Last Wednesday, after the successful conclusion of the 41st Tony Hulman Classic, you could see relief on the faces of the United States Auto Club representatives on hand. USAC is promoting races at the Terre Haute Action Track in 2011, and it had been 10 days since they had egg (or dust) all over their faces.
Thanks to the efforts of track maintenance guru Bob Sargent and Reece O’Conner — both hired by USAC specifically for the Hulman Classic — there was no repeat of the SUMAR Classic debacle, when the July 3 race was dusted out after a foolish lap of green-flag racing in daylight on a bone-dry track.
I was on vacation at the time, so I wasn’t at the SUMAR Classic, but I saw the footage. It looked like a rejected chapter from John Steinbeck’s “Grapes Of Wrath.” Or perhaps a deleted scene from “Lawrence Of Arabia.”
So after Wednesday’s Hulman Classic — which was taut and exciting, by the way — relief was on the faces of USAC as the dust settled.
But my issue with the Action Track isn’t dust, but rust.
As I exited the infield after I conducted interviews and finished my story, I was forced to leave through a small cut in the catch fence underneath the flagstand because the infield tunnel was flooded.
As I ducked underneath and grabbed the fence, I grabbed a handful of rusted wire. As I looked up, I noticed that the rust was ubiquitous. The wire is intact, but it is rusted.
I decided to walk down the frontstretch to see if there was more corrosion.
I observed that the catch fence at the Action Track consists of three components. Heavy poles line the front stretch of the circuit, each imbedded in concrete. Along those poles, there are five strands of high-tension cable at various intervals from top-to-bottom, a smaller version of the kind of cable used to support suspension bridges. The wire fence itself is placed in two segments that overlap slightly in the middle.
Its what keeps a sprint car from potentially flipping into the grandstands. And the wire fence — and significant stretches of the unpainted high-tension cable too — were coated in rust.
Lord knows, I’m no engineer. I’m not trying to imply that the facility isn’t safe, because I have zero authority to do so. Cars have hit the fence before and its held. Nonetheless, it gave me pause to see the rust. Accidents at the Action Track are harrowing and occur at a much-higher speed than shorter dirt tracks.
But the literal rust is just part of what worries me about the Action Track. It’s the figurative decay too.
Since I came to Terre Haute in 2004, the track has been used for racing, on average, about five times per year. That’s the case again in 2011 — presuming the SUMAR Classic is rescheduled by USAC as planned.
A five-event calendar, or less in some years, is a sparse schedule for a track without a national-level race to generate meaningful revenue.
It’s not easy for the Vigo County Fairboard, who owns the facility, as they’re caught in a pickle. Why invest in a place that’s used five times a year for its intended purpose?
Use it or lose it, they say. And the Action Track seems to be stuck in limbo. It’s used enough to keep its flickering flame alive, but not enough to keep it from deterioration.
It starts on track and works its way outward to the physical plant itself. When events are scattered throughout the racing calendar, the notion of meaningful “track upkeep” is farcical. On a race-to-race basis, it’s more like track regeneration.
There are no regular events to work a track surface in; the spread-out races serve as their own impetus to get it prepared, so track prep is a constant process in starting over.
Sargent and O’Conner, who also prepped the track in its later 2010 events, seems to have the Action Track secret down pat, but it takes a lot of equipment, know-how and manpower to do it right. Race fans and USAC have seen (or not seen, as the case may be) the results when that know-how is missing.
And that’s just the track surface. Without regular events, where is the motivation to deal with embarrassing facility problems like the seemingly constantly flooded infield tunnel? It was closed for both the SUMAR and Hulman Classics.
The tunnel closure forced fans to wait for long periods of time to get to their preferred infield vantage point. They had to climb over concrete barriers and they crossed the track surface itself when track prep was under way. I saw more than one fan get sprayed by the water truck as it lumbered by.
I’m conflicted when I go to the Action Track. I love racing and I have a deep respect for its history there. But even if you don’t know squat about the Action Track legacy of A.J. Foyt or Jan Opperman or Rich Vogler, et al, it’s easy to see what the Action Track means to today’s race fans when you go there.
Race enthusiasts keep coming to the half-mile in droves despite a near-decade-long diet of canceled events, dubious track promotion, 2 a.m. race finishes or preposterous curfew-aborted races, wildly inconsistent track conditions, closed tunnels, ill-provided-for concessions and more.
For many of those who come to the Action Track, it’s a warts-and-all experience, and it’s their dream to see it return to some version of its past glory. I feel it. The historical preservationist in me alone would love to see the facility kept intact and become something great again — it’s that important in Indiana’s rich racing heritage.
But the sentimentalist in me faced reality when I touched the corroded wire on the catch fence. It would take a significant infusion of capital to truly rid the Action Track of its rust.
Factor in the commercial value of the land it sits on and that makes it even an even bigger challenge. There are many in the Wabash Valley who would rather bet on the potential of say, a Target, at the site, than double down on a racing facility that gets rustier by the year.
To me, the limbo the circuit is currently in doesn’t do anyone — its owners, drivers, promoters, fans, the community, etc. — any good.
Either invest in improvements to the facility so it can be used for racing more often (admittedly far easier said than done) and for varied events, sell the facility to someone who can (also not easy), or let that rust sleep and call it a day. If there’s going to be an Action Track, it needs to be done right.
Because rust — real or figurative — and racing do not mix.
Todd Golden is sports editor of the Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com.
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