“Progress” Never Hurt So Bad…

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“Progress” Never Hurt So Bad…

By: Pete MacDonald

In my lifetime I’ve gone through the loss of close family members, breakups and even losing race tracks where I spent a majority of my childhood. But, the pain I felt watching the grandstands come down on Saturday at the NYS Fairgrounds was like something I had never felt before.

I’ve missed one Super DIRT Week since I’ve had my driver’s license and never intended on missing another. I’ve slept in cars, campers, tents; you name it over the years just to say I made it to another Super DIRT Week. I didn’t care; I wanted to be a part of the event that I had heard so much about growing up.

All in the name of “progress” as what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said prior to the implosion on Saturday.

What progress is that?

Plans currently call to renovate the New York State Fairgrounds to build a new expo center, a brand new equestrian center and to make the Fairgrounds a year round destination.

It hurts, it really does.

The fact that all those politicians were smiling and cheering and high-fiving each other as almost 100 years of racing history had been imploded in front of our eyes was purely sickening. The fireworks at the end made me even sicker as they made it seem like it was some sort of celebration or something.

Everyone can say what they want about The Moody Mile, whether “the racing sucks” or “the surface sucks” or “the facility sucks”, but it was still a race track, which are becoming more and scarcer as the years go on. It wasn’t about the race; it was the magnitude of the event that had atmosphere that rivaled any other race in this part of the country, maybe even the entire country.

Syracuse was all about seeing those friends you saw one time a year, going to an area you only really went to one time a year. I couldn’t tell you how many times I had gone up to say, Rolling Wheels during the season and passed the Fairgrounds on the way and was immediately amped up for another Super DIRT Week.

When the announcement was made in September that this year was going to be the last one, there was always that thought in the back of my head that some silver lining would shine through and The Moody Mile would be saved, all those thoughts went out the window on Saturday.

I can’t believe it’s gone.

Everyone keeps looking forward to the new home at either Central New York Raceway Park or Oswego Speedway, where ever it will end up.

It’s just not going to be the same, part of the allure that made Syracuse what it was, was the Mile long speedway. It brought a little bit of engineering out in all the racers looking for those few more miles per hour down the straightaways, it brought a little bit of strategy and planning out in everybody. It wasn’t just another race.

And now it’s gone.

What were your fondest memories of The Moody Mile at Syracuse? I can be emailed at racersguide@gmail.com or found on Twitter @PMacDonald51. Thanks for reading!

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