Experiencing My First Super DIRT Week…From All Angles

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – COLONIE, NY – One week after Super Dirt Week and I’m finally putting pen to paper…well actually, fingers to keyboard.

I had never been to Super DIRT Week. I wasn’t going to go this year until some friends asked me to drive them around. I said yes and changed my plans which now included visits to Utica Rome, Weedsport, Brewerton, Afton (Friday and Saturday) and then back up to Oswego.

I didn’t realize that people plan their entire year around this one week in the start of October. They save and save and save and take their vacation, not on a beach, not in the warm tropics, but Central New York where it can be 50 degrees with clouds and wind during the day.

I went into this year with a little bit of apprehension. I’ll admit I was nervous. I worried that I under-packed my food when in reality I over-packed. It seems the only thing I packed right was the amount of clothes. I had also never been on the road on my own for a whole week before so this was fun.

I watched Super DIRT Week last year at home and saw how rough the track was…how cold it was out and just hoped it wasn’t that cold this year. With that being said, hats off to Eric Kingsley and his crew on a darn good track surface at the “Steel Palace.”

I didn’t go to Super DIRT Week 2017 as a fan. I went as a media member. These are two totally different worlds. If you forgo the satellite shows each night, you’re not under a time crunch. However, if you do like I did, it’s a lot of close deadlines and stress. There aren’t enough hours at night to get work done and sleep it seems like.

I missed Friday at Oswego and heard it was really good. Lots of room to race and the track was good. However, Saturday came around and I heard it was one-lane rubbered-in track for the Small Blocks, so I went there Sunday with a grain of salt knowing it was going to be a day race.

What started out looking like a repeat of Saturday quickly changed. Due to tire wear, teams started putting on D400 (hard) and 500 (extra hard) tires. It took the rubber right off the track and changed it from a one-lane to a three-lane track. I have to admit, it was fun to watch Peter Britten and Billy Whittaker scream by guys just one lane higher then they were running. Made them look like they weren’t even moving.

I feel for Peter Britten who lead for 94-1/4 laps on Sunday. However, I’m glad, while sitting in those backstretch grandstands, that I got a bang for my buck and not a same ole’ Syracuse-style race. It was one of the best long distance dirt races I’ve ever seen.

I planned, thought, saved, worried, stressed over this trip for three months beforehand. I now understand Super Dirt Week for what it is, from both a fans perspective on the outside and media on the inside. I got to take it all in. The crunch of deadlines in the media center, to having a drink or two at the Gypsum concert on Saturday night, to working on the cars until 2am.

It all comes together for three hours on an October Sunday.