stephenrjking
Well-Known Member
Last year I posted an "Outsider's View" of a trip to Crandon with my kids as a new fan of short course racing. Now, a full year of following the sport (and attending Crandon once more) I visited ERX yesterday with my kids. I thought I'd post some thoughts on the track, the series, and the work MSI is doing.
Apologies for length. I was given some feedback that suggested that some people are interested in my thoughts.
The Good
-Whomever is responsible for getting the facility ready for guests did a great job. I understand some of the sod was laid fresh on Friday, but everything looked great. Staff was plentiful and helpful, and they did a good job making lemons with the distant parking by operating a frequent shuttle (it was a hayride, actually really cool!) to bring us closer in. When the round was announced, I looked at the website and was underwhelmed by the site and the facility; the track I attended today impressive.
-The track itself has a lot of potential. I love big elevation changes, and despite a small-ish number of turns there is some real variety as the vehicles take their laps. The high-banked turn is a great idea (didn't really work out to much in practice, but hopefully they can engineer it to draw trucks up a bit) and I was particularly impressed with the finish jump, which Chad Hord occasionally used to attempt to reach orbit.
-The turnout. The track isn't set up for 30,000 fans and appeared to only draw a few thousand, but the spectator hill was well-packed and there were fans everywhere. It did not have the empty feeling of, say, Texas--or of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament in St. Paul, which one daughter and I attended with a few dozen other people this past spring. There were definitely some crossover fans from Crandon, but I met a few for whom this was their first race. Very promising!
-The screen was visible from every part of the viewing area, didn't block anything, and worked the entire time.
-Accessibility and immersion. Maybe my favorite thing about the sport. The pits are open, you can see the trucks getting worked on, and if you are patient you get to see the trucks drive to staging right past where you stand. It's awesome.
I thought it was incredible at Crandon last year that my kids got to high-five the podium guys. Yesterday after the Pro-4 race we chatted with Keegan Kincaid as he was prepping his backup truck and got a picture with him and the kids. Then, we were invited into Travis Dinsmore's pit and invited to talk and ask questions. My kids got to sit. In. His. Truck.
By coincidence, on our way to our car I ran into an employee of MSI and we chatted for a bit. So, having rubbed shoulders with two Pro drivers and a guy in series management, I can't really claim to be a total outsider (thus the title).
I also had some questions that a track administrator (Heidi, I think) answered promptly by email this week. And signage was good.
-Value. Not as cheap as Crandon (I had to pay for the kids, for example, though parking was free and $55 for three is not backbreaking) but we got a great afternoon of fun. And for kids, the half-hour races broken up by time checking out the promotional booths is good. Any track that has good stuff to do between races is going to be a fun trip for my family.
The Bad
-The view itself left something to be desired. I was excited about the idea of a general admission hill, but the hill just isn't that high, and there is nowhere that you can see more than half of the track. The best spot to watch was probably the paved space next to the southernmost grandstand, right next to the fallaway, where you could see the entire run down to the hairpin as well as the two central turns and the screen. There was no seating here, but there were a lot of people standing.
The view from the spectator mound was incomplete. I could see the K turn and the front stretch into the sharp righthander, and then the tops of the cars going into the banked turn, and then again flying through the finish straight. They weren't visible for half of the lap, and unfortunately the split backstretch where a lot of the action was is completely out of view from every spectator area. There might be some small things they could do to help this, like lowering the track after the tabletop to expose more of the banked turn and hill up to the finish, or add a new section near the K turn in view of the fans to make more of the lap visible, but some of this is just the geography. Still, not as easy to watch as I would like from Short Course.
FWIW the backside of the hill attracted a dozen or so spectators and if they placed a screen and speakers there (speakers at least would be a good idea, I couldn't hear anything in the pit area) it could be a legitimate secondary spectator area.
-I had no problem with this, since I've been in pits before, but to get to the track one must walk through the pits, and a new fan or one unfamiliar with attending in person may not be prepared for live trucks driving past them. A "Warning: Live Pit Area, watch for working race vehicles" on display at the entrance might help.
Worth noting that everyone actually driving in the pits did so with patience and safety and I never had reason to be concerned.
-The schedule. The printed map/schedule brochure I received at the entrance had one schedule, printed before the UTV race was added. The website had a different schedule, after two UTV races were scheduled. The event actually followed a third, mystery schedule after the UTV races were consolidated, a schedule that resembled neither written schedule I had access to. I actually missed the beginning of the Pro Light race due to this, though as a consequence I got a chance to watch the first three laps from the fallaway, a good spot.
-The music was loud and often walked on the track announcer when he was discussing things like laps to go, problems with a truck, or race updates. It also walked on a couple of postrace interviews. I'm told this was an error rather than a deliberate choice.
The Ugly
-Two trucks in racing condition and three trucks running at all at the end of Pro-2: Woof. Kincaid's crash was really unfortunate, because the KK-CJ match races have been the best thing in the entire sport over the past year. Once that happened it was basically over.
I understand MSI is making a concerted effort to build relationships with drivers, to which I say: Great! They are, of course, the lifeblood of the sport.
Conclusion:
I hope this event is successful this year and grows. I understand the Carlson family has invested quite a bit to make this happen. Yesterday honestly wasn't a great day for me to spend a whole day (2.5 hour drive to and from Duluth) out at a race, but I wanted to support the series and the track and have a good time with my kids.
And it was worth it. My girls were bubbling with excitement on the way home. The races themselves were less pleasing to the eyes than the two trips to Crandon last year, but it's still a wonderful sport. And our experience overall, immersed in the fans and then the pits, was excellent. We are attached.
Hope to go back next year.
Apologies for length. I was given some feedback that suggested that some people are interested in my thoughts.
The Good
-Whomever is responsible for getting the facility ready for guests did a great job. I understand some of the sod was laid fresh on Friday, but everything looked great. Staff was plentiful and helpful, and they did a good job making lemons with the distant parking by operating a frequent shuttle (it was a hayride, actually really cool!) to bring us closer in. When the round was announced, I looked at the website and was underwhelmed by the site and the facility; the track I attended today impressive.
-The track itself has a lot of potential. I love big elevation changes, and despite a small-ish number of turns there is some real variety as the vehicles take their laps. The high-banked turn is a great idea (didn't really work out to much in practice, but hopefully they can engineer it to draw trucks up a bit) and I was particularly impressed with the finish jump, which Chad Hord occasionally used to attempt to reach orbit.
-The turnout. The track isn't set up for 30,000 fans and appeared to only draw a few thousand, but the spectator hill was well-packed and there were fans everywhere. It did not have the empty feeling of, say, Texas--or of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament in St. Paul, which one daughter and I attended with a few dozen other people this past spring. There were definitely some crossover fans from Crandon, but I met a few for whom this was their first race. Very promising!
-The screen was visible from every part of the viewing area, didn't block anything, and worked the entire time.
-Accessibility and immersion. Maybe my favorite thing about the sport. The pits are open, you can see the trucks getting worked on, and if you are patient you get to see the trucks drive to staging right past where you stand. It's awesome.
I thought it was incredible at Crandon last year that my kids got to high-five the podium guys. Yesterday after the Pro-4 race we chatted with Keegan Kincaid as he was prepping his backup truck and got a picture with him and the kids. Then, we were invited into Travis Dinsmore's pit and invited to talk and ask questions. My kids got to sit. In. His. Truck.
By coincidence, on our way to our car I ran into an employee of MSI and we chatted for a bit. So, having rubbed shoulders with two Pro drivers and a guy in series management, I can't really claim to be a total outsider (thus the title).
I also had some questions that a track administrator (Heidi, I think) answered promptly by email this week. And signage was good.
-Value. Not as cheap as Crandon (I had to pay for the kids, for example, though parking was free and $55 for three is not backbreaking) but we got a great afternoon of fun. And for kids, the half-hour races broken up by time checking out the promotional booths is good. Any track that has good stuff to do between races is going to be a fun trip for my family.
The Bad
-The view itself left something to be desired. I was excited about the idea of a general admission hill, but the hill just isn't that high, and there is nowhere that you can see more than half of the track. The best spot to watch was probably the paved space next to the southernmost grandstand, right next to the fallaway, where you could see the entire run down to the hairpin as well as the two central turns and the screen. There was no seating here, but there were a lot of people standing.
The view from the spectator mound was incomplete. I could see the K turn and the front stretch into the sharp righthander, and then the tops of the cars going into the banked turn, and then again flying through the finish straight. They weren't visible for half of the lap, and unfortunately the split backstretch where a lot of the action was is completely out of view from every spectator area. There might be some small things they could do to help this, like lowering the track after the tabletop to expose more of the banked turn and hill up to the finish, or add a new section near the K turn in view of the fans to make more of the lap visible, but some of this is just the geography. Still, not as easy to watch as I would like from Short Course.
FWIW the backside of the hill attracted a dozen or so spectators and if they placed a screen and speakers there (speakers at least would be a good idea, I couldn't hear anything in the pit area) it could be a legitimate secondary spectator area.
-I had no problem with this, since I've been in pits before, but to get to the track one must walk through the pits, and a new fan or one unfamiliar with attending in person may not be prepared for live trucks driving past them. A "Warning: Live Pit Area, watch for working race vehicles" on display at the entrance might help.
Worth noting that everyone actually driving in the pits did so with patience and safety and I never had reason to be concerned.
-The schedule. The printed map/schedule brochure I received at the entrance had one schedule, printed before the UTV race was added. The website had a different schedule, after two UTV races were scheduled. The event actually followed a third, mystery schedule after the UTV races were consolidated, a schedule that resembled neither written schedule I had access to. I actually missed the beginning of the Pro Light race due to this, though as a consequence I got a chance to watch the first three laps from the fallaway, a good spot.
-The music was loud and often walked on the track announcer when he was discussing things like laps to go, problems with a truck, or race updates. It also walked on a couple of postrace interviews. I'm told this was an error rather than a deliberate choice.
The Ugly
-Two trucks in racing condition and three trucks running at all at the end of Pro-2: Woof. Kincaid's crash was really unfortunate, because the KK-CJ match races have been the best thing in the entire sport over the past year. Once that happened it was basically over.
I understand MSI is making a concerted effort to build relationships with drivers, to which I say: Great! They are, of course, the lifeblood of the sport.
Conclusion:
I hope this event is successful this year and grows. I understand the Carlson family has invested quite a bit to make this happen. Yesterday honestly wasn't a great day for me to spend a whole day (2.5 hour drive to and from Duluth) out at a race, but I wanted to support the series and the track and have a good time with my kids.
And it was worth it. My girls were bubbling with excitement on the way home. The races themselves were less pleasing to the eyes than the two trips to Crandon last year, but it's still a wonderful sport. And our experience overall, immersed in the fans and then the pits, was excellent. We are attached.
Hope to go back next year.
