What do you do with your daughter when you’ve got a week off work and she’s here for part of the summer? You take her to watch cars go left on dirt of course! I have wanted to see a local dirt track race for years, so when I saw there was one in Idaho Falls while Charlotte was here, I couldn’t pass it up.
She is not a race fan, knows little about it, but graced me with her presence so we could have some time hangin’ out together. The track is outside of Idaho Falls Idaho and was a very nice facility (minus the plastic port-a-potties). Food prices weren’t too bad, tickets weren’t too bad, but the beer vs pit pass rule is a little strange. If you get a pit pass, then buy a beer, you have to cut your pit past wrist strap off. Funny rule, but not too bad.
I brought my camera (of course) and tried out all my lenses. The safety fence really puts a cramp in one’s style, but the focus seemed to understand I wasn’t looking at the fence pretty well.
Here are a few images I snapped when we sat down.
Hot laps are done before the racing starts to work the water into or out of the track and start a groove for the cars to run. I noticed that local boys generally run the bottom of the track, where as the more experienced drivers run all over the track, and use the cushion as support for the car as they make the turn (The cushion is the built up dirt along the top of the track).
There were quite a few people here so I tried to snap a few pictures of them with out causing any suspensions (I think it funny how many people think getting their picture taken will bring on some government agents to stock them – we’re not that important people).
Finally, there weren’t many “interesting” vehicles tonight. There were some that had character while in motion though.
Finally, the straggler images.
The weather was all rain and wind on the way there but the clouds left, the wind picked, up and the temperatures dropped a little. It was probably a dumb idea to sit at the top of the bleachers, but the view was better 🙂 . Next time we’ll probably sit closer to the front, and closer to the 1st turn. Turn 4 is usually where the action is, but it seems this track most of the action was turn 1.
Would recommend this place to anyone that wants to spend some time with family, friends, or just to see some exciting competition. They’ve got reasonably priced food (large beer $4, double cheese burger $10, and nachos were $5). Some sports I’ve attended were at least twice that much. Just remember, if you want to see the pits, you need to do that before you buy a beer.
Happy Olympics, and take care.
~me
