Springfield Mile (Illinois State Fair Grounds), August 20, 2005 2005 August 21
Saturday morning it was off to Springfield, Illinois to watch an early afternoon USAC Silver Crown race at the mile in Springfield. This is one of only four dirt mile tracks in the United States (and maybe anywhere?) that still race cars on a regular basis. This was the last one I made it to with today being the first race I saw at the historic track.
The other three tracks are at the Souther Illinois State Fairgrounds in DuQuion IL, Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis (where I was at the fair the day before), and the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse NY. Unlike the Indiana State Fair which, as far as I could tell, had no automobile racing on the track during the State Fair, the Springfield race was during the Illinois State Fair so I made it to two different state fairs in two days. One of the neat things about these fairs are the number of different foods you can get on a stick. I really enjoy eating food on a stick at a fair. I saw shrimp, chicken, pork, beef, alligator, hot dogs, corn dogs, ice cream, walleye, shrimp, crab and other foods on a stick. I decided to go with the alligator for lunch. It was pretty good (and didn’t taste like chicken – probably more like pork then anything).
When I arrived at the track I followed the signs and directions I received from the fair employees as to where to park for the races. It seems though that the directions where for people who just wanted to watch the races from the infield. This really isn’t what I wanted, but by the time I realized it, I already paid my $15.00 to get in so I decided to go with it instead of paying another $25.00 to get into the grandstand. Actually, I think I had a better view of most of there action from the infield, but I couldn’t see most of the front stretch, the starters stand, or turn one. Also, the speakers were not loud enough to hear what was going on so I felt a little lost. Anyway, watching the race from the infield was actually pretty fun and I’d do it again, providing I had a radio scanner so I could here what was going on. Brian Tyler took the win with Tom Capie having a great run finishing second. Before the race while walking around I ran into a photographer friend from Illinois and we chatted for about an hour. It was nice to catch up with him. I left right after the race to make the approximately three hour drive to Terre Haute for the Hut Hundred. More on that in the next post.
My stats for the year after the August 20′th show at the Springfield Mile:
Races: 36
Tracks: 23 (13 new)
States: 14 (3 new)