Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

I went to their Halloween bracket bash yesterday and boy what a cluster! Dad and I both brought cars out at 830 am to hopefully run at 9. The weather was great and so was the turnout, good right? Wrong...Its almost like they weren't expecting to get a big car count at a big race. They had over 300 cars including Sportsman, Pro, Super Pro, Motorcycles and Juniors. Ok now what do we do with all these cars? Any other track would run them smoothly but theres something about that place that is cursed with problems. Mind you it was a cold early morning in Seattle and the track was very slick at 930 when they finally started to run cars. They did have a drivers meeting to tell everyone to be careful and that the track was cold.
I live 5 minutes from the place and I like to go out a couple times a year to run various things. I have been going there all my 26 years and it has always been a cluster. I'd rather drive 3 hours to Mission or Woodburn where you not only treated well but you know the race will finish the same day.
Pacific Raceways doesn't have a working PA system so no one knows when to go to lanes or what lanes that would be. Lanes are poorly marked. Staff is not in the helping mood. Tech is in the lanes so you can imagine the traffic jam. Some people got 3 runs some none. The Tronson brothers are trying to run the place, but it seems they need a racers perspective. I like them but yesterday was run very poorly. It really is a shame because the track is a NW favorite to go but over the years its gotten worse and worse. We are always fighting the curfew. Everyday you are there the talk the whole day is think we'll finish today??
And for the grand finale!!!!!!!
There was no payout yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winners got Halloween baskets and a trophy.
There was well over 150 cars in Pro and they couldn't pay one dollar to the winner?????? Some guy went 8 rounds and gets $0

I would have much rather stayed home than waste my time racing for a basket. I lost 4th round so I wasn't the poor bastard that wasted his time and his car for candy. I just feel bad that someone who won the race after 8 rounds isn't rewarded for his great day.

I could expect no payout if they let us race for free. But we all paid!!

What a joke.

I will never go back to that place unless its the nationals or the divisional.

Have a great day!

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Lets see 300 cars at $40 each. payout 0.00 = racers getting screwed. I still haven't been payed for my semi at the 2005 national open. great track but they need a serious wake up call.

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Pinks All out is supposed to be there, funny if everyone went to the gate and didn't enter! Another venue for the owners of Pacific Raceway to screw the racers. Someone should let the Pinks people know what the track is all about and maybe the Pinks All Out will pull the plug on that track.

Date Track Marketplace
Nov. 15 ('08) Montgomery Motorsports Park (Montgomery, Ala.)
Feb. 28 No Problem Raceway (Belle Rose, La.)
March 21 Texas Motorplex (Ennis, Texas)
April 25 zMax Dragway (Concord, N.C.)
May 9 Memphis Motorsports Park (Millington, Tenn.)
May 30 O'Reilly Raceway Park (Clermont, Ind.)
June 20 Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, Md.)
July 11 U.S. 131 Motorsports Park (Martin, Mich.)
Aug. 15 Pacific Raceways (Kent, Wash.)
Sept. 12 Auto Club Famoso Raceway (Bakersfield, Calif.)

Casey Miles
248H E/S because of 4 HP

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

...............TRICK or TREAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Question: Why do you guys keep going back if that's the way they are going to treat you? You get the Trick and the owner get the Treat! Sounds to me as if you need something like the SSSSA up there! Jim

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Very few tracks in that neighborhood.........:-)

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Ahhhhh......... That's too bad. Jim

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

You guys remember that when next season comes around. I only live 20 minutes from Pacific,,, but I'd rather drive a longer distance to race at Bremerton Raceways where I feel racers are treated better, and you don't drive away with a "basket" especially if you go 8 rounds.Check the National Dragsters "Be A Winner" page. Bremerton makes sure those winners are in there and I've seen plenty of checks cut for the winners also. The track prep is very good,, and on Friday nights when you're exploding waiting for a turn to run at Pacific the guy at Bremerton has probably got 6 or more runs in by then. Don't take my word for it,,just point your rig across the bridge and check it out for yourself. See ya there in the lanes.
Danny Durham

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Wow, what potential and what a waste. It would have been one thing to advertise a "fun only" race and let everyone know that there wouldn't be payout, just trophies and "baskets", but instead they decided deception was the better approach.There is no way to gain racers trust when they do that kind of stuff, and they just seem to do it over and over.

This facility has seemed cursed for the last dozen to 15 years, no matter who is running it. I committed to never attending another bracket race there again after a horribly ran event in 1997, which involved a fist fight in the pits to kick off the morning, continued with a drug-raged lunatic doing "Rockford Files" reverse donuts at the head of the staging lanes, and ended 3 rounds shy of finishing eliminations as curfew hit at 11:00PM for which we had to split the overall purse 6 ways (something all of you local racers have NEVER experienced, right?)! I also said I wouild only come back for Divisionals and if I was fortunate enough to race the National, which I have 2 times. And I kept my word, until this year.

A group of 3 really respected drag racers got together a plan to promote a big buck bracket race called the Sportsnationals, held this year in August at Pacific Raceways. I will leave their names out of it unless one of them choose to post a reply because they may wish to remain anonymous, though all of us in the NW know who they are. They worked tirelessly to organize the event and put up their own money for a guaranteed purse. They advertised and promoted the event to the point a large group of racers (both divisional and bracket racers) ended up showing up for the event, primarily because everyone believed that Pacific Raceways turned over the reins to this group and we all knew we could trust them, even if we didn't have trust in the track.

If it wasn't for the success of a fair bit of the racers in our race group, getting to hang out with a lot of friends and well respected racers that we don't often get to see, and getting to meet some of the local Pacific Raceways racers who I've since become good friends with, the weekend could have been considered a mess; much like the last time I attended in 1997. I don't know a lot of specific details, but the week started out with Pacific Raceways telling the trio of racers/promoters who organized the event that they had to relinquish control of the event and turn it over to the track. This was after they had received enough pre-race entries to realize that the race would be a financial success, by the way. These guys reluctantly agreed and still managed to act like professionals; I think primarily so that all of the rest of us racers would have an opportunity to participate in a big money bracket race (thanks Gentlemen). There was also a couple of pretty ugly cheating accusations that came very close to physical confrontations, mostly because of the track lacking a technical inspector who could emphatically state whether the issues on the vehicles in question (one a friend's and one mine) were legal or not. Of course they were legal but it took way too long to ascertain that and tempers flaired in the process. In fairness, there were also parts failures and attrition and an eye injury (mine) that had nothing whatsoever to do with the track, so it may feel like it was worse than it was.

I personally enjoyed tremendous success at this event having both of my entries in my one car make it to the final round on Friday night where I raced myself. It was a special moment that I was glad to just be a part of, much less having been the one in the final. It's hard to believe after the success I had at that event that I am back to my committment of 1997, to not attend an event there unless it is a divisional or national. I think I would consider it if we had some kind of assurance that the same group could put together the same event and not have the rug pulled out from under them like was done this year. I hope that is a possibility.

Steve Kelly
6267

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

I hate to dump on the only National event track in Div.6, but I`ve had a few bad experiances there myself. I attended a couple of their "All Ford Drags", one year I won quicker bracket, and when I went to the tower for my money and trophy, I had to wait about 15 minutes while they "found" my trophy. They eventually handed me a non descript trophy that had obviously just had the plaque removed, as the sticky backing was still on the base. They took my adress, and promised to send me the proper plaque in the mail. It`s been about 13 years and I`m still waitin`. The next year, I took my 13 second street car, and entered the slow bracket. There was 8 rounds, I was the sole semi finalist, & when I went to the tower, I was informed there was nothing for semis (7 rounds!) Turns out the winner "won" $100.00, R/U a whopping $50.00! 150-160 cars @ $40.00 each in that class, and a total payout of $150.00? Other than the National event, and occasionally the LODRS race, I just stay away. Like Danny said, Bremerton is a much more racer friendly track, less than 1 hour further away. And of course I love my home track of Mission Raceway. I had actually thought of going to Pacifics "Halloween" race, for a last shot test session, glad the iffy weather forecast kept me home. Pacific (S.I.R.) was great in the 70`s and most of the 80`s, I don`t know what caused the downturn. It IS the only track in the division capable (barely) of holding a NHRA Nat`l event, it would sure be nice if Div.6 could get a Jegs style NHRA Sportsnationals at say, Mission or Woodburn.

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

The skuttle but I'm hearing is that next year the Divisional and National events will be the only drag racing at Pacific. The road course will take up the slack? Must be a different bunch running that part of the track. Also I hear that Buckey Austin and Jay Livingston are going to take over operations of Spokane Raceway Park. Hope they can get that up and running again to give us another track in Div. 6. I have faith in Jay to be racer friendly.

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Well, you can follow some of your fellow seattle competitors 160 miles east to the track that "WJ" called that ugly track in yakima, but in yakima's defense WJ adjusted to a 1.01 60 foot & the track was voted most improved in div. 6 somewhere in the 90's. I've always liked Pacific for the facilities, track prep, the tree's & I grew up in Maple Valley. I came away from there once with a $400.00 check but that was @ a bracket finals. I was there for a night race once that hit a delay and I remember hearing some yelling & then a single car went down the MIDDLE of the track, race over.

Here is a recent link about Bucky & Spokane.
http://www.spokanemotorsportspark.co...austin-racing/

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Rory is right,,,sadly the best days of this track are far back in the past. The 2 weekends when the NHRA is in town, (divisionals and nationals) are decent because those events are run by other crews, with help from some of the regular people who are not all at fault. The last time I had my car there was at the ET Finals in 05',, speaking of ET Finals,,,,, congratulations on your win Steve,,, take that Camaro all the way to the winners circle in Pomona, okay? Danny Durham

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

I heard from my local track that Pinks charges the track $75,000, that's right 75 thousand dollars to use the track. That's why Pinks is not back at Houston Raceway Park this year.

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Yea but they put 16000 ppl in there. If it rains your screwed as a track operator.

herb jr

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

There are no victims at a bracket race, only volunteers.

Sounds like y'all need to plunk down 10-15 Million and operate your own dragstrip. ;)

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

Yea, but I am not going to pay someone to use my racetrack. That would be like you to pay someone to race your car for you. Without getting any of the winnings.

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

16000 x $20 a head = $320000 -$75000 = $245000 profit and that dont count hot dogs and drinks!

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

.........wish my business was so simple,AND profitable, with that much money flowing into the coffers, I am surprised that we don't have racetracks springing up all across the country......Need to change the color of my sunglasses, from brown to rose??

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

we reduced our runs at pacific as well i went to a test n tune before the natonals and after 6 hrs we only got two hits , we used to get 4-6 a night .
the tech guys had never seen the car and my eti was expired,they just picked up the tech card and never looked at the car. very sad to see a great track run into the ground by poor managment

Re: Another reason Pacific Raceways is a joke
 

I am not going to bremerton. Pacific has some real probs. The track prep sucks real bad hot or cold and the payout a whoping 300 bucks 7 rounds. I have 2 win avery other time just to cover cost 4 ***_ sake i am not BAD BRAD.