This was my first visit to BRP since Bubba took it over, i was in the pits all night, so i didn’t venture up into the grandstands.
The facility was very clean, including the bathrooms
I walked up to the track to take a look, unaware that the track at been changed so much. I was happy to see the new configuration. Turns one and two are now a long round corner instead of having a dog leg going into turn two. Clay has been added to give the track higher progressive banking.
Schedule was posted for the warm ups to start at 5:45, track was not ready (Why?). At 6:50 the Modifieds were called up first to warm up, instead of warming up they used the Modifieds for about 20 minutes to work in the track. I can tell you this, the Modified drivers weren’t to happy using $11.00 per gallon gas, to work in the track.
They pulled the 24 Modifieds into the infield and split them up into two groups, each group got 3 laps of warm up , not enough to even get in one smooth lap.
Racing was suppose to start at 7:00, the first heats were called up at about 8:00.
The PA wasn’t working in the pits, they had a person on a golf cart riding around with a mega phone making announcments. The first heats were Hobby Stock, he was announcing “Modifieds to staging” (third set of heats), this had a few Modified drivers scrambling until they got it right.
One thing i will say is, they have the best caution lights i have ever seen at a short track, unfortunatly they had to be used way more than i would of liked as i will explain next.
The first heats were the Hobby Stocks, this is when the “Track” condition became apparent.
The track is wavy, i didn’t notice any bad ruts or holes, but cars look like they are “dolphining” or “bouncing” as they go around the track, they rise up, then bottom out continuously as they go around the track. Most drivers were having a hard time controlling their cars. It took about a half hour to complete the first heat due to cars spinning out, or wrecking.
The Modifieds were the main event, it should of been billed as a DEMOLTION DERBY. I have never seen so many damaged and torn up cars in a 20 lap race.(race was shortened due to time from 25 laps). Due to the condition of the track most guys were out of control, because we know they aren’t going to back off because of the condition of the track. Wayne Hammond was having a good battle for first with Ivedent Lloyd, but while coming down the front straightaway his car was"bouncing" around so much from the dips in the track he went high going into turn one, when his car hit the guardrail it went airborne and took out part of the fence in front of the turn one grandstand, they had to remove the spectators from there for the rest of the night. only about 9-10 cars finished out of 24 who started.
I hope they get the track fixed so that it becomes RACY, it definitely has the potential to be a good track for racing, and it would be nice if the schedule ran on time.