Which Drag Strips have you been to for a race meeting (1 Viewer)

[Joker]

Thanks Brian. You gave me some insight into some of the tracks I havent been too. I will say though for whatever reason, of all the tracks I've been too, Beech Bend in Bowling Green, KY is by far my fav. Anybody else been there? How can you not like a family oriented racetrack facility surrounded by cornfields????????

 

[Jenn]

I've been to the following tracks, ranking them from least favorite to most favorite

7. Bandimere Speedway- The facility is very nice, however the elapsed times aren't any good because of the altitude. I don't like that the entire facility is reserved seats, they have metal grandstands that get very hot and uncomfortable in the July sun.

Don't forget the fact they don't have any permanent toilets too.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Yeah, it's called a "meeting" over there. Makes you think of drag racers wearing suits!

I got used to the lingo on the UK drag racing message board "Dragsterworld" before it got shut down over some bullsh*t. Was a shame, because it was a great place to be. One of the UK maters gave me a link to a new site that he said they're all going to but it's on my other computer. It's fun to mix interests in drag racing with cultural differences.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

411 Dragway, Seymour, TN
Bristol Dragway, Bristol, TN
Knoxville Dragway, Knoxville, TN
Cherokee Raceway Park, Rogersville, TN
English Mountain Dragway, Newport, TN
Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA
U.S. 131 Dragway, Martin, MI
Woodburn Dragstrip, Woodburn, OR
Atmore Dragway, Atmore, AL (was driving a semi truck one Saturday, saw some bracket racers and followed them in!)
Great Lakes Dragway, Union Grove, WI. (was layed over for a weekend 15-20 years ago and saw a GREAT midwest funny car show with maybe 20 cars)
Island Dragway, Great Meadows, NJ
Beech Bend Raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY
Wilkesboro Raceway Park, Wilkesboro, NC

 

[Nitrohaulic]

If you can't remember the name of one, just browse them by the state here.

Dragstrip Locator - SMOKEmUP.com

 

[Jenn]

If you can't remember the name of one, just browse them by the state here.

Dragstrip Locator - SMOKEmUP.com

Cool, I just added two more.

 

[Four Kalitta]

1. Dragway 42-West Salem, OH
2. Edgewater Sports Park-Cleves, OH
3. Kil-Kare Dragway-Xenia,OH
4. National Trail Raceway-Columbus, OH
5. Norwalk Raceway Park-Norwalk, OH
6. Quaker City Dragway-Salem, OH
7. Pacemakers Dragway-Mt. Vernon, OH
8. Alamo Dragway-San Antonio, TX
9. Amarillo Dragway-Amarillo, TX
10. Hallsville Raceway-Hallsville, TX
11. Texas Motorplex-Ennis, TX
12. Houston Raceway Park-Baytown, TX
13. Houston Raceway-Dickinson, TX
14. Green Valley Raceway-Ft. Worth, TX
15. U.S.131 Dragway-Martin, MI
16. Central Michigan Dragway-Stanton, MI
17. Beech Bend Raceway-Bowling Green, KY
18. Brainerd Intl Raceway-Brainerd, MN
19. Bandimere Speedway-Denver, CO
20. Gainesville Raceway-Gainesville, FL
21. Atlanta Dragway-Commerce, GA
22. Bunker Hill Dragstrip-Bunker Hill, IN
23. Indianapolis Raceway Park-Indianapolis, IN
24. State Capitol Dragway-Baton Rouge, LA
25. Old Bridge Township Raceway Park-Englishtown, NJ
26. Thunder Valley Raceway Park-Noble, OK
27. Memphis Motorsports Park-Memphis, TN
28. Great Lakes Dragway-Union Grove, WI
29. Byron Dragway-Byron,IL
30. Sanair Raceway-St. Pie, Quebec, Canada
31. Pomona Raceway- Pomona, CA
32. Orange County International Raceway
33. Fremont Drag Strip-Fremont, CA
34. Cedar Falls Raceway-Cedar Falls, IA
35. Cordova Dragway-Cordova, IL

 

[Toejam]

Houston Raceway Park Houston, TX
Houston Motorsports Park Houston, TX
Texas Motorplex Ennis, TX
Kennedale Raceway Kennedale, TX---Home of the Killer Bs
Memphis Motorsports Park Memphis, TN The safety safari loved me after the amount of oil we dumped on the track
San Antonio Raceway San Antonio, TX
LoneStar Raceway Sealy, TX---been a while since I've been there, actually met a woman there who was so happy to meet a 'foreigner'
Heartland Park Topeka Topeka, Kansas---Not my favorite place
SRCA Dragstrip - Great Bend, KS---Okay, I'm not a big fan of Kansas in General.
Rockingham NC
Thunder Valley Dragway - Noble, OK
Bandimere - Denver, CO--Favorite track because Fred won the national there
Pueblo, CO
LVMS Las Vegas (before and after the renovation)
The D7 track in Utah, West Valley I think.
Alburquerque N'tl Dragway
Roswell Dragway
Amarillo Dragway
Arroyo Seco, Hobbs, NM
I don't remember what' it's called but it was in Carizzozo, NM
The Rock, Rockingham NC
Birmingham, AL The Million Dollar Race!
Firebird in Chandler AZ
Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL
SIR, in Tucson, AZ
Fallon, NV
Idalou Motorsports Park, Lubbock, TX
Hallsville Raceway, Hallsville, TX

Could be more, this hurt my head...luckily, I could take Justin's List, and cut and add.

Dang Jen, I knew you guys did quite a bit of Racing. Just had NO idea just how much traveling you did.

 

[vegasnitro]

Edgewater Sports Park, Cleves, OH (Cincinnati)
Ohio Valley Dragway, West Point, KY (Louisville) 1/8th mile
Beech Bend Raceway, Bowling Green, KY
National Trail Raceway, Columbus, OH
Norwalk Raceway Park, Norwalk, OH
Indianapolis Raceway Park, Clermont, IN
Bristol Dragway, Bristol, TN pre-renovation, IHRA days
Las Vegas Motorspeedway (old dragstrip)
The Strip at Las Vegas Motorspeedway (site of present National Events)
Pomona Raceway, LA County Fairgrounds
Firebird Raceway, Chandler, AZ
Southwestern International Raceway, Tucson, AZ

 

[Jenn]

Dang Jenn, I knew you guys did quite a bit of Racing. Just had NO idea just how much traveling you did.

Well, they aren't going to come to me and you can't win it if you ain't in it.

Funny because when we first started we were in an old flat bed tow truck that fit three so we had to stuff people and equiptment in the race car. My...I'm glad things have changed.

 

[Bob]

Southwestern International Raceway (Tucson AZ)
Firebird International Raceway (Chandler AZ)
Infineon Raceway (Sonoma CA)
Pomona Raceway (LA County Fairplex)
Bandimere Speedway (Morrison CO)
Pueblo Motorsports Park (Pueblo CO)
Bradenton Motorsports Park (Bradenton FL)
Atlanta Dragway (Commerce GA)
Route 66 (Joliet IL)
Indianapolis Raceway Park (Indianapolis IN)
Tri-State Raceway (Earlville IA)
Heartland Park Topeka (Topeka KS)
SRCA Dragstrip (Great Bend KS)
Red River Raceway (Gilliam LA)
Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek MD)
U.S. 131 Dragway (Martin MI)
Brainerd International Raceway (Brainerd MN)
Yellowstone (Acton MT)
Nebraska Motorplex (Scribner NE)
LVMS (Las Vegas NV)
Rockingham Dragway (Rockingham NC)
National Trail Raceway (Hebron OH)
Norwalk Raceway Park (Norwalk OH)
Thunder Valley Raceway Park (Noble OK)
Cherokee County Raceway Park (Rusk TX)
Houston Raceway Park (Baytown TX)
Texas Motorplex (Ennis TX)
Virginia Motorsports Park (Dinwiddie VA)
Pacific Raceways (Kent WA)
Douglas International Raceway (Douglas WY)

The only track on that list I literally hated was the last one, Douglas WY. Armco guard rails, and a lack of track prep vehicles. They didn't have a sweeper truck or tractor, marbles on the track were handled with push brooms. No sand trap or catch fences at the end of the shutdown area, if you ran off the end, you got a downhill ride into a gully. I suppose that would be expected at a track in the '60's or '70's, but that's how it was after the new millennium.

The timing tower barely had room for race control (the smallest tower I've seen anywhere) so I got stuck in a closet in the pit shack by the front gate. No air conditioning, and the temps were over 100 degrees everyday of the three day event that I worked. Walking back and forth to race control to get run logs were 10 minutes round trip, so that would have been impossible to do during eliminations. They could send ladder sheets from the tower to the pit shack during eliminations via a computer line, until someone in the pits cut the line while attempting to get their rig out.

I was on premium remote dial-up (paid for every minute that I was online), so I kept my connections to an absolute minimum. The track personnel had radios, but they'd defer to hardwired phone lines at the drop of a hat. Their hardwired system developed some bugs during qualifying, and I got blamed for tying up those lines when I wasn't even online!

The icing on the cake for the weekend from hell came when I needed "the book" after the race was completed. Since I had to enter everything at the event by hand, I needed the round-by-round pages to cross check and edit my work before sending it to National Dragster. The track owner's wife insisted on charging me 10 cents per page for the round-by-round pages, a printing surcharge, because she didn't think I really needed that info. She gave me a real deal, $4 for 44 pages. By that time, I was so disgusted with the entire event, I didn't argue with her, I just paid the $4 and said "thanks".

If that track ever gets a points race again, my fee for working it will be at least double what it usually is, or I won't go. I've never encountered a staff that was more clueless, nor a track so ill-prepared for such an event. ....sorry for the rant, but that place really sucked!

 

[Jenn]

Boy Bob, that sounds like quite the adventure. I had heard from other racers that it was an...ahem...experience but that tops the cake.

Amarillo is on my hate list...although it used to be quite good but last time we were out there the score boards had so much interference that you couldn't check the dial in because you couldn't tell which numbers were yours and which ones where interference...for a dyslexic like myself it was maddening. Then I got into with a couple track workers who threatened to kick me out. I told them they didn't have the balls and I was right

Then there is Great Bend Kansas which is a great facility in my opinion but I got overheated there one year, started to black out in the staging lanes, had to have a racer (one of the Nygards) escort me to the side lines where I could finished passing out without getting run over. I at least had the sense to tell the person who helped me off the track not to tell my dad I was sick, just tell him his was on his own and to check his air bottle. Couldn't stand to lose the run just for passing out ya know.

Then after the EMTs checked me out and I got a good lecture about drinking water and not eating from my father, who then took away my ATV key and said I wasn't driving or working hard the rest of the weekend. So then I decided since I wasn't doing anything, I would film and ride on the ATV up with my sister-in-law. I passed out again, fell off the ATV, got a concussion, roadrash, and another lecture about not monitoring my sugar and water intake.

Then there's Alburquerque...

 

[Rollout96]

Sheeeesh Jenn... THAT sounds like a rough outing to me!!!!

 

[dragboatphoto]

Texas Motorplex Ennis, TX
Houston Raceway Park Houston, TX
San Antonio Raceway San Antonio, TX
Prairie Hill Dragway Prairie Hill, TX

(Not sure if this counts) Boat Racing
Brazos River Waco, TX
Lake Brady, Brady, TX
Marine Creek Lake, Ft. Worth, TX
Lake Bryan Bryan, TX
Oklahoma River, OKC
Coosa River Gadsden, AL
Fireturd Raceway, PHX

I think thats all, probably forgetting some.

 

[Bob]

Then there is Great Bend Kansas which is a great facility in my opinion but I got overheated there one year, started to black out in the staging lanes, had to have a racer (one of the Nygards) escort me to the side lines where I could finished passing out without getting run over. I at least had the sense to tell the person who helped me off the track not to tell my dad I was sick, just tell him his was on his own and to check his air bottle. Couldn't stand to lose the run just for passing out ya know.

Then after the EMTs checked me out and I got a good lecture about drinking water and not eating from my father, who then took away my ATV key and said I wasn't driving or working hard the rest of the weekend. So then I decided since I wasn't doing anything, I would film and ride on the ATV up with my sister-in-law. I passed out again, fell off the ATV, got a concussion, roadrash, and another lecture about not monitoring my sugar and water intake.

That must have been August 2003, when SRCA Dragstrip was brought back onto the divisional points race schedule. It was only about 108 degrees all three days! Good thing the air conditioning was working in race control or the EMTs would have been helping me too.

I've actually flown into and out of the airport next to the drag strip there. It was pretty cool seeing the track from the plane.

Bob

 

[Jenn]

You are absolutely correct Bob.

It was the first event back for the SCRA dragstrip. I remember them making a big deal about it being the first US nationals location or something like that.

I know which airport you are talking about, but I didn't think it was a big airport, I thought it was just small aircraft.

 

[Bob]

Great Bend is a small airport for small airplanes. I was flying from Hays to Kansas City on US Air, Great Bend was stop on the way. The plane was a Beechcraft, nine-and-a-half rows of seats, and each seat was both a window and an isle seat. The co-pilot was also the flight attendant! Hays is also a pretty small airport. There are three rows in their parking lot, the third row is long-term parking. The girl who checked my luggage was also working outside with the orange batons parking airplanes. Avis has an office there. They have four or five white Chevy Impalas. You can rent an Impala, an Impala, or of course, an Impala.

 

[Jenn]

You can rent an Impala, an Impala, or of course, an Impala.

In Clean white, slightly dirty white, dirtier white and just about brown?