Standing Room Only

A standing room only crowd for the Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside? No bull!

(Val) When is the last time you heard those words used to describe a non-winged Sprint Car race, or any other Sprint or Midget race, for that matter? Maybe over the years it has happened at Knoxville, or Eldora, and yes it happens consistently at the perfectly-timed Chili Bowl, but at a Sprint Bandits event held at a dirt track in eastern Kansas? Get real!

Well happen it did last night at the Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside Speedway in Wyandotte County, Kansas and I have to say that I was totally amazed. They announced a sellout, then began selling SRO tickets, and for all I know, judging by the number of bodies in that place, they may have sold those out too. The only thing that even comes close in my mind was the final night of racing at St. Charles Speedway in my home town, where folks were packed in like sardines becaue they knew they were witnessing the end of an era.

Sure, the rainout at nearby I-70 Speedway probably contributed to the crowd, but only to a degree. Do asphalt Stock Car fans normally head for the dirt tracks when their regular event is cancelled? I don't think so. From the t-shirts I saw, these folks love their Sprint Cars, and the racing at Lakeside gave them plenty to love. Though the car count was pretty low, around 24 or so, the track was fast as lightning thanks in part to all the rain that fell in the area overnight. So much rain, in fact, that a moat formed between the first row of seats and the wall, forcing the flag man to climb to his perch from inside the track rather than taking the stairs up at the bottom of the bleachers.

The moat in front of the bleachers at Lakeside Speedway.

We arrived at the track at around 4 o'clock after making the 200 mile drive in good time. Arriving early enough to spend a few minutes in the pits before everyone was shooed out, I managed to try out the new camera on some simple, stationary shots. I love the color and clarity I'm getting, but I still have a lot to learn about the tools on the new Pentax, especially when it comes to shooting with the zoom. But I digress... (How unusual!)

My brother tries to prove that he can walk on water.

The great part about this annual event at Lakeside is that they don't throw a lot of filler into the mix. Fans pay for special events to see special events, and no one wants to be stuck at a track until midnight (especially with a four hour drive ahead of you) because some bomber class can't quit bringing out the cautions. We want to see what we paid to see, and that's it. At the Ron Shuman Classic, they run just the O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Series and the Good Old Time Racers Association classic cars. Both are entertaining, get the show on the road and are well worth the price of admission. The GOTRA cars beat the daylights out of the Micro Sprints that so many tracks insist on running with any Sprint Car race they put on. In fact, I'd be willing to pay extra for my ticket if tracks would run just the Sprint Cars and something like the GOTRA cars, and NOTHING ELSE. Let me see what I came to see and then let me go home, and I'm one happy race fan.

With that said, the racing was spectacular in both classes. The heavy rainfall from the night before, plus whatever prep work the crew did made for a perfect, multi-groove surface that the drivers were able to put to good use. There were several incidents in turn one, but I don't really think it had anything to do with the track, it was mostly because the drivers were just racing so darned hard! There was everything a race fan could ask for last night, lots of passing, sid-by-side, wheel-to-wheel action, drama and showmanship. And while what happened on the track was the highlight of the evening, it certainly would not have been the same without such a great facility as host. Lakeside Speedway has wonderful concessions, decent prices, clean restrooms and the race crowd was great. You would think that with that many people packed in, it might get a little too close for comfort, but I saw a lot of graciousness and comaraderie, and would place very few marks in the negative column.

It took us a while to get out of the parking lot, and the drive home was long, but it was well-worth getting home at 3am. What the heck, there's a NASCAR race on this afternoon, so it should be easy to get a nap in. (Ok, a little jibe to the NASCAR fans, I know, but hey, there's just nothing in the world that compares to dirt track racing!)

One last thing about Lakeside. If you get the chance to go there, and I highly recommend it, especially for the Ron Shuman Classic, be sure to check out the high water mark and photograph from the Great Flood of '93 in the concession area. Amazing how all but the upper level of that building were underwater 13 years ago!

I will be posting a few of my pictures on the site, but for actual race results and better photos than I can take,visit the following:

Race Results on WhoWon.com
Lakeside Speedway
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Series