not the only one who thought that "time mis-management" was on full display, this past Friday. While on the subject of time, a couple other points come to mind.
A) a 30 minute "tune time/hot laps" for the modifieds, prior to starting the show? 15 minutes would have been sufficient, and as demonstrated this past Friday, most of the cars were back in the pits within a 15 minute period. On the other hand, if that 30 minutes had begun at 6:15, it wouldn't have been an issue;
B) a heat race and a feature, for the 602 modifieds? Yes, I understand that they are the younger, less experienced drivers, and need track time to learn their craft. HOWEVER, when you're putting on a show that includes 5 classes of cars, therefore time is automatically a factor, why would you run a heart race for a class that has only 5-6 entries? There was plenty of practice time before the races started, so have the 5-6 drivers draw for starting positions, and run their feature;
C) the most important part of the equation, and the one that's most abused (and not just at Spencer's)......START ON TIME!! If you advertise, as I previously mentioned, "gates open at 5PM, with time trials beginning at 7:15PM", then stick to it. 8:15 is NOT 7:15;
Last year, at one of the modified shows, I sat next to a race fan who had driven to Spencer's, all the way from Schenectady, and of course, we got to talking. The poor guy sat in the stands until 11:15-11:30PM, then had a 3 hour drive ahead of him. I asked if he was "staying over" somewhere, and he said, "No, I'll just tough it out". I hope he made it home safely. Same thing for some of the teams, that drive 3-4 hours to get to the track. I'm pretty sure that being able to get on the road, even an hour earlier, would be welcomed by them...