[Rich Biebel]

"The Patch" nickname came along when that was what was being grown in some of the fields along the entry road. Cabbage.... I have no idea who started it......

Sod has always been grown right next to the track and those fields continue a long way further up....That sod was shipped all over the country and to some very high end places....including baseball stadiums...

The land is very rich there...dark loam type soil created by a glacier so the story goes.....

It is also in a flood plain.....and routinely flooded and still does.

The drainage ditches were done many year ago by the Army Corps of Engineers I was told to allow the land to drain after a flood....

Hank Dinger the longtime announcer knows all the history of the land and has talked about it many times over the years.

I live 20-25 minutes from the place and have been going there since before I could drive a car.....

The traction there has almost always been good for many years...

When I raced Larry Pappas' Firebird (my old car) there a couple years ago.....the 60's were as good as it gets....

I am glad they are back and appear to be off to a good start....

They are advertising on the radio....and are also getting some ink in some local papers....I give them credit for doing the right things to try their best to make it work again...and hope it does succeed and improves....