I'll bite!
Consider that my experience has been primarily low horsepower FWD cars. I'll add two additional qualifying statements...There are some tracks that are fun to drive but not as much fun to race. There are some tracks thar are okay to drive but a ball to race. And then there are tracks that are fun to drive and race. Remeber, my opinion is based on low HP cars. If I drove something that had a decent engine like an ITA/ITS car, my preferences my change.
Tie
(1) Gratten - For all of the reasons you described above. Fun to drive and race. Can be frustrating in a low horsepower, good handling car if you get held up by a higher horsepower, lesser handling car. Very wide, good runoff. Other factors...paid but reasonable camping, so-so showers, so-so consession stand. Fun to drive in the rain. Easy on brakes.
(1) Mid-Ohio - Fun to race and drive. Park like setting, lots of elevation. I enjoy driving with the keyhole (turn 2) but I found the track to be enjoyable with just the pro straight config, like we ran at the Runoffs. This provided an additional passing opportunity and made for better racing. Very wide, good runoff areas. Free camping, nice showers, so-so food. Easy on brakes.
The next three are very close....
(3) - IRP. Very, very fast! Scarey fast! Kinda bumpy. Very flat. In a ITC car (and some ballsy ITB cars) turn 1 IS taken flat out. In 18 years of racing, I probably have been able to crank up my pucker factor to do it about 5 or 6 times
Very much a momentum track. Fun to race and drive but a low horsepower car can get held up badly in the fast stuff, and the dragstrip front straight helps a higher HP car. Not much runoff area. Scarey in the rain! No camping. Lousy food. Good spectator track in that if you climb the bleachers you can see about 80% of the track. Very easy on brakes, very hard on LF tires.
(4) Road America - My home track. Very historic, scenic, wide. Lots of elevation (160' from lowest to highest point!) Very fast. Lots of runoff with pea gravel. In a low HP car, kinda boring to drive but is an absolute blast to race. It is fun to drive if you've never been there before however. And a higher horsepower car like ITA/ITS will diefinitely find it exciting. Lots of places to pass and repass and run side by side. Easy on tires, hard on brakes (you use them very hard at the end of very long straights but they have lots of time to cool down), uses lots of gas due to the amount of time spent at WOT. Nice showers, paid camping, the absolute best food in the country for a race track, especially on a pro/spectator weekend! Scarey in the rain due to the walls, but the track drains well (except for the back side after the kink...real spooky back there for some reason).
(5) Blackhawk Farms - My other home track. There are two types of racers. Those that love BHF and those that hate BHF. I find it to be a very fun club racing facility. Ray Irwin did wonderful things to make this a fun place to race. You guys in Mid-Div are in for a treat at Topeka if he does half the improvements there as he did at BHF! Flat track, narrow, busy. I used to have a love/hate relationship with BHF. I hated driving it but loved racing there. Over the years, I've learned the subtulties of the track and now find it technically challenging to drive and still find it fun to race with good passing opportunities, but challenging due to traffic and track width.
Probably the hardest track in Cen-div on brakes. You use them hard and they never cool down. Moderate on tires. Good runoff. Fun to drive in the rain. Free camping, so-so showers, so-so food, great parties.
(6) Brainerd (now closed but may/maynot reopen to sports cars???) A historic track in the middle of nowhere. A track that everybody should drive at least once. A track where you WILL find out how much top end your car has (5200' front straight + 11 degree banked turn 1 = 1.5 miles or so of wide open throttle in top gear! You WILL also learn about drafting and running crazy three digit speeds inches of a guys bumper for long periods of time. A low HP car doesn't stand a chance, but the infield section is very technical, especially the 7-8 combo. So-so runoff, easy on brakes, moderate on tires. so-so runoff. Free camping?? So-so showers, so-so food. Good passing/overtaking opportunities. I've been told that it is/was scarey in the rain. If it ever did open again, I would only go there if I needed points. On the other hand, it was my fathers favorite track so opinions may vary. It falls into my 'fun to race but boring to drive' catagory.
I have never driven Nelson, Gingerman, Putnam, or Waterford so I can't comment.
I have driven Topeka, Moroso, and Sebring. I would like to drive at least once at Road Atlanta, VIR, Mosport, Summit Point, The Glen (long course!) and Daytona. If I ever make it out to the left coast, I would like to try Laguna Seca or Sears Point (Sorry....Infineon). Hallet looks like it would be a fun track to visit some day. And if they ever brought MAR back from the dead like they did to VIR, I'd go there in a heart beat.
[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited March 20, 2004).]
