Anyone at ES 200--how was the show?  

I've been to over 30 ES 200s over the years and this one was far from a classic.

The dust was terrible; at times you could barely see the cars in front of you (I was sitting in the red section of the half covered stands (the section closest to the full covered stands). 

I lost count of the number of cautions, but it had to be over 20.  There were no huge pile-ups (amazing with the dust on restarts-kudos to the drivers for mostly using their heads),  nor any major car-destroying crashes.  A couple spins, and one semi-major tangle on a restart going into turn one, but nothing else-just a ridiculous number of stopped cars.  As soon as a car would slow down, the yellow came on, and more often than not the offending driver sped off into the pits to repair whatever was wrong with their car.  Even the most minor caution (which the overwhelming majority were) took at least 3 laps to go back green. No urgency at all.

The pit situation (mandatory stop past lap 30) found all but a small handful of cars coming in at the first caution after lap 30, and the ensuing mad rush found a long red flag to sort out the line-up. There were two other red flags, one for the restart pileup that could have been brutal and huge (but wasn't too bad), and another for another scoring snafu late.  They apparantly had some "lucky dog" type rule to allow cars a lap back on every caution, which until they figured out who it was, added to the time.  This led to many teams that pitted early running out of fuel after lap 184.  There were no less than 6 cautions after this point alone (rules dictated caution laps did not count after lap 180.) Every restart would go a lap or two and someone would stop.  It was almost comical but actually quite sad. 

Mat Williamson survived after Matt Sheppard was the first to run out of fuel, then Tyler Dippel inherited the lead but blew a motor, and Williamson led the last 10 or so laps.  The 200 started at about 4:30, and wasn't over until 7:15.  Nearly 3 hours for a 200 lapper on a 5/8 mile is just crazy. I can remember being home (2 hours away before 7 many years); they weren't that close to the race being done at that time this year.  Unless there is a weather issue, there is no way this race should end under the lights.  It wasn't that many years ago (2016) they ran the whold Saturday small block show and the Sunday portion all on Sunday (due to Saturday rain), and we were still out of there by around 8 that year.

They made no announcements about anything next year racing wise, but they did mention upcoming events like the burnout nationals and moto-cross events at the fairgrounds next year.  So it looks like the facility has at least one more year, but exactly what they will run or how often seems to be a bit of a mystery.

In summary:  Way too dusty, way too long, way too many cautions.  For an event of this stature the crowd wasn't good-maybe 70% full in the drive in and main stands, and the half covered stands were about the same in the red section next to the main stands.  The blue section towards turn four was maybe a quarter full.  The (deserved) reputation they have developed for excessive dust in recent years has no doubt chased many people off, after the track really seemed to really be headed in the right direction in the late 2010s.

I've been going to OCFS for over 40 years and hate to see it go, but it was hard to enjoy the 200 this year.  I'd say I "endured" it more than "enjoyed" it.  It's a traditon, and I love the event, but this one wasn't a good one.