For months now, the rumor mill has been running non-stop concerning the "TBA" that filled the opening night of the Indiana Sprint Week schedule. Today we finally got an answer as to where that race would be: Plymouth Speedway. Doesn't really take your breath away does it?
For me, this one came out of nowhere. It's been 178 days since the original USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car schedule was announced and this is what we were waiting for?
Many had speculated that a temporary dirt track constructed at the greatest racing facility in the world, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, would be the site of the opening event but clearly that deal never came to fruition. There were mysterious T-shirts with the "The Dirt Track at IMS" listed on the schedule. I've talked to numerous individuals who said that the negotiations between USAC and IMS were ongoing and it was just a matter of time, and then today happened.
I am not going to point fingers as to where the blame lies in that one. A race at IMS would have drawn an amazing amount of attention to the greatest form of racing in the world, it just did not work out and I'm not bothered by it. One thing that does concern me is how long this all has taken to develop. We're just 46 days away from the opening night of Indiana Sprint Week and until a few hours ago, nobody knew where it would be. That is a very serious issue for the best fans in the world.
Take for instance, Global Speedway Tours, a tour group based out of Australia. Aussies pay thousands of dollars to come over to the United States to watch racing. Their first race upon arriving in the United States is the first round of Indiana Sprint Week. As of this morning the group still had no idea where they were going. What about the loyal fans from right here in the states? Fans take time off of work and make the trek to Indiana from places like Pennsylvania or California to come see the best week of non-wing sprint car racing in the world. It's hard for fans to book hotels when they don't know where they're going. A fan from Arkansas voiced the same concerns to me during Indiana Midget Week.
Then we have Gas City. Here is a track with a new promoter who has brought new life to the facility. I admit, I have not been there this season. That's exactly why I'm headed there this Friday because I have heard nothing but good things from drivers, owners and fans. The promoter and his staff have been very active engaging the public through social media, television and radio trying to build a following and the car counts and crowds have indicated they're doing a good job in reviving a track that has laid mostly silent for the last few years.
Gas City has hosted Sprint Week for over a decade and a half and has put on some tremendous shows. Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson had an epic battle in 2012. In 2016, Tyler Courtney spun on lap one of the feature and was forced to tag the tail. He then passed every single car to win. The track has enough room in the pits, plenty of parking/camping space and has revamped it's facilities. Not to mention it's less than 30 miles from Kokomo which makes it easy for teams to get to Kokomo Speedway for round two on Saturday.
One excuse I have read over and over online is when the original schedule was made, the fate of Gas City was still in the air. That was certainly not the case because they (USAC) had no issue giving Gas City an Indiana Midget Week date which was rained out unfortunately.
Robert Ballou voiced his opinion on Monday afternoon. "USAC let the last promoter have it (an ISW date) and they didn't even run a weekly program, have a guy now trying to make a track stay alive and strip him of it". Again, I'm not the man in charge of USAC but it's clear that a majority of the fans and drivers out there were in favor of Gas City hosting the first round if other possibilities did not work out.
At the end of the day we arrived at Plymouth Speedway. Plymouth made the transition from pavement to dirt a handful of years ago. Slowly they've gotten a little better from the Open Wheel Wednesday events in which the pavement came up through the dirt or not being finished prior to midnight because drivers were too busy shooting archery for their starting positions. I will not fault a track for trying. But was this really the best we could do?
Gas City, Brownstown, Montpelier could all be viable options. Yes, Gas City's stands aren't the most comfortable. Yes, Brownstown is a drive from Kokomo. Yes, Montpelier would have a tough time parking and seating that many fans. But each of these tracks could provide good racing. Instead, we got the one with the sub-par surface but has really nice stands. We got the one that as of the time I posted this article, has not even posted they're hosting the race on their website. The last time they tweeted something was in June of 2017. That's all I'll say on the matter.
At the end of the day I'm just a dedicated fan and part time crew member. I'm not Kevin Miller, I don't make the big decisions. I am however thankful I have the luxury of being able to go wherever I want every weekend and take in some sprint car racing. But this whole ordeal has been odd and we, as a community, are better than this.
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