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I have no knowledge of the actual situation at AMP as the track is around 100 miles from here and I have never been there.  However, I do notice much more "fighting" back and forth on this board from members from that area than anywhere else, So maybe Taylor has a point??   Post about anything from AMP, Hummingbird, Marion Center or even Thunder Mountain, which isn't even running,  and right away it becomes a "hot" topic!!   Maybe you guys need to get together and try to help make things better in your part of western PA instead of calling each other and the promoters names all the time!!  

GOOD RACING TO ALL!!!

Walt

I usually refrain myself from even posting on racestud anymore but I had to on this thread. For you to say the cars that wrecked (69 and 75) took Russ King out is an untrue statement. Watch the video yourself, Russ was coming into 3 when the 69 hit the wall. The 75 had nowhere to do because the 3D drove him into the wreck then Russ came in full blast never even lifted. Nobody goes out there to destroy their car or other peoples equipment. I happen to be friends with the driver of the 75 and I know he is not out there to wreck or cost the leader the race. As far as calling them clowns in the back, we should appreciate anyone who uses their OWN MONEY and TIME to field a car to go out and race. Not everyone can be the next Bloomquist but I enjoy watching everyone who goes out and gives me as a fan a show to watch. Without these people you would have 10 cars to watch race instead of the 24 who were there yesterday. This message board is a small sampling of what the issue is in the world today. Everyone wants to b*tch and complain and put others down. I want to thank everyone who showed up this past weekend to give me the fan a show to watch.

*Bad spelling and piss poor grammar intended*

Yesterday:

This is the best track ever!

I've been there every Friday since the track opened.

What time do gates open?

I hope Tony Stewart comes.

Are the rain checks I have from 1987 still good?

Did yinz cancel the races yet?

Will Danny Holtzgraver have his new shirts for sale?

Can I bring my own cooler of Natural Ice?

Today:

Racing/track prep/order of events at Learnerville was rediculous last night blah blah blah

They're running the place into the ground blah blah blah

Gary should be fired blah blah blah

Don Martin is rolling in his grave blah blah blah

I'm never going back blah blah blah

Next Friday:

This is the best track ever!

I've been there every Friday since the track opened.

What time do gates open?

Are the rain checks I have from 1987 still good?

Did yinz cancel the races yet?

Can I bring my own cooler of Natural Ice?

Read every comment as:  "I have nothing better to do than constantly seek attention from strangers on racestud by making pointless posts and complaining about things that I have no idea no clue the f*ck I'm talking about, but hopefully a bunch of people will reply so I can make more rediculous comments back in response to theirs"

Further, a "hoastage" situation is when someone is threatening your life, you physically cannot leave without risking your life.

The All Stars determined the order of events last night, not the track.  They should have run the All Star qualifying, then support hot laps, then sprint heats, then stock heats, then dash & B, then Mods heat, then Sprint A, then support A's, but they didn't.  If the worst thing you had to do was spend an extra hour at the track last night, I bet anyone in a true "hoastage" situation would gladly trade you places. 

It's called Red Bull, by two cans, go to work, and please shut, the hell, up!

Jon you might be on to something here actually.  There are more "cadets" then SLM at Lernerville already, and PPMS dropped SLM on a weekly basis and kept "Cadets" as well.  Given how close your SLM lap times were to those front running "Cadets" when you did run PPMS last year maybe you should consider making the move to a full time "Cadet" driver!

What business does this have on a racing message board??   Email this to your friends, but leave it off of here!!!

Walt

This is my take on this situation. I am not a fan of Tonys other than the fact that he does alot for the sport of dirt racing, and for that I thank him. I have been around racing for the better part of my life, and there are a few things that I think people are overlooking here.

I would be willing to bet that Tony had no Idea that he even caused a wreck, because as far as I can tell, very little, if any contact was made. It was nothing more than a slide job that happens at most sprint car races about 100 times a night. Tony did impeade his line, and at this point, Kevin has the choice to back off and give up the spot, or stand in the gas and try to power back around him. He did as 9 out of 10 racers of his experience level are going to do, and that is stand in the gas . The car jumps the cushion and contacts the wall as a result, and as far as I am concered it is nobodys fault but his own that he wrecks in this situation. It was a pretty mild slide job, as slide jobs go in this sport.

The kid had no business getting as upset with Tony as he was, and as I said before, I bet Tony didn't realize that Kevin had wrecked or that he would be charging at his briskly moving sprint car (yes, they are still going probably 60 to 70 mph under caution at this point). Tony was just driving normally around the track and getting the car slowed down for the caution, and there is this guy standing in the track flipping him off.

If you know anything about sprint cars, you know that they don't change direction very well with the steering wheel. The car has two gigantic rear tires conected to a solid axle with about 10 to 14 inches of stagger (left rear smaller than the right rear to make the car turn left) depending on track conditions, and two tiny little steering tires that do very little to change the cars direction at caution speeds. Ask any sprint car driver and they will tell you that you steer these cars with the throttle, and this is much more effective at racing speed than caution speed. Even if Tony did see Kevin, he would have a very hard time avoiding him. Even hitting the brakes in these cars is not going to help because most of the time it is a three wheel brake system that is designed to set the car sideways in a turn, not to stop you quick.

If you watch the video, you only see when Tony has already got to where Kevin is standing, which is very low on the track, because he thought the 45 car was Tony and he was running toward it. You can see when he realizes that wasn't Tony, he starts to work his way back up the track as he sees Tony coming, but it is too late. You see Tonys wheels go to the right, because they hit Kevin first and jerked the wheels to the right. Back to the thing about knowing race cars, your foot is enclosed in the gas pedal on these cars in case the throttle sticks, you have a chance to pull up on the pedal and unstick it. You hear Tony get in the gas for sure, but this after the car makes contact with Kevin, abrubtly slowing the car, causing Tony to lunge forward and push the gas pedal, which on a racing engine with no flywheel is more like a light switch than an actual gas pedal. It takes vey little throttle pedal movement to cause a big rpm change in these cars.

Anyways, Tony is what alot of people say, a hotheaded punk at times, but I have a hard time believing that he would go as far as to intentionaly run down a felow competitor. This was a result of a poor decision by a young and enthusiastic competitor acting in the heat of the moment, and unfortunately, it cost him the ultimate price. Seeing this passion expressed night in and night out is what keeps race fans butts in the seats. Unfortunately, in this instance, a life was lost in the process. My prayers go out to the families of Kevin Ward Jr., and to Tony Stewart as well. This is a black eye on a storied carreer and a sport that I love, that I'm not so sure either deserves. RIP and Godspeed Kevin Ward Jr.

This is not necessarily a Lernerville-specific response, so keep that in mind.

Again, everyone complains about the expense of lightweight engine components, oppressively expensive/ultra adjustable shocks, data recording & gathering, titanium this, titanium that...but lobbies for the the exact track conditions that these components are favorable and designed for.

I don't get it.  Isn't racing about going fast?  If you want to reduce costs, doesn't it make sense to reduce the need for the toothpick tie rod ends, tin foil spindles, lightweight (read: expensive) rotational components, hyper sensitive shocks, etc.?

Keeping the water truck maintained also helps with the dust, which better attracts the new fan, the casual fan and the wife/gf of the hardcore fan.  You know...the exact group of people who EVERY track owner wants to attract and who push a losing or breakeven night into a profitable night.

If we all want dirt track racing to exist for generations to come, the worst thing that can happen is to let the inmates run the asylum.  Though we like to put racers on pedestals, they are rarely looking past the "ends of their hoods".  They looking out for themselves and what affects them immediately, not the overall and long-term health of dirt track racing.

Hell, the most fun I ever had as a driver was on tacky surfaces.

Fire away with your insults and name calling.  However, I know what keeps my wife and I away more and more.  I go to fewer and fewer races every year.  At this point, I don't ever care if I am not at a dirt track every single Friday and Saturday night anymore.  If it keeps the most hardcore fans away after 4 1/2 decades of being at a dirt track in some capacity, I assure you that it keeps away people with lesser interest than us.

Sharing this from my facebook.

We all have memories from our childhood. Whether it was family vacations, going to school, or eagerly awaiting a visit from Kris Kringle every December 25th. For me, most of my childhood memories that I look back fondly on in someway involve dirt track racing. My parents started taking me to Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway when I was very young. From then on, I have been totally in love with the sport. I am proud to say that I have encountered droves and droves of quality, outstanding people in the sport. Some of my very dear close friendships were born at the track.