There have been some impressive streaks over the years at Eagle Raceway, but the one IMCA modified driver Dylan Smith is on might stand up to any.

Smith has won the last four A features at the one-third mile track, which thanks to the foresight of owner Roger Hadan can boast one of the toughest lineups in the country.

It was Hadan who approached members of the Gage County fair board with the thought that Eagle and Beatrice Speedway could enjoy significant growth if the two tracks would stop competing against each other on Saturday nights.

Was he ever right about that.

Hadan's idea spawned Beatrice moving to Fridays, a new combined points fund and, for most drivers, an easy haul for a second night of racing.

But while the fans at both facilities have never had it better, that's hardly the case for drivers - especially for longtime Eagle regulars who have been used to finishing with the lead pack.

In simple terms, the competition at Eagle has become brutal.

"In my mind, there's 20 cars that could possibly win night-in and night-out," said Jordan Grabouski, one of the Beatrice Speedway regulars now calling Eagle their Saturday home. "If you win at Eagle, you're doing something right."

Go back to May 24, when Chris Abelson, a Sioux City, Iowa, driver who'd traveled to Eagle only because his usual Saturday night stop -Park Jefferson, S.D. - had been rained out. Abelson, who's currently second in points at Park Jefferson, had one of those nights when he was in the right place at the right time and wound up winning the feature.

Afterwards, he told Hadan how lucky he'd felt.

"He's traveled around, but he said he's raced at $5,000-to-win specials and the competition was half as hard as it is at our track," Hadan said.

Much of that has to do with the influx of the Beatrice drivers.

Even with his latest hot stretch, Smith - a 21-year-old Osceola resident and third-year Eagle regular who's currently No. 2 in national points - still sits tied with Grabouski atop the Eagle standings. The 20-year-old Grabouski is among a quartet of Beatrice regulars from 2008 who are now in the top nine at Eagle.

Eagle also has gained Bob Zoubek (who raced at Butler County Motorplex last year and now is third at Eagle and second at Beatrice) and Randy Brown, a Californian who's racing in Nebraska for the first time and is seventh in points at Eagle and 20th at Beatrice.

As for four-time national champion Johnny Saathoff - the Beatrice native is paving the way once again at the fairgrounds but is fourth at Eagle (which is also where he sits nationally.

What's more, Eagle's track champion the last three seasons, Lincoln's Chris Alcorn, is just 11th and, judging from his absence two of the past three weeks, considering other options. In his last Eagle appearance, Alcorn didn't make it out of the B feature, and before that he finished 19th in the A.

Last week at Eagle, five racers who are in the top 12 at Eagle and/or Beatrice, had to qualify for the A feature through the B.

"It was tough before," said Hadan, "but in all divisions, the competition level is way, way increased."

The Eagle-Beatrice combined points fund applies to the IMCA modifieds, hobby stocks and sport compacts. To qualify, drivers must race at least 75 percent of the events at both tracks.

Eagle and Beatrice also have agreed to let the top three finishers from the previous week's features forgo paying an entry fee at the other track's next race. Additionally, Eagle offers a two-for-one ticket promotion for fans who bring their stub from the previous night's racing at Beatrice.

At the beginning of the season, he said it was common to have about 30 to 40 of those stubs show up. But two weeks ago, he said the number was around 400.

Seems like his idea for both tracks is already paying some nice dividends.

Briefly

The conclusion of Eagle's 360 sprint A feature from last week, along with the IMCA modified A main that never took to the track, will be run at the front end of Saturday's show. The 360 feature was halted following the ninth lap after a wreck involving Jeff Griffis. Griffis was transported to a hospital by helicopter, but Hadan said Thursday that the Council Bluffs, Iowa, driver was vacationing in Australia, this week.