What's with tracks behaving like crybabies lately? (1 Viewer)

[glofria]

Cliff, let me correct you. Pomona is only used twice a year and has no racing available to the local sportsman racers. Fontana, Irwindale and Barona (both 1/8th mile) are open for the local sportsman racers throughout the year in Southern California. But I get your point.

We consider the Auto Club Famoso Raceway our local track even though its a killer towing over the Grapevine.

 

[Cliff]

Hi Gino. I was talking about Old Daze tracks that are long gone. Born & raised in LA and usta have lots of tracks I went to. I am glad for the SoCalif racers that at least they have Fontana for 1/4 mile, & The Dale and Barona as 1/8 mile. By the way, have you raced both of those tracks? I hear Barona is a good track but needs more shut off area for fast cars. Irwindale seems to be street cars??? Always wish Pomona could be open for more races, even with mufflers, for sportsmen or just ET races. I know about the infamous Grapevine. Have done that more than once. heh

 

[None]

View attachment 4087

I think it is a two way street. Other than Morrison, Las Vegas, and Norwalk are there any tracks that are both racer and fan friendly?

 

[SundayNiagara]

I think it is a two way street. Other than Morrison, Las Vegas, and Norwalk are there any tracks that are both racer and fan friendly?

Immokalee Regional Raceway. 1/8 mile track in Southwest Florida.

 

[none]

I think it is a two way street. Other than Morrison, Las Vegas, and Norwalk are there any tracks that are both racer and fan friendly?

John,
It's clear how you feel about NHRA and I'm simply not going to waste time arguing with you. Things that happened twenty years ago don't have anything to do with how business is done today.

Alan

 

[Nick Name]

Then there is the monthly fun drags at Willow Springs

 

[Randy]

Alan, so right! Every track that I really loved is long gone. Lions, San Gabe, San Fernando, the old Irwindale, OCIR....... Pomona is all that's left. Speedworld here in AZ. Arghghhhhhh

I guess you missed Fontana and Irwindale, both of which are up and running.

 

[Jimbo]

In today's world with many people using the internet it gives a voice to many people who never really voiced their opinions before.

Words sometimes can be very hurtful in many ways and it appears that just might be what happened in this case.

I agree that it did not happen at the track but I think it's always wise to realize that it is their Sand Box and they can do whatever they want without any recourse from someone they choose not to admit to their track.

A work to the wise THINK before posting things on Twitter or any other form of social media because it can come back to bite you.

Just my opinion. Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

 

[glofria]

Hi Gino. I was talking about Old Daze tracks that are long gone. Born & raised in LA and usta have lots of tracks I went to. I am glad for the SoCalif racers that at least they have Fontana for 1/4 mile, & The Dale and Barona as 1/8 mile. By the way, have you raced both of those tracks? I hear Barona is a good track but needs more shut off area for fast cars. Irwindale seems to be street cars??? Always wish Pomona could be open for more races, even with mufflers, for sportsmen or just ET races. I know about the infamous Grapevine. Have done that more than once. heh

Cliff, I see your point and can add LACR, Ontario, Carlsbad and a few others. None of which closed because racers (and fans) didn't support the tracks. It was because the property value increased to the point they weren't sustainable or because of outside influence.

We go to Fontana on occasions, but find the track too tricky (and downright dangerous) to run. Been to Barona a couple of times, but don't intend on going back for the same reason as Fontana and if you can believe this, it takes us about 5 hours to tow there. New Irwindale, never been there, but they can handle some hot cars. We have been quietly waiting for a new track to open at the Santa Maria Airport and it could happen as soon as later this year for street legal cars. We've been putting together a street hot rod for places like Eagle Field, Willow Springs, Santa Maria and some other opportunities we hope develop.

At Pomona the NMCA has ran there once a year, but I don't think it going to keep going as it doesn't appear to be well attended and they also run at Fontana which is 20 minutes down the road. I understand that the Fairplex has NHRA down to 12 days a year that they can run cars on the track. And NHRA is not likely to give up days as they use spare days for special events and rain days.

So for now we'll keep supporting the ANRA and Bakersfield. Although we have sat out the last couple of March Meets and going to miss this year's CHRR due to a family wedding. 2018 will be a new year and we'll reassess our racing endeavors.

 

[Cliff]

I guess you missed Fontana and Irwindale, both of which are up and running.

Yeah, I moved to AZ in 1981, so have missed the "new" tracks in LA. Have seen a lot of videos, so I kinda know what they are like. Gino said that a lot of the tracks closed cuz of the land value (OCIR is a good example). Everything is so expensive in LA area that I would be surprised if a new track were to be built there. I wish someone could re-open Speedworld in Phx area, but the land is owned by the State, so maybe they wouldn't be open to it. The track is still there, but would need a ton of work to get it back in shape.

 

[None]

John,
It's clear how you feel about NHRA and I'm simply not going to waste time arguing with you. Things that happened twenty years ago don't have anything to do with how business is done today.

Alan

Yes you are correct is does not have anything to do with today. I do believe tracks are going under due to bad management and neighbor complaints, Pomona being one of the few where the houses predate the track, over racer complaints.

 

[yoda]

As we are now in monsoon season here in Tucson, this thread regarding having to decide on calling an event possibly hours before gates or even hot track is something we see here often. I feel for Jim Hughes, Matt and the team at Tucson Drag way because they know there will be teams that may be on the road when they have to call because of the inevitable.

This season we have had storms that miss an entire side of our fairly small city, and swamp the other. When the track has to make the call, they know there are teams coming in from Phoenix, New Mexico and even through the international border. Sometimes it's a dead-on correct call and other times not a drop falls on the track. But the call HAS to be made, not only for the teams, but all the operating staff that would have to make the drive-possibly through bad weather - to a cancelation.

 

[PJ]

The letter does say repeated violations too. I'd want to know the full story before bashing the track.

 

[none]

Yes you are correct is does not have anything to do with today. I do believe tracks are going under due to bad management and neighbor complaints, Pomona being one of the few where the houses predate the track, over racer complaints.

John
Certainly there are tracks that have gone under, or been sold because of bad management. There have also been Beauty Parlors, Machine Shops and Bowling Alleys that went under for the same reason. Bad management is not unique to race tracks.

I also know that one of the first lessons I learned in business is that the customer is NOT always right! Sometimes the best move a business can make is to fire a customer. If you spend $100 a month with me, but you cause $1,000 worth of grief I would just as soon you take your business somewhere else.

I have had customers who are told your job is $500 and will be ready Friday, then they call three times a day, stop by each day to check on progress, complain that the price is too high. Tell me my work isn't done right, then come back in three weeks and want me to do more work for them. It's not worth the aggravation.

This actually happened a couple of times. Customer comes in wants me to work on his car. I look at the job and quote $1,400. He tells me that Eddie (another shop in town) would do it for $1,000. I said, then you would be better off taking it to Eddie, I know Eddie and he's probably better than me. He say's Eddie is swamped and can't do it for 6 months and he needs it next week. So I say my price is $1,400 He still only wants to pay $1,000. I tell him, I'm not taking the job at any price.

Here's my stance, at this point all he can do is tell people that I charge too much and I'm a jerk who wouldn't work on his car. If I do the job then he will nit pick my work, complain and try to haggle when picking up the car and then tell people that I charge to much and do shoddy work. And I'm sure he will complain even ten years from now. I would rather take the first option, give up the job and never have to deal with him again.

When I called Eddie he told me that the guy had called him, he said he was too busy to take on any new work and never even saw the car or quoted a price!

How this for an example, if you are going to come to my restaurant, and complain the the bread is stale, the soup is lousy, the veggies aren't fresh, send your steak back twice, and complain when the check comes that I should have at least given you a free desert. And you come to my restaurant every week! I would rather you go to another restaurant, your $45 isn't worth what you're putting my staff through.

This as always is also Just My Opinion,
Alan

 

[Cliff]

First Impressions and Customer Service. If I go to a place and I'm impressed that it looks nice, my thought is that if the owner cares enough to make the place look good, then he will probably care enough to do good work. Even if the price is more than I wanted to pay, the way he treats me will go a long way to making me think, OK, he did a good job, it was done right, yeah his price is higher, but that's OK. And yes, I realize that a nice looking place can be run by someone who does lousy work, etc etc etc. I have worked in hospitals since 1981 and the one thing that was drummed into me was First Impressions. You go to a hospital for health care. If the place looks run down, what kind of care are you gonna get? Same thing with drag racing facilities. I thought a lot of Houston (Royal Purple Raceway) and don't think much of my home track, Wild Horse Pass, cuz of lousy customer service.

 

[ironpony]

Hey Alan, (spelled wrong), you are being to sensible in your view. I agree with you 100%, you are better of not doing the work.
I had a similar experience, I quoted a deck for a customer/friend, he informed me about a week later he got a better price from someone his wife knew. I had no hard feelings, a couple months later he comes to me and says hey I need you to look at my deck and see what you can do to fix it, this guy hacked it up pretty bad. My reply was you could not afford for me to build it right, you surely can not afford for me to fix it.



PS my middle name is Alan...........spelled wrong too

 

[None]

John
Certainly there are tracks that have gone under, or been sold because of bad management. There have also been Beauty Parlors, Machine Shops and Bowling Alleys that went under for the same reason. Bad management is not unique the race tracks.

I also know that one of the first lessons I learned in business is that the customer is NOT always right! Sometimes the best move a business can make is to fire a customer. If you spend $100 a month with me, but you cause $1,000 worth of grief I would just as soon you take your business somewhere else.

I have had customers who are told your job is $500 and will be ready Friday, then they call three times a day, stop by each day to check on progress, complain that the price is too high. Tell me my work isn't done right, then come back in three weeks and want me to do more work for them. It's not worth the aggravation.

This actually happened a couple of times. Customer comes in wants me to work on his car. I look at the job and quote $1,400. He tells me that Eddie (another shop in town) would do it for $1,000. I said, then you would be better off taking it to Eddie, I know Eddie and he's probably better than me. He say's Eddie is swamped and can't do it for 6 months and he needs it next week. So I say my price is $1,400 He still only wants to pay $1,000. I tell him, I'm not taking the job at any price.

Here's my stance, at this point all he can do is tell people that I charge too much and I'm a jerk who wouldn't work on his car. If I do the job then he will nit pick my work, complain and try to haggle when picking up the car and then tell people that I charge to much and do shoddy work. And I'm sure he will complain even ten years from now. I would rather take the first option, give up the job and never have to deal with him again.

When I called Eddie he told me that the guy had called him, he said he was too busy to take on any new work and never even saw the car or quoted a price!

How this for an example, if you are going to come to my restaurant, and complain the the bread is stale, the soup is lousy, the veggies aren't fresh, send your steak back twice, and complain when the check comes that I should have at least given you a free desert. And you come to my restaurant every week! I would rather you go to another restaurant, your $45 isn't worth what you're putting my staff through.

This as always is also Just My Opinion,
Alan

You are right. Nothing to argue about here.

 

[ironpony]

And once they close you can almost guarantee the locals are never going to let them re open. Long Island is going through this right now, had 5 tracks at one time. Now they have all closed and they are trying to find property to build a new one and almost everyone says OK but not by my neighborhood

 

[glofria]

How about this for a customer action. My dad is the sole owner of Valley Head Service, an engine machine shop that has been in business for over 52 years. They have repair thousands of cylinder heads for street, strip and classic restorations. Been the subject for many magazine articles and called upon over the years for factory RNR.

Last year at sometime a guy brought in an engine with an aluminum head from a 50's European car to be rebuilt. Now keep in mind that the castings back then were poor and tend to be porus. We rebuilt the engine, but there was a leak. Here is what the guy had his wife write on a Yelp review:

If I could give Larry no stars, that's what he deserves! Quite frankly, I'm surprised he has any positive reviews. Spent thousands of dollars to rebuild a classic engine and it leaks water at the head bolts, and has from day one. Called Larry and he suggested I pour leak stop in my radiator. REALLY LARRY......are you kidding me? And then he says, they do it all the time with new engines. Stand behind your work Larry. Be a man, and don't make excuses for your shoddy workmanship. Will never use these clowns again, and will warn everyone to stay away from Valley Head Service if you want a quality build. VERY disappointing Larry, you should know better at your age!

Yes he said that. But there is only so much one can do to shine a turd. But I ask you, is that a fair review? At 81 years old he still gets up every day and goes to work, but shit heads like this one who doesn't make it worth it anymore.

 

[Jimbo]

Hey Alan, (spelled wrong), you are being to sensible in your view. I agree with you 100%, you are better of not doing the work.
I had a similar experience, I quoted a deck for a customer/friend, he informed me about a week later he got a better price from someone his wife knew. I had no hard feelings, a couple months later he comes to me and says hey I need you to look at my deck and see what you can do to fix it, this guy hacked it up pretty bad. My reply was you could not afford for me to build it right, you surely can not afford for me to fix it.

PS my middle name is Alan...........spelled wrong too

I had a similar experience years ago back in the 80's
Someone asked me to build a deck so I went over to his home and looked at where they wanted it built and gave them a price.
About a week or two later the guy told me he was going to have someone else build it.

A few weeks later he calls me back and asked me if I could build the stairs for his new deck because the guy's who built the deck don't know how to build stairs.
The deck was about 10' off the ground and he wanted two sets of stairs built.
I told him I did not have the time to do it for him and he became mad as a hornet with me for not taking the job.

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com