A visit to I-96 Speedway

[Boneman]

Lucky me, the ASCS sprints were close by during my annual trip to Michigan, so I checked out I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa for the first time.

I expected to open the car door and be greeted by the beautiful smell of methanol and burning tires. However this track is surrounded by miles and miles of Michigan farmland, so instead I was over-powered by a bovine essence that would be familiar to anyone who ever shoveled out a cattle barn.

Otherwise....no complaints! This was a very good show at a fast and racy 3/8 mile dirt. They had no walls, so of course the damage and associated yellow flags were reduced. The surface was dark "Michigan dirt", which I suspect is another term for ground up cow manure, but I can assure you that the track came in fast, wide and smooth enough for the leaders to run it WFO.

Believe me, there were some farm boys up there! They were big, tall and a long walk around. Their women were even even larger and stronger looking. Kidding aside, I find most Michigan people (outside of Detroit) to be very friendly, and the crowd at I-96 certainly was. They love their racing!

41 sprints from across the country (including two from Florida) and 24 modifieds filled the pits tonight. The ASCS sprints use the "passing point" system, and it made for some excellent heats and qualifiers.

Notes for our Florida tracks: the national anthem was sung live and acapella, and the invocation was nothing short of inspiring. The fans really appreciated both. And yes, they had soap in the bathrooms too.

The announcers knew their stuff, and were all over it. The problem is that the guy who gave the line-ups talked so fast, it was like listening to a auctioneer at a cattle sale. It was certainly plausible, all things considered.

As the temperature dipped into the 50's, I went to the car for a jacket. I asked the lady at the gate if I needed a hand-stamp or something to get back in the track. She looked at me with a smile and said, "don't worry about it, just wave!"

Racing is alive and well in Michigan!

[zerofor]

when I lived in Ohio that's the way they did it.You broke out by a half second or more it was a black flag and trip back to the pits for you.When I came down here I saw it was handled differently.But if it was a constant trail of guys getting the black and its a new operation maybe something wasn't quite right with their timing.Boneman have you ever been to Limaland in western Ohio? They race sprints on friday night.Its southwest of Toledo about 60-75 miles in Lima Ohio and hey they race FRIDAY nights.

[OldSchool+]

re: "overpowering bovine essence"... Plus, I am thinking that sprint cars probably have a carbon footprint larger than their chassis dimensions per se.

Good thing you got out of there. Sounds like maybe only 8 years to go for them good old boys.

[driver50x]

I grew up about an hour away from I-96 Speedway. There used to be a huge chicken farm near the track. I think that is gone now. When the wind came from that direction, the country air was a little less than pleasant! It used to be a half mile track, I haven’t made it back since they downsized it. I spent quite a few Friday nights there, then I would go racing at Crystal or Owosso on Saturday night.

These days, weekly racing seems to be doing better in Michigan than in Florida. In my opinion, the rules packages are more logical up there, and they stay consistent from year to year. Crystal and Tri City are both getting in the neighborhood of 130 cars every Saturday, including late models and modifieds every night.

One other thing I like about Michigan racing is the asphalt late models. They run outlaw, hand built bodies. They are cheaper and better looking I think, compared to template bodies. In the 90’s they raced every week, today they only run specials.