Thread: Things That Ruined Drag Racing!

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[QUOTE=Mike in Motown]

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

No offense Mr Severson but in Cali LIBBIES ARE a threat to most race tracks. They use a liberal/envirinmental agenda to stop development of almost everything they dont have interest in. Thats why so called 'enviros' lack credability because they use trumped up 'facts' cited as enviro concerns to help/hurt causes. Thats why when something legitimate spills out nobody will listen. I really think you need a california view before saying that enviros are no threat to race tracks here. Just look up the problems the park in atwater ca is up against and tell me that enviros are one of the MAJOR players thats fighting to stop this particular track. OBTW i dont think many arent concerned about habitat preservation but rather dissagree on whats considered 'habitat', 'wetlands' etc.

One of the reasons Lions had to close.

[QUOTE=Mike in Motown][QUOTE=Dave Severson]



No offense Mr Severson but in Cali LIBBIES ARE a threat to most race tracks. They use a liberal/envirinmental agenda to stop development of almost everything they dont have interest in. Thats why so called 'enviros' lack credability because they use trumped up 'facts' cited as enviro concerns to help/hurt causes. Thats why when something legitimate spills out nobody will listen. I really think you need a california view before saying that enviros are no threat to race tracks here. Just look up the problems the park in atwater ca is up against and tell me that enviros are one of the MAJOR players thats fighting to stop this particular track. OBTW i dont think many arent concerned about habitat preservation but rather dissagree on whats considered 'habitat', 'wetlands' etc.[/QUOT


LOL, if you say so..... We're guilty of everything, Money and Power have nothing to do with it. I think you, as with many Californians I've come to know, should soon come to realize that maybe you should do something about the problems you have. I don't know the specifics on whatever track it is you are talking about, but I do know what goes on at most tracks. It's not environmental concerns, but MONEY concerns... Money talks. And most tracks in and around big cities were there before the town spread out, and now the once worthless land has become valuable to BUSINESS. Look what happened at Ontario Motor Speedway, that wasn't environmentalists, it was MONEY. Now the used to be track is a huge business park. But hey, you're there and I'm here. Just keep blaming the liberals and watch everything you enjoy be gobbled up by the MONEY folks..... Check out who is behind the environmentalist front......and what their real reasons are. I realize we are a very easy target, so just keep blaming us liberals-----while the real guilty parties keep gobbling up everything.

Anyway, what is a Liberal anyway??? Just someone you blame when things go wrong???? Or, perhaps the people who take political action and bring about changes that suit them???? (They get this done because the majority of folks don't concern themselves with the issues, but would rather wait til things go wrong, then blame the "liberals") Libbies, huh???? Ok, it's your story, tell it any way you want.... But us "liberals" won't be the ones building the office complex and shopping center when your race track is gone.....

Originally Posted by Mike in Motown

I always wanted to go check out a race at Petaluma. Stockton 99 speedway closed at the end of last season. Much of my youth was spent at that track. Im worried that Sacramento raceway will be the next to go as the houses are getting closer and closer. The proposed motorsports park in atwater has passed preliminary approval but word has it that lawsuits from several fronts will keep it from ever opening. 'Environmental' concerns from liberals are at the root of most evil when it comes to racing automobiles. I wonder why some of the major sanctioning bodies dont take steps on their own to cut down on pollution so as not to give ammo to the left. Ive been a Nascar fan all my life but never understood why they let gallons of raw fuel to spill on the ground. Now the post race celebration burn outs. Wait until the 'enviros' get wind and make a stink about that.

i race my vw's in sacramento during the bug-o-rama. if that goes it will displace a lot of vw dragracers.

http://www.bugorama.com

Originally Posted by Mike in Motown

I always wanted to go check out a race at Petaluma. Stockton 99 speedway closed at the end of last season. Much of my youth was spent at that track. Im worried that Sacramento raceway will be the next to go as the houses are getting closer and closer. The proposed motorsports park in atwater has passed preliminary approval but word has it that lawsuits from several fronts will keep it from ever opening. 'Environmental' concerns from liberals are at the root of most evil when it comes to racing automobiles. I wonder why some of the major sanctioning bodies dont take steps on their own to cut down on pollution so as not to give ammo to the left. Ive been a Nascar fan all my life but never understood why they let gallons of raw fuel to spill on the ground. Now the post race celebration burn outs. Wait until the 'enviros' get wind and make a stink about that.

Check out the pics on the net,They are running an event at Kingdon Dragway in Lodi (was closed back in the 70's) check out the pics from last year! A large crowd was on hand too!

HRP,

If you want to see some "old school" style heads up racing visit a Outlaw 10.5 race........all makes, lots of odd models.......dig C.I. motors, Turbos, Blowers, NOS, 4 spd's, 5 spds, lencos, bruno-lencos, liberty's, autos - all on a 10.5 rear tire heads up with specific weights to classes......you want to se some wild ride??? Check one of those races out.

REGS

Unfortunately, containers, airports, shopping centers, and business parks generate a lot more revenue then a drag strip.... And the yuppies who generate this increased revenue need a place to live. Just a fact, not the liberals or anyone else's fault.....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Unfortunately, containers, airports, shopping centers, and business parks generate a lot more revenue then a drag strip.... And the yuppies who generate this increased revenue need a place to live. Just a fact, not the liberals or anyone else's fault.....

Sir you're preaching to the choir! Residential development is why 99 speedway is Stockton closed. OF course money is the primary factor for most track closings. But if you think that enviro claims dont play a part especially in NEW tracks not being built then you are wrong. I dont come here to argue political viewpoints. If being labeled as a 'libbie' (which I did not do) brings you to defense well then thats a choice YOU made. If you consider yourself and enviro (libbie or not) then great. I simply made a point that sanctioning bodies could do more to police themselves BEFORE enviro wackos try to do it for them. Is this not true? Do you realize effect of raw gasoline to the atmosphere. Now Im not saying its the end of mother earth as some believe. But when you consider the pollutants feared to harm the air, raw gasoline is on THEIR list. To make a point I should post some of the letters to the editor in the local paper. One comes to mind. A school teacher (self proclaimed enviro) states that the track in atwater would attract thousands of fans which in turn along with race cars would produce pollution and that would increase the amount of asthma in school students and since a track is not necessary it shouldnt be built. She also mentioned enviro reports that cite 'unavoidable enviro impacts' which ALL such reports find. I mean jeez, taking your dog for a walk has 'unavoidable enviro impact' for christ sakes. This is just one example of such letters and our LIBBIE newspaper prints them all. Dont tell me that enviro libbies dont have a negetive impact on racing in california.

Originally Posted by Mike in Motown

Sir you're preaching to the choir! Residential development is why 99 speedway is Stockton closed. OF course money is the primary factor for most track closings.

Then why blame the liberals???? We didn't do it!!!! Man, we're still working on health care solutions, education, equality, and other political concerns. Closing race tracks hasn't even made the list yet!!!!!

She also mentioned enviro reports that cite 'unavoidable enviro impacts' which ALL such reports find. I mean jeez, taking your dog for a walk has 'unavoidable enviro impact' for christ sakes. This is just one example of such letters and our LIBBIE newspaper prints them all. Dont tell me that enviro libbies dont have a negetive impact on racing in california.

A couple wacko's writing a letter to the editor is hardly going to block anything!!!!! Not all media is liberal, have you watch Fox lately??? The right wingers are quite well represented, too. Even ultra conservative right wingers who are convicted of drug felonies still have their radio programs!!!!!

I guess if I lived in an area that was that negative towards racing, I'd either move or quit racing...

Tracks are closing because Money is better with the land used for other purposes. This seems to be a big city problem, not anything around here or elsewhere in the midwest. New tracks are opening, and old tracks are expanding. Racing in all forms is alive and well here. And yes, an environmental impact study is done before they are built, just as a study is done before anything is built and it should be a consideration for all of us!!! If left unchecked, business (race tracks included) would have allready totally destroyed are environment....

I'm not here to discuss politics either, I just hate to see liberals (funny word, isn't it?) and evironmentalists being blamed for all the ills of the world. We didn't create them..... When you are casting blame, then cast it on the people responsible, not just the ones who are the most convenient!!!!

People who move next to a track and then complain about the noise!!!
Bracket racing, cars that will do 6s running 9s, boring. Tight brackets are fun but when you see a car roll off the line doing 30 mph down the track then hit the gas and finish at 200mph, Yawn.

I dont know but from my point of view drag racing is evolving here.
we have lived through our 1st year of our amature pirate drag racing club and the results were incredible.
we run on a actual 4300 ft 120 ft wide airstrip, flat long,(looks like to goes forever)and even a concrete launch pad.
The city has allowed us to shut the place down for the races and have been very cooperative and supportive in the use of the airstrip.
We were able to create enough revenue to purchase a new portatree timing syst in our 3 race day season (thats based on a 25.00 car and driver entry fee and 5.00 a head for anyone over 12)Watch out for the menonite rush!!
We have that written in our constitutuion to never increase the gate fee.
We are insured and use the nhra guidelines for safty and tech all cars.
our last race day had an amazing car count of 103 cars bikes truck etc and all winter i have had calls from guys building cars and wanting to know re rules and what they should have.
we ran giant kings of the hill last year and this year are going to have 3 classes of racers run down.
I kind of think this is what drag racing should be , more fun, some fast cars lots of street cars, some crazy guys like me running 26 inch zoomies on a rat rod bucket
looking for a few snowmobiles this year and if someone brings out one of those race quads we wont turn him away.
i have been to vegas to the big show and its great but its not the homegown
fun that we are having. When i see some of the old pics from the eatly 60s and late 50s it really reminds me of what we are doing.
This year were even going to try some flag starts on the line for fun.
here a couple pics
Drag racing is not dead it just may chnage a little

Originally Posted by DADNOVA

People who move next to a track and then complain about the noise!!!
Bracket racing, cars that will do 6s running 9s, boring. Tight brackets are fun but when you see a car roll off the line doing 30 mph down the track then hit the gas and finish at 200mph, Yawn.

Boring??? You've obviously not done a lot of bracket racing. I suppose it's easy to call it boring when you don't understand all the intracacies of turning that same time lap after lap, regardless of heat, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure or a million other variables not even yet counting keeping the tune on the engine the same...... Take your car, whatever it is, and go out and put down half a dozen runs, starting at 2 PM and sometimes not finishing til 7 PM and keep them all + or - .020 sec., then tell me it's boring. Heads up racing is for very big checkbooks, and usually the biggest checkbook wins. If drag racing had not instituted the brackets and left everything heads up based on cubic inches to weight, I doubt many of us here could even afford to make a pass, let alone be a winner....

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. The cars who run out on the throttle stop, then accelerate to the end are basing this on countless hours and passes of information gathered on their car and how track conditions and weather changes effect it's performance.... It's no longer a case of just standing on the gas and wondering what will happen.

Drag racing has not been ruined, it has only changed. Those of us who changed with it still love participating. Those who couldn't accept the changes necessarey to keep the average guy involved only bad mouth what they don't understand.....

Well dave tell us how you really feel

Money is what shut our local little dragstrip down, it was a little 1/8th mile strip with a roundy round track also, it was out by the airport, nobody out there cared about the noise, most of them were racing anyways, well some developer and the city decided they wanted to put this new mall in, so they did, then all the big builders decided they wanted new neighborhoods, so they did, my buddies dad owned all the landaround the track, a couple hundred acres, old family property, well someone, (the city) decided this was now prime real estate, and wanted to buy him out, he would not sell, so they(the city)decided that he had not paid enough property taxes, the last ten years or so, (they miscalculated) so he got stuck with this bill for unpaid taxes, hundreds of thousands of dollars, that he could not pay, so they repo`d his land, how conveinient for them. Well after that the track got sold, nobody knows exactly the deal (big secret) but the funny thing is they put condos on the land, well the deal got held up cause the enviros wanted the land tested, all the years of oil spills and different fuels made the ground pretty nasty, but somehow money overpowered the hippies and everything went as planned, and now there building condos, all the racers and the ricer guys have been lobbying for a city sponsored track, but to no avail, we had an old airstrip where everybody raced, but a car lost control and killed a bystander so that got the axe too,

I like Drag racing now, with the possible exception of the delay boxes in the Super Classes, that is Boring!

Ratty41, how are going that it takes you 1.5 hours to get to Infineon from Santa Rosa? It's only 35 miles and they have one of the best programs going with racing a couple nights a week, plus great events on some week-ends. Sacramento Raceway is open a lot, sometimes 4 days a week. Plenty of chances to run a car. I expect we will see more curfews and noise restrictions.

Drag racing is the only motor sport I know where the fans can get right in the pits and watch the work on the cars, and have the race cars thread their way through the crowd on the way to staging.

I think draag racing is alive and well, it's just different than it was 40 years ago, just like everything else.

Pat

Originally Posted by Stu Cool

I like Drag racing now, with the possible exception of the delay boxes in the Super Classes, that is Boring!

Ratty41, how are going that it takes you 1.5 hours to get to Infineon from Santa Rosa? It's only 35 miles and they have one of the best programs going with racing a couple nights a week, plus great events on some week-ends. Sacramento Raceway is open a lot, sometimes 4 days a week. Plenty of chances to run a car. I expect we will see more curfews and noise restrictions.

Drag racing is the only motor sport I know where the fans can get right in the pits and watch the work on the cars, and have the race cars thread their way through the crowd on the way to staging.

I think draag racing is alive and well, it's just different than it was 40 years ago, just like everything else.

Pat

for the past year, and continuing into 2008(2009 with caltrans) there has been huge construction on the 101 widening it to 3 lanes. so with my pickup and trailer, it takes about an hour. i didnt mean to exaggerate it so much. normally it takes about 35 minutes, but with the 101 stopped, it takes a little bit longer. im not complaining really. im sorry if i came off that way. infineon is a beautiful racetrack. im lucky i have such a nice place to go to. hell, i helped my dad haul in bedrock for the track when they remodeled the facility. it was quite a sight to see my dads kenworth and his friends peterbilt running around the track.