The end of Wild Horse Pass (Firebird) is here. (2 Viewers)

[mick]

here is susan wade's take on this.......she moves from discussion of phoenix, to nhra's marketing of their nat. event product, segwaying to shortened nat. events, via comments
and thoughts of larry dixon, then eventually back to a statement of a 15-16 race schedule........you're kidding rite susan? let's show strength thru downsizing. we don't care about the phoenix market anymore,or the other 6-8 markets that would not be served by downsizing by 1/3.......good lord englishtown is served by reading and new england. houston is served by ennis.
chicago is served by indy. atlanta is currently a big loss. phoenix, if not replaced, will be a big loss too.

COMMENTARY: WITH PHOENIX TRACK CLOSURE, TIME TO CONSIDER TRIMMED NHRA SCHEDULE | Competition Plus

Initially, the news about Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park closing after the NHRA’s 2023 visit there to Chandler, Ariz., sounded terrible. The mere fact the NHRA delivered it in a press release at 11:58 p.m. Pacific Time Friday (2:58 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday) smacks of damage-control...

competitionplus.com

why do the times read correct on the link image of article, but when you actually open article the times are different and incorrect?

 

[Chili]

GALOT Motorsports Park in NC have said that they have the room to expand to a quarter mile, and have considered it before. And if you've been there, you know that it's nicer than most tracks on the NHRA circuit, only thing preventing it from being on the Camping World circuit is it being an 1/8 mile track. With how fast the Raleigh area is growing, it'd be a good market to slip into

GALOT looks real nice from the videos I have seen. However they would have to eliminate the fall Charlotte event to make it happen. Personally I don’t think the Charlotte races draw huge crowds but I don’t see them take a race away and pissing off Bruton Smith.

 

[Cliff]

PIR actually had a drag strip back in the 60's, but didn't work out. I think shut off area was the problem. Looking at that area now, where would they put a drag strip? Would love to see that happen.

 

[qualified17th]

GALOT looks real nice from the videos I have seen. However they would have to eliminate the fall Charlotte event to make it happen. Personally I don’t think the Charlotte races draw huge crowds but I don’t see them take a race away and pissing off Bruton Smith.

Wouldn't necessarily have to take away a race from zMax. zMax is 3 hours away from GALOT, same distance as Atlanta and Bristol. Charlotte and Raleigh are two different markets altogether, just happen to be in the same state.

As for the zMax crowds, you gotta remember that zMax has the biggest seating capacity on the tour and it isn't even that close. If you take a zMax crowd that looks terrible and plop them in Epping, Seattle, Richmond, it would look absolutely packed.

 

[BOO BOO]

here is susan wade's take on this.......she moves from discussion of phoenix, to nhra's marketing of their nat. event product, segwaying to shortened nat. events, via comments
and thoughts of larry dixon, mthen eventually back to a statement of a 15-16 race schedule........you're kidding rite susan? let's show strength thru downsizing. we don't care about the phoenix market anymore,or the other 6-8 markets that would not be served by downsizing by 1/3.......good lord englishtown is served by reading and new england. houston is served by ennis.
chicago is served by indy. atlanta is currently a big loss. phoenix, if not replaced, will be a big loss too.

COMMENTARY: WITH PHOENIX TRACK CLOSURE, TIME TO CONSIDER TRIMMED NHRA SCHEDULE | Competition Plus

Initially, the news about Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park closing after the NHRA’s 2023 visit there to Chandler, Ariz., sounded terrible. The mere fact the NHRA delivered it in a press release at 11:58 p.m. Pacific Time Friday (2:58 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday) smacks of damage-control...

competitionplus.com

why do the times read correct on the link image of article, but when you actually open article the times are different and incorrect?

Don't think Camping World would look to kindly on reducing the race schedule to 15/16 events

 

[mick]

PIR actually had a drag strip back in the 60's, but didn't work out. I think shut off area was the problem. Looking at that area now, where would they put a drag strip? Would love to see that happen.

looking at nascar phoenix track, the vast parking lots directly west of track go for over a mile. ...... measuring approx. 4000' x 6000' area of nothing but flat, dry, desert parking.
building a dragstrip there wouldn't be that complicated. if you run the strip east to west, you get the late afternoon sun in racer's eyes, but there's a ch*t load of paved parking already
in place on eastern side of parking lots. ....... or run the strip more northwest to northeast in the small ridges immediately south of nascar parking lots. could carve one side of ridge
for natural seating the same as bandimere.
hopefully nhra or whoever can take as much as possible with them from wild horse.....bleachers, timing system, P.A. system?

 

[none]

NHRA doesn't own or have claim to anything at WHP. I would imagine that WHP would auction that stuff, or someone might negotiate a deal for it.

And NASCAR owns Phoenix Raceway. I would love to see something happen, but unlike Bruton and Marcus Smith, NASCAR has shown little interest in Drag Racing.

Alan

 

[cknight]

NHRA doesn't own or have claim to anything at WHP. I would imagine that WHP would auction that stuff, or someone might negotiate a deal for it.

And NASCAR owns Phoenix Raceway. I would love to see something happen, but unlike Bruton and Marcus Smith, NASCAR has shown little interest in Drag Racing.

Alan

My wife worked at NASCAR archives for a number of years, about a decade ago. She primarily oversaw the updating from print to digital. I got to spend a lot of time in there late afternoons and weekends. "Back in the day", NASCAR sanctioned more dragstrips than NHRA, however, any mention of drag racing had been purged from their files by then. Lost are the first Winternationals at Flagler Beach, FL in 1960, a joint NHRA/NASCAR event, site of the first major Parks-Garlits "misunderstanding". Looking through the thousands of alphabetical drivers files, I found Lewis Carden, Arnie Beswick, Art Arfons, Hoyt Grimes, Don Garlits, and Art Malone, and that was about it. No, I wouldn't look for any current involvement there...

 

[none]

Chase,
Agreed, but that was WAY back in the day. Connie Kalitta one year won the NHRA, AHRA and NASCAR Winternationals 1966, maybe?
But NASCAR for the last 50+ years has not shown much interest in what we do.

Alan

 

[Old Guy Rookie]

With the fifth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. losing their only drag strip, there's going to be impact at several levels beyond just the racers, there's the local (dedicated) racing industry as well as the prestige of hosting a national motorsports event. It seems to me if your business in town ends in "Racing" or "1320", it's going to get rough next year and I'm not too keen on the idea of just losing 30+ years of history either that we'll never get back. I can only equate that to something like the TPC announcing the last Bird's Nest because they want to widen the 101...

 

[mick]

9 years ago when charlie's lease was not renewed. read last paragraph.

Goodbye, Firebird Raceway - hello, Wild Horse Motorsports Park - MotorSportsTalk | NBC Sports

Firebird International Raceway in suburban Phoenix has long been a popular venue for a variety of motorsports events, particularly NHRA drag racing on its quartermile asphalt track, drag boat competition in a man-made lake on the property, plus two road courses and an off-road track.But Firebird...

motorsports.nbcsports.com

 

[Gunner]

Maybe they'll bring back Speedworld Raceway.

Or Beeline returns?!
Turnout lanes seem to be already excavated…
Miss Firebird, but not WHP.

 

[Cliff]

Is it not a different tribe that owns the old Beeline location? You think they would be interested in bringing Beeline back to life?

 

[Gunner]

Is it not a different tribe that owns the old Beeline location? You think they would be interested in bringing Beeline back to life?

Not when they can make money the easy way…

 

[cknight]

Chase,
Agreed, but that was WAY back in the day. Connie Kalitta one year won the NHRA, AHRA and NASCAR Winternationals 1966, maybe?
But NASCAR for the last 50+ years has not shown much interest in what we do.

Alan

Hi Alan, sorry if I made you feel young.... NASCAR may have more recently learned their lesson when they destroyed motorcycle road racing in America by acquiring the AMA series, and running it into the ground. Another "outside the box" attempt that did not go well.

 

[mick]

Is it not a different tribe that owns the old Beeline location? You think they would be interested in bringing Beeline back to life?

cliff, that may be the answer. building a casino is one thing. making it hugely profitable is another. lots of new gaming laws from state to state that are not good
news for native gaming. what the gila river band is doing is smart. diversifying.
if the old beeline truly is on a reservation, i bet a nat. event caliber event facility could be built with govt grants. nhra could lease the place just like WHP.

 

[mick]

Hi Alan, sorry if I made you feel young.... NASCAR may have more recently learned their lesson when they destroyed motorcycle road racing in America by acquiring the AMA series, and running it into the ground. Another "outside the box" attempt that did not go well.

nascar would not be looking to buy nhra, they would simply enter into a land/purchase/lease agreement that would financially benefit both parties.

 

[Butch]

Has NASCAR done anything right in the last 20yrs.?

 

[SoCal Racer]

This really sucks. Unfortunately every time a track closes, drag racing dies a little bit. As Chris alluded to, some businesses will simply shut down without customers, and some racers will quit without a place to race that is within a reasonable distance. And what are the casual "street legal" racers to do? Street racing? No thanks. I'm old because I don't.

I'd like to be a traveling pro that can race anywhere in the country, and appreciate the many other venues mentioned as alternatives for national events, but most are too far away to support the weekly programs. For racers in SoCal the options are getting scarce. With the loss of Fontana I now have Famoso (Bakersfield), LVMS, and WHP as the only quarter mile tracks less than 5 hours one way. I don't mind occasionally traveling farther, but on a regular basis that gets expensive. And yes, I have two 1/8 mile tracks that are fairly close (Irwindale and Barona) and would not quit if there was no other choice, but I prefer the 1320. Maybe I'm a quarter mile snob... I know in many parts of the country it's hard to find any 1320 at all.

Regardless, it's a blow to racing to lose yet another quality track.

 

[SoCal Racer]

One other comment on the WHP development.... the tribe has about a bazillion acres of open land in that area. They can't built AROUND the motorsports complex?