World Championship Figure 8, 2/28, Speed Chan.

[DOR 58 FIGURE 8]

Hey, for those of you that didn't hear already, they are going to have the Speedrome World Championship Figure 8 Race on the SPEED Channel on Tuesday February 28th @ 6:30p.m.
I can't wait to see it, I saw a clip some where on the computer, maybe on the Jam, and it looked like something everyone would want to see. Joey Biondolillo Jr. ran there and got hit in the "X" something like 3 times during the same race, and went through 3 pairs of driving gloves. I'm not sure if anyone else from Riverhead has gone to this race. Can anyone else think of anyone else that has raced in this race?
As one car comes off the track for repairs or to get gas another one is allowed out, and the car that went into the pits can come back out after he did what he had to do. So the car count just keeps going up.

[LongIslandJam]

If I remember correctly, Roger Maynor tried the race out a few years ago with Joe Biondolillo Jr.

[W. J.]

My DishTV directory shows this on 3 times: (Tues.) 2/28 at 7pm-7:30pm, (Sat.) 3/4 at 7pm-7:30pm and (Sun.) 3/5 at 1 am-1:30am, and again at 8am-8:30 am. Don't know why that doesn't agree with the above time.

[art11758]

I went to the three hour show in 1978 or 1979 ( I still have the membership card ya gotta buy ((it's like a license) somewhere) with Manny Buss and Willie Glidden (he's from the Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine). We got the farthest tow award, qualified like 28th or 29th fastest (everybody takes time), and wound up breaking the only thing we didn't bring a spare of. Wound up losing my job over going (a fair trade IMO) and had a great time. The low point of the weekend was Sonny Eaton having either a stroke or a heart attack behind the wheel during the feature. Met a few folks that I knew from the Islip Championship shows and saw some figure eight "technology" that blew my mind. Nostalgic me misses the days of homemade everything..........

[btgoss]

I went to set this up to tape, and my ReplayTV is showing the 7:00pm start time tomorrow. It is on the Lucas Oil on the Edge show, and they have shown other Figure 8 racing in the past. The coverage isn't so hot, and will most likley spend a lot of time on Jesse James if he was there, but at least it is on.

[DOR 58 FIGURE 8]

Yeah, I'm sorry, I was told it was on at 6:30p.m. and when my son checked the tv listing (on cable), it says 7:00-7:30p.m. Hey, well at least you knew it was going to be on and you got the idea to look and find out. You were only going to be a half hour early, better than missing it by a half hour, right?
Yeah, I thought Roger Maynor went too, but I wasn't 100% sure.
Glad you had fun there Artie, I would love to go, even though Kenny's way too out of shape. Just to watch would be a whole lot of fun, even though it's more fun when you know someone. Hey, maybe if you didn't loose your job, you wouldn't have Blast-it now! I know you'll enjoy watching it tomorrow night.

[figure849]

Dor, you have me, Artie, figure849, blast-it, mixed up with art11758.

[unowho243]

Well, I'm watching it as I type, and it's pretty cool, but the camera angles suck!

[W. J.]

Uh-oh, ^ future TV director! LOL!

Leave it to a photographer like Jim to criticize, LOL!

[DOR 58 FIGURE 8]

Oh, Sorry Artie849! Sorry, you lost your job, that sucks when you have to work for people who can't understand racing!! But then again I know of some bosses that drive and couldn't care if their workers made it to the track or not!
I thought it was pretty cool too, but I have to agree with unowho243 the camera angles did suck! And I love the way they talk about the "X" "The Cross Over" I never heard a figure 8 driver call the X, the cross over.

[unowho243]

Hey I'm a good critic. And I have to admit the Jam photographers and Videographers, including myself, could have put together a better set of angles than that!

[charlie74]

Hey guys, it's Charlie Hargraves. I drove the #74 car in the World Championship, you can't miss it, it has all the pink on it. It is the most exciting and hardest 3-hours of my life, I was wondering if any of you all are planning to make a trip up here next year to race for the $30,000, or just to watch. If you do, let me know, we have a big garage and a lot of yard to help you all with. Hope to see you all up here next year. If you all have any questions email me at charlie74p@aol.com

Hargraves Racing

See you all in 2006.....

PS, I feel that you all can compete with our cars, maybe not to run up front the whole time, but be smooth and clean, and who knows? I had a fast car, good enough to be in the top 5 easily, but a crossover crash with Barefoot Billy and a broken fuel pump with an hour in the pits dropped us to 15th, but good for a rookie. So who knows, and you will never know unless you come. Also, this race is worth it no matter how you do, it was awesome....

[W. J.]

It does look interesting, and has the most unusual format and rules I think I've ever seen. Too bad the show was only 1/2 hour, so much more could have been shown.
One thing though; those cars look like IMCA-type modifieds, not the Fig-8 cars we are used to here. They have to be much lighter, since they don't appear to have the reinforcement and bars that a Riverhead car has. Is there a weight allowance for the qualifying? What about tires, buy them there, or run what you bring? It's a long trip to go on if you come home with less than a top five finish (and payout). JMO

[btgoss]

Post the rules for the Drome figure 8's and maybe one of the SAFER guys here can give us a heads up as to what they have to do in order to race with those guys.
I seem to recall our local 8's moving away from the 6 cylinder cars for the reason of being able to travel a bit more, but I could be wrong.

[W. J.]

They also moved away from them because it was getting harder to find reliable 6 cyl engines and parts. They could've gone to V-6's, but it would've been more money (at the time).