What kind of cars race at the Cottage Grove Speedway, the closest racetrack to campus?
If you answered NASCAR, it’s time to front a few bucks, drive south for 20 minutes and spend an evening watching one of the most electrifying and energizing sports: short-track auto racing.
The Cottage Grove Speedway regularly features two classes of sprint cars, the funny looking cars with wings that pin them to the track, as well as Sportsman, Modified and All
American Street Stock classes. The fastest sprint cars in the Northwest, 360s, weigh approximately 1,500 pounds with 650 horsepower. That equates to the cars reaching about 90-95 miles per hour on the quarter-mile Cottage Grove Speedway.
According to Knoxville Raceway’s web site, NASCAR driver Ryan Newman holds the track record at Bristol Motor Speedway of 14.908 seconds while sprint car driver Sammy Swindell recorded a 13.860 lap on dirt six years earlier at the same track.
The noise, speed and dicey passing are incomparable to any other sport, just like the cost of a mistake. Drivers who can’t control their temper can easily flip their cars as well as the car of whomever they are seeking revenge against.
If you haven’t been to a race, tonight is perfect for losing your racing virginity. The Northern Sprint Tour will bring approximately four dozen of the top sprint cars in the West, along with a couple of the most-recognizable drivers in the nation, to the Cottage Grove Speedway.
The NST is in the second night of Speedweek, five races at four tracks in six days. Qualifying starts at approximately 5:30 p.m. with racing scheduled to begin shortly after qualifying is completed.
I grew up attending races at the Cottage Grove Speedway, Willamette Speedway in Lebanon and the Eugene Speedway (which no longer exists). I also lived within a couple of blocks from two sprint car drivers.
Just like most children, I came home dirty each weekend. However, unlike most children it was from screaming my lungs out at cars that sped around a track at nearly 100 miles per hour. I got my kicks from hearing loud cars, watching close races and smelling the mixture of fuel, sweat and rubber.
Unfortunately, I stopped heading to the track for nearly a decade. Every so often I’d catch a whiff of my apple pie – burnt rubber – which would take me back to my childhood.
I was lucky to be reintroduced to watching races two years ago and I am hooked again.
Auto racing is one of the most underrated sports.
A common misconception is that auto racing is filled with uneducated, beer-drinking redneck fans who spend their monthly paycheck on rent for the trailer, booze, chew and tickets to the track.
Sure, there is a small number of those fans, but that isn’t any different from a Eugene Emeralds baseball game or the University’s football game.
Check out one race and then try to tell me what is wrong with the sport. I guarantee you can’t complain with a straight face. And if you can, you probably have underactive adrenaline disorder.
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