Columbus Disaster
 

Kudo's to all the Super Street Racers that sat in the lanes for hours on end in the sweltering Heat while someone in the tower made the right decision to pospone the race at the end of the day.
I have never seen such blatant disregard for Racers in all the years I've been racing.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Maybe the decision maker should have an office in a race car! Good to see you Chuck

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I have to agree.While I am certainly no expert on track prep,I could definitely see that there wasn't going to be any racing within 5 minutes when the announcement was made that Super Street would be racing within 5 minutes.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Whenever the cloud cover came in the weeping lessened....so Jay was hoping to get some rounds completed so when we rerun the car count would be lower...the weeping never went away so we didn't run....we agreed to run Stock and super stock 1/8th mile but it was weeping right past the finish line so it was not acceptable. The SST, SG and SC cars would have had to wait till the 1/4 mile was available. But it never happened....then weather came in....then we went home.....lol


Rock

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

After the SECOND session in the lanes I was ready to pack up and leave, race or no race !!!!

On the other side of things, the track crew should get a big thank you as they were out there the whole time working, not just standing around waiting.............

And don't get me started on the decision makers in the tower....................

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Only thing I'll add is the next time you see Glen or the RFC crew please slip them a $5 or so, it was nice having the water in the staging lanes.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

What a weekend! I'm sure I sweated off a few much needed pounds setting in the lanes.........thanks Jay! On one hand, I commend Jay on his decision to not send us down the track in water when, supposedly, the track crew wanted to send us, but on the other hand......come on....it was 100 freakin degrees in the lanes and to make us stand around and wait for HOURS was a little aggervating. They finally made the right call, just should have made it hours earlier.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

And as SST3428 said, a huge thank you to RFC for the ice water :)

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

x2........

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

RFC was a God send with all the water they handed out in the Lanes ! I Thank You all for that.
Jeff your point is well taken, My Car is available for them to use as an office the next time we have to sit and wait in 100 + deg heat ! But they will just blow it off as another Racer complaint ! And not respond !
Those poor S/St Racers paid the price and that was a shame !

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I am not defending anyone or trying to offend anyone. The right decision was made, RFC water made the S/ST ordeal better, and thank you to the Good Lord for the decision not to send cars down track. We all would have liked the decision earlier, but the powers dat be do have a job, our racing is a job for a few folks. No matter what decision or when it was made the only sure thing will be complaints.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

What about the LEFT lane racers that was sent down the track Saturday evening under "unsafe" conditions ?? ---- I for one was very lucky not to wreck again at National Trails in the LEFT lane -- Pulling into the burn out box , we were shut down while the track was worked on in the left lane ,, I expected a safe track but what I got was "go ahead everything is fine " and I know they were attempting to get S/G complete before the storm came but to send us down with water still coming up was unaceptable ,,, I lifted 3 times and 3 times ( stupid me ) attempted to complete the run ( I had .02 off the line , caught my oponnet early was in front and had to lift due to track conditions or wreck !!! )-- YES it was the right decision but should have been made much earlier ,,,,, spending my hard earned $$$ on NHRA racing expecting a safe track and getting what we got at National Trails is an unaceptable product and I question my sanity to even go back to that place again ( which has had the same issue for a number of years ).

AM I grateful for getting my car home in one piece , Yes ,,,,,, but feed up with racing on marginal and unsafe tracks !


Colorful Racer

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Fed Up from Stanton! Got stuck in the left lane both classes round one. What a freakin joke this facility is and NHRA for having an event there.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I know I race a Stocker,but what was wrong with the left lane?



I do think that US131 Motorsports Park could have a highly successful Division 3 race if they would ever switch to NHRA from IHRA.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Big dip and bump, unloads the chassis, I almost hit the wall in SG and rattled the tires real hard in SC. I was pitted right behind you.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Like Jeff , I really had a tough time with the left lane with my Big Block Super Gasser at Stanton

1st run ( Left lane ) was scary , car all over the track almost lost it
2nd run ( Right Lane ) 9.92 @ 170 no problems
3rd run (Left lane ) car shattered and rattled the tires so hard ,, I turned pale ( which if you know me is very hard to do :)

4th run ( Right lane ) Softened up shocks a lot , to the point it affected reaction time but had a good clean pass with no problems and won 1st round with a 9.898 @ 169 MPH

5th run , 2nd round (loss toss and was put in left lane ) did get down the track with soft shock settings but it was not pretty and of course lost to event winner ,,,, I can't honestly say which track was worst but I was able to eventually get down Stanton which is more than I can say for the Columbus disaster ------

Maybe I should have kept my Small Block ,, it could hook at a car wash :)

Colorful Racer

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Did you Super racers need to run less delay than normal?

The rollout seemed high to me,but I don't know if my car was the problem,or if I was the problem.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

No but I rolled in a bit deep, my lights in the left lane were .041-.081 so I took a shot at the tree and went -.003 nice. You are right roll out was bad most guys emptied thier boxes.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

This does not sound to good for Sportsnationals was planning on coming to Columbus to run SST to get grade point but with amount of time I have to put in box and being 1 lane race does not sound like a great idea!!!!!! Eddie that is my line I could hook in car wash but I dont know about over speed bumps !!!!!!!!!! Are you coming to Maple Grove???? Maybe someone should get in touch with Jeggie I would like to see them move it to Norwalk but that might be dreaming !!!! Bader would probally draw 40,000 fans!!

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I'm with you Tom, planning on going to Sportsnational also, hate to travel that far and not be able to compete.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I thought it was just me. Had nothing in the box .030 lights. I'll bring a smaller set of front tires to the replay in Sept.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Hey guys we are bitching about Stanton, Columbus is not near as bad in MHO.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

IMO, Stanton wasn't too bad at all. Except for the huge bump in both lanes around the 330 mark, and then a pretty wavy groove in the right lane going through the mph cones. BUT, I will give it to the Ledford family, that track was prepped very well all weekend. They sprayed and scrapped before every class. Not too sure why my 60's we're so fast, but nonetheless, they were very consistent... That's WAY more than what I can say for Columbus. Not too happy w/ that place right now. For me, the discrepancy between one lane from the other is completely uncalled for... In Stanton, I varied 8 thou all weekend from one lane to the other. In Columbus, I was varying almost 4 hundreths. C'mon, let's be realistic... We all know beforehand that both of those tracks aren't the smoothest in the world, but the lack of consistency is not something we should not have to fight with. And in my eyes, Stanton did a lot better that Columbus did in that dept...

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Thought that but wasn't going to say anything..........

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

Tom ,,, I know that was your line , I heard you tell Mr. Grahm that when we were at the 1st four wide Nationals ( Another disaster where half the Super Gasers couldn't get down the track !! ) --- Of course I'm coming to Maple ( one of my favorite places to race , Maple was where I had my first National Event Experience ) other than whipping up on me whenever I come up there you guys/all the Super Gas racers really make me fill welcome and I always have a great time ,, which is really important to me (if it was winning I would have quit a long time ago :)

I 'll have to agree with Adam because I did get down Stanton and my 60 Ft was pretty cosistent up to my last run ( where it picked up .025 against the winner , yea and I tried to
dump , get out of it but that .025 faster was to much for me to overcome without hitting the brakes hard and I don't do hard braking at 170 MPH ).

Columbus ,,, I'm struggling with if I should go or not , the Sports National is a great race and only 2.5 hours drive but if the track is weeping and I get put in the left lane , I'm toast and wasted my time and $$$$ .

Adam ,,, good job at Stanton ( getting down to 3 cars and now # 2 in the Division !!! )

Colorful Racer

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

WOW! I thought it was me also, I took out .040 from my box and was still cutting .040-050 lights.

Re: Columbus Disaster
 

I thought Columbus was fine until the seepage problem . Thats been a problem everywhere though.