Iowa track unsafe?

[Sig]

Any track can be safe or unsafe.
The biggest probs are the inexperienced street riders going over their abilities trying to make a race out of a track day.
If you ride SMART, you can handle any situation or track.

What? That makes no sense. We are talking about racing at tracks, not cruising around at track days.

[Noidly1]

True.

But the same goes for a race as the street. You don't fly through the neigborhood do ya?

If it is TIGHT, SLOW DOWN.

Just because you are in a race does not nessisarily mean you have to go fast Everywere on the track.

[Super Dave]

What we really need is a racing association that CCS, WERA, SCCA, AHRMA, etc would use to petition changes at tracks.  In recent memory, it seems that none of the above organizations have been able proactively improve safety conditions... maybe we just need a larger pool of money to wave in front of greedy track owners.

Well, first, I guess I'm struggling to figure out how track owners are greedy.

Tracks cost millions of dollars to build, more millions to maintain, then you have to hire a legal team to deal with potential issues after spending the money.  Things like noise, traffic, underground gas lines, and so on.

How about issues that the people that claimed they would rent the track never came up with in talks?  Organizations can claim to be interested and even approve the layout, and even track changes, without having ridden on it. 

Liability issues from pit bike crashes?  Another problem for tracks.

A racing organization does have a right to protect its product.  A racer buys a license from an organization, and the individual racer has a right to decide to race or not to race.  Voicing an opinion to the press can cause problems for the organization and they generally have the opportunity for recourse in the rule book towards those who do so.  I like Brian.  Good guy.  I think we met in 1999 or 2000, and I respect him.  But it would have been better to act as they did pulling out of the race rather than developing problems.  Hey, maybe some people showed up because of the voicing of problems. 


What changes should a track make?  Based on what kind of guidelines?  That's a big trick.  No race track is perfect.  And, potentially more important, no rider is perfect.  I've seen crashes happen in ridiculous places where I could not for see that someone would do something so stupid, do nothing, or have a failure. 


Similarly, the second rider hurt at IS didn't hit the wall.  He hit the ground.  Higbee is hurt.  Yeah, but he was part of the rider protest at the AMA National at the Pomona Fairplex in 1994 like I was.  He has recognition of the risks involved in all this.  I wanna even say that he raced at Macau.  At some point, racers need to be responsible for the risk that is implied by signing wavers and racing.  I don't know of any guns pointed toward our heads.  It certainly isn't for the "wood" we get nor the big checks we get at the end of the year for all those championship points.


Back to tracks...

Every track thinks of safety.  Their insurance companies remind them if they aren't thinking of it.  But seldom are their guidelines for providing it effectively.  Next, the organizations rent the tracks for the races.  The track is providing its facility.  If the track is that bad, a couple things should probably happen.  First, riders shouldn't be showing up.  If no one shows up, then there's no reason for the racing organization to rent the track for its race.  With no rental income, the track will seek to do something to bring renters back or develop their track in a different direction.

[Super Dave]

True.

But the same goes for a race as the street. You don't fly through the neigborhood do ya?

If it is TIGHT, SLOW DOWN.

I think Brian's big problem with the track was the long turn using the banked oval.  This is similar to how Pheonix was.  A shallow oval that had us with our knee on the apron or on the track generating a lot of heat in one side of the tire going very fast.  Any problem would cause one to head right toward a wall from that tangent.  You can't put an air fence there because it isn't designed to operate with glancing blows that way.  The Gateway oval was this way when the AMA Superbike series raced there in 1995.

[Noidly1]

Kudos Super...

[Noidly1]

Super; Back in 95 was the OLD track.

[Noidly1]

Sig;

Read the last line of my second post...

[r1owner]

I remember watching an AMA superbike race at the OLD Gateway when I first moved out here.  Got Freddie Spencer's autograph when he was riding the Ducati.

[Noidly1]

COOL!!!

[Super Dave]

Boy, I can't find anything on the internet.

I know the track was shut down in the early 90's.  I know there was an endurance race on the old track in 1993 or 1994 as there was a guy we knew that lost his leg there.  I last raced there in 1990. 

Seemed like WERA had someone get killed there in 1996, and I though that it was on the new track ran with the racing on the oval and the AMA running the same track.  But maybe I'm wrong today.  AMA Media guide is no help either...LOL!

[Noidly1]

I know the track was shut down in the early 90's.  I know there was an endurance race on the old track in 1993 or 1994 as there was a guy we knew that lost his leg there.  I last raced there in 1990. 

WERA had someone get killed there in 1996

I though that it was on the new track ran with the racing on the oval and the AMA running the same track.  But maybe I'm wrong today.

Super;;

Back in the day, when I last raced, I think Gateway shut down in winter of 94 cause on 1-1-95 is when my MCRA membership expired and WERA licence afterwards.

The NEW track(s) opened in 96. I know this cause in 06 NHRA had it's 10th anuall Nat's then.

I didn't know WERA put out Hits on peeps... HaHa

AMA had an event on the Old track for sure probably in 93 or 94. I was there.
As for them having one on the New track, I have no clue...

[r1owner]

Boy, I can't find anything on the internet.

I know the track was shut down in the early 90's.  I know there was an endurance race on the old track in 1993 or 1994 as there was a guy we knew that lost his leg there.  I last raced there in 1990. 

Seemed like WERA had someone get killed there in 1996, and I though that it was on the new track ran with the racing on the oval and the AMA running the same track.  But maybe I'm wrong today.  AMA Media guide is no help either...LOL!

I'm pretty sure AMA never ran the inside the oval track.  I moved here in 94 and I think it was either 94 or 95 I saw that race on the old course.

I know that I did watch a WERA race not long after the infield course opened.