Races I wish we'd gone to

[nrc]

Everytime I see a shot of downtown Las Vegas I think, "I wish we'd gone to that race." That seemed like the last time there was still hope for a things to turn around. New car, exciting venue, it would have been nice to see.

I also wish we'd made it to Road America. Preferably back in better times.

The same for Indy back when it meant something. But how are you going to get tickets, right? :D

On the flip side, I'm glad we got to see St Louis back when the cars were still crazy fast.

I'm glad we got to see real super speedway racing.

I'm glad we got to see Cleveland under the lights. That was surreal.

[SteveH]

I'm with you on Vegas. That one was on my bucket list. Add to that, Cleveland under the lights and Laguna Seca (you know the one).

I'm so glad I did Long Beach four times in the CART/CC years. I also did it with F1, once. Yea, Mario! :D

Wanted to do the Triple Crown one year, Pocono, Indy and Michigan. But Pocono dropped out before that could be realized.

Had tickets to the last 500 miler at Fontana but that was called off due to the fires. Regret never getting to see that track.

Got to see AJ, Rick and Al all win their fourth, before fourth became a win. ;)

[FCYTravis]

Fontana. I was scheduled to serve as a course observer at that final 500 in 2003. :( Was packed and ready to head out the door when we got the e-mail from Jim Swintal.

Indianapolis with the real cars, before Tony George fixered it up reel gud.

Again on the flipside... glad I got to see the permanent road course quadfecta of Portland, Mid-Ohio, Road America and Laguna Seca before they were shitcanned.

[rosawendel]

would have loved to have seen indy when it was good, and road america.

if they could have pulled it off, i was queued up to go to the hawaiian super prix (oh, the carefree days of being single and going anywhere i wanted on a moment's notice...)

some day, i'll make it to monaco. the missus said she'd go back to le mans, but probably not in a tent.

[dando]

RA, Naz, Long Beach, Phoenix, and Laguna for The Pass. :saywhat: Oh, and Indy '95 to see the Cap'n get bumped. :gomer:

-Kevin

[Indy]

Oh, and Indy '95 to see the Cap'n get bumped. :gomer:

Sorry you missed that. It was schweeeeeet. :D Fortunately that was a great month for me at the track, probably as much fun as I ever had for the 500. Spent a lot of time watching and conversing with the Players team, then nearly had a heart attack when Goodyear passed the pace car. :thumbup:

I never got to Laguna or Portland. :thumdown:

[dando]

Sorry you missed that. It was schweeeeeet. :D Fortunately that was a great month for me at the track, probably as much fun as I ever had for the 500. Spent a lot of time watching and conversing with the Players team, then nearly had a heart attack when Goodyear passed the pace car. :thumbup:

'94 & '95 were quite the contrast for me...a big Rahole fan @ the time and watching the quals futility of Team Rahole in '94 (devastated), and then watching (on TeeVee) the Cap'n getting bumped in '95 after the dominating the '94 season (elated). Of course then there was WGAF starting in '96.

'90-'95 were the pinnacle, IMO. '96-'99 were still great, but the decline began (post-Greg Moore for me). That save he made coming out of T2 in the original US 500 is right up there with the Danny's spin and win @ indy. :thumbup: Sadly he could not duplicate it @ Fontucky in '99. :( :cry:

-Kevin

[G.]

After working on the wife for years, getting her used to the idea that me and the oldest g. were going to do lots of traveling to races, CC had to go and die. :(

Vegas was on my "every year" list. The first (and only) one was great.

Missed Mid-O, Cleve, Port and Houston.

Can't forget Toronto!

[Andrew Longman]

In the 90s-early 2000s I made several trips with the T man because "this might be the last year". TO and two trips to RA qualified as such, as well as several to Cleveland.

Closed NZ and MIS

Missed MO, LB and Laguna, which were always on my list. I'd like to have done Portland too. And Indy when it mattered. I actually had free tickets (in NJ!) for Indy when Helio won his first and passed.

[Gnam]

Ansan. Both years. :p



I would like to have seen them on an oval: Milwaukee or Fontana, not Chicago.

[Napoleon]

Although I guess I technically saw them on an oval at Indy (though I always thought of Indy as a 4 cornered road course in a lot of ways) and Chicago I really would have preferred seeing them at Michigan (or Fontana or Pocono would have done) and either Milwaukee, Phoenix or Nazareth to get a better oval experience.

As to street and road courses, in no particular order, Long Beach, Laguna, Toronto and Surfers.

I have to consider myself lucky that for a few years there I could easily drive to Indy for the Memorial Day weekend, Cleveland for the July 4th weekend and Mid-Ohio for the Labor Day weekend and see Champ Car. It was like the schedule was designed with me in mind.


OT,but while compiling this I ran a Google search that gave me this:

http://www.aceticket.com/cart-tickets/browse/

[Don Quixote]

I would like to have seen them on an oval: Milwaukee or Fontana, not Chicago. Same here, I never saw them on an oval. I would have picked Milwaukee or Naz.

[Steve99]

I wanted to go to the Vegas race, but not on Easter weekend. I was going to go in the 2nd year . . . .

I wish I had seen them at one of the crazy superspeedways, Michigan or Fontana. I also wanted to go to the Cleveland race, but it never worked out.

If things had lasted another couple of years, I probably would have made it down to Surfers Paradise.

[JLMannin]

I really wish I had went to Mid Ohio. I saw CART/Champcar races at Milwaukee, Indy, MIS, Chicago Motor Speedway, Gateway, and Elkart Lake. I think Mid Ohio would have been almost as good as Road America.

I never did attend a street race in person, so that would have been nice. The closest to me (and the most practical to attend) would have been Detroit.

If money were no object, then I would add Portland and Long Beach to the list.

[manic mechanic]

You all are making me feel lucky.

It seems that somewhere on everyone's list are tracks that I got the chance to see races at.

Never did get to MO, Gateway, Vancouver (did drive the track with Mrs. Manic navigating a few weeks before the race in '95), or several others, but got lucky being close to Ontario, Fontana, Long Beach, Vegas (both street and oval), and Seca. Also got the chance to do Portland, Denver, and RA.

The races were great, but I miss the people at the races more. :thumbup:

manic

[nissan gtp]

Never got out to Laguna Seca and Portland.

Done Road America and Mid-O multiple times, Cleveland at night, Denver. Never saw CART on the big ovals like Mich. Dang.

[cameraman]

Portland, Laguna Seca.
Mont Tremblant would have been a nice vacation with a race...

[SteveH]

A CART race at Riverside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEb4qzeR3zY

[Indy]

The interesting thing about the Superspeedways was that the experience was so completely different than the TV coverage. Simply awesome.

I remember the first time I went to MIS. Walking up to the back of the grandstands, and the first practice was starting. The sound of those screaming engines echoing was something I will never forget. I could not get in there fast enough!

[chop456]

Long Beach.

[JohnHKart]

I don't really wish I'd gone.,,,but I should have. I met this incredible girl on the cruise ship gig and then went to her place on our next break- which was Laguna weekend, 1993. We were supposed to go to the Friday practice day (only day I could go) as she lived nearby but instead never got out of bed. It was one of the most amazing, romantic and intense days of my life. And believe it or not... we didn't even do what you are thinking we did until two months later. Ah, the glory and innocence of youth times past.

John

[BZSetshot]

I still think of Road America, Laguna, Long Beach, and Michigan as "I wish I could have". Of course Indy when i mattered...

But still, I consider myself lucky to have been able to go to Naz (even for snow day), Cleveland, Mid-O and Toronto. Ah, the memories...

[Corner5]

I'm lucky that I've been to RA and Milwaukee for years(religiously, since I was a kid;)). Also MIS, Chicago, Denver, (2 different tracks), Long Beach, Cleveland, an all time favorite,3 times.
I had tickets for St Pete the year it was cancelled.
The Indy 500 when it was amazing, up until the split. You just can't explain it, the whole month was electric and CART was at its peak.

I wish I had gone to Portland and Seca. My biggest regret was not getting to Canada, it was next on my agenda before the buyout.:(

[Methanolandbrats]

Hawaii :gomer:

[RTKar]

I had kind of planned on retiring, getting a nice motor home and going to most of 'em in between National Parks, baseball games & fishing trips.

It's hard to believe I wanted to go to all of them. It seems so long ago.

[cameraman]

That I missed this......

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/RA.jpg

[Corner5]

I saw it in progress and contributed a couple.;)

Thanks for letting me be a small part of great art.

:thumbup:

[BarillaGirl]

As a Columbus native, I wish I'd been into openwheel racing when they had a street course going through downtown Columbus. I remember the political flak the mayor (anyone fondly remember Dana "Buck" Rinehart?) took for it, but I didn't get to see or hear what caused all the fuss. :(

Fortunately, I have a friend who can take me to the site someday and describe the track layout for me, but it's not the same.

[pchall]

As a Columbus native, I wish I'd been into openwheel racing when they had a street course going through downtown Columbus. I remember the political flak the mayor (anyone fondly remember Dana "Buck" Rinehart?) took for it, but I didn't get to see or hear what caused all the fuss. :(

Fortunately, I have a friend who can take me to the site someday and describe the track layout for me, but it's not the same.

That was the Columbus Ford Dealers 500. I went to the first one (of only two I believe) and it was a IMSA Camel GT event for prototypes like the Porsche 962. Great stuff -- the cars would understeer on the 90 degree corners and make a horrible sound as the front tires were abused. The course had the pits and paddock over by the current COSI site and crossed the Scioto twice.

Dana Reinhart was a visionary, but in a Tony George way. He took way to much crap for bringing that event to the city.

[TravelGal]

I must be feeling masochistic today, or call it sentimental. I read this whole thread again, from beginning to end. There were so many I missed. I wanted to do them all. How can I rank the missed chances? Surfers, Cleveland, Road America for heaven's sake (how could I call myself a real race fan and have missed that?), Toronto, Belle Isle, and of course Indy when it was Indy.

So many of these were because I am lucky enough to live close enough to Long Beach to go every year and to Fontana (fortunately giving a miss to 1999). I can only sympathize with those who missed seeing these cars on a superspeedway. Zanardi and Vasser screaming past the finish line together. That was one for the books. Also, I always tried to go to the new race on the block. Loved the loosey goosey feel of the first (and actually ONLY) St. Pete; total chaos in San Jose. Closed down a few like Miami and Mexico City.

Jeebus, how am I going to get back to work now? :cry: I think I'll go stare at the TravelGuy's screensaver. The smile on his face after the Laguna Seca pace car ride lights up the room.

[SteveH]

I can only sympathize with those who missed seeing these cars on a superspeedway.

And to think I took going to MIS for granted. Never once did I ever think that a track specifically built for IndyCars would not have them on their schedule.

I had planned on doing the Triple Crown; all 3 500 mile races in one summer. But that never got beyond the dream stage as Pocono dropped away.

Now there's only one 500 and even that doesn't raise the pulse like it used to.


What happened?

[Elmo T]

Aside from some of the obvious ones mentioned above - I missed out on attending some cool local races. My Dad was not a race fan - my viewing was the Wide World of Sports type coverage.

I grew up about 2 miles from Langhorne, right across the river from Trenton and a little over an hour to Pocono. Never made it to any - assuming you don't count a visit to the NJ State Fairground where I got to see Philly's Dr. Shock (http://www.maskdr.com/DrShock/index.html).

I did make a few of the races at Nazareth. :thumbup:

[chop456]

Now there's only one 500 and even that doesn't have a pulse like it used to.

Fixed.

[Warlock!]

Long Beach, and that's about it. Had a room reserved back in 2004 or 2005... don't remember which... but ducked out at the last minute thinking it was gonna be around forever. Way to read the tea leaves, 'Lock. :gomer: