By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
No one asked for my two cents, but here’s my donation in the form of an unsolicited opinion about Sunday night at Millstream Speedway.
There’s no doubt that something went terribly wrong during track prep. I’d be interested to hear what the track prep was. The track responded to a comment on Facebook that they had been watering the track all week. Looking at the weather forecast of 90 degrees and sun for the weekend, it appeared to be the right call. But, somehow, turns one and two, especially at the bottom and off the exit of turn two, were a swamp. Like, standing water swamp. Meanwhile, the rest of the big track looked like it had the right amount of water applied to the surface, albeit rough.
Concern grew during the drivers meeting when GLSS director Barry Marlow said that “he knew what the track looked like, but they had options.” The Millstream track crew continued to work on the backstretch and turns one and two feverishly, even getting the water truck stuck in the process. Big, four wheel drive tractors were slipping and sliding down the exit of turn two.
The solid Sunday evening crowd grew anxious, as did the drivers and teams. Heck, five minutes before the scheduled hot lap time, the grader was taking a pass down the backstretch. (At this point, motor heat hadn’t started yet). They tried, and tried some more to make progress on this wet spot, but it just wasn’t working. Just after 5:30, half an hour after hotlaps were supposed to start, the horn for motor heat sounded.
The heavy equipment came off the big track, and they sent the sprint cars out. Even at low speeds, you could see that the track had become very, very rough. While they were trying to work on the wet spot, the other parts of the track, and the small track were baking in the sun.
An impromptu drivers meeting was held after motor heat to discuss the next step. Some drivers fell in the “I’ve raced in worse” category, others in the “It’s not good, but it’s the same for everyone” category, and others were solidly in the “the big track is not safe” category.
Greg Wilson, though, was concerned about the fans. It was 6:00, the scheduled time for heat races, when he pointed out that a decision needed to be made an hour ago, because the fans aren’t going to be happy, and it’s only going to get worse the longer things dragged on. At 6:10, in an unprecedented move, it was announced that the infield track would be used for all three classes racing. Some drivers grumbled, some left, even some fans left, but there would be racing.
The Bad: If you’re going to be racing on Sunday night’s you have to be able to get your fans and drivers out of the track at a decent time. Again, I don’t know what happened in turns one and two that caused the swamp. But, there had to have been a point where the track has to realize that, A) the wet spot isn’t being ran in, and B) the rest of the track had chiropractors drooling. There were basically three options: rework the track, pull the plug, or use the small track. That decision needed to be made between 4:00-4:30, not at 6:10. That was a disservice to the fans and the teams. Making the decision that late also removed the possibility of reworking the big track in a timely manner. By the time hotlaps and qualifying were completed, the show was running two hours and thirty minutes behind. The ball was dropped in that aspect. Now again, it’s Millstream’s second race back, it’s not going to be perfect, and you can’t expect things to be running 100% smoothly.
The Good: Once the show got going, it ran very efficiently. More efficient than I expected. There were a couple breaks to put water down on the outside of the little track for visibility’s sake, but other than that, it was a well-ran program. If there isn’t an over two hour delay, this whole show is over around 8:30-9:00, which is spot-on for a Sunday night show. Kudos to Millstream and the GLS trio of series for running an efficient program.
Switching to the inside track is one heck of a pivot to make after motor heat, but it went smoothly, in my opinion. They gave teams 15 minutes to change gears and make adjustments. The track crew removed some tires and buttoned up the inside track, and after a few sets of hotlaps, got things dialed in so it wasn’t terribly dusty. Being able to make that pivot on your second night of racing is no easy feat and shouldn’t be overlooked.The racing on the inside track was pretty good as well for the 360s. There were multiple grooves to race, the track didn’t eat tires, and it was able to withstand the full-sized cars. I hope it doesn’t come to what happened on Sunday again, but what an option to have in your back pocket. Finally, I was impressed that the track made improvements based on driver feedback. The inside berm of the big track was made taller, and had a ledge so left front tires couldn’t get up on it. The tires that lined the berm were removed as well, and only four larger tires were sitting on corner entry. The wall in the entrance of turn three was also pushed back a little bit to help drivers make the right turn off the track.
All in All: Millstream Speedway is in a Catch-22 situation. They need to run races to get things operating smoothly, and to get the dirt worked in proper. That being said, there’s going to be some rough patches as things get to that point. As long as things get better each time out, Millstream should survive. The drivers I talked to post-race had positive things to say, and I truly believe Millstream and the GLSS made the best out of a bad situation. As long as Millstream listens, and learns from their mistakes, I think they’re going to be fine. The Cogley family has put too much time, money, and effort into this historic track for them to not make adjustments and tweak their program.
It was a terrible hand of cards that was played, things turned out OK, but it can’t happen again.