IHRA drops sanction of Milan & San Antonio

[Rooster]

We only ran 1/8 th there, the track hasn't been 1320 for a few years...


QUOTE=Mike Armstrong;205817]Now that the track is NHRA, what sort of events will happen there? Will the new 1,000' allow the pro classes to run here?[/QUOTE]

 

[Joker]

Now that the track is NHRA, what sort of events will happen there? Will the new 1,000' allow the pro classes to run here?

Mike, its not big enough to hold an NHRA event IMO. Not enough pit space, and not enough parking. I could be wrong, but I dont think so. If it did, you wouldnt be able to make it around comfortably.

As for what kinda racing, I heard its going to be alot of outlaw heads up and index racing and stuff like that.

 

[turbo ken]

Todd is a first rate a hole. No doubt about it. The only problem now is he has leased the track to a guy named Freddy Cruz who runs the Clash of Titans series. I dont know the guy, but from everything I was told this weekend it probably would have been better if Todd still ran it. We will see. Hopefully everything is ok.

I have known both Todd, and Freddy for many years. Todd has never givin me hardly any grief, you just have to know him well enough as to tell when to ask, or tell him something, he built the track so people who live in, and around San Antonio can have a decent place to race at.

We had another track in San Antonio (Alamo Dragway) is was built in 1973, (and closed shortly after SAR was opened) afterward the track owners never put a dime back into it, Alamo Dragway had rebar sticking out of the concrete in the water box (cut up a few tires), the shutdown area was 1000' shorter than SAR, the return road was more suited for a monster truck than racecar, the bathrooms were so absolutely horrible (you were taking your life in your own hands if you used them), and the concessions weren't good either.

Freddy (who is alot more approchable) is leasing the track to try to see if he can make money with it, if he fails during the 3 year lease Todd will take the track back over, SAR isn't going to go away anytime soon. The next closest track is a good 2 1/2 hour (or more)drive away.

 

[turbo ken]

Mike, its not big enough to hold an NHRA event IMO. Not enough pit space, and not enough parking. I could be wrong, but I dont think so. If it did, you wouldnt be able to make it around comfortably.

As for what kinda racing, I heard its going to be alot of outlaw heads up and index racing and stuff like that.

It's not big enough for a NHRA event, the pits have never been completely full, when pinks allout was there the spectator lot was praticaly full, and it wasn't too hard to get around comfortably, as far what or how often there will be heads up, and index racing remains to be seen.

SAR was never designed to be a national event track, the IHRA, (when owned by Clear Channel that's based in San Antono) forced the national event at SAR (the track was originally named River City Raceway, but Clear Channel, and the IHRA forced the name change to SAR, Clear Channel wanted a national event in their home town), when Todd wanted to go NHRA with the track a few years ago (so that IHRA could keep the track under their sanction).

Todd never intended for the track to hold a national event, which is why the pros all ways *****ed when they were at SAR, the track wasn't designed for a national event, it was designed for the bracket/weekend racer, and it showed. The national events caused Todd alot of grief because it took over a month each year to get the track ready for the changes that IHRA wanted every year.

 

[Mr. Fix It]

Thanks all for the info. I live in San Antonio and have raced at San Antonio Raceway many times. (See my avatar) It has been awhile since I was there with my race car.

The IHRA national events seemed to go off well despite the limitations of pit space. I think there would be room enough for a NHRA Divisional race. It was a welcome situation when San Antonio Raceway opened.

I will confirm the awful conditions at Alamo Dragway. Early on, Alamo Dragway was AHRA. The dealership management (Superior Pontiac) were great drag racing enthusiasts. For years the big names came to our dealership parking lot and displayed their cars before the big race.

Shirley, Big, Force and many others came to Alamo Dragway early on. The track went downhill to the sad state outlined and Todd opened SAR.

Despite some of the problems mentioned, I'm glad to hear SAR will be around a long time. Todd fought a long hard fight with the local city to get and keep the track open. It is sad that IHRA went away because I'm sure the business it brought the locals went a long way toward smoothing the hard feelings out.

I'm looking forward to racing again soon at SAR. It might not be Houston Raceway, but it is first class for weekend warriors.

 

[Reese]

I think there would be room enough for a NHRA Divisional race.

I think San Antonio will have divisional race next year since Division 4 loss Red River and gave their divisional race to the Houston(which will have 2 this year) track.

 

[turbo ken]

I think San Antonio will have divisional race next year since Division 4 loss Red River and gave their divisional race to the Houston(which will have 2 this year) track.

I haven't looked at the NHRA divisional schedule yet, but since SAR is about a 2-2 1/2 hour drive away from HRP, I imagine the NHRA could move the divisional race to SAR this year if they wanted to (that is only speculation on my part, but who know's).

 

[turbo ken]

NHRA Story » San Antonio Raceway joins NHRA family