Demolition of Houston Raceway (1 Viewer)

[Cliff]

 

[aakar]

This makes me sick, I can only imagine how it will feel to see Bandimere get destructed....

 

[mick]

wonder if we'll ever see anything built @ COTA?

 

[Randy]

I did exactly what he did at Orange County International Raceway not long after they closed it. The tower was busted up but still there. One last pass. Heartbreaking.

I see the timing equipment is gone, but I wonder if they don't at least try to sell the grandstands.

 

[Cliff]

In all the years I've been going to the drags, have seen so many tracks close, Lions being the one that hurt the most. I did have a chance to go to Houston a few years back and that track really made a great impression on me. Sad to see it being torn down. Really hope Denver will re-build elsewhere, and maybe, just maybe, Wild Horse might survive another year. If Wild Horse does close, I doubt another track that will hold Nat'l events will be built.

 

[DG]

In all the years I've been going to the drags, have seen so many tracks close, Lions being the one that hurt the most.

Lions was a real loss for us, as we were running out of Lakewood, CA at the time. We could hear the fuelers run from the garage.

Fortunately, there were a number of other local tracks where we could run.

Today in SoCal there is only ONE short 1/8 mile track running running regularly [Irwindale] and ONE 1/4 mile track running twice a year {Pomona].

The two closest 1/4 mile tracks now are Famoso [about 150 miles] and LVMS [about 280 miles] and Vegas is basically closed until the fall.

The "Good Ol' Days" of racing in SoCal are long gone and not likely to come back anytime soon!

 

[sutton]

Seeing all of these tracks go away, many that I raced at or started at, How do you think I feel.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter and racer (RET.)

 

[DG]

Larry, for someone who is too dumb to quit, I completely understand!

We just didn't know that those were "The Good Ol' Days!"!

We have a new ProCharger motor and no close place to do the initial Test and Tune!

 

[Cliff]

David, go to Tucson Dragway. It's not so hot right now and that's a good track. That or the Patch. So now you'll be running on a 6.10 dial, right?

 

[sutton]

Dave
You are not Dumb, we raced together and the reason we have continued for all these years in drag racing, is because of the friends we have had through the years in drag racing. Yes those were "the Good OL Days" only those that were there understand why we say that. we also didn't know at the time we were part of and seeing history being made.
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter

 

[Cliff]

Larry, so true! I think one of the most important things in drag racing history was Don Garlits & Lions. 1970, Garlits has the accident that cut off part of his foot. 1971. Garlits comes back to Lions with his version of the back motor car - and that literally changed the face of Top Fuel racing forever. I saw both of those incidents and never realized I was seeing history being made.

 

[sutton]

Larry, so true! I think one of the most important things in drag racing history was Don Garlits & Lions. 1970, Garlits has the accident that cut off part of his foot. 1971. Garlits comes back to Lions with his version of the back motor car - and that literally changed the face of Top Fuel racing forever. I saw both of those incidents and never realized I was seeing history being made.

Cliff
I am not sure where Drag racing would be today had the Garlits transmission explosion not happened. But it did change things for ever. I am just glad that I was at the right place at the right time at Lions "just Put a THUMB in it" LOL
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter

 

[DG]

David, go to Tucson Dragway. It's not so hot right now and that's a good track. That or the Patch. So now you'll be running on a 6.10 dial, right?

Yes, we are running Top Dragster with a new ProCharger package, replacing the nitrous package.

Tucson is a great place to race, but is over a 7.5 hour drive from here! Between over the road costs to go and come back and extra time off from work for one of us. Just not practical.

Famoso is "only" a three hour drive each way, but their schedule doesn't show many opportunities for TnT. We are trying to work with some others on a private test day, but very expensive!

It is REALLY hot there during the summer to boot!

 

[Cliff]

Well, yeah, Tucson can get a bit hot..... heh heh Hope you find a place to test. Irwindale? Just thinking out loud.

 

[Randy]

Yes, we are running Top Dragster with a new ProCharger package, replacing the nitrous package.

Tucson is a great place to race, but is over a 7.5 hour drive from here! Between over the road costs to go and come back and extra time off from work for one of us. Just not practical.

Famoso is "only" a three hour drive each way, but their schedule doesn't show many opportunities for TnT. We are trying to work with some others on a private test day, but very expensive!

It is REALLY hot there during the summer to boot!

I know it may seem just as impractical, but I took John Lombardo to Barona to do some 330' blasts to help him get his starting line/staging process dialed in right after I got him licensed at Las Vegas. It would be a little sketchy to run it full blast to the 1/8th mile at Barona with your car, but laps are laps no matter where you shut it off. Honestly, with the caliber of yours I would look for testing opportunities at Las Vegas if you need to run it out. A first class national event level track, lots of room in case something were to go wrong, and town is close by. From my race car shop in Orange it's about 270 miles, a lot closer than Tucson, and the altitude is a little lower mean better air.

 

[DG]

I know it may seem just as impractical, but I took John Lombardo to Barona to do some 330' blasts to help him get his starting line/staging process dialed in right after I got him licensed at Las Vegas. It would be a little sketchy to run it full blast to the 1/8th mile at Barona with your car, but laps are laps no matter where you shut it off. Honestly, with the caliber of yours I would look for testing opportunities at Las Vegas if you need to run it out. A first class national event level track, lots of room in case something were to go wrong, and town is close by. From my race car shop in Orange it's about 270 miles, a lot closer than Tucson, and the altitude is a little lower mean better air.

We ran Barona a couple of times, when we we first were setting up our nitrous package.

A little tough to get to, but super nice people and they really accommodated us when we were testing.

Way short for full 660 ft passes then and just OK on the starting line.

I talked to Jeff Foster at LVMS a couple of weeks ago and he said that they would not be running "fast cars" on the dragstrip until the fall, just Street Legal:

The Strip at LVMS

 

[Cliff]

So, street legal. Lessee, lights, fenders, windshield, etc on the dragster and.........

 

[Randy]

We ran Barona a couple of times, when we we first were setting up our nitrous package.

A little tough to get to, but super nice people and they really accommodated us when we were testing.

Way short for full 660 ft passes then and just OK on the starting line.

I talked to Jeff Foster at LVMS a couple of weeks ago and he said that they would not be running "fast cars" on the dragstrip until the fall, just Street Legal:

The Strip at LVMS

I licensed at Tucson when I went to Top Sportsman on the day before the event. Can you just run up to a divisional event and do that? The track was prepped pretty well, and the safety crew was good.

 

[DG]

I licensed at Tucson when I went to Top Sportsman on the day before the event. Can you just run up to a divisional event and do that? The track was prepped pretty well, and the safety crew was good.

There is almost always a TnT session the day before a Divisional event. We have occasionally used them for checking out minor changes before an event. It is usually another $100+ and an extra day of motels, food, etc. for a limited number of passes.

What we are looking for is a full day of relatively low car count, so we can shake down Launch RPM, Shift RPM, Suspension, tire pressure, etc. before going to an event.

Ideally, we could share a closed TnT session with several other teams, but not a lot of that going on this time of year!