By STEVE EIGHINGER

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Ideas, ideas, ideas. I've always got ideas.

And once a year I like to offer 10 suggestions on how to make a good thing even better, that being Sunday nights at Quincy Raceways.

Here are my thoughts for 2009:

1. Weekly time trials: Not for all classes each week, just one on a rotating basis. That way each series could be timed on four or five occasions each season. The times would establish heat race starting positions. And maybe award a bonus track point for the top time.

2. The more the merrier: Weekly trophy dashes for each class. It would only add another 10 minutes to the show and be well worth it. I've seen a million late model and modified dashes, but I have never seen a hobby stock shootout. And make earning a spot in the dashes something special, either through added prize money or some sort of bonus points system that would go toward the track championship.

3. Monday night racing: If it rains on Sunday, how about using Monday as a regularly scheduled rain date? Establish it before the season and drivers and fans alike would know what to expect.

4. Eight is enough: Cut all heat races to eight laps. The large, large majority of the heats are mere formalities the way it currently stands. The heats are needed, of course, they just don't need to be 10 laps.

5. Longer features: Fifty laps for late models, 35 for modifieds, 25 for stock cars and hobby stocks. These are the races that the fans come to see, so give them more of them.

6. Abolish time limits: I think it's time (no pun intended) to do away with the time limit for features. The intent of the rule was understandable, but I think fans and drivers alike both are left with an empty feeling if a feature is shortened to ... ummm, five laps or whatever. There has only been one time limit feature so far this season.

7. Smaller feature fields: This could be the happy medium for race officials who want the show to keep moving -- and rightly so. If there is a class that is regularly causing problems with long, drawn-out features due to a plethora of cautions, reduce the starting field from what might be a usual 20 to 12 through a "B" main.

8. Or ....: Start all 20 cars, but after five laps, the last-place car is black-flagged. The last-place is also black-flagged each ensuing lap until the final five laps when it's every man for himself.

9. Bonus points: Award a driver five bonus points for winning back-to-back features. If he wins a third straight, award him five more, etc.

10. Double-file restarts: Call me crazy, but this would bunch the fields and get more cars back in the hunt after a caution.

q q q

Midgets in town tonight: Quincy fans get their first-ever taste of the O'Reilly POWRi Midget series tonight.

The wide-open nature of the Midgets (wingless sprint cars) should make for some some entertaining action, even though most of the drivers' names will likely be unfamiliar to local fans.

The Midgets are currently being dominated by young drivers -- Ryan Criswell, rookie Andrew Felker, Nick Knepper and Daniel Robinson, who lead series veterans Brad Kuhn, Tim Siner, Daniel Adler and Tracy Hines in the points race.

The Midgets will churn out up to 400 horsepower and weigh around 1,000 pounds. The combination of the high power and small car size can make the sport dangerous at times. That's why you will see the cars fully equipped with roll cages and other safety features.

Also running tonight are the late model, modified and stock car weekly series. The hobby stocks have the night off. Racing begins at 6:30, preceded by hot laps at 6. Spectator gates open at 5. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors 65 and older and $10 for kids 11-15. Family passes are $40. Two adults and two teens are $25.

Special time of year: For dirt late model enthusiasts, there is no better time of the year starting this weekend and lasting the next four weeks.

Fabled Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, hosted Saturday night's $100,000-to-win Dream, which annually serves as the unofficial kickoff to the United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) DIRTcar Summernationals Hell Tour.

The Summernationals open Thursday at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway and will eventually visit 26 different tracks over a 31-day period, including Quincy Raceways on July 3. This year's Quincy stop will be highlighted by a track-record $10,000-to-win first-place check, part of another track record $40,000 overall purse.

"This is the signature time of the year for UMP DIRTcar Racing," said Sam Driggers, the director of the UMP sanctioning body. "The Summernationals 'Hell Tour' has become UMP DIRTcar's most anticipated annual series."

-- seighinger@whig.com/221-3377