viprklr

I had a chance to run at Mid Ohio this past weekend with the NNJR group. Great group of guys. As Mid Ohio is my home track & participate in at least 5 DE events per season there, I was appalled at the condition of the facilities. This place has just become a rundown heap of #$$%$. The potholes in the parking lot, paddock & driveway are alone are enough to shake your head. The owners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree should be ashamed of how they are raping the facility blind. Hopefully clubs & other renters of the facility will vote with their pocketbook until the owners decide to reinvest some money back into the facility.
There were 5 track incidences due to the rain & Mid Ohio have a flat bed/tow truck onsite. This force the driver to use their own tow vehicle/trailer to drive out on the track to get the vehicle. This was insane for what is supposedly one of the best tracks in the country. I don't think so !!

Der ABT

hold on...the club (NNJR) didn't hire a tow truck company......I'm confused
what about paramedics ........pretty sure I wouldn't run witout the.......
many tracks don't have their own Tow truck service but clubs contract this out to safety services.....club responsibility not the track

AudiOn19s

The comments here are spot on. I basically grew up at this track and remember attending events as a young child there dreaming of the day I could actually drive the course.

Beyond the facilities supporting the track, the track itself is starting to fade too. There were a couple of noticeable patch fixes in 7 and the keyhole that stood out to me when driving that I've never seen before. I know it's spring and the grass grows quick but there were sections where the grass and weeds were tall enough to block visual points of interest and you had to hunt and peck for your targets. I'll let the last one slide because it's spring.

IDK who to point the finger at on lack of tow trucks. I'm not getting in that battle but the lack of a flat bed and having someone go get their own personal truck and trailer to retrieve their own car before they could go to medical, which is where they should have immediately gone after the large impact they suffered, was not only a **** show but created quite a delay for everyone else at the same time.

gbuff

I was there in the MINI Friday & Saturday--SOME dry track Friday but Saturday was unreal. Been going there for 20 years and only recall maybe one other time it was that wet. Myself and two other nuts went out during that downpour Sat. afternoon and only made 3 laps--couldn't find the road!!

One of the days (don't recall) we were all barreling along on a dry track when a flash rain hit going into the chicane.....car went off out of the Keyhole and I did not see a flag until I got to the Carousel. Hmmm......

On the whole, though, a very enjoyable event--I do agree wholeheartedly about the facilities. For what that track rakes in you'd think they could invest in towel dispensers that work and a hot water tank for the bathrooms...

Gary

divil

Lol...I thought the towel dispenser issue was just me. There have been some bizzare flagging issues lately at the last few events I've been to there, not just the NNJR one.

Although going by what I heard on the intercom they were very diligent about waving the checkered flag at the end of the session when there wasn't a sinner on the track

David993S

I noticed a decline in the facility, both grounds and track, last Fall. Sorry to hear that what used to be one of the nicest, if not the nicest, tracks in the country is needing attention. The bathrooms are indeed declining. I hope it doesn't continue. I'm going there for a track day on Monday, June 1 so I'll see if I notice any difference from last Fall.

gbuff

No difference whatsoever.

viprklr

I am not sure who to throw the towel at regarding the tow vehicle. All I know is that several people went out with their own trailers to haul vehicles in. As mentioned, this screwed up the times for the other run groups. As to the bathrooms...holy batman they are getting back. Bring your porta potty.

911racer

I am responsible for the NOR PCA events. I have been seeing the contracts for Mid Ohio for the last 10 years. I can tell you that the contracts are all a la carte.

As a renting organization, you choose to rent a tow vehicle, what kind of tow vehicle, how many corner workers, ambulance, if you are renting the tower ...

We, at NOR PCA, pretty much rent everything when we go there. We want it to be a first class experience for our customers. We even hire a pair of pro drivers to help in the class rooms, coaching, and so forth. We also limit the number of students that we take so that everyone has the best time possible.

The facility itself can use to be updated. There are aspects of the facility that are fading. I love the track, so I may have overlooked some of the things that you had mentioned. I did not notice pot holes in the paddock. I can tell you the paper towel dispenser in the left side in the men's room has not worked consistently for the last 3 years. They have made improvements to the safety walls this last winter and they fully paved the track a year or so ago, so money is still being spent.

That said, no one owns a race track in the northern half of the United States to make money. They do it for the love of racing. The season is so short that it makes it very difficult to turn a profit without charging a ridiculous amount of money for events. The facility is closed for effectively 5 months while a track like VIR rents all year long.

Hopefully there will be updating done. I would hate to see Mid Ohio go the way of Nelson Ledges. One of the bigger drivers is going to be the second half of the track at Pitt Race. This is going to make Pitt a 2.8 mile long track. That is longer than Mid Ohio even. They plan on having it done in a couple months and we are looking forward to being on the new pavement on October 24th and 25th for our drivers ed.

Thanks

Ed

AudiOn19s

I believe they just applied new sealer last march in the typical sealer locations to try to protect the surface. There's not "new pavement" down. if I remember correctly there hasn't been new surface there since they created the pro course configuration around 10 years ago.

They did fill the hole before the curbing in T13 so that you can use the proper apex point again now

I too love Mid Ohio and have looked past alot of the issues because it's my home track. When you take a look from an outsiders perspective it's all of the little stuff that's adding up and adding to the decline.

Nick Wong

You think you notice the surface declining over the years, in a car? Try racing karts at Mid Ohio. Favorite track in a kart, hands down, in the northeast. But the bumps and rough surface are killer on my ribs, especially the turn at the pit entrance, turning right and getting a shot to the left ribs at the same time, for 30 minutes. It's better in the lay down kart, no shot to the ribs, but the headrest knocks my helmet around a bit.

Kein_Ersatz

The gate 3 entrance is the big issue with pot holes and has been for years. I did see some paving like spray paint markers around many of those sections, so I hope a repaving of the Gate 3 entrance and Paddock spots is in the works.

With Indy Car and NASCAR using the facilitates, I hope they are planning on some improvements. I expect losing Tudor from the schedule didn't help the cash flow. As Ed and others pointed out, they have been investing is track safety (moving walls) which is not cheap, so once that is done, hopefully budget can be directed back to facilities.

Flagging seems to be off their game this year, not sure way, as in the past years, that was a good crew.

There has been a change to Operations staff late last year / this year and I think they are aware of some of these issues. Restrooms and PA system continue to be an ongoing / declining issue.

As to flat beds / tow trucks, that is all covered as Ed mentioned in the rental agreement. Have to pay to play. Expect fees to go up in coming years.

NaroEscape

You know what's funny? We all gripe about track surfaces and facilities...Mid Ohio, down here in Carolinas at CMP and others..All of which are fun to drive "except for the surface" or "except for the run down facilities" etc....but for some reason, Sebring always gets a pass. In every sense of the word, Sebring is a s*&t hole. Track is so rough and so bad it rattles cars apart. And the facilities are not up to par with world class tracks..

and unless you live in Florida, it feels like its a million miles away from anywhere.

But...if anyone suggests paving Sebring, there's an uproar of "No, you can't do that!!!" I just don't get it...with Sebring, the lousy surface adds 'character'...With others, it keeps people from coming back.

Kind of odd really....

CCA

VIR is essentially closed form Thanksgiving until sometime in Feb, when brave clubs & drivers start lying to themselves that we're going to have early Spring this year. Peronally, I wait until April to consider events there, as March is crap shoot. But, yes does have a longer active season then Mid-O or WGI. Hopefully, it will remain top-notch facility. I love it.

CCA

Like the Glen... We can't move the Blue Bushes for safety concerns, it's part of the tracks' "character".