G2 Radios presents The Waterford Speedbowl Message Board

Readin about the old Riverside Park, it says their signature event for the year was the 500 lap tag-team "Riverside 500" with 16 teams of two...

How cool would it be for the 'Bowl to do something like that? Maybe make it teams of three with a Late Model, SK and Street Stock? Just kinda throwin' it out there, seemed really cool from what I'm reading.

discuss?

I'm not to familiar with that kind of event what are the details of the race?

The Riverside 500 was definitely a cool event... I read about it a ton while researching ol' Speedway Scenes to find Speedbowl stats for the Vault. It was a race with teams like Matt said of 2-drivers. Ronnie Wycoff, who was a great Modified driver all over the region and who still makes several appearances at the Speedbowl each year, was a multi-time winner of the event with several "teammates" over the years.

As great as that event was, I think times have changed too much to see anything like it again. The added expense to race teams' budgets in order to compete in these events far out-weighs the braggin' rights you get if they're able to win them.... especially when they're longer distanced events. Look at the strugglin' car counts for the MS and SS races at the Finale. From what I've seen and heard from teams over the years, drivers (especially Speedbowl drivers save Keith Rocco) budget their race program when the Speedbowl puts out their schedule and there's not much left after that to compete in many other events.

See the non-point SS or MS races during the Finale or the tried attempt to revive the Enduros that had horrible car counts or Timmy and Bruce's decision not to run Loudon or Big Country's decision not to run Finale ACT 100 after running Loudon. Seems to me that although racers continually deny they don't race for points, most don't make many appearances in events that don't carry points for their respective divisions.

Riverside 500 was a great event... but it's best left as that... IMO!

Idk im of the opinion they should just focus on being the speedbowl. There are alot of things they could do differently,as well as things that have allready worked well. The no-points finale thing i still feel was and is a bad idea,unless they replace the points with $$$ and schedule it when all other new england tracks are off. The thought process of no points is to attract outsiders and an outsider is more likely to travel to run a race with a good payout. Easy for me to say,hard for them to do I understand that. I personaly feel that The sk-150 on finale weekend with no points works and if bump up the money threw out the feild would work even better. All other divisions should be double points thus adding exitement and interest for the whole event.

I also think they should change the whole time trial deal. While i can not stand time trials, I do think its cool to give these guys a shot at laying down a good lap for bragging rights. My idea is rather than having all divisions take time on the same day,give each division 2 headline nights for the season. On that night 1 division takes time, goes to grandstands for a meet n greet session and gets outside intros for thery're feature. All other divisions buisness as usual with heats and regular distance feature.

1 thing that is not going to change is Thompson on thursday, Stafford on friday and the bowl on saturady. Very few run 2 tracks let alone all 3. Teams have a choice of where to race and the hard part is giving them a reason to choose the bowl. Boasting the highest weekly purse would surely help,but there lies the question wheres the money gonna come from to do so right? Beats me but it sounds good in November

That sounds alright but they only do Time Trials 2 times in the hole year and the SK do that twice as the other divisions only do it once. Everyone dose Time Trials for the 300. Now I think with the Trucks and LC that only had 25 lap's that night should of not have Time Trials and just stick with heats. That Is a event that should not be touched. It ticked me off when I was at the bowl the number one thing I head all night long was. "I hate time trials. This is boring. This cheats out the fans." I don't know about you but I wanted to slap the person aside their head. All year long on the schedule it said "Time Trials for all divisions" So if you seen that on the schedule then why come early? If you did not see it on the schedule then that's you own fault for not taking your time to look at it. And I think the SK nat 150 Time Trial should stay the same. Sorry for the rant I needed to get that off my chest.

Also about the Stafford 2011 schedule does anyone ease think that they just copy and pasted the schedule from this year for next year? God I can only imagine what Thompson will look like. Well here is luck that the bowl will make the schedule look more appetizing.

Hey there Paul your right every did know time trials for all divisions would be on 300 day. But where does it say anywhere that people can pay for a ticket but then not complain they dont like them? Maybe they were upset for having to arrive early so they have a good seat for later? Was an easy choice for me i just didnt go. Forget which track i went to that night but i had a blast. I think i went to manadknock in nh.

Stafford does not have to make big changes,they allready have the most cars and the best overall crowds and they know it. Thompson's shedule will more than likely also be pretty much the same. They also know that even with how bad things were for them this year people will still go. The bowl has issues the other 2 tracks just dont have to deal with.

The bowl offers up the best overall racing of the 3,but these teams just are not going to change tracks unless they have a good reason to do so. How many times do you hear an outsider say he loves racing the bowl yet only shows up 2 or 3 times a year? Do you not think there is a reason for that?

Pave over the infield and run figure 8's!

No matter what they did having a full schedule out in the first week of November for the 2011 season just makes me think they have their you know what together as a management team.

This is something for the Speedbowl to strive for. This past year wasn't the best in this department and putting out season pass forms before you have even a soft schedule to show someone is pretty weird. Last year they handed out a loose schedule at the christmas party but we all know days before alot of 2010 events the schedule still wasn't set. I hate to say it but I've said it before. it looks fly by night.

It's not the bowl if the schedule is not changed at the last minute right?

Here is a question someone might help me with. What does it take to get a touring series off the ground like the Pro-4 or the ALNS?

A lot of money, and finding people to run cars that no one else wants to.