Hi Gerald. The Silver Crown series is all that remains from the original
competition that led to the naming of the AAA (later, USAC) National
Driving Champion.
The events, which included the Indy 500, were called the Championship
Trail.
I think they still run 100 mile races on dirt at Springfield, Illinois
and at
the Indianapolis one mile dirt tracks. Both are run at the state
fairgrounds.
These are the original Champ Cars and they were the most spectacular
when
on dirt. They were very dangerous before the roll cages were added.
(Please someone make a sim for these cars and include the Langhorne
one mile circle of hell! You can't imagine what it was like to just
stand
on that track after 18 cars pounded around it for a hour. The groove
was a black slick about 12 feet wide and it seemed like it was alive
as it moved under your feet as you walked on it. High off the groove
where only
the bravest and the best would venture (Foyt, Sachs to name two) was
often
the fasted line, but any small error would put you in and then over the
wooden fence.
And there were the notorious ruts where if you hooked a wheel you would
likely start
flipping and/or barrel rolling to your death - I witnessed a tragic
crash in '62.
One driver frustrated by his car pitted and turned it over to a rookie
at this level.
The poor driver was killed after only a few laps, if I remember
correctly.
His name was Hugh Randall (SP?) Also, the nature of this track -- a one
mile circle
meant that it was hard to understand how any of the drivers could see
that far ahead
when at racing speed and that isn't even taking into account the dust
that always
hung in the air. And don't forget the cars were being steered as much
by the throttle as by the wheel, especially at The 'Horne.)
A great book about these cars is "The American Dirt Track Racer" by
Joe Scalzo. It pricey, at around $40 from motorbooks.com, but it's
worth it.
arcman
> I caught the race at Pikes Peak on ESPN2 last weekend. It looks like
> an interesting series, with some unique technical aspects that would
> make nice, chewy, nougaty sim material.
> The announcers really did not go into any depth, but I gather these
> cars run with a larger fuel load, so that a fuel stop is not required
> in an entire 100 mile event. Also, they mentioned that the drivers
> could adjust the setup (crossweight and/or trackbar, it wasn't clear)
> from inside the car. Apparently the series also runs on dirt.
> Does anybody know where I can find information about these cars and
> this form of racing? Online is preferable, but print is also useful.
> TIA,
> Gerald
