Hoosier FST - Rounds 5 & 6 at Nelson Ledges

[rgu]

According to MV Reps this July race is a go. Track repairs are commencing.

[fezzic181]

Local to Nelson here. Many spots that were getting pot holed have been fully ground out and patched with full depth asphalt not just rhino patch. The race is most definitely on.

[rgu]

The Mahoning Valley Region has decided that the new track management needs more time to rehab the facility. Thus our race weekend in July has been cancelled. The board is searching for a plan B.

Any suggestions please send to me via e-mail or PM. Both the ones I have had require extensive travel. Meanwhile plans for Mid Ohio are moving right along and it looks like we can expect a large field there.

It was a gutsy decision taken by MVR

[Amon]

After racing there 10 days ago, I think they had no choice due to the lack of mowing
and standard upkeep of the track etc.....The only way to get this track owner to invest
in his property may be throught his wallet, and hopefully other car/ motorcycle groups
also respond in similiar fashion until he makes the neccesary repairs.

Mark

88' Citation 002'

[rave motorsports]

I realize it's a long way for everyone including us in Kansas & Oklahoma but We are having our Stars Series Midwest race at Gateway in St Louis on August 2 & 3. They host regional is exceptional at running the race and Chuck Singletary and I are planning on being there then going on to Mid-Ohio the following weekend. We are making it our summer Race-cation with a swing down to Nashville for a few days inbetween.

[csingletary01]

I would like to followup to Bills invite. The St. Louis Region is the best SCCA region I have ever been exposed to. It is a great roadcourse far better than any of infield courses I have ever run at with the exception of Daytona. We hve ran our FST there twice and they really support the FST cause.

[planbracing]

I was out at Nelson watching the FVs a couple of weeks ago and was appalled at the conditions (and I love Nelson). There was little more than 3 ft of cut grass (cut= 6 inches, uncut=2 1/2- 3ft) from the edges of the track in turn one and two. I talked to the corner workers at turn one and they said they had lost one FV in the grass during the morning session and another, only the top of the drivers helmet was visible. Some of the drivers I talked to, said that several of the patches were already coming up during the heat race. Saturday's race had an extra pace lap to make sure all the drivers were aware of the issues, cones were placed in at least one area to mark the problem (saw the cones ejected out from under a car that had ran them over during the race). There was a serious accident in turn one during the race, an end over end, followed by several barrel rolls and of course the car ended in the high grass, to everyones relief, the driver was OK. The drivers who were racing there can better describe the rest of the track and its condition, but from the outside looking in, it was bleak. I was hoping that there were plans to correct the issues, but the MVR vote seems to mean not enough was going to get done in the next month, if that is the case, it is the safe choice, for both the region and the drivers who race at Nelson.

[rgu]

Keep feeding your preferences to us. As soon as Bill Bonow gets back from Germany (today I think) we are going to start making a decision. We'll apply the same criteria used to put the schedule together in the first place.

This is unfortunate since we had 13 cars committed to go to Nelson. Still Gary's post indicates the decision was the right one.

[Amon]

Robert,

Gary is spot on with his opinion and the decision was the correct one!

Mark

[rgu]

I started a thread at formula-first.org on replacing Nelson. Please go there and post your preferences. We are shooting for a decision by the end of the weekend.