State Capitol Raceway - Baton Rouge (1 Viewer)

[Dennis]

Why did the NHRA take the national event away from Baton Rouge? Was the track not up to snuff for NHRA standards?

I'm just curious. I was on google maps looking up a friend in that area and was wondering what the track looked like today, and it got me wondering why the event was pulled.

The track is longer than Pomona. The amenities don't look any worse than New England Dragway (that's not a knock, NED is still my favorite track). So was it low attendance? Crappy track surface? Weather?

Just wondering.

 

[none]

too much beer and mud bugs......

 

[Nick Name]

I think Emma's Seafood buffet closed down, so there was no more reason to go down there.

 

[Butch]

I was there in 75 When the Pickup with the bed full of Mudbugs rolled through the pits. To this day I still tell people about it.

 

[ironpony]

Probably in hopes of raising attendance in a more central location. They pulled put of Columbus ( National Trails) and moved to Norwalk in hopes of bringing more spectators in from the north.

 

[Dave]

Probably in hopes of raising attendance in a more central location. They pulled put of Columbus ( National Trails) and moved to Norwalk in hopes of bringing more spectators in from the north.

I don't think that's the case since they went from a 19 race season in 1990 (With Baton Rouge) to an 18 race season for the next 4 years. The next new venue was Dinwiddie, VA in 1995. The event wasn't moved or replaced, just dropped.

 

[vegasnitro]

Probably in hopes of raising attendance in a more central location. They pulled put of Columbus ( National Trails) and moved to Norwalk in hopes of bringing more spectators in from the north.

Norwalk is superior to Columbus in every way. The pits are too small at Columbus and the track is way too short. The bottom line was as soon as Norwalk switched to NHRA sanction, it was going to get a National Event and there was no way Columbus could compete. Don't forget, NHRA owns Columbus, if they thought they could put on an event there, they would.

 

[SundayNiagara]

Norwalk is superior to Columbus in every way. The pits are too small at Columbus and the track is way too short. The bottom line was as soon as Norwalk switched to NHRA sanction, it was going to get a National Event and there was no way Columbus could compete. Don't forget, NHRA owns Columbus, if they thought they could put on an event there, they would.

Ohio can support 2 events.

 

[None]

Ohio can support 2 events.

Only at Norwalk. Columbus was the worst of the NHRA tracks. Pretty bad being the worst of the worst tracks on the tour.

 

[TSK]

too much beer and mud bugs......

You say that as if those are bad things.

 

[Rajunz]

I was there in 75 When the Pickup with the bed full of Mudbugs rolled through the pits. To this day I still tell people about it.

I was there too, my little brother and I trying to show Snake how to peel the Crawfish, he just gave up after a while. They also had a second pickup full of free Miller beer...

NHRA bought State Capital too at one point, the track was getting run down. It's since been rebuilt by a new owner and holds the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals.

 

[Reese]

I was there too, my little brother and I trying to show Snake how to peel the Crawfish, he just gave up after a while. They also had a second pickup full of free Miller beer...

NHRA bought State Capital too at one point, the track was getting run down. It's since been rebuilt by a new owner and holds the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals.

Alan Miller ran the track when NHRA owned it and he upset a lot of racers I was told. Ronnie West(a local stock eliminator racer(R.I.P.)) brought the track and did a good job with it. Maybe about 10 years ago a local businessman brought it and have been doing a great job. He changed to IHRA sanction track and they gave him the Mardi Gras National.
They took the Mardi Gras Nationals off the schedule in 2014 only to add it back in 2015 after San Antonio track closed. That was a really well attended event and don't understand why they took it off the schedule. I remember one year the traffic was backed up so far on U.S. 190, the state police told them to let everybody in free. They were charging at the entrance gate along the highway which started the traffic jam. I really liked the show IHRA was putting on.

 

[mw6789]

We did Super Chevy there when Roger Gustin owned the series. One year they ran out of parking and Roger's crew took down part of a fence and started parking cars in a adjacent field. Needless to say, the owner was not pleased when he showed up. I understand some $100 bill palm greasing defused the situation.