River Cities Speedway News and Notes from Marsh Muirhead

Track Prep at River Cities for the Opener From the Stands (Friday, April 29, River Cities Speedway; Grand Forks, North Dakota)
 
River Cities Speedway is a scary fast track, run by a crew that does everything right. The third mile is banked, very tacky, more bowl than paperclip, and if you like your ears to hurt, like to go home with dirt in your hair, sit in the lowest rows of the main grandstand where the racing is practically in your lap. The track’s website boasts the fastest WoO lap time ever recorded: 9.269 set by Jason Meyers in 2009.
 
Friday night’s season opener started precisely at 7:00 after the two national anthems (Grand Forks is about eight miles south of Canada). Three heats in each of four classes were run in just over an hour – streets, modifieds, late models, and NOSA sprints. Mark Dobmeier won the first heat over wade Nygaard and Dusty Zomer; these three would battle it out later at the frontof the feature with different results. 

Ten Second Laps are Up Close and Personal at River Cities Chris Ranten and Matt Juhl ran away in heats two and three. This was Juhl’s first time at the track.  He towed up from South Dakota. It is worth noting that Grand Forks draws over 100 cars in four classes, usually 30 sprints—most of these from the greater Grand Forks and Fargo areas in one of the least densely populated areas in the country. And the show draws great crowds as well.
 
Although the track is almost surgically prepared and tweaked during the intermission, it fell apart and got very slick after the heats—not unusual in early season running at many tracks. The four features took nearly two hours to run, the yellow out again and again, plenty of time for snacks and bathroom breaks.
 
Wade Nygaard held off Zomer and  Dobmeier after nine cars were lost by lap 5 in early misadventures in the 25 lap feature. It was an intermittent thriller.  Zomer and Dobmeier got close in the late stages of the race, but track conditions and lapped traffic kept them at bay.Nygaard took the checker just before 11:00.  By then the temperatures had dipped to the high 40s and coffee was selling well, the beer, not so much.

Wade Nygaard won the season opener at River Cities In case you were wondering – there were three Macks in the field: Casey, Mitch, and Cory. Todd, Linus, and Sonny are all retired. All of these have won features here, and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee Don Mack leads all the Macks with 18 wins.
 
River Cities Speedway is a destination race track on any Friday night, but especially for the WoO dates-- June 17 and August 26 of this year.  I suggest getting tickets just left of the flag stand in one of the lower eight rows.  I saw a woman in one of those rows last night.  Her sweatshirt read: “Dirt is my make-up and race fuel my perfume.”