Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Wild Child likes River Cities Speedway.



It is nice to know that the Jac Haudenschild’s aka the Wild Child likes River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND. Actually, it's nice to know that at least a handful of the drivers on the World of Outlaws race circuit like the little bull ring known as River Cities Speedway.

I am fortunate to attend races a regular basis during the summer at River Cities Speedway and I believe it is one of the most exciting race tracks in the upper Midwest. Unlike the Wild Child; Jason Sides who ripped the River Cities Speedway after winning the Dash at Red River Valley Speedway on night two of the duel in the Dakotas. Like I had mentioned in a previous blog post last summer that the track seemed to work good for Joey Saldana who won the feature at River Cities Speedway but wasn't up to Jason Sides liking who finished 17th. Just for the record I believe that RCS is a 1/4 of mile track and not a 3/10 mile track.

Perfect Fit: River Cities Speedway Suits Haudenschild Just Fine
If ever there was a track that was perfectly suited for Jac Haudenschild’s always aggressive, no holds barred, take no prisoners driving style, it would River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The high-banked three-tenths-mile bullring lends itself to side-by-side racing with blazing fast speeds as the drivers run just inches off of the wall, with all of this happening in just about 10 seconds each lap.

Haudenschild will visit River Cities Speedway for the second consecutive season with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Friday, June 27 in the opener of the Gerdau Ameristeel Northern Tour which will encompass a total of four events in the state of North Dakota this weekend, along with the final two races in August. This weekend’s race will be part of the Duel in the Dakotas which will wrap up at Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday, June 28. Haudenschild won the overall title for the Duel in the Dakotas last season, after finishing second at River Cities Speedway and winning at Red River Valley Speedway.

“Short tracks are always fun to race on,” said the veteran driver in regards to his return to River Cities Speedway. “They have always put a good show on there in the past and I imagine it will be the same way this year. We can’t wait to get up there.”

River Cities Speedway is one of just three tracks on the 2008 Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule at which the drivers turn sub-10 second laps. Last season, the quickest lap in time trials at the high-banked track was 9.952 seconds, while the track record is 9.66 seconds. Haudenschild would like nothing more than to break the track record on Friday night, as the best sprint car drivers in the world invade the track for a full night of racing, capped off by a 40-lap main event.

“It does feel quick pretty behind the wheel,” noted the native of Wooster, Ohio. “At the short tracks you get around them pretty fast. The track over there is usually pretty tacky and very racy. We look to get the (No.) R19 up front there.”

The event at River Cities Speedway will be one of three events this season for the World of Outlaws on three-tenths-mile tracks, which is the same number of races the series had on that size track last season. The series has competed a couple of times on 1/3-mile tracks this year, with Haudenschild finishing sixth or better in both of those events. Behind the wheel, things happen a lot quicker on bullrings and a few subtle changes are made when the teams are preparing to run a smaller track.

2 comments:

C. Y. said...

I hope this rain will cure the Rivercities speedway's lack of using enough water on the track. They most certainly haven't used up much of their water budget this year.

I realize dirt is part of going to 'dirt track' races, but being unable to see portions of the track because your eyes are so full of dust just don't cut it.

C. Y. said...

It was really dirty last night but the racing was worth it!

The biggest crowd I've ever seen at the track and some of the best racing I've ever seen as well.