By the time I started attending races around 2000ish, the pro teams pit setup was already large. For those of you who have been around much longer than that, when did the pro teams (nitro especially) start having multiple haulers and such large pit set ups? Which team/racer was the first to have pits with catering, multiple haulers, etc?
When did pro teams start taking so much pit space? (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Jer
Nitro Member
Prob dsr,its nice now that the trailers are air cond for the crews to hang out in after car is serviced
mick
Nitro Member
good questions michael.......pretty sure you'll get some good answers ....... here's a few guesses from the old memory bank
- 2nd hauler?..... two cars teams of modern era? larry minor/gary beck ..... larry minor/frank hawley ..... larry minor cruz/ace ....... force/pedregon ..... wj/curt ...... wayne cnty speedshop
- not sure who started a 3rd hauler either for technology, or hospitality. can remember force adding technology trailer after adding bernie and medlin.
- worksham/csk had a 3 hauler U shaped pit setup for a few years (i think bob wilber's first years in nhra with csk).....was this 2000 or 2001?
- i think? the big center hospitality tent seen in DSR pits for years, had originated in david power's pit with baze and fuller? may have been first large setup truly for hospitality?
corrections / additions please
- 2nd hauler?..... two cars teams of modern era? larry minor/gary beck ..... larry minor/frank hawley ..... larry minor cruz/ace ....... force/pedregon ..... wj/curt ...... wayne cnty speedshop
- not sure who started a 3rd hauler either for technology, or hospitality. can remember force adding technology trailer after adding bernie and medlin.
- worksham/csk had a 3 hauler U shaped pit setup for a few years (i think bob wilber's first years in nhra with csk).....was this 2000 or 2001?
- i think? the big center hospitality tent seen in DSR pits for years, had originated in david power's pit with baze and fuller? may have been first large setup truly for hospitality?
corrections / additions please
Quesadilla
Nitro Member
The 2nd hauler per car started around 04 or 05, I believe DSR was the first team to do so. John Force was the first team to have a dedicated "technology" trailer that was split between his car and Tony Pedregon's, this first appeared in 1998. The hospitality trailers in the pits was started by Joe Gibbs Racing in the mid 1990's. Until the early 2000's many teams used RV's and Tour Buses instead of haulers. Don Schumacher's mega 3 pit space complex first appeared in 2003 when the team signed with MOPAR.
I have seen photos of a racer at the 1955 Nationals, using a tractor/trailer. When I started going to the drags, I remember seeing Garlits with an open trailer, which was the norm back then. They had no idea we'd have so many trailers, crew, and technology that goes to the moon.
robinjackson
Nitro Member
In 2006 I organised a fan trip from Britain to the season-end races at Vegas and Pomona which included a deal with DSR which saw us tour inside every one of them.
Didn't Dickie Harrell use a tractor-trailer for his FC in the 1960s?
I remember it was Billy Meyer who started the modern trend in 1978. I recall watching his transporter in the distance pull out from turn 3 at OMS on to Haven Road after the Finals. Seemed an oddity at the time, but when I attended the Winternats in 1980, a few more had appeared: Bernstein/Chelsea King, Hawaiian, Frazier & Rice... Snake??
Z28LT1
Nitro Member
From my recollection, I remember when Larry Minor brought in the McDonalds deal, they were the first that I can remember to have a large hospitality area. They had their own mobile McDonalds for crew and hospitality and taking up 4 or 5 traditional (at the time) pit spots for the 2 car haulers and hospitality area. Within a few years, most everyone had some sort of hospitality area.
Z28LT1
Nitro Member
I like the way they do it now better.
They started the one long row in 2012 at the Gators. I'm partial to the old way they use to park them.
mick
Nitro Member
i agree. it's easier for a fan to be closer to the nearest warmup. the single line deal you're SOL if you're not somewhere in the middle.
and i still don't understand why someone(track) can't setup pit parking so they can bring the car into and out of pit space from the front of hauler.
a no-fan road allowing easy access to each pit space instead of always bringing car out into mass of fans between trailers.
Z28LT1
Nitro Member
I think you're more SOL if you're 3 rows away and a car fires up. You have a better chance to get to the pit you want in a much more timely manor with the one row.
mick
Nitro Member
so if each pro team (notably TF and FC) is taking up more and more pit space; thought i recalled comments from other threads
eluded to more pit space = more dollars paid out by each team ........ if B2B is becoming the norm for attracting, and catering to sponsors; at some
point wouldn't nhra work with the teams and pricing structure? ....... this gets back to franchising/charters as a traveling circus. are we gonna' fight over sponsors/dollars?
or are we going to get along and share as best we can? you don't exist without me, and vice versa.
eluded to more pit space = more dollars paid out by each team ........ if B2B is becoming the norm for attracting, and catering to sponsors; at some
point wouldn't nhra work with the teams and pricing structure? ....... this gets back to franchising/charters as a traveling circus. are we gonna' fight over sponsors/dollars?
or are we going to get along and share as best we can? you don't exist without me, and vice versa.
I use to chase warm-ups (still do) back when allll the fuel cars would whack the throttle. The old style pitting was easier imo.
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