Norwalk-Good and bad (1 Viewer)

[jimbo]

What did everyone think of Norwalks new improvements. I thought they were fantastic and a great place to hold an event. Way better than Cbus. I would like to know what the wrinkles Bader Jr was refferring to as he addressed the crowd prerace. Really liked the pro pits , lots of room not crowded at all .
One thing I noticed on Fri. was after the support vechicles had the car started they had to move and back into the under the stands, Sunday they seemed to park in front of the stands. Only problem I had was some hired help in the parking area dropped the ball and let people park 3 deep in a row. Quess who was in the middle. I was not the only one as someome had already complained and a tow truck was dispatched and arrived shortly. Glad I left right before semi finals as all my favorites were already out. If I had waited untill the final It would have been a mess.
All in all it is a graet facity and hats off to the Baders for a job well done!

 

[Toejam]

Jim I think the Parking mess was probably the Biggest wrinkle your referring too. I'm considering taking the "Walk" next year! I figure if I can handle G-Ville, Norwalk shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Mike]

Hi all, I tried to get registered last week just b4 the Norwalk race but my account didnt get turned on in time. My friends and I are very long time attendees as fans of the Col./National Trails race (one of us had been to every single Col. event) and part of a very large group that camped in the "open field" caming section on the east side of the airport (we averaged 40 to 50 people each year). Here are some of the biggest changes/issues our group had changing from Col. to Norwalk.

1. There was no announcement before last years Col. race about it moving so no one in our campsite was able to make plans with to hook up ahead of time so we all could camp together again (i.e. our campsite consists of groups of people from multiple cities/states and we didn't have all of their contact info). So after the announcement that Norwalk was getting Col. spot on the schedule we began the process of trying to find the open field camping at Norwalk.

2. I called the gereral manager of the Norwalk facility and asked where the open field camping was going to be, her response was there isn't any???? I said the campground at the Col. track books up early and they always had open field camping for the overflow (as many as 5,000 more motorhomes, trailers, tents, etc). She said that they had some 'campsites' in one of their existing campgrounds left, but that was it.

3. We checked the website and there was about 90 campsites left on Wed. last week and we were arriving about noon on Thurs. We did not book any campsites via the internet as it was posted that you are required to buy a full weeks pass per person to camp!!! WTH, most of us only go into the track on Fri & Sat and go home Sun. mornng (as we already seen everyone 4 times by then, including the people who DNQ).

4. Knowing this we decided to go to the track w/o any reserved campsites and see if we can find the others we normally camp with. Sure enough as we feared we did find our camper mates, but they were scattered all over the place. We tried to get sites near them, but even tho some were open, they would not let us have those close sites to our friends, so they gave us sites about 6-8 away.

5. Now when we went to pay for our campsites we found out you only had to pay for one weekend pass per campsite (NOT PER PERSON, VERY IMPORTANT), which meant it was a lot cheaper than we thought according to the info on the Norwalk website. Most of us still only bought the Friday & Sat passes. The people who were 'forced' into buying the full weekend passes just gave away the Thurs and Sun tickets.

6. Once in the track there seemed to be very few general seats in the stands, the few we did manage to find were always full. So 3 out of the 4 qualifying sessions we had to stand the whole time by the fence. Col/National Trails (and Indy) has much more general seating for the NHRA events.

Over all my rating of the Norwalk track itself is better than Col/National Trails other than the Pro pits being on the far side of the track from the camping and limited general seating. On the fan/camping side of things Norwalk has a long way to go to get their system up to where Columbus's was.

Thx, Mike

 

[Professor Dave]

I can tell you that as a racer (I own a comp car-we got beat first round-that sucked), Norwalk is far superior to Columbus. More paved parking, no danger of being flooded if it rains, ice cream a dollar a pound, and great fireworks. The old weakness is no seating is well located for spotters in comp, but that could change since Bill Bader, Sr. was quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Saturday as stating that they would add at least 5,000 more seats before next year. Oh year, that reminds me, great coverage in Cleveland's leading paper. We'll be back next year and what was a tough field in comp this year is only likely to get tougher.

 

[jimbo]

Additional Questions I have are how was the track? smooth or bumpy? How long is the concrete. Prerace it wa said to be very smooth, but during the TV telecast it was refferedto have numerous bumps. The 2 lanes seemed to ber even with lots of close racing. I would have to say that the cars up in smoke were way fewer than the last few races. Hats off to whoever prepared the track during the weekend.

Don't know how much gen admis tickets there are at other races, but even at Norwalks Night Under Fire there are few seats that are not reserved.

Talking about the ice ctrem it was reported that over 24,000 lbs were sold over the weekend. Unbelievable!

Hats off to Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain Dealer - he had a feature story each day of the race and a color picture today from the finals on the first page of sports. He DOES seem to get dragracing.

 

[ramblerjay]

i was kind of disappointed when they moved the race, but i was very impressed with norwalk. the place makes nat'l trail look like a 3rd world racetrack. the seating is better, viewing angles better, better food selection, more bathrooms and porta johns, on and on. i was only able to go on sunday, but i will be going all 3 days next year. the bader family should be proud.

my only gripe is the parking. took us about an hour to get out of the lots (lots of pre-teens with flags simply hanging at their sides and not directing as they should have been).

p.s. did anyone else see the van burn to the ground on i-80 eastbound after the race?

 

[scubasteve]

professor dave is right , norwalk puts columbus to shame . theres only a few that even come close brutons tracks /and chicago etc . the camping was ihra style , doubtful it will happen next yr , when u let campers inside with the racers it can be bad thing , example some guy in trailor looking thru drawers of tools RULE ONE NEVER GO INSIDE RACERS TRAILOR UNLESS YOUR INVITED. also saw few close calls with campers not paying attn and almost running over some prostock bike guys etc etc . campers pulling in open pit areas after teams had left and blasting music sat night next to buddy who was still in with his gas car , didnt go over well . after typing all that i need pound of ice cream for a buck.

 

[BB]

Where are the naysayers who said Norwalk couldn't handle an NHRA event?
Obviously it went very well for a first time. The Baders will fix whatever needs it. They are working with the State Patrol to organize the traffic flow. They just didn't expect quite so many people. Bill Sr. said they used the numbers from Columbus to plan and they were just too low. Next year will be even bigger and I bet they'll be ready.

 

[Toejam]

You all are Dead Wrong, everyone Knows Columbus blows Norwalk out of the Water!

Ok I think everyone knows that was a joke! But.....As Mild of weather as they had in the "Walk" this weekend, The Track temps still got High as Hell! Had that been seasonal weather for the Midwest in Late June(Mid 80's-90's?) the show would have been a joke! That's the only drawback to attending this race/

 

[Sully]

I was one of those "naysayers" but what I said was that it would require a lot of changes and a big investment because of the differences between the IHRA circus and the NHRA circus. The Baders made most of the changes I mentioned, budgeted $4 million (and spent $$$6 million) to do them right - I think that qualifies as a lot of changes and a big investment.

For example - Norwalk went from having no media facility to having one of the best on the tour. They paved the entire right-side pit area all the way to the end of the track for Pro pits, including a major drainage system to handle the increased paving. They put in eight luxury skyboxes and trimmed the right-side stands to create a return road on the right side of the track. They expanded race control and put in an elevator (but it's still atop the grandstands and has a sightline problem for the clock operator).

The amazing thing is that it's still Norwalk, in its pristine best, and ice cream is still a buck a pound and the track employees are still fan-and-racer-friendly.

Among the improvements already scheduled for next year are adding staging lanes on the left side of the track, where the Sportsman cars are pitted, more seats, getting the bugs out of the elevator systems, and a whole list of little things that probably excaped our attention, but not the Baders'.

Some things are difficult or impossible to change - the ends of the track are still constrained by a highway at one end and airport property at the other. Traffic flow and parking are difficult (but what major races don't have those problems?). The manufacturers' midway was on the opposite side of the track from the Pro pit area and that hurt foot traffic in the midway throughout the day.

However, the problems were few and are being worked on and the event was a huge success, with great crowds Friday-Sunday. And the best part - I got to be there!

 

[PJ]

p.s. did anyone else see the van burn to the ground on i-80 eastbound after the race?

Just as we were getting on the turnpike we saw it roll by on a flatbed. it was toast

 

[Toejam]

Traffic flow and parking are difficult (but what major races don't have those problems?).

That's one point Las Vegas will have over ANY Race is the Easy parking access! But Overall your right, at Indy/Gainesville/Houston you had better get there around 8AM at the Latest or your screwed!

 

[FC Girl]

The track is great. it's clean, no bumps left or right lane (that I felt anyway) parking was superior to many facilities and overall, everyone is friendly. Fans are awesome as well.

I'm not sure of the parking on the other side of the track as we were pretty busy, but we'll go back for sure.

Have a great day everyone.

Nancy

 

[BB]

I was one of those "naysayers" but what I said was that it would require a lot of changes and a big investment because of the differences between the IHRA circus and the NHRA circus. The Baders made most of the changes I mentioned, budgeted $4 million (and spent $$$6 million) to do them right - I think that qualifies as a lot of changes and a big investment.

I wasn't referring to you, Larry, because you usually back up your comments with some reasonable thought.

 

[Professor Dave]

The amazing thing is that it's still Norwalk, in its pristine best, and ice cream is still a buck a pound and the track employees are still fan-and-racer-friendly.

I apologize to the Norwalk employees for not mentioning in my post just how friendly they are. I got to the track after my car did, but the people at the gate were very friendly and all they had to do was speak to my partner Al Ackerman and they waved me through with no vehicle pass or ticket. The people at other tracks could learn a lot from them, but then the people at other tracks could learn lots from everyone at Norwalk (example, all the sportsman racers talked about the crowds that were at the points race in May).

 

[Shazam]

Bill Bader Jr. talked to me for about 15 minutes and we had never met before. I had been there for the Night Under Fire thing a couple of years ago and was aware of the friendly and helpful staff.

As a 30+ yr. veteran of Columbus I can truthfully say that it was so much better for everybody concerned. Seemed much more racer and fan friendly and of course, there is the ice cream deal.

The main problem I saw was the spectator gate thing with only one gate open. If people parked on the east side of the track they had to walk all the way around to get in and then back all the way to the Pro Pits. Maybe access to a gate on the east side would be good for spectators.

Anyway, thanks from my guys to the Bader's for a great weekend at a great facility.

 

[Von Halen]

Much better than Columbus all the way around.

The fireworks friday night were kick ass!

 

[mike]

The track is great. it's clean, no bumps left or right lane (that I felt anyway) parking was superior to many facilities and overall, everyone is friendly. Fans are awesome as well.

I'm not sure of the parking on the other side of the track as we were pretty busy, but we'll go back for sure.

Have a great day everyone.

Nancy

Nancy,

Was a joy meeting/talking to you. Will catch up with you in Reading for sure.

Good luck at all the races till then and take care

Mike

 

[mike]

All I have to say is POUND OF ICE CREAM FOR A BUCK... Bargin!!!

Great place, will deffs be going back.

 

[Drake Simmons]

As an employee at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park I can tell you that Bill Bader Jr. has told me that they LOSE money on every sale of one pound of Toft's ice cream! Just over the course of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals 24,994 pounds of ice cream was sold!