Several Dirt Track Racing Specials in Iowa in 2017 [Video]

The 2017 Iowa dirt track racing season is loaded with several specials. Here is a large list of those special races in the Hawkeye State, but I wonder. Have we reached the breaking point?

UPDATE: The list below now includes 99 events. At the time of the video recording and the original post time there were 97.

Below I have a list of specials that I have found, but before you skip right to that, I hope you take the time to read my random thoughts. If not, I hope the list is helpful to you.

BACK IN THE DAY:
The Iowa dirt track racing landscape is decorated with several specials for 2017. I love special races as much as the next fan, but I'm a little concerned. The list I compiled does not contain all of them for 2017, but it does contain a mass majority of them. In total, my list consists of 97 events across 197 days. Have we reached the breaking point?

My youth was spent every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at a race track. My dad's car made tons of laps on the weekly bullrings. A half dozen, or so, county fair races, and a handful of bigger dollar paydays were added each year. They felt like specials, because we didn't have the option to race more of them. Now it seems every weekend you can.

SPECIAL OR NOT:
Can we really consider it a special anymore if we average one every two days (2.03 days)? Granted several of these shows are scheduled on the same date as other events, but that is still all lot.

IT CAN SURVIVE, BUT...:
Honestly, I think it can survive, but there is a caveat to my answer, and it is something that dirt track racing fans have been telling NASCAR they failed at over the last decade. "Don't forget you roots."

The number one reason I hear dirt track fans dissing on the direction that NASCAR has gone is because, "they forgot where they came from." NASCAR started out with good intentions, but it has grown into a major American corporation. A conglomerate, if you ask me, is trying to position itself as a global racing entity.

WHAT CAN NASCAR TEACH US:
So what does that have to do with 97 dirt track racing specials in Iowa. Just like NASCAR, our roots could get left in the dust. Our love for this sport was born thanks to weekly racing, and I am seeing that change. It's no longer about the weekly show.

As NASCAR grow, so did their expectations, both as business owners and fans of the sport. That monster got hungrier and hungrier until it had to bite into a large piece of the pie. It once was a southern thing. Then it became and east coast thing. Now this monster travels the country. Still the beast needs fed, so the next logical step, the world.

All the while the beast excreted places like Rockingham, North Wilksboro, Bowman Green, Hickory, and the list goes on and on. Why? The monster was and still is hungry. The beast has sampled the racing diet in Japan, Canada, and Mexico. There is even a NSACAR Euro Series (Europe).

THE FRANKENSTEIN IS STIRRING:
We are starting to lose touch with weekly racing, and this isn't just here in Iowa. I see this as a growing concern across the country. More and more race teams have decided to only race those specials. The fans are starting to follow suit. Before it's over, that's all that we will get to choose from. This is what is being taught to the younger generation of fans and aspiring drivers.

But if the bigger racing events continue to grow, eventually weekly racing will succumb to the same fate as the dodo bird, and so will local dirt track racing. The feeder series to these big time events is weekly racing. Without it, the whole thing will slowly fade away and die. Our next wave of drivers and fans to replace our dirt track heroes comes from weekly racing.

Yes, there is an argument to be made about money spent versus money awarded on the weekly level, but chasing the money shows only feeds the beast. It doesn't suppress the appetite. However, that is a conversation for another day.

SUPPORT LIFE:
If those special race events are you life, then go and enjoy, but make sure you still do you part to support the weekend program before the life support plug is pulled.

#EndRant

2017 DIRT TRACK RACING SPECIALS
This is only a partal list of what we found

04-01, SATMarshalltown Speedway11th Annual World Nationals (Night 2)