Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

thanks Larry and Patsy for taking us along on a dream vacation! Great reporting. Also thanks to everyone else who posted . Bob Michael

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Absolutely! Many thanks to Larry and Patsy for the fine coverage of the event and gracious hospitality at the races.

David
The New Hemi Guy

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Well we arrived home this afternoon and got the motorhome almost unpacked and ready to put up for the winter. Then our son and daughter-in-law invited us to their house for a "Welcome Home" meal that was very good, including homemade pumpkin pie! So here are a couple of the reasons we were ready to get home:

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/o...homewed931.jpg
Our granddaughters Reagan and Aubrey
(Hey, Mike, do the cowboy hats look familiar?)

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/o...homewed929.jpg
Our border collie "Cali"

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/o...homewed935.jpg
Grandpa and the girls!

We will have a final look at the trip after we get caught up a little.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Glad you are home safely and enjoying family. Thanks again for sharing your travels with us.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Another fantastic tour of Drag Racing America! Thanks for letting me ride along. Those are two great reasons to hurry home! Save me a seat for the next one. Jim


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Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

thanks for the ride along with the hill's. i enjoyed visiting with all my old friends at vegas. thanks to pat and larry for the pics.have a safe and good winter.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Thank You Larry and Patsy for the back seat ride, I enjoyed every post and picture that you put on this thread, from beginning to end. It made sitting here with this computer enjoyable.
Casey Miles
248H Stock?

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

x2

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Larry and Patsy it was great meeting and talking with you in Las Vegas good to see that you arrived home safely thank you again for sharing your adventures and travels I hope to meet up again with you next year. Enjoy the Holidays with your family.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

I want to second all of those thanks for the ride along-your pictures and comments are always great to see and read.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Larry and Patsy Glad you folks are home safe and had a great trip. It brought back such good memories from last year on our trip. We are planning on going out West again next year and hope you guys can go along so we can meet. Patsy will be the offical photographer for sure.Enjoy the holidays. Joe and Alice

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Now you two need to get back to work!!

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Thank you Larry and Patsy for sharing your trip with all of us, your pics and insight is very well received here. It was great to spend a few moments with you at Indy also. Have yourself a great winter and come out next year with your front wheels up some more.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Larry and Patsy , Thanks for warning Keith -Tonya-And Me about the tornado .

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x2 on CycloneFE's thoughts! I was glad to meet and race with you both here in Sunny Az., and hope your travels back home were great as well. I'll only say this because there's three of them forthcoming (I'm old fashioned where this is concerned), but HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU BOTH, and have a restfull remainder of the year!!!

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Thanks, Jan and I want to Thank You for the great trip, hope to do it someday.

See Ya

Doug Auxier

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

To all of you who came along on our trip and thanked us, "You're welcome". We had a great time, but boy, are we glad to be home! Here is a little summary of our travels: First, the race in Noble, OK. It had been 9 years since we had been there, and it didn't look like much had changed in that time. After the rain, the staff made a good effort to get the track back to racing conditions, but to no avail. I can't see us going back there again unless it is the only available points race and we are in the points. That place really gets muddy fast. But, boy were the fries good!

After enjoying driving across places we had never been before, the race at Phoenix was fun and a good time. The car hooked every time with the new developmental Goodyears on a hot track. It was hot, but we still had a good time. We would definitely go back to this track. A little dusty, but you can't have everything!

Now for Las Vegas--First of all, 2 and a half weeks in Las Vegas is way too long! You run out of money way too quick! Now for the racing--Las Vegas facility has to be the nicest we have ever been to. It had all paved parking, fresh water, RV dumps, close proximity to great restaurants and a daily air show! The National event there went off very well. Then the local guys were in charge and that was a totally different matter! From the outrageous prices they charged for test n tune to the way they handled the the Gamblers race, it was a fiasco. They would have had a lot better turn out if the price had been less than the $350 to enter. As good as the National event was, the Divisional was just the opposite. And it was all due to scheduling! If all categories had gotten 1 time trial before giving 2 runs to some, then everyone would have gotten at least 1 run before it started raining. As it was, Super Stockers who were not up at the head of the line on Friday totally lost one of their runs when they were only given 1 run on Saturday. Also they had poorly trained personnel at the gates who allowed some spectators in on Sat. before 9:30 and some were not allowed in. Also some racers were allowed to use credit cards for entry fees and others were not. We would probably come back to Las Vegas for the National, but might be like John Shaul and skip the divisional and go to Pomona.

All in all we had a great time with the highlight being seeing old friends and making new ones and the incredible scenery along the way!

Maybe the new rules will be condusive to us make another journey next year. If not, it's been fun!

Larry & Patsy

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Larry,
Thanks for your frank and canned comments about the divisional race.

I too have heard so many good things about the facility Linda and I were seriously considering a trip to one of the points meets next year.

Jim

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Jim , by all means go . It is a great track .

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Given the 164000 plus readers of the thread you have done a fantastic job of reporting and keeping our interest high.
Sincere thanks for taking so many of us along.
MB

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I thoroughly enjoyed your adventures, Larry and Patsy. I've been to Arizona 11 times since 2005, but always fly down. Next time, I think I'll drive.

Re: "Live" from our Southwestern Swing
 

Larry and Patsy, I'm definitely thankful for your candid/honest remarks about the divisional, because I was going to try and go there (if I'd have gone more than 3rnds at the Super Chevy Show, that F.I.R. had the weekend prior), but I think it was a God-send that I didn't now that I know this! What's sad for me is that track now houses Phoenix racers second closest NHRA divisional (thanks to this years loss of Tucson to the IHRA). However, I'm not too sad about Tucson going IHRA, because now those guys are getting closer to us in the southwest, thus we're starting to get an option for our drag race loving dollars! Moreover, now that one of their local racers is an IHRA World Champion (and came back from Va. with $20,000 dollars in cash and prizes...of which a new 28ft enclosed trailer, and a four passenger seating golf cart were included), I don't think the Tucson croud is thinking much about NHRA anymore!!! Losing Fontana (due to noise pollution...REALLY? WITH THOSE LOUD TRAINS BEING OVER THE TRACK, AND WE'RE NOISY???), didn't help either. Actually it makes me kind of wish I lived closer to your area, where's there a plethora of tracks (of both sanctioning bodies), near to you to enjoy. However, I love this climate and will tolerate the summer days in the 100's so I can enjoy fall/winter highs in the 60's and 70's! I was definitely glad to meet you two, and hope to do it again someday, but my membership in NHRA is near to expiring, and unless the meetings produce some savings to us sportsman racers, I may focus my racing efforts/dollars IHRA's way next year, because I can't easily afford the enhanced NHRA! I'll miss great people like you two, but I won't miss the 3 hundred dollar national even entry fees, $165 dollar divisionals (and national opens too???), plus what you experienced at the divisional there.

Thanks for sharing your travels with us, and some of you two's time with me! :)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, LARRY AND PATSY!!! :)