dirt track racing and NASCAR in Florida

I'm going to be in Orlando, Florida on holiday for 2 weeks in July.

I'd like to see either flat-track racing or NASCAR if that's possible. I don't know enough about the sportto know if that's feasible. Anyone with more knowledge of the sport(s) offer any advice on this?

NASCAR. Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks.

well, even I knew THAT one. I did see a vintage Indianapolis car ( at Goodwood ) some years ago, lovely sound. Like 8 speedway JAPs together. I also liked Tom Cruise's follow-up to "Top Gun" about the Nascar driver - Days of Thunder? Predictable in the extreme but the camera work in the driving scenes is nearly as good as TG

the best piece of writing about American motor sport I've read in a long while was the bit about the hand-shifter class race at a dirt-track meeting in "Restoring the Indian"..



actually I quite enjoy American sports in small doses, with the exception of baseball ( the only sport to take even longer to do even less than cricket ) and basketball which is simply repetitive and tedious.. a sport with everything taken out except constant scoring. Ice hockey isn't as much fun as it used to be, the way player fights are now treated, though.

I do enjoy football, having been introduced to it as an exchange student in the 1970s; I was invited to be a sort of mascot/third string player for the college I attended ( they were a LONG way down the rankings.... ) and played briefly in two or three games, my American exchange partner came back with a broken collar bone from playing rugby. I saw high school football in the Mid-West and I was amazed by Ohio State at a time when British grounds were grim places, little changed from the 1930s... I also took part in the mid-80s popularity of the game in the UK, lots of fun.

There is a Dirt track East of Tampa that should be racing Saturday night. High EXCITEMENT!! East Bay Raceway.

this looks like what goes by the name of "stock car racing" in UK, or maybe "banger racing" - multi-car fields ( maybe 20 or 25 cars ) making a rolling start on a track of 400m or so. UK tracks are variously shale or tarmac, depending on whether they are still in use for speedway or have been converted ( that's "speedway" in the European sense of motorcycles racing on 300m to 400m shale tracks ). Cars vary from open-wheel specials to stripped-down junkers ( "bangers" ) with various categories of modified street cars in between.

I didn't realise this was done in the US.



as a digression, I was involved in grass-track racing during the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic ( a livestock disease which caused extensive restrictions of access and usage at the time ). We were offered the chance to run at an autograss track but on preliminary inspection, the state of the track was such that we walked away after about 30 seconds without even asking about costs. The car boys were a bit miffed, they seemed to think we would be a soft touch financially ... you live and learn

Since you don't seem to be aware, American style flattrack is getting quite popular in the UK.
There are 2 different flattrack series scheduled with 6 events for each series in the UK.
They are even bringing Dave Aldana over for at least one event.
For all things flattrack check the community forum @ http://www.flattrack.com, even a recent post on your series.
There's also a link to Valentino Rossi playing catch-up and getting in some practice as he's learned that most of the prominent road racers have flattrack in their racing history.

It didn't arise yet, but I do know about flat-track in the UK as it happens. It mainly takes place at Kings Lynn speedway track, about 30 miles from where I live, but I gather it's coming to Rye House speedway soon. I met some of the members of one of the series when they came and took part in the VMCC Hill Climb last year ( I was start marshal and one of the scrutineers )

Personally, I'm not a great fan of it. You have to remember that Kings Lynn is around 330m and as such, one of the bigger speedway tracks - Rye House is only 262 metres. Having seen mile-track and half-mile in the US in the past, I don't really feel it has the same atmosphere at all. It's more akin to "arena racing" in the US sense

Dave Aldana, now there's a name from the past; does he still have his skeleton leathers, I wonder?

One thing's for sure....Florida in July will teach you what hot means.

I was in Russia last year at temperatures up to 38 deg. I've worked in the Middle East over the years so I'm accustomed to temperatures up to 45 or 46 deg.. when you get past 50, even the camels go and hide...

[Pa]

Are those temps in F or in C ?

C .. camels can only spell to C ...

Middle Eastern heat is dry hot.

Southeast US in humid hot.

Gonna hurt if your not used to that kind of weather.

I know, I am from the region

Baltic Russia is similar temperatures and humidity to Florida, for the same sort of reasons. So is the Caspian area, Kazakhstan and Baku, and I have been there as well. Both areas are also much troubled with flies and mossies due to the lack of winds and pollution levels, which I hope is NOT like Florida..

Nope, no mosquitos in Florida!

perhaps they are all inScotland looking for the family tartan...